The G73 Best Buy info thread

Sweet I just realized I have the LG monitor

 

No worries I wasnt offended by any means! We all love the G73!!!!

 

Ha. I just checked, I too have the LG LP173WD1-TLC1....I have no qualms with my 1600x900 LED LCD...great colors and contrast! I turned the gamma down to .75 though as its a little "too lit" though. personal preference ; )

 

Same here Cinco... turned my Gama down to .80 as my preference... little tweaking required on the LG panel and then it looks very nice

 

My settings are at
gamma .90
brightness -15
contrast 90

 

I also noticed that with both screens the text in internet explorer's lower info bar that explains links and page status looks a little faded and dry. By enabling "Clear Type" in Windows you can adjust the fonts contrast level greatly. It also improves other aspects of these screens.

To enable Clear Type....start>search bar>adjust clear type text.

 

Well I decided to bite. Picked one up today.

It has the LG screen and 1066 memory. Screen looks much better than the previous Asus laptops I've had with AU panels.

I've only had it on long enough to check its specs and the speakers. Don't hear any funky keyboard rattles. Speakers all seem to work well. Has great sound for a laptop.

So I suppose I need to eat my words here. Don't fear the display. It seems the LG panel is most common with the AU panel likely only used to fill production gaps. Looks great.

 

Glad to hear it

 

Welcome! LG and 1066 here as well. Try turning down your gamma in ATI CCC and see if that tickles your fancy And PLEASE uninstall that damn Creative and Soundblaster Audigy Software before you proceed! Then enter Ease of Access in your control panel and make sure she starts talking to you ; ) I still enter Ease Of Access periodically just to make myself feel good that I dont have that dibilitating bug (PS. my first G73 had that CRAZY issue with the speakers and incompatability with that bloatware and it was UNFIXABLE)

 

You guys who are trying to calibrate the screen should definitely use the built-in Win7 color calibration. It's in the control panel (Color Management -> Calibrate display). That will stick better than Catalyst Control Center does with Vista/7 and it gives you nice test images. One of the best aspects of Win7 in my opinion!

 

Thanks will try that! Any parameters to suggest?

 

Bummer. Best Buy Bing Cashback is down to 2% for me right now. It was 5% the other day. Any wisdom on when/where/why that changes, especially when it might go back up to 5% or hopefully even more?

 

Get the tigerdirect one... 12.3%

 

I have credit at Best Buy...

 

yes Ty Swaaye, will try that out! ccc does tend to revert back occasionally

 

I did that but the only problem is there is no way to calibrate your brightness (Unless you do the screen way) and no way to adjust the contrast. CCC contains all of those.

 

Whatever's best for your very own Mark-1 Eyeballs. Everyone is different.

 

Gamma correction gets you a kind of mix of both contrast and brightness adjustment. But sure, being able to adjust those separately too can get you even finer control. It's just that CCC can be annoying and reset on you.

 

I am getting ready to return my G73jh Best Buy tomorrow as I have the B173HW01 V3 screen and the angles and darks are REALLY bad. I did some research on this panel and found that it is made by Samsung?? Anyhow...is there a pretty good chance that most of the laptops being sold now by bestbuy are the LG screened ones?



NXM732R-0064
Product Name: AU Optronics B173HW01 V3 Screen
Brand: Samsung Laptop Screens
Laptop Model: AU Optronics B173HW01 V3
Size: 17.3-inch WideScreen (15.5" x 8.98")
Resolution: WXGA++(1600*900)
Type: Glossy
Backlight Type: LED
Video Signal Connector: 40pin
Condition: Brand New
Package: 1 x AU Optronics B173HW01 V3 LCD
Availability: In Stock
Sale Price: $184.99

 

Lowish. Seriously just get the tigerdirect one.

 

It does seem that most of them are coming with LG screens.

The above panel is made by AU Optronics and is pretty crappy indeed.

 

Seriously we get the point.
Seriously some people also pay tax at tiger direct (me)
Seriously some people like the 18mos of free money from BB
Seriously some people get a 45 day no restock return policy from BB
Seriously some people like being able to just take their laptop to the store if something happens.
Seriously some people aren't 18 anymore and prefer the 1600x900 resolution.
Seriously posting "buy the tiger direct one" 9000x in a thread about the best buy version gets old.

 

seriously ha, cute.

Gotta admit, I too am tired of seeing this same post about tiger direct bing cash back blahblah

In my opinion, the Best Buy model made sense, plain and simple. And, I had an issue with the first one I had, boxed it up, and a 20 minute trip later I had a replacement up and running. That to me is worth it alone.... and the best part, if this one has issues, another 20 minute trip and I'll be good to go again.

