Official Asus G73JH Owners Lounge

I know I am still much more comfortable having a nice disk and case sitting on my shelf and not having to worry about a HDD crash and losing my entire movie collection at the same time. HD movies still take up too much HDD space for the normal user as well. Not sure we ever see the physical disc go completely away for downloads but I think both can coexist nicely.

 

On the contrary, I personally can see a big differenc ebetween 720 and 1080. I don't see the difference between 1080i and 1080p however. And since I'll use the BluRay's on the road exclusively, I'm waiting for the A1. Trying to get something else to fit, and probably not having the exact fit (edges sticking out, etc...) as well as an external unit just simply will not do for me.

At least I'm in no hurry...

 

You are right, HD movies take too much space on the HDD, plus, not everyone is able to download a 5-10GB movie on their internet plans.

However, on the other hand, HDDs are becoming cheaper while the capacity keeps increasing. I guess the question one needs to ask is, do you prefer carrying your blu-rays around or store all your HD movies on your computer?!

 

I've seen some reports that the sound is good, but I also heard that about the HP Envy and was not at all impressed. Can mandrake or anyone who's experienced the sound on the M17X comment on how they compare? The M17X sound to me was not great, but it was at least loud! I have these loud Lieberts and servers making noise at work and loved the loudness of the M17X (dpc latency issues aside).

 

I think this is a religious debate that probably shouldn't be in this thread. Most people don't see a diff if they sit further than a screen width away from the monitor. Of course everyone's eyes are different and what they are after etc. I'm pretty picky myself, but will happily watch a 720p. I would prefer it for the disk space issue as well.

20GB for a movie is a little excessive, but I am fairly over the 700MB Divxs

AND if the content companies ever come out of the stone age you could own a "license" to watch a film and DL it again if you lose it. This is assuming we get decent Broadband speeds in Aus and remove these stupid DL limits of course. 60GB a month probably wouldn't get me too many episodes of The Biggest Loser US...

 

Curious...

Has anyone ordered one with an i7-820QM or i7-920XM?

Cheers,
Kermee

 

I ordererd the I7-920XM ^^

 

Indeed, which is why I just purchased the 2x BD burner/8x player for $359. I am future-proofing my lappy, and making it more useable for ME.

 

Awesome! Just wondering if anyone has had a chance to bench them yet...

Cheers,
Kermee

 

Just installed system on new SSD..smooth.
Question..which ATI drivers are currently best..?
And habe one device not installed..PCI Simple Communications Controller..what is this and where do I get driver?

Thx

 

Has anyone run Battlefield BC2 Beta on this beast yet? I'd love to see what fps I can expect on it because my desktop can only manage 12-15fps with everything on low in a 1024x768 window.

 

Speaking of SATA blu-ray players, I just got mine installed and am currently watching Serenity on blu-ray. Beautiful. Blacks are very good for an LCD and detail is of course incredible. LOVE IT!

*edit* Model is a Sony BD-5730S.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BD-5730S...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1265933961&sr=8-1

 

Whoa, I was looking at that one, but didn't see the G73 faceplate fitting over the eject button and activity light. Do you have it internally installed with the G73 bezel on it? Can I get some pics please? Thanks.

Q

Edit: Hi aramis109, I found the post where you say the G73 bezel fit well, thanks. Any pics of the drive in your G73 would be great, even if it's a cell phone pic. +rep

 

My solution was much more expensive, but I bought it from the stock that Xotic has. It's the one that will be put inside anyone's G73, if they upgraded to the BRD burner. Joseph assured me all I'd have to do is remove a couple screws and the bezel, and swap it over. Perfectly flush, like it was born on the lappy. Again, it can't touch that $225 price of the Sony.

Also, the G73 doesn't have a light on it's bezel anyways.

 

One of the first games I will be trying tonight.

 

I think something is wrong with my gpu.. it doesn't affect any gameplay at all, but it's just when I turn on the game and for the first 3secs graphics crash. example: left side is black, middle pink and dark pink, and on the right side there are pink dots.
this only happens for 3secs when I turn on the game but game runs great afterwards (no crashes)
Maybe gpu driver update should do it?

 

Thanks for the heads up that the resellers already have the OEM BR drives, (you already have yours right, working well?). $359 I think I read in another thread, right?

You'll see where I stand in my sig.

You misunderstand me about the activity light, I'm well aware the G73 bezel doesn't have one, but the Sony does and it looks exposed enough to be a problem for the fit of the G73 bezel on the Sony drive along with the fact that the eject buttons are clearly a different shape (I don't care if I see the activity light or not, but I want a perfect finish). The manual eject hole of the G73 bezel does seem to line up with the standard slim drive location though.

