ASUS Republic of Gamers G73JH-A2 17-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black)

Full Description

5 Reviews

1. I had the G73JH-A1 for almost two weeks before it shutdown while playing a game. A web search for G73JH and shutdown showed it could be overheating problems. I installed desktop gadgets that monitored the CPU and GPU and tested by playing various games. While closely watching and frequently checking the GPU temperature, it was generally anywhere from the mid 90s to just over a 100 and at times would reach 107 degrees.

   After reading more on the web, I downloaded the FurMark benchmark utility and tried the stability test. In less than 3 minutes, the laptop reached 110 degrees and shut down. If the GPU ran hotter than a “normal” 95 degrees, but remained at a constant 100 or 101 degrees without reaching critical temperature, it might have been acceptable. Perhaps by using a cooling pad and making sure the ambient room temperature wasn’t higher than 90 I could do without having to send my G73JH for service. But the fact that a gaming laptop could overheat to shutdown with GPU intensive programs meant an unstable video card.

   Just to make sure it wasn’t the benchmark utility, I tested it on my desktop computer which has an ATI 5770. It ran at a constant 96 degrees for 15 minutes. A friend installed FurMark on her laptop with an nVidia 360m and it was stable at 85 degrees.

   I’m glad this happened during my first 30 days. Instead of having Asus replace the video card or entire laptop with possibly a refurbished one even though I had just purchased it new, I had Amazon issue me a RMA for an exchange. Hopefully there’s one in stock when it reaches them because I really did like this laptop and am willing to give it another chance.

   Aside from the GPU overheating and having to deal with an exchange, there were some minor cons. I won’t bother with what I liked because it’s been covered by plenty of other reviews.

   - The screen is way too glossy, causing lots glare and reflection on the monitor.

   - After a week the spacebar sometimes made a squeeking noise.

   - Dedicated volume buttons would have been easier than having to use both hands to press two keys, the Fn + F11 or F12.

   - I wish the Numlock light was on the right side of the keyboard near the number keys. Instead it’s on the left side of the laptop, beside the Capslock key.

   - On the Numberpad, the right arrow key is under the 1 and the 0 is under the 2. I’m used to pressing 0 with my thumb and have been trying to get used to the shorter 0 key.

   - The touchpad bar for the mouse buttons is difficult to press. I’m glad I use a separate mouse.

   - This laptop is so big it doesn’t fit in my old 17″ laptop case. Asus provides a decent backpack but it’s on the thin side and won’t hold more than one or two textbooks. Be careful and make sure you buy a laptop case or backpack large enough.

   4-stars if the laptop didn’t overheat but 3-stars because of the lemon. If Amazon is able to send another for an exchange I’ll update this review again when I receive the replacement.

2. I was looking for a performance/Gaming laptop and doing research for over 1000 hours i zeroed in on it I dont see any other laptop beating this Model in near future.My research also helped me in understanding how brand name increases the Price with out any significant increase in quality feature or othewise.Initially i was after big names , becasue my pshychological thinnking was if iam spending 17k it shud be fancy name because ASUS as brand is not that known , but well hey who cares , ASUS is offering an Extra ordinary product way to go!! satisfaction guaranteed .I suggest for all gamers and Performance enthusiasts .once purchased dont look back for upgrade for next 5 years

   4 stars because no product is perfect , there is always scope for improvement .ASUS Republic of Gamers G73JH-A1 17-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black)

   Improvements that could have been done :

   1.For 17k i expect (its my personal opinion ) fashionable product , which shud generate a wow factor !!!!!!!!!!!!!.
   2.Lap top touch pad and left and right key pad is a big joke(i have to be critical here ) but they cover it up by bundling the laptop with an awesome ROG mouse (good strategy here )probably they realized after mass production .(bad mouse pad designers)

3. I received mine last Friday, so I’ve only logged about 10 hours with the system, but man, is it fast! I spent about 10 minutes playing with it before pulling out my USB stick, and wiping the system, and putting on Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit. That took about 12 minutes!

   I love the chassis, no fingerprints, the specs are awesome! It showed as 1066Mhz ram, but it shipped with 8GB of 1333Mhz ram. My Windows 7 experience score is 5.9, only because of the hard drive. The CPU is 7.1, the RAM is 7.4 I believe, and the two graphic scores are about 7.3 to 7.5!

   I don’t know what else to say at this point, just that the bang for the buck on this system is incredible. Asus makes a decent number of parts in the system like the motherboard, so they don’t have to pay too many other OEMs for the parts inside. Plus, I haven’t installed any games yet, but the ATI HD 5870 should be awesome!

   Wow, all I can say is, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

4. This laptop is perfect for traveling and video games. As long as there is a power outlet available. The price vs. specs is excellent!!

5. Its a great computer and I am not going to re-hash what everyone else has had to say about it already – rather I am going to touch on the stuff you really need to be aware of.

   1. When you get this and turn it on you need to get to the ASUS web site and update the bios to rev 209. To do this you will need to have the updated bios utility program which is on the tab just below the bios found here
   [...].

   2. After that you will need to update your ATI series 5800 catalyst drivers to 10.1 or 2. This will resolve some issues you may or may not get with the grey screen of death (GSOD). I believe both the bios driver update and video driver update will adress this.

   3. It does have that very annoying trial edition of Office 7 but whne you go to download it or activate it you will be immediately redirected to office 2010 which is much better but also has some quarks of its own.

   4. Why ASUS partitions the drives into 4 parts I will never be able to figure out. I immediately blanked that and made it into 2 partitions.

   FYI – I find the keyboard a little unresponsive at times – and I find I am having to type harder to make sure the key stroke is completed.
   - The mouse pad is great but its size tends to pick up on my thunbs or palm of my hand making the mouse do weird things while I am typing like increase or decrease the magnification of screen; move the mouse all over the place and click stupid stuff.
   - The mouse included with the computer is great – use that.
   - There is a ton of bloatware on this computer mostly crap like trial edition this and that. Just get rid of it and you will free up quite a bit of space.