And, I know I've got the crappy screen, but it's really not THAT bad, not awe inspiring or anything, but it's not that bad. And yes, I've had both screens.

 

^^^^^ Werd

btw BB is still showing 5%

 

Where? Bing Cashback? When I look Bing Cashback Stores for Best Buy, I see 2%. Please help me find the 5% if at all possible...

 

I agree

I agree for the most part. The Auo screen is decent as long as you sit in front of it like you are INTENDED to do on a laptop.

 

Hey what driver version u guys have on ur ati card? i still have the 8.68 vers that it came with? will updating improve performance or anything?

 

dont know if anyone else has run into this problem...whenever i put my computer into hibernate mode or the monitor turns off while the computer is still on and I start the computer again there are all kind of specs all over my screen....



has anyone else run into this problem or knows a solution for it?

 

If I had only seen the picture and nothing else I'd ask if you were overclocking your video card? Those look like classic artifacting.

 

That looks like the artifacting when you push the GPU too far.

(That can't be good)

 

If you do a Bing search for TV and click the BB ad, its showing 5%.

 

no I haven't overclocked anything...I don't even play games on this laptop...i've only been surfing the net....burning movies to dvd and things like that...no overclocking of the video card at all...why would this happen if the video card was not overclocked?

that can't be good at all because I have not even done anything to push this laptop...like mentioned above only the net and burning movies and music and what-not....looks like this one is going back to best buy as well...

nothing can solve this without taking it back right?

 

If it is truely a GPU heat problem then yeah you probably could solve it but it would be a PITA and frankly if you are in your return window I'd get another unit if it were me. If yours is otherwise good then maybe try reloading the display driver?

I'm assuming you have the laptop on a hard surface where it can intake air easily?

 

Just got back from Best Buy with the replacement G73. The box was slightly differend on the outside. Once opened, the stickers were on the right of the palm rest where the other one was on the left. As soon as I turned it on, I knew I lucked out with the LG screen. TREMENDOUS improvement over the other one. Viewing angles are much improved and actual blacks! The most noticible thing to me is the pixel pitch cannot be seen like the other screen. THe old scren if you looked close at it looked like a screen door effect. Pixels were blocky. On this screen, I cannot see those. I so much happier now. Also a side note, this one idles at around 45c on the cpu where the other was was about 50-55.

 

Great.

If you're going to spend 1200 bucks on something you might as well be happy with it.

 

I suspect that to be the 206 BIOS doing something.

Also can you do a quick check and see if you now have 1333 RAM instead of 1066?

 

I do have the 206 bios updated. Here are my memory specs:
Module Size: 2048 MBytes
Memory Type: DDR3 SDRAM
Module Type: SO-DIMM
Memory Speed: 533.3 MHz (PC3-8500)
Module Manufacturer: Hynix (Hyundai)
Module Part Number: HMT125S6BFR8C-G7

 

I noticed this too. Mine has much lower idle temps than many of the posts I've seen.

I still have everything stock (software) @ BIOS 204, LG display 1066 RAM and low temps. Awesome machine.

Cheers,

 

Interesting, you got the 1066, but with a new screen.

 

Congrats on the LG screen.
Those are great temps for the GPU at idle.
Don't worry to much about the ram@1066. My 2nd G73JH came with 1333 and my 3rd came with 1066, but the next day I went back and switched out the ram to 8GB's of 1333. I have yet to see any difference in benchmarks or at startup.

I think for playing games and most power user activities 6GB's of 1066 is overkill. With my 8GB's of ram I have yet to use over 3.2GB's at one time

 

Question.. What program are you guys using to check the temps and ram speed?

 

I use hardwareinfo32

 

Me too.
10chars

 

Awesome thanks

 

It also says '...eligible products...', which would make me think a TV would get 5%, but a laptop might not...

Thanks, tho, I'll give it a try...

 

So mine came with BIOS 204. Is there any good reason to upgrade to 206? Normally BIOS updates are on my short list for brand new machines but it seems 206 can mess witht he keyboard lights and 205 seems to add support for a BR drive which I don't have/want/need/care about.

 

I have 204 and BR works fine. I see no reason to upgrade the BIOS unless it's absolutely necessary; especially with all the negative posts regarding 206!

Cheers,

 

Hey guys. Newbie here and deciding on the BB version or another. One thing I cant seem to figure out. How do I tell by looking at the laptop which screen it has?

Thanks!

Another thing - what kind of warranty did you all get? Did you go with the geeksquad upgraded?

 

Unfortunately so far there is no way to tell outside of the box

 

Supposedly if you can peek inside the box the stickers are on the right side of the laptop with the LG. would be nice if we could locate a code or something on the outside. Hmmmm the part number is 90N-SY8A735G326DVP0Y. Is that any different than the AU based BB version?

cheers,