Well, just my luck...

So, yesterday I come home to find a package from Newegg.ca waiting for me, containing my brand new ASUS G53SW laptop. I was so excited at the prospect of what this machine could do I could barely contain myself as I slashed open the boxes to get this thing out. I take it out of the box, put in the battery and plug in the power supply. Everything looked proper on the outside, and eager to get this thing cleaned of bloatware and start my gaming on it, I press the power button.

...

And nothing happens. I press it again and again but still nothing happens.

When I go back to my current laptop and try to find out what's wrong, it seems that I'm not the only one who has had this problem. In fact, someone on this VERY board explained how he had the EXACT same problems on the EXACT same laptop. The laptop refuses to power on unless you go through a ritual in removing the battery and power supply and holding the power button for 30 seconds. And when it's powered on, if you close the lid and open it again, the screen stays black and refuses to show anything again unless you remove all power to it. The answers that person got all pretty much said the same thing: RMA it.

Defective right out of the box. I never thought such a thing would happen to me, but I guess there's a first for everything. I can only hope Newegg or ASUS (both of which I e-mailed for advice on this) can come through for me in getting this resolved, either with another new G53SW laptop or a quick fix of this one. Such a shame, I was so eager to see ho beastly this thing would have been with games like Deus Ex HR and such...

 

I understand your frustration, I can see why some here swear by gentechPC.com, et al who will unbox you rig B4 shipping to you and run tests if asked (but you pay a slight premium) . The Quality Control from ASUS is not real good now IMO, the company seems greared toward pumping out new models every month. I would demand a new rig from Newegg with free expedited shipping if this happended to me. Good luck with your new machine.
BTW did the model U ordered qualify for this rebate http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-150-00-us-rebate-asus-g73sw-a1-g53sw-a1.html

 

Probably not, I ordered from Newegg Canada, not US.

I can only hope Newegg gets back to me soon and can handle this with minimal fuss. I just want them to resend me another exact same laptop and to take this one back due to defective parts. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

 

I feel your pain. For various reasons in the past few months I've had to return an XPS, MBP and a G73. My latest rig is a G74 and other than having an issue updating the video driver, it looks like a keeper. I ordered it thru Staples who are really good at handling returns or replacements. Hopefully Newegg offers you similar service.

 

So it's safe to say that almost ALL g53sw that newegg sell are defective at the power button?
Is this some kind of joke, why they don't retire the whole stock?
Seriously this is the 7th user I see with this problem AND a newegg G53sw in 2 days.
It can't be a coincidence!

 

While you return it, get an MSI instead

Asus just got whipped. The MSI has a true MXM GPU with GTX 570M. An eSATA port and it has RAID configuration in the Bios. An Anti-Glare screen. A true tactile gaming keyboard that doesn't suck. Asus just sucks in comparison right now.

 

Yeah the MSI might have all that but the design is childish.

 

When you are using the laptop that doesn't matter. And actually the design is not childish, they changed it up. It's an all aluminum casing brushed. Looks better than the G53 which is so HUGE it's bigger than most 17" laptops.

 

Yeah i wont deny that that Asus has some large gaming laptops LOL!

 

plus one. uke: that thing is hidious. what were they thinking???

 

After more than a decade of dealing with newegg I would strongly advise you to call them immediately. Newegg is a just a shadow of what they used to be and I wish you good luck because you are gonna need it. Be firm and persistent but diplomatic at the same time. Btw, it is not that you are unlucky. Here in the US they sell open items and returns as new items. I know quite a few people who had huge issues with them. I too am one of them...

 

For one they probably think most consumers are smarter than you to be able to find picture for the right laptop if they are going to bother making a comparison to current 2011 G series models.

And yeah I'd rather have a MSI with a GTX 570M than a GTX 560M integrated onto a motherboard. The 2011 MSI is a brushed all aluminum compared to your prescious plastic G74. An Anti-Glare matte scren standard. More ram standard. It's a better machine in just about every way than the G74. Better materials. Better hardware. Better screen. Better warranty. Better MXM. And yeah, the MSI spanks the G74 in gaming performance. Better keyboard. Better touchpad. REAL USB 3.0 vs whatever junk G74 is shipped with. Better keyboard. Lower price for all of that vs a packed G74 whose hardware still doesn't match up.

The only thing Asus beats the MSI is for a larger, more angular case design which is sad, cause all that did was make the G73/G74 the world's largest 17" notebooks, probably even bigger than AW M18x.

