Thinking of purchasing G53SW-XR1 (xoticpc)

Thinking of pulling the trigger on one of these to replace my G51VX. Shopping around as I do have a microcenter near me that has a few left for $931.

My preference would be to get it from xotic or another retailer with more memory. Their pricing is pretty competitive even with the Microcenter blowout, but I couldn't get them to budge whatsoever.

They also refused to entertain the idea of selling me a bracket for the second hard drive unless I buy the second hard drive. I know these are unreasonably hard to come by, but they're not worth the price of an additional drive.

So anyone want to talk me down from the ledge? I'm working with a limited gaming budget (basically fell into someone who wants my G51). I considered the MSI but the lack of a backlit keyboard is a deal killer for me.

 

You dont really need a second hard drive bracket if you can improvise a little. Also newegg had a great deal with their G53SW-XN1 not too long ago. after rebate i snagged one for $800.
Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G53SW-XN1 Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M

 

Yeah, I know I missed out on the newegg deal. I only see a rebate for $100, which is expired?

That one is $1119 as of this posting on newegg.

 

well you had to buy the laptop by 9/30 for that to be valid I believe. But maybe you could check the open box section.