So I asked him in another thread if he installed it internally and did he swap out the bezel, eagerly awaiting his response.

That would make my heart skip a beat.

Q

 

I installed the Ati driver package off of Asus' website, and then ran the install for the mobility modder 10.1 link that was posted by iata. I am not having those weird artifacts? Sounds like you have a weird driver issue.

 

Yeah looks to be a driver issue. If it was hardware it wouldn't run properly in the game itself. Don't worry!

 

I see. No sir, I just ordered it tonight from XoticPC. they did not have any of the BRD players in stock, other than what was for customer adds to the G73, but they had a couple (few?) burners left over. I am having it shipped UPS RED, but I don't think I made the shipping cutoff tonight. So, Saturday or Monday I'll have it. It's listed at $417 on Xotic's site, but i did manage to get it for $359. Conversely, it's only $329 as an upgrade for G73 buyers on Xotic's site. Of course, they probably don't get to keep their CDRW drive too like me and Aramis.

 

I've been lurking on these forums for a long time, some of you may remember me as being one of the first to pick up the W90. I'm a laptop addict, so I've purchased the G73 as well, A2 version from Newegg.

I actually had a freeze/lockup that required a hard restart while doing a 25 man in wow. The screen just went dark blue/black with vertical lines. Somewhat alarming, as this issue once plagued me when I first got the W90 a year ago, and had to RMA it. Hasn't happened since, but it's definitely got me worried...

 

Have you stress tested the system?

I would, very hard while you are within your replacement window.

 

I'll do some more raiding in wow as a "stress test" lol. But yea, I plan to run some vantage and possibly other tests to determine if this really is a problem. I'm hoping that it's just a graphics driver issue, as I'm still using the stock drivers it shipped with.

 

run prime95 or wprime AND furmark for a while.

That should be the ultimate stress test.

 

I did a search for Turbo Mode on the G73, but came up with nothing....

Can someone please tell me if Turbo Mode works and has it's benefits been quanitifed (e.g. increase in 3DMark06 scores, etc.).

Thanks.

 

I ran it and sure enough, my Turbo numbers were lower than my non-turbo numbers. (3DMark06)

I'll try Vantage and see right now

 

0100, are you running the i7 turbo mode that can change the core use and increases speed up to 2.8Ghz on a single core or are you using that Asus button that jumps all cores to 1.7GHz? Thanks.

Q

 

Just installed system on new SSD..smooth. Have one device not installed..PCI Simple Communications Controller..what is this and where do I get driver?

 

So, i'm a bit concerned with the AC Adapter that comes with this thing. I've had AC Adapters burn out in the past and I'd hate to have it happen again, and be stuck without the laptop when I need it. I'm looking at purchasing a second one...and I found this on NewEgg which looks pretty nice, and actually uses "L" adapters instead of the straight one on the OEM adapter. I assume there's no problem with using third party adapters (for purposes of maintaining the warranty of the system), right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834995750

This one is also nice, but it's normal output is only 95W....the G73 requires 120W I believe...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834991040

 

Here's a reply to an e-mail to asus parts


Thank you for your email.

However, I regret to inform you that we do not have the G73JH HDD Bracket in stock yet. Please check back with us in 3-4 weeks.

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,


Some names have been omitted to protect the inocent.

 

IMO, the second one is a def no go. On the first one, this is in the specs:

Note: Please check with the Manufacturer Product Page for the compatible Notebook Model list. Compatible With ACER | COMPAQ | HP | DELL | IBM |LENOVO| SONY | TOSHIBA | and much more

http://www.fspgroupusa.com/NB120CEC.asp they seem to have an Asus plug covered, but what you need to do it look at the G73 adapter and see if the ouput voltage and max current are the same as this one. Voltage has to be the same, but MAX current can be higher, just not lower than the Asus.

If you get it, let us know how it performs.

Q

 

Anyone with the X1 wanna give me/us some information off of the AC Adapter? Input/Output voltages/wattages, etc?

Thanks

 

Should be the same as my A2:

Input = 100-240v ~ 2.0A 50-60hz
Output= 19.5v ~ 7.7A

By the way, this is a 150 watt Power Adapter NOT a 120watt.

 

I do have it swapped out with the G73 bezel. Was a perfect and easy fit- the first time I'd ever done something like that. I haven't looked at the activity light. Let me see what I can do to get you guys some pics. I can say that the swap was not hard and my only complaint is that the tray on the Sony is a little fragile, but that's the problem of a lot of slim drives.

 

Please also try to play a blu ray movie if you can!

Thanks.

 

Holy Hell.....LOL. Alright then, guess that one on NewEgg wont work.

