Choosing a new Asus - advice requested

I've been an ASUS fanboy for some time, and we already have a few in the house.

However, two of them are from the Bamboo series (one for my wife, one for my daughter). I have not been happy with them. They seem to get fairly hot (esp. when my daughter plays games), and they have a tendency to shut down while the lid is closed (not a Windows shutdown/sleep/etc.; it just goes off, and upon reboot states that Windows didn't shut down properly).

I think that one issue is that this isn't a good fit for my daughter; since she plays games, she should have something with a beefier GPU, better cooling, etc. She's not hardcore or anything, so I hesitate to think about the G series, but if I have to, I have to.

One thing that has driven me crazy is the Optimus stuff; I seem to have issues with some things making sure they use the NVIDIA GPU instead of the Intel stuff. I know how to use the control panel to manually select apps/games, but sometimes it doesn't seem to work.

Both (esp. my wife) prefer smaller, however. But it seems as though all of the current models (except the G series or the specials like the Lambos) either have just Intel, or Optimus. Is that correct? Are there current models with dedicated NVIDIA (or even ATI)?

My wife doesn't play games, so it's less of a big deal for her. She just needs something that doesn't shut down/crash, and has enough CPU and memory for Photoshop. I was leaning towards one of the N43 models, but I'd be interested in what others have to say.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hello cdheer-

That is correct on the ASUS, most of the video cards are integrated video cards and cannot be removed. ASUS does not offer ATI video cards on there models. Computers generally marked 'User Upgradeable' would be the laptops that offer video card slots that you can replace that video card in.

If you are not dead set on sticking with a 14", I would suggest bumping up to the G53 model as it has back lit keys and a great price right now.

 

Thanks for the response, Michael. I'm a fan of the G53; I have one myself. Only issue (aside from the power pin busting off once) I have with it is the dropped keys.

I don't really need an upgrade-able video card; I just want a dedicated one without Optimus, as I've had all sorts of problems with Optimus switching when I don't want it to or not switching when I do.

I think my daughter might be fine with the 15" G series, but my wife wants something smaller. Since she doesn't game, I suppose I could get something with Optimus and just disable the switching (unless she decides to play a game).

Maybe this isn't the right place for this discussion, but I suppose I could consider a non-Asus. I know you guys sell Sager/Clevo, MSI and others; how do those compare in terms of reliability?

 

If you want to discuss other options, you should to the what notebook should i buy section of the forum and open a thread there.

 

CDheer

I would agree with Xoticpc on G53SX, if your daughter is a serious game player. If not, I agree with you on N43.

Asus laptops do not have ATI vga card option.

Good Luck!