What is more important to you? Screen quality or No system noise? W870CU & G73

Like so many others here, I'm also looking to buy a nice gaming laptop. I have narrowed it to down to two, Clevo W870CU and Asus G73.

I have seen the Clevo laptop in person twice. The screen is simply gorgeous. The one other thing I noticed was the system noise. Under load, the system noise was clearly audible above the below average speakers.

I haven't seen the G73 in person but I have read the reviews and had lot of people say how quiet it is. Even with an i7 processor and 5870 in it, G73 manages to stay quiet and speakers are impressive as well. The downside is that the G73 screen is not in the same league as the Clevo. I couldn't find much data about the FHD screen on G73 but from reading the user posts here, the black value and contrast are not impressive.

Obviously screen quality matters, you stare at it all the time..but a quieter system that doesn't need external speakers matters too. If money and portability was not an issue, which laptop would you pick over the other and why?


Thank you

 

THe 8760 and G73 uses the same screen, at least if you choose the full HD option in the G73. It's the 8690 full HD that has the great screen.

 

Clevo.
Upgrading is much easier.

 

If it werent for Bing cashback on the G73s, the clevo seems like quite the deal.

If any responds that has a 870, since supposedly they use same screens, does anyone experience extreme light bleed from certain angles?

I assume the reason for bleed on the G73 is from the bezel though. When putting a bit of pressure on the corner of the G73's bezel, the bleed would fade away.

But just want to feed my curiosity, so would be great with any responses.

 

I see.. I hadn't considered the 8690. I just figured gaming on a 17" inch would be better than a 15" screen. It seems like 8690 screen has excellent brightness and contrast.


Thank you

 

Keep in mind that his opinion is bias since he owns that particular model and that if the 8760 is noisy you better believe the 8690 is too.

 

I'd go for the G73 personally. Here's why:

1. Better aesthetic design than the Clevo.
2. FHD screen is the same.
3. Backlit keyboard
4. TDP unlocker which means you can OC your CPU as high as the power supply will let you. No other notebook to my knowledge has this feature, not even Alienware (the brand I prefer).
5. You can OC cpu's such as 720xm/820qm.
6. The plastic/rubber shell is a bit more sturdy than what Clevo offers. I briefly owned an 8690 (the one fzhfzh has) and it felt very cheap and had flex/creaking + very loud fans.
7. Runs quiet.

You should also look into Alienware M15x/M17x as those are the cream of the crop when it comes to build quality and design.

 

Asus support has been underwhelming for me. At least the reseller support has to be better than Asus.

 

I thought you only had multiplier control and TDP unlocking for the 920xm (at the moment)

 

That is true. He just didn't specify which.

 

If they had the same specs at the same price, I'd take the G73 because it looks better. I like the Sager's cooling, but since it comes at the cost of louder fans that's pretty much a wash to me.

 

I'd have got a sager if they were cheaper, for the upgradability. However, the g73 is a really, really nice machine, and I'm VERY pleased at the noise (non-existent!)

 

Noise would be much more important. For most, marginal differences in screen quality aren't that noticeable

 

Don't take my word for it, or any of the Clevo fanboys word or G73s likewise. Read some of the reviews out. All the reviews are saying G73JH is the #1 17" gaming laptop right now. It's portable, it runs amazing cool, it's the quietest of any 17" notebook and runs just as fast as any single GPU notebook right now.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3662/asus-g73jha2-affordable-xlsized-gaming

Screen
The FHD 1080p LED screen on the Clevo and the Asus are the SAME. EXACT SAME.... Repeat, there is ZERO quality difference between the Clevo and Asus screen.

I'd love to see what professional testing you've read about the screen. The G73jh LED screen has one of the highest rated screens for black and color contrast. It's the white contrast that is slightly above average but not as good as a professional LED screen.

Instead of reading biased fanboy reviews you should read the professional reviews who know how to measure and use tools to compare screens.

Upgrading
Also for upgrading purposes, it's not that simple. By the time you want to upgrade, there is a very good chance Clevo won't have a bios update for it, and they won't have the right heat sink for it. The heatsink for the GPU on Clevo's are specially designed for the GPU so it won't fit on a GPU they haven't made a special heatsink for it. Example you can't upgrade the D900 to HD5870, no heatsink for it. Current W870CU were able to do it because they upgrading from the current best Nvidia to current best ATi... This is not a normal circumstance.

Cooling
Asus wins big time here. Easily, no question for me, Asus cooling is hand over fist better than Clevo's. Testing have shown that Clevo on idle is as loud as G73jh on load. G73jh cooling is fantastic. I play Bad Company 2 with 800/1100, 100 overclock on both core and memory for 2-3 hour sessions with DX11 and everything on high and max temp is 81C. And the fans are not on full. I repeat, not on full, fans are on about medium.

Oh did I mention you can game on your laptop with these settings and your knees won't get sweaty? The cooling system on this Asus G73Jh is absolute genius. Even Steve Jobs is probably jealous as this is what his MBP should have

If you plan on using your notebook for benchmarking, then I have no answer for you as I think that's stupid. If you want to benchmark you build a beast desktop... Because 10,000 on Vantage for benchmarking bragging rights is really wimpy.

Profile and Size

17.3" is big. No question. The extra space for the vents in the back makes the G73jh for depth larger than normal. But I can tell you from USING the laptop, not looking, this thing is thin and great. When you are sitting in front of the G73jh you feel like you are using a thin and slim 17" notebook. You don't realize how large it is until you look at it from the back. And yes it's only about 8 pounds so transporting it is a breeze.

Transporting

Excellent. I tell everyone I use my notebook at work. The screen excellent for the quick photoshop, inDesign work and for your web editing. And then when you are working on your database, using excel, word and just researching on the web, excellent. So I love it for work.

The backpack that comes with the G73jh A2 and A1 model is great. It's all black with plenty of padding on the back so it sits comfortably. It's designed well so you never feel any fatigue on your shoulders or any sharp points of pain. I walk to the train daily and it feels great.

There is enough room in the backpack. I can carry the G73jh Notebook, the Thermaltake Massive23 ST cooler, my huge Audio Technica AD900 headphones, MX518 mouse, Steel qCK Mass mousepad and the huge 150 watt power pack all fits comfortably. I don't have to struggle to close or be afraid anything will break from being squished.

Although anymore large textbooks not recommended, if you need to do that, take out the headphones and cooler. And then can carry 3 large textbooks easily. Use earbuds instead and just prop up the back of the notebook for gaming.

You want something better?

Look at Alienware. Quality build difference will be there. Alienware does use aluminum casing. And they can provide you the X-Fire HD5870M setup.

Overall

Both are amazing machines. Just buy whichever machines you like and if you have any preferences for brand go for it. I don't think you will go wrong with whatever choice you make.

Disclaimer

I love my notebook. I take offense to any fanboy who claims my notebook's cooling is subpar as it's IMO the best in the industry right now hands down. Its' the best cooling design of any large performance notebook to me. So take my impressions with a large grain of salt.

Good luck to you.

 

Grain of salt taken.