The G73 Best Buy info thread

According to BestBuy.com, the RBBX09 has:

17.3" LED-LCD high-definition plus widescreen display
With 1600 x 900 resolution showcases movies and games in stunning clarity.

If it did have 1920x1080, that would provide a better justification for the $400 difference w/ the RBBX05 besides the extra 2G RAM and extra 500G hard drive...

Also, bestbuy.com says that neither the 09 nor the 05 are 'bluetooth enabled'...

 

Imo the 09 should be priced $1299-1349, for the extra hdd n ram, anything more than that its just a rip off. I would probably even buy the 09 at that price just to have 2nd hdd bracket, but the 05 seems like a much better deal atm.

 

You can easily get a second HDD bracket from a notebook vendor.
I'm pretty sure GenTechPC has them.
And yes the 09 model is a total rip-off for the "extra's" you get.
There no big deal IMO.

 

The 09 model in Canada which is basically the RBBX09 is on special for 1499$ instead of 1699$. I'm guessing that the 09 should come in special in the states some time soon. I do believe that the 05 is a very good option! Too bad we don't have it in Canada...

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=7ae164b5f229f1ec69a8822aff0ca552en02

For those who are still not convinced, gaming on 1600 x 900 on this laptop is pretty good. With little to no pixelisation at all, and if ever it's still not good enough, there is always AA.

My only disappointment with that LCD panel is that you'll find that the supported resolutions are very little. There is no options between 1280 x 720 vs. 1600 x 900. Isn't there a way to force a resolution not offered in Catalyst??

 

If you go to the registry and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video, there will be a key in there that contains all of your video settings under a "0000" key. It will vary from system to system where the proper "0000" key resides. Mine is under {1936F151-FA04-4979-BB30-BD78F7079060} for example. You want to look for a key called "DALNonStandardModesBCD".

Within that, you can add resolutions that are not supported. Hopefully, that made sense.

 

Thanks Keith, I did go but there are no such keys and nothing that seems to be about resolutions neither :/

EDIT:

Forget it, I didn't notice that all folders could be expanded...

+1 to you buddy because it worked! Now if I need to go down from 1600x900 for more performance, 1366x768 is a better in-between ^_^ THANKS!!

 

"The 09 model in Canada which is basically the RBBX09 is on special for 1499$ instead of 1699$. I'm guessing that the 09 should come in special in the states some time soon. I do believe that the 05 is a very good option! Too bad we don't have it in Canada..."

ist this the regular price now or for how long is this special?

 

It's their regular price, if anything the US x09 model is the one with strange pricing. I went to the local BB and the dudes there said that they don't know for sure if canada will see an x05, but if we did it would probably be near the end of april or early may

I guess it can't hurt to wait another month, potential lower pricing + being able to compare it to an msi gx640/740. But gdi I want to play l4d2's passing DLC at high when it comes out!

 

That's the BB Canada pricing @ 1699$



Now the 1499$, there is the "Sale ends" with no dates but that suggests that it's not the original pricing.

 

They or any other reseller won't have them. On a whim, I called them and they said that typically they get parts in for a new notebook 2-3 months after release. ASUS doesn't even have them available right now.

The only thing you can do is rig up something yourself, wait, or try and buy one from another member. Did I mention I'm in the market for one?

 

Well this thread has sold me on the $1200 model.

Once again, so im clear... what are the differences between the BB G73 and the G73JH-X1? Screen resolution, bluetooth, and memory? Thats it?

I'd rather have the lower resolution screen for gaming performance, so that is a plus for me.

 

The Asus G73JH-RBBX05 (SKU: 9741729) that retails for $1199 atm is in stock at a few San Diego Best Buy locations right now, but whether they are allowed to sell them before the laptop planogram updates is up to the store. I noticed that it's not available for in-store pickup yet so it might be a few more days until we can order online.

Our Chula Vista store has 4 "New in the Box", but neither the merch team or any of the PC salespeople have displayed one yet. I'm on the fence right now but Bing has gone up to 10% in the past for BB.com , so I'm crossing my fingers it will happen again. If it does it will be enough to push me over fence to order one of these bad boys.

 

A guy from Tulsa put up a review saying he had bought one. I guess you can call around to your local ones because you won't be able to track them through the normal store finder on the product page.

 

The only reason for me to consider either model from BB is the 18 months same as cash financing. I agree that the 09 adding only 2G of RAM and another 500G hard drive for $400 over the 05 is totally insane. I also agree with your points re: the 09 and by extension the 05, but the financing option is, for me at least, the only compelling reason to choose BB over the other resellers...