Lastly. Look at the back caseback. Open that up and you have access to the heatsinks for both CPU/GPU and all your HDD and ram easily. G74 you get access to HDD and ram, big deal. If you want access to your GPU/CPU you have to disassemble EVERyTHING. What a pain in the butt, dumb design. If I had known my G73s design was going to be that much pain to just do maintenance work, I'd have passed.

Try getting it right....

 

Real USB 3.0? The G74 I have has a USB 3.0 slot, theoretically....?

The connections on the back with the heat sink right next to them might not be a great idea.

Anyway, what MSI model are you talking about?

 

You're kidding right? Where do you think the heat sinks are on the G74? They are right next to a bunch of peripheral jacks and connections as well. Doesn't matter at all. There are plenty of notebooks with connections in the back just like Clevo and Dell. I guess they are all stupid as well. The MSI heatsink is as close to the jacks as they are on the G74. Just like Clevo and any other notebook.

 

There are no connections on the G74 on the back, where the heat sink is... all the connections are on the sides. Again though, what MSI model?

 

On the radiators are right next to the left and right of the connectors. The radiators on the Asus extend to the sids where the ports are. C'mon use your head! The actual heatsinks are within an inch of the connectors as well. The laptops interior and connectors are all made to withstand some heat. The most heat they suffer from radiators on the MSI would not have any effect.

Really, don't you think MSI pays their engineers and designers a lot of money to know this basic information? And I also mentioned companies have been putting ports in the back of laptops for decades now. It's never been a problem or an issue, ever... I've had many laptops with ports in the back and never had any issues.

On the G73jh the ports on the left and right sit DIRECTLY IN FRONT of the huge radiators on boths sides of the notebooks and I use those ports the most with no issues.

It's a MSI GT 780, the best bang for the dollar 17" machine right now. Nothing comes close for the specs/price right now. Asus G74 is simply outclassed.

 

I'm not so sure that "nothing comes close"... there are pluses and minuses on both sides. I still have a few weeks left to return this G74 I bought from Tigerdirect, so convince me otherwise.

I'm going to compare the Tigerdirect $1499 G74 and the GT780 on Buy.com. I wanted to compare with the $1599 one on Amazon but there are no specifics on that model, making it a guess purchase.

* The heat vents are big on the G74. Bigger than the GT780.

* It's 3 gigabytes of VRAM instead of 1.5 for the 780. I feel this is a biggie.

* I like the fact that ASUS separates the keyboard numpad physically, and it gives more actual room for the keyboard buttons on the G74. I'm not a fan of all the extraneous buttons on top on the 780. The CTRL/ALT/SPACE/WASD key positioning on the 780 is like my plug-in keyboard and and a great idea, however.

* SuperMulti DVD+-R/RW Drive on the 780. Boo. I want/need Blu-ray.

vs:
* 720p webcam seems more powerful than 2 megapixels, but I'm not sure. I won't really be using the webcam much, but I want a functional one. Asus's webcams barely hit 30FPS when they aren't defective.

* 750gig drive, versus 500 (same rpm). Better, but by the time I really need that extra space I'll be buying a 500 gig SSD.

* The advertised "non-reflection" (matte?) screen is a REALLY good feature , but the ASUS glossy screen is not really that glossy especially with the dark plastic background.

* 5 USB ports (3.0x2 and 2.0x3) is definitely somewhat useful, versus ASUS's 2.0x2 and 3.0x1. The eSATA port is also useful.


On the same price point, the 780 has things I might want, but it doesn't have things I (think) I need -- why no 3GB VRAM or Blu-ray?


If I were to look at MSI's site and pick the best specs available on its 780, it wins hands-down against my $1500 G74. 32 gigabytes of RAM is ridiculously amazing, for instance. But how much do the best specs cost?

 

Nope. 3 GB vs 1.5 GB MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. It's absolute fallacy and hogwash. That's a really lame thing to contest. Great, Nvidia convinced you to pay more for something you don't need.

And actually you are wrong. The MSI heatsinks are better than the Asus heatsinks. The the fan and radiator are extra large compared to Asus. So what Asus has two, but MSI can do better with one. Their machine can handle a GTX 570M.

And it's GTX 570M which blows away the GTX 560M. GTX 570M is on par with a HD6970M. So it's no contest. The GTX 570M in the MSI is a clear winner over Asus GTX 560M.

And if you care about BluRay get it as an upgrade. Personally I think it's a complete waste. But that's me. But if you are going to determine your buying choice by BluRay, then you and I have different priorities for a high end laptop.