 

You got it, thanks for the word evensen007.

He did, he was watching Serenity.

Thanks aramis109, you treaded where I feared and some pics of the flush finish and even opening the tray all the way would be outstanding.

Q

 

Hmm...I have an iGo Wallpower that I bought about a year and a half ago, and that will output between 19 and 24 volts at up to 8 Amps. However, it's only 120W max....would that still work?

 

Ok, still need to grab my camera phone. Watched Serenity without issue. That movie caused some players some trouble, which is why (besides being a favorite) I chose it.

There's no activity light... was there ever? The bezel doesn't seem to have a lighted area. I'll double-check now.

 

I would be concerned about it. Watts = Volts * Amps, so if your psu can supply the up to 7.7Amps the Asus can, it would only be providing 15.6volts if it has a MAX 120watt ability.

BTW: 19.5V at 7.7A is 150W.

The correect volts are very important and since Asus psu states 19.5, you have to find an adapter that outputs very, very close to that (not one that provides such a range like 19-24). Now the MAX current of the adapter can be higher than 7.7A, you will be fine becuase the circuit (computer) is only going to draw the current it needs (in fact, your psu will run cooler if it can provide more than 7.7A). If your adapter can't provide up to 7.7A, then it will get hotter during use and possibly fry out under heavy load. If you get one with an improper voltage, you run the risk of simply not turning on to frying your pc and hoping there was some kind of circuit protection.

Rule of thumb is, don't try to go cheap on a laptop psu, buy what you're supposed to run. If not, be careful about the specs.

Q

 

The Sony has the light, but the G73 bezel will cover it without a hole being drilled. I was just thinking the light might affect how the bezel fit/finished. As long as the G73 bezel locks tight to the drive and the bezel fits flush with the G73 case when the drive is closed, as is well with just a suspicion about the eject button looking good.

Q

 

For what it's worth, the AC adapter that came with my X1 is the same exact adapter that I got with my G72 (which may or may not be going back this weekend....that's a whole other story). Part number and all.

Attached is a picture of it for anyone that needs to know. Hopefully this is of help to someone.

 

The Asus eStore has an adapter from the G71 that looks like it might work. The specs seem to match (granted it says 19.0 in one place and 19.5 in another for voltage). Anyone out there have a G71 AND a G73 that could check to see if the tips are the same?

I guess I could also talk to the resellers and see if they will sell just an extra AC adapter or two.

 

Ok, resized. I apologize for the quality, but they're quick and dirty. My cell is only a 2.0MP camera but it came out ok I guess.

Anyway, the light doesn't show at all and I don't intend to drill a hole in the bezel in case I need to put it back. Again, the tray is a bit flimsy but that's all drives I guess. Anyway, all working as you can see and open and closes smoothly. Manual and auto eject work ok.

 

Lol, kinda sucks for all you A1 pre-orderers.

Get an X1 or A2, d00dz!

 

Agreed... I was actually surprised when I was able to really notice a difference. Just like when I was really shocked with the difference between AC3 5.1 and TrueHD 7.1. I'll never go back on either the 1080p or the TrueHD 7.1!

But then again... I have 8TB on a HTPC server so it's all good

Glad to see the BluRay's being added with ease and smooth install lines... might rethink an earlier A2 model...

 

lol, those cell phones

pics concentrating on the finish of the side like the 4th pic and from a couple different angles would fit the bill. Don't be afraid of the light as I'm really wanting to focus on the eject button and Much appreciation

Curios what BR software you're running, I use WinDVD9.

Q

 

Hey guys came in to work 3 hours early just to push ahead more with the review. Things not moving along as fast as I thought they would still have like 8 games to install and a lot of excel work to put together my benchmark graphs.

But I am done 100% with the pictures and figured I would share them ahead of time.

Unboxing -

G73 Unboxing

Unit Pictures -

G73 Review Pictures

Monitor Benchmarking/Images -

G73 Monitor Images

 

Running PowerDVD9 though I have Total Media Theater 3 as well.

Honestly, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to tell any difference with the tray closed. With it open only the different shapes is apparent.

All I had to do was pop off the bottom (2 screws) and remove the plate. Then removed one screw holding in the DVD-ROM, remove the small bracket (2 screws) and put it on the BD-ROM. Then it was a simple matter of removing the bezel and snapping it on the other and putting everything back together. Took me a bit longer because I couldn't find my laptop screwdriver set anywhere and had to use regular ones. Got a look at the ram and caddy while I was in there.

*edit* Oh- batt life is going to be a little over an hour. Playing that BD really killed it quickly though. In fact, I just got a warning for low batt.