best buy g73jh owners ?

has anyone had NO issues out of the box? I really like this machine but I don't want alot of headaches.

I don't have the money for the extended warranty.

the forums are rife with tales of bsod and gsod and all kinds of sods. Heat issues. Missing keystorkes. Keyboard lag.

So my main ? was "has anyone had NO issues out of the box?"

Also...

Will a usb keyboard negate the keystroke issues? are they systemic to the keyboard or to the system itself?

danke

 

Out of the box? Small issues. As far as gaming and just general use though, no. Perfectly fine, never seen a GSOD ever. I've had some minor issues like the G73 getting sluggish when it's low on battery (Fixed easily by flashing the BIOS to the newer version) and the Touchpad being wonky which has been seemingly fixed by the even more recent BIOS. Never had the keyboard issues or gaming issues, it's been a pretty solid experience. But yeah if you buy a G73 then you will most likely have to spent at least a little bit making sure everything is up to date and ready to go.

 

You will have to take some time to 1. either reformat and reinstall the os or clean it up. 2 updated the bios/vbios 3. update the drivers.

Its not going to be a plug and play machine but if you take your time, and do everything right, you can have a working amazing machine in a days worth of work.

 

Unfortunately, its not one of those laptops in which you just turn on and be good with it. There are somethings you have to do (or at least seriously recommended), ASAP...such as flashing BIOS, VBIOS, and some other issues you may have. Fortunately for me, the ONLY issue ive ever had was the touchpad issue and a faint light speaker crackle/buzz when the bass is max. But that speaker problem just faded out and i managed to fix the TP issue by deleting a certain .exe file. Ive never seen a GSOD as i flashed vBIOS immediately after initial boot. Worst case really is if you have faulty hardware or horribly pasted GPU/CPU which can easily be fixed but require you to open up the laptop. With all the work you have to do (if you even have to do much), id say this machine is extremely worth it. For the $890 i paid, it was definitely the best purchase of the year.

There are a ton of tutorials about issues and general info here that you should check out upon getting your rig.

 

lol the dell laptop im on just missed a bunch of keystrokes. I had to edit this.



to update the bios and VBIOS I need a USB flash drive? about how large?


what kind of gaming latop do you think would be GTG out of the box?

 

The BIOS is like 2MB so you can use whatever you want. Honestly the G73 is worth it since you only have to update the BIOS and stuff once and then you're good to go forever.

 

I can handle that. THanks guys. I'm still tossed between this and the qosmio 892.

 

Run Away From The Toshiba. Go Order The Refurb From Best Buy!

 

see. I'm one of those weird rednecks that doesn't believe in electronic commerce. I hafta walk into the bank and withdraw cash and then walk into a store and buy it. I'll try for the refurb but if th epeople in the store don't want to be nice it will be difficult. I guess I could get aprepaid mastercard.

cause if I got the refurb then I could afford a copy of windows and 2 more gb ram with the extra funds, plus a kbd and mouse.

I'll try.

 

Plus, it doesn't matter whether or not you have the BB version of the G73 or not, the support from the folks on these Asus subforums have been awesome. Lots of setup guides, and advice for everything you need for the care and feeding of your G73. Also, Gary Key from Asus posts here with help and suggestions on fixing any issues. The Toshiba forum is much more quiet and there are little to no guides written up that help unlike those available here. So given that and the great price available for that G73, I think you should not let anything you hear about the G73 scare you away. Just bite the bullet and give yourself a nice G73 for Christmas! Good Luck!

 

I totally agree. Have yourself a happy holiday and get the refurb model from Best Buy by instore pickup so you can open the box and see if it's all good (else get the BST-7 model which has a 740qm), then if you think you might have major problems you can't fix on hand then you should have extra funds for a 2-year warranty upgrade for $200 from BB. The left over funds could be used for the harddrive, RAM, accessories, professional repasting job, better monitor, and so forth.

 

It's down to the best buy g73jh and the qosmio 892. it's the i7 740 that makes me lean toward the asus and the reliability and local customer support for the toshiba.

I really want the i7. I'm trying to fit the 2 year warranty into my budget.

where do I download the BIOS and VBIOS updates, and how do I make a bootable flash drive?

Thank you

also, do the keyboard problems go away with a USB keyboard?

 

There are links to the BIOS and VBIOS updates and guides around the forums here. I don't have the link around but I'm sure you'll find it easily. The Toshiba is kind of ugly but that's just me. I'd get the ASUS because of the features. Most of the keyboard problems have been solved according to many of the people on these forums but I don't have any personal experience so I wouldn't know for sure.