Better screen. Aluminum casing. GTX 570M. Better keyboard that WORKS! Anti-Glare screen. More ports, eSATA. Easy accessible for maintenance. And it's not huge just so they can have a gimmick of looking stealthy. It's a real MXM, it's not integrated into the motherboard. And they use standard MXM cards. MSI also ensures you have a properly working vBIOS which Asus does not. Asus still hasn't fixed the vBIOS for me, I have lost all faith in this company.

But for you, BluRay... Wow...

You don't need 3GB vRAM. There is absolutely no proof of that. None. And upgrading to BluRay is easy, why even bother complaining about it? You can't upgrade the keyboard on the Asus. Can't upgrade to a 570M, because GPU is INTEGRATED to the motherboard. You can't upgrade the casing to aluminum. You can't upgrade the Asus to have eSATA and more ports. You can't upgrade the G74 to have better speakers (which I don't care about, but MSI's are supposedly the best in the industry right now). You can't upgrade the G74 so it's not the world's most humongous 17" laptop. You can't upgrade the G74 so it's caseback isn't so retarded and having to disassemble the whole laptop just to blow clean the GPU/CPU or repaste, what have you. And of course I think Asus has among the worst customer service for laptops now, they refuse to fix their crap. They just ignore it and release a new model that has the SAME problem as the previous one does...

 

1) I'd like you to tell me why 1.5GB video RAM is the same as 3.0GB video RAM instead of dismissing the concern outright.

2) I'm not sure I can just take your word that the GT780 has better cooling than the G74. But, moving on...

2b) How is one 17 inch laptop going to be "huge" and another one "not huge"?

3) I'm comparing dollar-for-dollar here. How do you upgrade to Blu-ray without buying, and installing, a new Blu-ray player? That's money. I suppose you could find a website that custom-builds these MSIs, but they're also more expensive than the default ones, and the Blu-ray will be more expensive than a DVD-Multi.

4) Similarly, the buy.com version has a 560M -- not 570M, just like the G74. Upgrading to a 570M will cost more, but... I agree that it's a big negative for the G74 should I ever want to upgrade it. When I do, I'll probably want to upgrade everything else, too, however.

5) I haven't noticed a problem with the speakers.

6) Yes the customer service is horrid, but I don't need customer service unless I have defective parts (off the bat). If I do, I just return the computer. RMA might be a problem if I ever need to use it, though... Do you claim MSI customer service isn't lousy? I'm not sure anyone has good customer service nowadays.

7) Aluminum, eSATA, more ports: "want" versus "need" here... no butterfingers here so I'm not going to drop it. *drops it*

---

Let's forget the 3 gigabyte VRAM and everything else... Find me a GT 780 laptop with a 7200RPM 500 gigabytes HD at a $1499 price point, a Blu-Ray player, 12 gigs of RAM, a 570M graphics card: basically everything else the same or better as a $1499 G74 from Tigerdirect...

Edit: I did find a ~$1600 GT 780 with those specs, custom-built. Trouble is that custom-built ones require a 15% restocking fee if I don't like it (and the ones that are standard have a 15-day-from-SHIPPED-DATE policy), which is a dead-end for me.

 

COOL! For once it a fight between msi and asus but the real fight is between alienware and sager/clevo.....i need more popcorn...lol

 

1) I'd like you to tell me why 1.5GB video RAM is the same as 3.0GB video RAM instead of dismissing the concern outright.
- Do a google search on vRAM instead of just assuming it's better. You know what it means to assume? To guess without having any proof and making yourself look like a moron. vRAM is associated with amount of texture and resolution. At 1080p, there is no game that needs more than 1.5GB of Ram especially considering the 570M/560M are slower than a mid-range desktop GPU. Again, use intelligence and do your research instead of being lazy and argumentative about it and making baseless assumptions.

2) I'm not sure I can just take your word that the GT780 has better cooling than the G74. But, moving on...
- The GX660 has better cooling than the G73jh which uses a HD5870M which runs must hotter than the GTX 560M. If MSI can cool their HD5870M better than Asus can, they can certainly handle the GTX 570M, which is more powerful than G74's GTX 560M. And when you have cooling under 80C, it doesn't matter which is better at that point because they are well below limits for cooling. This becomes a stupid arguement of well my car can go 0-100 in 20 seconds and yours only in 23 seconds when the speed limit is 65 mph. You're just arguing for the sake of arguing.

