ASUS G50VT-X1 with Nvidia 9800M Review and Initial Impression

Hello.
Propably I'll buy this notebook Asus G50VT-X1
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9050279&type=product&id=1218012519873

I have a few questions
- can I updrade (standard is 1 year) warranty to 2 years?
- can I buy internal oryginal bluetooth module for this notebook? (model G50VT-X2 have internal bluetooth module)


I wait for your answer

 

You should be able to upgrade its warranty, but it'll cost you a good amount. As for bluetooth I suggest you buy one of these mini USB bluetooth adapters for cheap:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3399853&CatId=909

 

Hi
I want to buy this laptop but two thing make me unsure about buying it.first is the weight and second the battery.
weight:I need a portable gaming laptop.and I want to know how much the laptop(without battery),battery,charger weigh?can any one do me a favor and let me know the weight of above item.
battery:how much does this laptop battery endure while the wlan is off and I am watching some slides in PowerPoint and the windows media player playing a music?what about turning wlan on?
I would be thankful if you answer my question.

 

Hi everyone

Can anyone please post a snapshot of the keypad ... need it urgently as I came to know that the laptop sale of $999 is ending on Saturday night ??

Please post it fast since I am planning to get one...

thanks,

Suyash

 

since it has the numeric keypad as well... is it true that all the keys are relatively closer to each other and smaller ?

I mean, this is going to be my first laptop... so will it be really different as to typing from a desktop ?

Thanks,

Suyash

 

The keypad keys are the same size, but it's only 3 keys across instead of four on your typical keyboard. It's replaces the horizontal keys vertically.

 

I got used to the X1's keyboard layout within a week after getting it. I'm pretty sure you'll get used to it too.

 

didn't get you... are you talking about the numeric keypad area ?? or something else?

thanks for your help... but still I'd really appreciate if someone uploads a closeup snap of the entire keyboard and touch pad area... just for the ergonomic sense...

thanks...

Suyash

 

The weight is inconsequential... around 6lbs without AC brick and a little over 7 with the AC brick. It seems extremely light and easy to manage.
I hold it in one hand between meetings and manuever it with just one hand without issue with the battery in. I really don't think this will cause a problem as it can be best described as "ever-so-slightly more than the average 15 laptop".

The battery lasts over 2 hours with medium use (e-mail, browsing, music, word) and with power profiles set... I doubt it would have any trouble lasting that long with only music and powerpoint, but realistically do not expect more than 2.5 hours out of it even with everything set to minimums. This is a known weakness of this laptop, but it really isn't that bad. It is only a 6-cell battery powering a whole lot of hardware.

 

thank you very much for your answer.
another question:
how is the sound of fan in this model?is it high or low?suppose that you want to work with it in a library(a silent place which sound of the fan may annoy others),is the fan sound too high?

I think your looking for this
http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=38739

 

thanks a lot boss...

it does look a bit wierd at first glance... but then I guess... you can't have your cake (gaming laptop) and eat it too (standard keypad)

regards,

Suyash

P.S.: will be buying it from BB today... hopefully it will turn out to be in great shape...

 

The fan is quite nice actually. I would not rate this as a loud laptop by any means. The laptop should be fine on a desk or table in the library and output acceptable noise. This is not the quietest notebook I have ever used, but it isn't even close to loud IMHO, especially when just doing non-gaming tasks.
The fan does notch up a bit and would be heard in an extremely quiet location if you tried to game heavily on it, but again is not horrid and is not in my opinion offensive by any means.

One word of warning the exhaust vent on the left side can output some very warm air... this is surprising as the laptop does not seem that warm, but is not uncomfortable... just surprising.

 

I purchased this system last night at BB and plan on messing with it within the next couple days.

Would it be advisable to install XP Professional rather than keeping Vista? I've never used Vista and I keep reading about how bad it is, so I'm thinking of installing the unused copy of XP Professional that I have at the house.

I would appreciate any help on this. Thanks!

 

just try vista out man...dont believe the hype...try it and if you dont like it then you can install xp

 

Are the XP drivers for this model readily available on Asus sites? I have SONY and you have to search everywhere to find the XP drivers and they don't completely work with the model.

I had to do some tweaking to get Vista work smoothly. The security thing just annonying. The navigation shortcuts and options are different too. TweakUI does not work on Vista either. I would try it and google for tweaks on the features you need but not in Vista anymore.

Dual-boot would be an option if you can find XP drivers. You can find information on installing XP on Vista in the forum too.

 

Or you can try this:

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

I haven't used this yet though...

 

I'm not sure how this is related.

 

Well, doesn't it create a virtual OS in your desktop? So you can have XP without the expense of reinstalling/reformatting Vista or with the lack of XP drivers for the X1. Unless I didn't understand what MS Virtual PC is for...

 

Well, that would depend on why XP is wanted. If it's for performance/gaming, any Virtual Machine software is a problem. If it's to ease the transition or for compatibility, it works quite well.

I run Linux for just about everything. on every computer I have. The only reason I boot into Windows anymore is to play the few games I've not yet gotten to work on Linux and Wine yet. Also, Excel 2003+ VBA support is crap. Most of the rest of Office works well though.

For a Virtual Machine, I use, and recommend VirtualBox. It runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, and OpenSolaris and can run Windows, Linux, OpenSolaris, BSD, DOS, and others.

 

Hello, I just purchased the G50Vt-X1 today from Best Buy and I have a question about my hd. The C drive says I have 149gb total space and the D drive says I have 138gb of total space. The D drive is completely empty. Is this normal or did I just get a refurb/restocked laptop?

