how's the rubber finish holding up? (G73JH)

Freak coincidence then. I'm going to place an order for the B1 today. We'll see how that one goes. Wish me luck. lol

 

B1 of the G73jw? Since you do have the choice now

 

well, i was looking at just the B1 of the g73jh. people keep going back and forth on which is better, and some say they are basically the same. i mean, so which is the better one to buy or is it just personal preference at this point?

 

The JW would be better proofed against the future with USB 3.0 and a few other options. I consider the GPU's somewhat equal, plus nVidia has CUDA / Physx.

 

doesnt the JW only have one single usb3.0 port while the rest are 2.0?

 

now that there is DirectCompute and OpenCL CUDA doesn't add much to the game, and ATI GPUs were utilized for general computing before Nvidia Ones AFAIK.

 

yes.
10char

 

Ok, an update. I ended up ordering a B1. I had to wait a week for it but it got here a couple of hrs ago. Inspected it and it looks good overall. The only thing is that the battery has a deep scrap on it but I don't care as much as the battery will get swapped out for a new one in the future when it starts to die.

One thing I wanted to mention is that mine did not come with the HANNSTAR lcd. It has the AUO. Someone made a comment in another thread that it is rare for the 1080p lcd's to be AUO. Well, just wanted to confirm that mine is. I don't really notice anything wrong with the screen. I do notice this screen door effect on black, but I read the HANNSTAR does this as well.

Anyway, I'm going to install my SSD into it tonite and reinstall windows. Thx guys!

 

I quite like the rubber-matte finish since it's nice and clean and doesn't show fingerprints as easy (Scratches do though unfortunately). My solution is to just not touch the palm rest or try to minimize how much you touch it. Mine is pretty pristine, I have more trouble keeping the speaker grills dust free than anything. I still haven't found a solution that works 100% in that case...

 

^^ I don't think there is really a solution to keeping dust out of the speaker grills besides covering them. Just keep a can of compressed air handy.

 

Are the speaker grills where the cooling system draws in cool air? If so, wouldn't compressed air have a negative impact on it, helping to blow some dust in instead of away? Would a small, mini keyboard vacuum be more helpful?

 

I believe air comes in thru the keyboard as well. I guess u could try a mini vacuum as well. I haven't had my laptop long enough to have a lot of dust. I had a tiny bit out of the box and blew it out with canned air.

 

It's incredibly dusty were I live. A very thin layer will form on my system even when I'm using it for just a couple of hours so I'm very wary of using canned air to blow it out from the vents.

Hopefully I can find a cheap keyboard vacuum or something on sale during black friday.

 

After 2 months of regular use the rubber around the parm rest is becoming shiny. Its not too bad at the moment but i think it will get worse.. i guess it wont stay new forever and i'll just enjoy it rather than stress out about keeping it pristine. Anther thin that annoys me are the lines about the mouse pad and around the edges of the laptop. if they made it flush dirt wouldnt get in there. Also a warning to others, i used blue tack to remove the dust in the grills. While its very effective a small blob got stuck in there and now i cant get it out lol..

 

Man does this rubber finish scratch easy... while unpacking my laptop this morning and hooking up my required mouse (no dropped keystrokes) the USB plug barely tapped the rear monitor lid and lo and behold a "ding" was there from the minor contact! Be warned even the slightest tap from a relatively sharp object will cause the rubberized finish to break off.
Now I'm starting to get why this G73 is so much cheaper than a MacBook Pro. Those Apple's can be 3 years old and still look as good as new.

 

Isn't the metal finish on those MBPs just as susceptible to scratches?

 

Have you seen the MBP's on e-bay?
From afar, sure. But the aluminum finish scratches just as easily. It also dents easily and bends easily, courtesy of being aluminum.
I'd say 60% of the aluminum Macbook Pro's on e-bay have some form of disfigurement.
The store model at Best Buy was missing a few keys and had a crater in the palm rest, and a few decent gouges all over. =s

 

My G73Jh rubberized cover still looks like brand new. Loving it so much!

 

my palm rest makes a good mouse pad when im not using a desk

 

Of course I realize you can beat the crap out of a MacBook if you want to. I guess my point is that an inconsequential tap on this rubberized material is more likely to leave a blemish then on the aluminium MacBook enclosure.
I can only imagine what a G73 would like after going through the same abuse that those MacBooks on Ebay you reference did!

This is not to start a flame war either. I was a faithful PowerBook & Macbook user since '99 who just recently "switched" to the PC world and am here only to share my thoughts on how these ASUS PCs wear in comparison.

The G73 is a great machine with an even greater price!

 

its too bad they don't make a zagg invisible shield for the g73. if anyone would want to volunteer their laptop they would test fit a shield and that person would get one for free.

 

Anyone know of a way to fill in small scratches on the lid? Though I'm sure that might be difficult being this rubbery finish.

 

Ok, so I've started noticing a little wear around the edges of the laptop lid and also near the top lines. I guess inserting the laptop into the Asus backpack and taking it out is causing this. It's very unfortunate because even though it's not the greatest backpack, I still like it alot cuz it was "made" for this laptop. I'm always extremely careful when packing and unpacking as well. I was a bit irritated seeing this but I'm almost over it. I guess this is what is considered "normal wear and tear".

Anyone else have the backpack and notice this looking at theirs up close?

 

@krillin: Do you mind showing a picture?

 

hey. to be honest, i don't have a camera that would be able to capture what i am talking about. if you can just imagine the hinge cover piece where the top edges form a peak. you will see a very slight rubbing in those areas, and also those at the corners of the front lid. i've pretty much shrugged it off as it's not entirely noticeable unless you look pretty close at it. like other people may have said, it's just normal wear and tear.

 

i have a G73 since april and i take it to work...i dont have a single scratch on it

 

Then you are very fortunate or lucky. Im not saying that its not possible but I've witnessed this on 4 of these laptops. 98% of the people who have seen my laptop have not noticed until I pointed it out. Even some after showing still don't notice or see what I'm talking about. I dunno, I'm pretty anal when it comes to blemishes or scratches.

 

I can imagine it, "shrugged off." I wonder if there is only a thin layer of the rubber finish or if it's a thick layer so if it, for some reason comes off, the metal won't show up underneath.

 

My Chrome Alienhead has a scratch and I always cleaned it with microfiber, put it into a cloth while transporting in my pretty heaftily padded backpack. Everything gets scratches after a while.
I wouldn't worry about it if you had a scratch after a few months.

 

My BST7 from BB came pristine! Since it's been in Iraq the damn things turning brown heh... The dust here is fine, like caulk dust. This leaves me wondering, how the hell am I going to get the dust out when it actually builds up a bit...

I think I might need to invest in a dust vacuum for this laptop. Though, will that be as effective as canned air? The crappy part about being out here is you order something and it gets here 2-3 months later.

I like where the discussion has gone, this brings up points about how to properly care for this laptop. I'd like to know....


Thanks