2b) How is one 17 inch laptop going to be "huge" and another one "not huge"?
- Really? You can't figure it out? An Asus G53 is bigger than HP/Apple/Dell 17" laptops. The G73/G74 are significantly bigger than the G53. You can't use your brain?

3) I'm comparing dollar-for-dollar here. How do you upgrade to Blu-ray without buying, and installing, a new Blu-ray player? That's money. I suppose you could find a website that custom-builds these MSIs, but they're also more expensive than the default ones, and the Blu-ray will be more expensive than a DVD-Multi.
- BluRay is something you can upgrade. Everything I mentioned where the MSI is superior can't upgrade on the Asus. BluRay is the dumbest arguement I've heard since a lot of people already own a PS3 or another BluRay player or they can simply upgrade it on their laptop.
- This isn't a discussion of what you need personally. This is about a comparison of two laptops and which provide a better bang for the dollar as my response was to the OP advising he return the notebook in exchange for an MSI. A BluRay player for most people is not a NEED issue since if they have a laptop they can just stream movies via online anyway. And watching BluRay on a 17" screen isn't nearly as impressive as just watching it on a quality HDTV with a decent sound system.
- Your argument here is ridiculous. Because you NEED BluRay, the MSI isn't as good of a value. Don't join the debate team, you'd be awful at it.

4) Similarly, the buy.com version has a 560M -- not 570M, just like the G74. Upgrading to a 570M will cost more, but... I agree that it's a big negative for the G74 should I ever want to upgrade it. When I do, I'll probably want to upgrade everything else, too, however.
- The things I mentioned that make MSI superior, YOU CAN'T UPGRADE THEM ON THE ASUS.

5) I haven't noticed a problem with the speakers.
- The MSI speakers are better. Get over it.

6) Yes the customer service is horrid, but I don't need customer service unless I have defective parts (off the bat). If I do, I just return the computer. RMA might be a problem if I ever need to use it, though... Do you claim MSI customer service isn't lousy? I'm not sure anyone has good customer service nowadays.
- Based on what you've written you are NOT the the typical high end laptop user who is truly proficient with their laptop. These type of users will need the support as they do push the limits of their hardware and want to ensure EVERYTHING is working as it should. Asus LOVES customers like you who are oblivious to all the issues that plague their notebooks.

7) Aluminum, eSATA, more ports: "want" versus "need" here... no butterfingers here so I'm not going to drop it. *drops it*
- Just because you don't need or want these features doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken note of when comparing the two laptops. This isn't about what YOU need, this is a discussion of comparison of two notebooks and which provides a better value.

 

OK I really shouldn't get involved in this but:

More vram is useful when you go to larger resolutions.
Aluminum cases are nice.
2 laptops could have the same size screen but 1 could be larger overall than the other
You can get an aftermarket blu-ray burner for $120 so whether or not you want one is up to you.
Don't know abut the MSI but is virtually impossible to upgrade video card on g73sw/g74sw/g53sw etc. It may have been on earlier g73jw or whatever.

Personally I can't stand the way the MSI looks (orange leds) and I know that shouldn't matter but it does to me.

 

Personally I can't stand it when someone doesn't even know what laptop is being compared. There are no organge LEDs. It's a matte aluminum casing without flashing orange LEDs.

 

I'm looking at the picture in post #11. If those aren't leds then the picture has been photoshopped.

Everything else I stated relates to all laptops.

And btw and you really are a troll.

 

Actually you are the one trolling. By judging the MSI GT 780 with what is clearly the wrong model.

 

Maybe someone needs to go for a timeout. I spent a lot less, having a smaller budget, BUT I did look at a lot of $1500 systems and I would have bought a Clevo or Asus in that price range because of the balance of quality and lower costs vs an MSI in the same price range. You can argue specs all day long but the bottom line is price vs quality and appearance.

Besides, the Asus G53SW just looked damn cool.

Alienware are just overpriced for a cool alien on the cover. Never did find an equivalent Alienware at a price that was even close to what I could get with other companies. Maybe they Asus should put little fighter jets on theirs and add $200 to the price.

 

I'm talking apples, and you're talking oranges and being mad that I'm talking apples. In fact for some reason you're apparently debating me... I don't care one way or the other. There are specs I want, and a price point I want. The one that has better specs at the same price point wins. It's that simple.

