This G73 still good for gaming?

Hey, I've been looking for a laptop for uni and about three months ago I saw the G73, however it was way above my £1000 budget, launching at £1700 in the UK.

Anyway, I was about to give up hope when I stumbled across this.

ASUS G73JH-TY063V at cheap prices | PC World

Specs

Processor Intel® Core™ i5-430M Processor
- 2.26 GHz
- 3 MB Smart Cache
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
RAM - 4 GB
- DDR3
Graphics card ATI Mobility™ Radeon® HD5870 graphics processor
- 1 GB GDDR5 video RAM
Screen type LCD widescreen
Screen resolution - 1600 x 900
Screen size 17.3"
Hard drive 640 GB SATA
Optical disk drive Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo drive

Three things concern me really, the size, processor and the screen.
1)I'm assuming the 1600x900 LCD will be the same as the Us one they have in best buy, so how bad is that really?
2) How much will the processor hurt my gaming at ultra? settings? I understand it will vary by genre of games I play.
3) How big is it? From you tube videos it looks slimmer than most other gaming notebooks but that could just be me.

Edit.
-I'm slightly annoyed by the way they kept the blue ray when they could have given it a better processor or screen and kept the price the same instead.
-How easy will it be to upgrade to a SSD in the future?

 

1) Most of the US BB laptops came with the LG screen which is actually quite good.

2) Doubtful you'll notice any difference whatsoever except a cooler laptop.

3) It's plenty big with an exceptionally large rear end.

The CPU isn't holding anything back really. SSD upgrade is stupid easy.

 

1)Not bad at all, viewing angles suck but who cares unless you like to share your gaming and BluRay movies.
2)Not much even this lowly i7 can game.
3)It is slim but huge.
SSD is a easy swap but don't expect to do any CPU upgrades without being ready to tear your whole laptop apart.

 

what two screens can you chosse from? because im thinking of buying from here:
Logical Blue One - ASUS G73JH-RBBX05 G73JH
(australia)

 

that unit is configured like the Best Buy unit, even uses the same config code, but is $1200 here in the US.

 

Thanks for the replies, I think I'm going to get it.

How hard is it to lug around? (Im going to have to sit with this on the train or bus 5-6 times a year)

And that CPU will definitely hold up? I mean that CPU comes on budget £400 laptops.

Its going to have to last me 2-3 years, which is why I'm asking.

 

you can get the same model and better specs if you get it from powernotebooks...here in the states and they will ship direct to you also ..you can save alot of cash that way

 

You are a gamer, I would think getting the better model from Xotic, GenTech or PowerNotebooks be a good idea. A lot of games are being released capable of using a quad core and that seems to make a difference.

 

Id love to be-able to order from the US, however as this is a present from my parents, they want to order it from a reputable uk retailer, not a small independent seller.

Having said that, my father just told me he shops on http://www.pixmania.co. uk alot so i thought id have a look around their website. Turns out they have the exact same laptop listed for £856.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/5553270/art/asus/g73jh- ty063v.html

I'm going to get that one.

 

Hello Peacock.
I ordered mine from pixmania 3 days ago, the day after it was "temporary out of stock". It's a bargain but reviews of pixmania are not so good. Still hoping it will work

Romain

 

I ordered mine the same day as well. I got A phone call the next day saying it was being dispatched on Thursday morning. My tracking page still hasn't been updated and I don't think the laptop Has been sent yet. Has yours?

Sorry for spelling, on iPod touch.

 

Omg 1200 dollars for such a nice unit...
I would actually prefer this one since it has a core i5 which is suposed to be a lot cooler than the i7 cpu's. Also, wether or not its full hd doesn't matter to me, since a screen with a lower resolution would give better fps, and a screen that is using its own resolution has a better effect than for example a ful hd screen which has its resolution adjusted to lower settings.

Even if Asus would sell this laptop for the same amount of euros as it costs in dollars (so 1 dollar = 1 € instead of using the exchange course) I would still definitly buy this unit. The hd5870 is one of the best gpu's out there, and I doubt nvidia's new gpu's which asus might use soon, will give non-lava temperatures.

 

Hmm. It seems PC world have unlisted this model, which is strange as they are owned by the same parent company as pixmania.

I don't think this looks good

 

Not really confident neither. Did they charge you yet Peacock?

 

I haven't bothered to check yet. I assumed they would only take payment after they sent it, have you been charged?

Its annoying if it is a listing error as the only other g73 that I can find in the UK is £1700.

 

It seems as though every seller has unlisted this model.

My order is still being processed.

How much would it cost to import the US version? Including shipping and VAT?

 

For anyone that cares, pixmania's tracking page now lists my laptop as dispatched.

 

Hello Peacock,
Mine appears as dispatched also. Suspens...

 

That depends if the laptop, with the HD screen, scales to fit the lower resolution to the entire screen. Otherwise, you would get the black bars but it would look right.

What you are sacrificing with the ASUS G73JH-TY063V:

1. Processor
2. Memory
3. Screen

These are all important for gaming and those were your concerns. Personally, the full HD screen makes a huge difference and you get what you pay for no matter how you want to justify it. I would save some more money and get the g73 with the i7, 8gb memory, 1080p screen.

 

For most games (xept for bad ported console games that use multiple cores like gtaIV), the difference between a high clocked i5 and a 1.6 ghz corei7 will be unnoticable.
Also for gaming, the diff between 4 gigs and 8 gigs of ram is also non existing, you will get the same gaming performance.

 

It's arrived! Came with a free bag, mouse, earphones and microphone, none of which were advetised. Very happy. Had some issues with steam and the creative sound drivers. A good experience in all, and I would say this is the best gaming laptop deal in uk atm.

I chose to get this moddel cause the core i5 v core i7 shouldn't matter for games, 8gb is overkill and the smaller screen resoluton means more fps.

As a side note, I've noticed slot of screen tearing in portal, but no other game. Any reason for this? Or does portal just suck?

 

Hello Peacock, and congratulations.
Received the same but didn't have time to run it: were you able to fix steam and creative sound drivers by uninstalling?

Regards

 

I just waited till it crashed, booted in safe mode and removed the drivers.

Its a really nice laptop.

Having trouble burning my restore disks but I think that's due to the crappy DVDs I have.

 

Just turn on vsync in Portal. Yeah, you'll be capped at 60fps but that doesn't really matter.