Asus Warranty policy on user upgrades?

I'm looking to buy an N43, but I want to be able to swap out two components as soon as I get my hands on it: the HDD and the optical drive. Now, from what I gathered from the Xotic PC review of the larger N53, this will be even more of a challenge as it looks like I'd have to take out to keyboard to access the screws that hold the back panels in place. I've heard that Asus have a more lenient policy on users performing such upgrades themselves, but would it be extensive enough? Could I go ahead with it and still expect Asus' warranty for the rest of the laptop, or would I be throwing it out right away?

On that note, if anyone has any advice or guidelines on opening up one of these new N*3 series laptops please share. I'm generally comfortable with opening stuff up, I've built desktop PCs, taken apart a friend's Acer laptop almost completely to access his damaged charging port, and will be dismantling a couple more laptops in the near future. But obviously I'd be very scared to screw up something with a brand new unit, even minor issues, so any advice would be very helpful.

Another thing I wanted to ask is what's Asus' policy on dead pixels? I'd have this shipped from abroad, so it would be good to know before I do it. Does the Zero Bright Dot really cover all models or is there a catch, and does it extend to black pixels too, or just bright ones?

Finally, since this wouldn't come with a UK keyboard, if I wanted to replace it myself where would I go to order a replacement (preferably a US layout one, actually). I might not have to, I use US drivers on UK layouts anyway so I may well adapt easily enough, but if I did is there an official Asus outlet for such parts?

 

Don't know about that model, but on the G series the Warranty Void if Broken sticker is on the heatsink, so anything short of changing/repasting the CPU or GPU will not void the warranty.

 

Yeah i think as long as you don't break any warranty stickers you can go to town.

 

Thanks, guys! I guess I'm just gonna order it and hope it's the same with this model, it would make sense at least.

 

HDD, RAM and simple things like keyboard replacement do *not* void Asus' warranty - never have. In the US there's the eStore, but you probably should post another thread asking about UK specific parts dealers that could sell a keyboard to you.

ZBD is not available on every single model that Asus makes, but most ... confirm with your seller or Xotic regarding the specific notebook you're purchasing. ZBD applies only to stuck *bright* dots (blue, red, green), and specifically excludes dead black pixels. The coverage applies for the first 30 days after purchase.

 

Thanks for the clarification! I've called up Asus customer tech support, but they claim that it's all of Asus' screens as it says on the site, a little confusing. I guess I'll just roll with it, truth is I want the laptop and I'll probably just have to risk it.

 

Sometimes Asus gets a little picky about third party upgrades if you have to send it in for repair. My suggestion would be to keep the original parts and if you need to send it in swap around to the original HDD and optical drive. I have seen some times where a third party HDD was blamed when the mobo was at fault, etc. If you want to do these upgrades yourself as you saw on the N53 video you will have to get elbow deep in the laptop, but as long as you take it slow and keep track of where you put the screws and which screws go where you should be ok. Just never force anything. If you feel like you have to lift too hard for a piece to come apart you are probably missing a screw or a release somewhere.

Good luck!

Joseph L

 

Thanks for the advice, Joseph! Yeah, plan's to keep the parts around, if I ever need to send it in for repairs I'll stick 'em back in. Hopefully won't be the case, though.

 

You can buy spareparts (keyboard a.s.o) from Asusparts its placed in Sweden.

 

Thanks Tomb58, though they only have UK layout replacements, realky interested in a US one. I'm kinda used to having UK keyboards functioning on US drivers, but now that I think about it some more I don't think there's any point in replacing the one it comes with (Portuguese) unless it's with a US one. Otherwise, I'll just deal with it, I touchtype anyway.