If you do plan on making your budget higher for a 2-year warranty then I highly recommend also saving up for the G53JW-A1 (or G73 for a few dollars more) which ends up being around the same price of the BST7 from BB instead of buying the refurbished model from Best Buy. It would save you a lot of money because the Best Buy model has a lot of things missing.

 

I have been over-all happy with mine. Never had any GSOD issues personally, but I did eventually update to the new VBIOS just to avoid any issues.

So far, I have sunk maybe 200 bucks in mine, upgraded the screen, bought an HDD cage, another HDD, and a 2gig stick of RAM. After x-mas, I will be rocking a Momentus XT as my primary drive, and I love the screen quality of the AUO Full-HD (1080p) screen I bought. Its a huge step up from the AUO 1600x900

 

I have the best buy model directly from Asus. Cant speak for your model but mine came updated with 211 bios and i have had absolutely no problems. People seem hit and miss about the Asus warranty but my experience was you cant beat it. I had a g1s months out of warranty and after a few phone calls Asus had sent me a new g73 as a replacement. The screen really isnt that bad but if your like me you have it hooked up to a external monitor anyway. The touch pad does suck but again i have a mouse hooked up.

 

I bought my BB G73JH from Cowboom.com for $900 and I must say it's the best computer I've ever had. ZERO problems out of the box. I did, however, make all the suggested tweaks (w7 lockup fix, vbios and bios updates, repasting) as precautionary measures, and added hardware (extra 2GB ram, Intel 6200, 2nd hard drive using earplugs - yes that is my idea) because i like to customize my rig (habit from the old days of making my frankenrig push its boundaries)

I haven't had any GSODs, BSODs, missing keystrokes, touchpad issues, keylight issues, backlight issues, overheat issues... NONE OF IT. I am completely satisfied and would buy the unit again even if it cost $300 more than what I got it for.

The only thing, and this seems to plague all G73JH users, is the PCI-E speed. However, I haven't noticed any slowdowns or any sort of indication that this laptop cannot handle ANYTHING I've thrown at it. If the G73JH were a user here, I'd give it rep every day.

The end.

If you get the refurb it should still have the COA sticker on it and you can download Windows 7 ISOs for free, legally. There's an "everything thread" that contains this info at the top of this forum.

 

I have not had any problems with my laptop. Stock vbios and I have not had one gsod. Only thing I did when I got my g73 was remove the bloatware and update the ati drivers to 10.10.

 

I have a best buy version
no problems except for overheating, frequent gsods, and occasional touch pad seizures

i havent repasted, havnt updated vbios, or updated any pad drivers however

 

Don't worry, once you do your problems will go away.

 

You: I feel fine, except I have a headache.
Me: I have some aspirin, want some?
You: I haven't taken any aspirin or advil.
Me: I have some advil, want some?
You: No, I know those will make me feel better, but no.
Me:
You: I feel fine, except I have a headache. I haven't taken any aspirin or advil however.

 

Headaches are caused by aspirin/Advil deficiencies. ?

My BST7 has been good to me, it seems to have had a ton less problems than everyone else who bought elsewhere. This is only one persons experience, but it's just food for thought. I did however have a GSOD once, I got rid of Asus power configuration tool, and I updated the graphics drivers. After that, I've not had a single problem.

I got mine for a bit less, I had Best Buy rewards. So, it was rather cheap, there was minimal fixing, and I have a beast of a laptop that I can play games on when I have time off. It NEVER overheats! I'll also have you know that I'm in Iraq, and the dust here is crazy. I've blown out the laptop a few times and I see a minimal temperature decrease. I think the hottest I’ve ever seen it get was on one of my days off I played Americas Army for like…. 4 Hours straight, I know right (looser). LOL…. Anyways, It got to 81C if I remember. That’s well within the limits of the machine.

At least with BB you have a 15 day return policy, then again I think there's a 10% restocking fee. I doubt they will charge you that if you have major problems. Then again, I’ve never bought anything that was refurbished and I’m not quite sure about how that all works. Whatever your decision, good luck.

 

I'm not sure how ASUS warrants refurbished goods, but all other brands like HP/Toshiba/Apple/Sony only warrants refurbished laptop/PCs for 3 month.

 

I had ZERO issues, till I bought FFXVI which required newer drivers, which caused GSOD over this past weekend. I updated the Vbios, no problems since.

I put a Momentus XT in it, set the 640 for a data drive in the second slot, and used cardboard to hold it in place. Why is it so hard to buy the damn caddy??? WHYY!!?!?!