Hmm... How was your Notebooks Delivered Quality?

I just received my G73JH-A1 on Wednesday and was of course blinded by novilty and excitement, but today at work while doing some Overclocking and such, I started to notice a few things. The first thing I noticed on day 1 was how the screen looked like it was wiped with either a not 100% clean rag, or some cleaning agent was used and it left visible streaks and areas left where the "wiper" missed. I thought alright, somewhat suspicious but hey maybe there is a chance of not getting a 100% crystal clear screen from the Factory.... Like I have gotten from every other laptop I have purchased or monitor, device, etc...

Today however, I got a whole list of things I noticed within a good time looking after this first issue.

Issue 1. The Left Palm Rest (Area left of the touchpad). It has some play and causes a clunk when you press and release. Something wrong with whats between it and the subwoofer maybe, I'd have to tear it open and see.

Following this I took a good look at the bottom and knew something was out of the ordinary when I saw issue 2.

Issue 2. The big plate that covers the Ram, wifi, etc, was not installed properly. Whoever installed it (after removing it from a factory? unit) missed the clip and it got hung up on top of the spot it was supposed to go so it has a noticeable gap compared to the flush side. Taking a closer look to that I then stumbled onto issue 3.

Issue 3. Stripped Out Screw heads...
? Not only is 1 of the screws that holds that cover on stripped, but there are a few others stripped all over the place, (the entire bottom of the laptop).

Now I am at a crossroads.. I ordered a "NEW" $1600 laptop and from the looks of it. This thing is anything but new. It either is a Refurb, Attempted to be modded and was returned, really bad day for said factory worker, but all I know is this thing is anything but "NEW"..

What I am torn about is the performance is going well, she overclocks reasonably, temps are ok, but I feel as though I got jiped out of my cash for a Used Laptop.

I'd like to know if anyone else here has gotten a G73 or laptop in general that was supposed to be "New" but was not. And what you did about it or would recommend I do.

I e-mailed the rep I ordered the laptop from and will not be stating names or companies unless it becomes necessary.

I feel like I should have my laptop replaced with either a real "NEW" one, (Hell I have no idea if the warranty stickers are intact inside this thing now, what if I went in for warranty work 2 years from now and it's denied because the sticker was ripped from whoever had this originally?) or get compensated the difference in price. (Though I would then tear this thing open to see whats been messed with and to make sure things are at least Warranty capable in the future)..

I knew this thing had a weird feel/look to it and it took till today to really dig in and see what really is going on here.

Attached is a picture of the Plate Gap and a Good (or at least not screwed up screw) and a bad screw.

The Bad, The Good, The Ugly

 

Return it, if you didn't get what you payed for then demand a replacement or a refund. It's unacceptable to buy a product advertised as new and receive an obviously used product.

 

Yep you are right. I already am loosing my attachment to it since I am just pissed how I got such a used looking laptop and it somehow got handed off as new. It is Friday so I will probably just dink around with it over the weekend and then force things into motion if they are not taken care of on their end next week.

I am not pissed at anyone atm. Just confused how this could be passed off as new. It slipped my sights at first (only partially, the screen being dirty did catch my eye right out of the box) but I would expect some sort of visual inspection before shipping when there was no "Seal" on the Gseries box the laptop comes in. This thing has been messed with by someone who is a noob with a screwdriver and can't even reinstall the plastic cover properly. It MAY have come direct from the factory but it must have been the Refurb department. :/ The Screws alone remind me of the refurb 4870X2 I got on the first go around. Not good.

 

As far as those of you who got the Refurb models. Those come looking pretty much factory new also correct? Heck I just got a Refurb ZuneHD a month ago and it looked brand new.

 

Some people get lucky with refurbs b/c some of the stock in that classification is sealed/new overstock. Others may get crap with broken and missing parts. Buying refurb. is a coin toss, which is why I'll never buy a refurb b/c of the incredible headache and wait times for possible replacements.

 

Interesting. Ya that is the downside of a Refurb, you never know till you get it. On something small it may be worth it (got a ZuneHD for $99) but at the same time something as big as this laptop, I bought NEW wanting NEW so I didn't have to worry about a Refurb and well... I got a REFURB.. Thats messed up lol.

 

My big red Asus box was opened by Customs for inspection, but that seems to be the only thing they did. Open the box.

Everything was untouched, brand spanking new with a hint of new car smell.

Everything in perfect condition.

 

Opened As in cut through the tape that seals the Gseries box? Or the big box everything comes shipped inside?

Mine had no tape on the Gseries box whatsoever which was kinda odd since other laptops usually have a branded tape on the box sealed from the factory.

Mine is lacking that extremely new laptop smell, it smells a little bit but not as strong as say the new backpack or a new motherboard right out of its anti static bag.

 

Both, but yes, opened as in that tape that seals the G-series box. But they never touched anything inside. I imagined it was just a casual "open, glance, no drugs, done" kinda deal. No fingerprints on the laptop, and panels was properly screwed. Screen came with the plastic protector thingy held with yellow tape. Standard with all new G73s.

I was kinda pissed that it got shipped with that big assed box. They put the red G-series box IN the big assed box and shipped the whole thing. And DHL's shipping charged me in volumetric weight.

That's a query I wanted to ask too. Did everybody get their G73 in a the red box packed in a big cardboard box?

Or was it just the red G-Series box?

 

Ya I got the red box in a bigger box since it had the Backback.

Nope my Gseries box had NO tape on it. I did have the Screen cover with yellow tape, but the screen definitely was wiped before. It was imitating a new system no doubt..

 

K. A story on how it was a DOA, sent to ASUS, returned and added to inventory to be sold and I ended up with it. I guess I can believe it, but what I am disappointed about is the quality of whatever this thing had done to it. The performance is spot on so that makes me almost want to keep it. But the stripped screw heads, the improperly installed bottom plate, and the clunk under the palmrest signals that this thing might have been either messed with by the first Owner or a really bad ASUS tech. How are you guyses RMA's looking when you get them back for something as bad as a GPU/Motherboard failure?

Either way they are exchanging it for a new one so time to back up what little I have installed on it, format the drive and ship her off Monday. *Sigh*