 

Picked one up here in San Antonio today.

 

Got mine. They have 3 more at St Petersburg BB.

 

No it's 1600x900 for $1599. So why buy that? Cheaper with 1920x1080.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...lack/9743709.p?id=1218165770106&skuId=9743709
Guess this is the one everyone wants. That wouldn't be bad with the financing.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...lack/9741729.p?id=1218165344675&skuId=9741729

 

For those of you that picked yours up today, did you just call the various BestBuys in your area? Because the BB site still says "coming soon", and when I talked to a guy at a local BB, he said they were getting theirs next Friday and they wouldn't be on the floor until the 4th.

I've got 5 or 6 BestBuys in my area, so I could call around. I'm assuming that even if they don't have one on the floor that they can grab one from the back?

By the way, if anybody happens to find any in the St. Louis area, drop a note in this thread.

 

I just called one and asked if they had the sku number in stock. She said she had a few and I asked if she could hold it till I got there and she did

 

Duct tape works wonders in a pinch

 

Im totally stoked. This thing plays Crysis like ive never played it before!!


I had to harass several employees to go in the back and find it for me. They refused to help me at first. I just had to keep telling the guy to go look for me. He insisted that he couldnt sell it to me even if he found it. I ended up asking for a manager and he made it happen.

He had one condition for me if I wanted it, he wanted me to open it up so he could see it LOL!!

 

If i could i would do the same, grats on your purchase, i wish i was in the US right now i would be all over getting one..... specially today that NDA of fermi was lifted, the desktop GTX480 goes into high 90s on furmark, i doubt we will see a laptop version in a year or two, probably just more rebadges of the G92, and i doubt we will see anything new from ati till next year, so more reason to get it now.

 

That's funny Phasechanged. I figured that you would have to be a little pushy to get one from stock because officially they're not coming out to the 4th. I think I'll call 5 or 6 of them in my area tomorrow and pick one up.

Hell, I got the rewards zone silver with the 45 days return policy, so if it's RMA material, no big deal (and no shipping)

 

What would the tax be? makes it over $1300. Deal not as good compared to an A2 shipped tax free for $1540?? I mean you do save $$ and can make payments same as cash. Just no a good deal imo.Unless $$ is tight. I Buy from Best Buy all the time so I'm not a BB hater

 

Have a company in a tax-free state forward mail it for you? Should be cheaper than paying 1-200$ in tax right?

 

Any1 who picked up the $1200 version, can you confirm the warranty type?
-1 year US Best Buy Warranty
-1 year US Asus Warranty
-1 year Global Asus Warrany

? This is the most important for me...Thanks

 

I just got the G60 this past Wed., but after reading this thread I will be going back tomorrow and trading it in for the G73. The 05 version. For that extra money I think it's definitely worth it. Thanks for the heads up.

 

oh and any comments on the screen quality?

 

This.

I've had 2 recent Asus "G" series gaming books and both of them had horrid screens. Black was at best a dark shade of brown. The screens had horrible shimmer to them.

 

The G73's full HD screen is beautiful, I'm asking if the Best Buy G73's 1600x900 screen is the same good or not

 

Phased - we need some screenies of some 1600x900 benches NOW! ... let us know how the screen quality looks please.

congrats on your purchase btw! I'll call around the DFW area today and see if anyone has them in stock...

 

Nah really? I thought for sure you were asking for the weather in London.

 

I always thought if they have a store in your State you get taxed??

 

Just picked up the 05 today at the local best buy in New England. Here are my thoughts of this version vs what other retailers are selling...x1, a1, a2

Screen Resolution
If I want 1080p I will get a monitor I CAN actually see the difference. I am not sure I can on a 17" screen. Just my opinion.

No Blu-ray -
I want a Blu-Ray burner anyways, I can get one at Amazon for $200

Less Memory

6Gb (4GB + 2GB), this might be a concern for me if I lose performance because the MB does not allow them to run in dual channel. I may want to upgrade to 4GB of ddr3 1333 in the future anyways.

EDIT: Runs in Dual Channel, and is PC3-10600

No Backpack or mouse - no need.

Second HDD
Would like the caddy for the second HDD, but i will get an SSD for it and secure it with Velcro or something. I may even spring for a bracket when they are available.

Warranty
This was the hardest choice for me, I decided to take a risk here. If it ends up costing me money down the road, it is my own fault. Should I even consider an extended warranty from BB?