We're talking about the Asus G74 versus the MSI GT780, not the G53, G73, or HP/Apple/Dell laptops. Here are the specs:

16.85" (L) x 11.34" (W) x 2.17" (H) -- MSI GT 780
16.50" (L) x 12.80" (W) x 2.40" (H) -- Asus G74

It's one and a half inches wider. Barely any bigger on the height, smaller on the length. 1.5 inches is huge? Well, if it is, at least it gives my ginormous fingers typing room.

(The original thread poster had a working 15 inch laptop, BTW, so why are you sticking 17 inch laptops in the discussion if you want to compare with what the original poster had?)

I was asking you to find me a better laptop at a $1500 price point, with all the things the Tigerdirect G74 has. A lot of people want Blu-Ray players, not just me. Simple: if it doesn't have a Blu-Ray player it is worse than if it does.

Er, I meant that if I needed to upgrade the graphics card, I would probably need to upgrade everything else, and I would just buy another laptop entirely. I don't know if you noticed, but $1500 is pretty high-end nowadays. I intend to use this laptop for a while.

The G74 speakers are perfectly fine. They work. I don't know how you can say something else that also works is better.

... I spent almost a month trying to figure out if the G73 I had had a defective webcam and how to fix it with the Asus tech support, then I returned it when they kept going in circles. You really don't need support if the laptop already works as it should.

Again, the final decision I made and am still making (until my one month is up) is comparing specs on the same price point. Even for a $100 more expensive laptop, MSI does not compare, and still has a 560M...

 

How about you both just drop it? This thread isn't about your little childish argument.

 

I....? What? Childish argument? Did you even read my posts?

 

For a post to get that long about something that petty (and repetitive), by that very nature and tone, its childish. Mods, FORWARD CHAAARRGE.

 

Just for the record, all laptop speakers stink, except for the Asus NX90JQ, which is a specialty unit. Debating which laptop sounds better is a TOTAL JOKE, and demonstrates how lame one is.

 

For the record, I never debated which speakers are better... it was a very...uh... one-sided debate. :confused2:

 

There is no arguement. He's just being defensive about his G74. Maybe regretting didn't realize that MSI has a much better offer this year. Can't argue that Aluminum > Plastic. GTX 570M > GTX 560M integrated to motherboard. MSI Keyboard > Asus crap. MSI Speakers > G74 junk. MSI has more ports options > G74 most minimal of any 17" laptop out there. MSI anti-reflective > G74 glossy. There is no arguement here. Just rambling about how he NEEDS a BluRay player.

And then the others who are rambling about how they are in love with the angular designs of the G74, which whatever. What I kept pointing out, they were trolling by not even comparing the current MSI models which don't have the LED lights on boht the 15" and 17" 2011 models.

I'm done, you are right, went on too much when there was no debate going on, just, but.. G74 is prettier.

 

The general consensus is that the G74 is pretty shambolic as far as a refresh goes. But that knowledge is only privy to those who have owned the G73 series.

 

Some good points are made in the later stages of the OP in this thread-
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi...t780r-gt780dxr-owners-lounge.html#post7582136
hulawafu77 + 1 REP thanks for opening my eyes

 

You're not even reading anything I'm saying.

I don't "regret" anything, and if MSI comes up with something better, with a BluRay, in three weeks then I will return it and buy the MSI.

But they haven't. Unless I plan to spend $2000 that is.

This. How many times do I have to say that the $1500 ones have GTX 560Ms, and the 570M are only on their default higher-end models, not anywhere close to $1500? Shouldn't you know this anyway?

And BTW, telling people not to buy Asus just because they don't fix a 2-year-old issue with your touchpad won't change Asus's behavior whatsoever; it might make you feel better however. You should have returned that laptop with the bad touchpad immediately instead of take chances!

It doesn't matter if it's Asus or another company-- never assume they'll fix the problem: just return it. That's my stance and actually why I haven't bought an MSI computer yet. The specs I would want from an MSI only come with a custom build, which is not that easy to return; while any Asus defectware goes right back to UPS. I *never* trust any company to do what's right.

Enough returns SHOULD change Asus's behavior...

 

MSI didn't really have anything better than ASUS until the gt780 came out. I've have always owned MSI products and if I didn't have a G73 already I would have gotten the 780.

Having said that, it is kind of arrogant to try and shove a laptop you may own down other people's throats because you think the specs on it is better. It's all about personal preference. It doesn't take 2 minutes to search and comare the specs and price points between the two laptops. I don't really need someone yelling all that out for me.

 

I have the same notebook as you, but thanks for the accusation. But like you, if I had known about the GT 780 a year ago, I'd have waited and bought that instead.

 

Draw People!!!!!!!