Three reasons to get this thing from BB

1) Least expensive price point of all the models and no waiting period
2) Local retailer to deal with.
3) Financing - 18 months same as cash
I had the cash so this what not a reason for me, but it will be for others.

 

What was your total out the store? ^

" 6Gb (4GB + 2GB), this might be a concern for me if I lose performance because they don't run in dual channel. I may want to upgrade to 4GB of ddr3 1333 in the future anyways.

What do you mean? 6GB DDR3 memory
For multitasking power, expandable to 8GB is already 1333? On there site? Even if it's not the 6gb 1066 is better than 4gb 1333??

 

mine was $1259.99

 

Thank's . I'm deciding if the extra hd, 2gb memory and the HD screen is worth the $290? Now anyways. The backpack and mouse I really don't care about. The wait doesn't bother me........Hmmm maybe it does

 

Yeah let me clarify, you are right, it is already ddr3 -1333, If it were 1066 I would have upgraded to the 1333 and knowing I could not afford 8 GB of DDR3 -1333 I would settle for 4GB as it is all I will require.

As it is its a non issue Memory is DDR3- 1333 and runs in dual channel.

 

Just picked the $1200 G73 up from my local Best Buy. Randomly decided to call and they had one left in stock in the entire area.

If anyone wants pictures or vids, let me know!

 

That's dumb Of course post some pics Everyone like the screen?

 

can you run some stock GPU benches with the i7 processor in Power4Gear High Performance mode?

Thank you!!

**edit** i'm on the fence right now... is it worth the $200 upgrade for me to go from G60jx to the G73jh???

Better proc, better gpu, a little more ram, ergonomic design which I really like ... all that seems to be worth the upgrade to me at least ...

 

No pictures(we all know what it looks like) more interested in the screen quality and maybe Vantage and 3DMARK06 scores at the highest settings that the screen will run it at without a external monitor.
It will be interesting to see what this baby can really do.
Congrats bro!

 

Are you sure it's 1333 and not 1066? The G73jh stock is supposed to be 1066, but earlier buyers were getting 1333 due to a shortage of 1066 memory. Anyway, a number of people here have stated that there is no real world performance difference between the two at this time...

 

Thnx! Yea, I wasnt planning on getting this so soon,... my first laptop and i'm pretty excited.

Currently making backup and restore disks, once that is done i'll dig into it and check out the memory speed.

 

This is your first laptop!
It's like getting a Corvette for your first car.
How big is it in person? I know the dimensions but I'd get a better perspective from a actual owner.

 

Well not sure how to explain it since you know dimensions but it actually feels smaller than I anticipated.(from looking at lots of pics) Originally I wanted to go with a 15.4" laptop, so this was a nice surprise.

 

with regards to my earlier post about being on the fence, how much more sturdy does it feel over the G5x or G6x series cases? I kind of like my g60 shell - feels pretty sturdy...

After watching so many youtube videos, reading benchmark reviews I think I"m more sold on the G73's ergonomics and design more than anything performance related... i'm just curious now if its as sturdy as it looks... Phased???

 

I returned my G60 to BB to get this. The G60 Doesnt even compare to this laptop, its night and day. The power is immense.

Super PI 1m test with the i5 G60 was about 26 Seconds on Turbo mode.

The G73's score on the 1m test is 14 Seconds!!!!!!&*(!*&!(!!!!

The i7 and the 5870 combined is the best parts going right now. The build quality of the laptop is superb to say the least. Its a very awesome looking machine. Pictures do it NO justice at all. I was amazed when I first held it. Its flatter and thinner then the pictures make it seem.

I went searching for a case for it today locally and brought it with me. People were going crazy when they seen me carrying it, all the Geek Squad idiots were amazed by it. Then in Compusa it was the same situation.

I ended up having to get a Messanger bag to hold it. No 17inch case even came close to fitting it in. Its a really big machine.

 

Gah I really hope they'll start shipping the x05 model to canada soon, otherwise a trip to the states might be in order...

Any word on the screen quality on the bb models? Personally I wouldn't mind sacrificing 1080p since imo 17" is too small to fully appreciate it anyway.

 

I just picked mine up from bestbuy earlier today, the thing looks and feels great, the screen looks good, and it is surprisingly .

But im having one issue with it, for some reason the second hard drive port doesnt seem to work. I tried putting my 60gb SSD in it, nothing came up, not even in the bios, I moved it to the first port where the 500gb was and now it sees it in the bios, I tried just putting the 500gb in the second port and nothing. Is there something I am missing here? I hope they didnt disable the port from the factory or something stupid like that.