 

I'm not sure, however I got my laptop yesterday too and it similar harddrive partitions too. (There was also a 10 GB partition which I could not seem to incorporate into the main partitions, but I could format it. Also my C drive partition was named Vista64.)

 

That's actually good disk partitioning practice. One partition for the OS and one for the Data.

That 10 GB is probably your restoration partition. In other words, unless you know what you're doing, leave it alone.

 

Thanks for the info. So would it be normal to install programs, games, software, etc on the D partition? Or should it mainly be used for data such as pictures, movies, music, etc? Sorry if this is a stupid question. Never really encountered this before.

 

So those are good sizes for each partition? Also, is it recommended not to put any applications on the C: drive? On my desktop, I put MS Office and any utility on C:, and any other application (mainly games) and music on the D: drive.

 

Well, the further back on the drive things are, the more time it takes to access them. Thus, I like to install all my apps, games, programs, and the like on the C drive, and put movies, music, documents, and the like on the D Drive. This assumes just one hard disk. For 2, I install apps and programs on the C drive, and games on the first partition of the second drive. As I usually have Linux installed as well, I put it on the second partition of the first drive, and use the second partition of the second drive for all my data (documents, movies, music, etc)

As for sizes, that will vary quite a bit depending on what is installed. A 50/50 split is a good start until you can learn your usage. On my XP laptop, my C drive is a mere 10 GB. I don't have any large games installed on it though.

Were I to purchase a G50VT-X1 and only use Vista on it, I would likely use the first 100 GB for my C Drive for all my apps and games and the rest for data.

 

i see on BB site that now it returns to 1250??? Too early? It has yet to come to the deadline?

 

I noticed that last nigh also. I believe it was good until 9:00pm EST.

 

if you dint buy it when it was $999 you deserve to pay full price =)

 

LOL just saw the price went up too! Guess i was lucky i picked one up last night at 10:45pm

 

From my experience in Staples, usually deals are good for one week only. They start Sunday and end on Saturday.

@Rowland: Best Buy is open that late‽

 

I missed the sale guys. I found out about it on Friday, and tried to get it on Saturday night, but couldn't =(

Its not easy for me, I'm in Canada.

How did you find out so early? Did you just see it in a weekly flyer?

Does anyone think this piece of info is reliable? Do you think the g50vt-x1 will go on sale again sometime in January?
How many times has it been on sale already? (I don't have the time to go through all the pages....but it seems like this was atleast the second time...)

If anyone knows roughly the dates of the last sales that'd be nice too.

Thanks guys.

 

well dont feel bad, want my advice? no well here it is anyways lol

keep an eye on both BB and newegg, if the BB goes on sale again dont hesitate... if the x2 at newegg.com goes on sale again dont hesitate...

=)

 

I'm so lucky guy. I odered 2 days ago, so it was still on sale. Im a Vietnamese, not American or Canadian, too hard to pick up once but I have tried to do my best.
It will be here (Vietnam) next 2 weeks and I will have many things to do with it at my traditional Lunar New Year

Oh wait, I have a small question: I have read almost posts in this thread. Someone said that the VGA card is 9800GT, someone said GS, Windows said GT, the label said GS. Finally, what will it be? GS or GT?

Sorry for my bad Eng skill.
Thank you, thanks!

 

It's a Geforce 9800M GS which is an underclocked Geforce 9800M GTS.

 

lol thanks for the tip. I'm already on it, I've set the BB's X1 page as my homepage.

As for the x2 I think it is on sale (canadian newegg)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220403
thats about 1333 usd but then + tax and probably close to 250 in shipping and handling.

Are the dimensions of the X1 and X2 the same? I've read that the x2 is huge....cant even fit in some 17" cases....

Wow how did you manage that? Did your friend in the US buy it for you and ship it to you? And your English is actually pretty good, definitely understandable.

 

x1 and x2 are the same exact laptop, except for the x2 has 2.50 ghz cpu, bluetooth, higher res and a higher price.. but if you can find it at a deal your set.. i belive it has gone on sale at newegg only once but im not sure...

by sale i mean lower than the 1350 or whatever it is at now....

then again, dont be scared to call them up and see what they can do for you..economy is f**ed and people will try and negotiate.

 

i see, thanks for the info. Before i saw the x1 i was contemplating the x2, but the size of it kind of turned me off. Then when I found the x1, I thought it'd probably be the same size, but at 999.99 USD I didn't care.

 

The funny thing is, aside from the higher resoultion the CPU on the X2 being a P8600 is just a higher clocked P8400, while you can pretty much buy a good bluetooth adapter for as low as $19. Though the 24 month warranty on the X2 wins it.

 

I got one but keep it unopened as I'm hoping to see a better deal like the Gateway P-7811 or another similar one. If I don't see one in 14 days, I will still be very happy with G50Vt.

"It's a Geforce 9800M GS which is an underclocked Geforce 9800M GTS."

Does that mean you can overclock it to the same speed as GTS?

Thanks,

 

It does indeed OC to that speed, but remember the 17" Gateway can incorporate better cooling and the 9800m GS is not guaranteed at that speed.

Mine makes it to GTS clocks and runs everything but 3dmark06 without glitch at those speeds. (in 3dmark06 it gives a driver crash error)
I left it at stock speeds for now as quite frankly I haven't found anything the GS cannot handle well at stock. GTS speeds also heat up an already warm laptop to the point where I'd rather just stay at stock.

 

I also purchased this for $999 but have left it unopened for the time being. I'm going to wait until I can spend some time with it getting it all setup as recommended in the post noted in this thread (removing bloatware, etc.).

Will also allow me to watch the after XMas sales to see if a better deal comes along!

 

Leaving such a machine in its box?
I admire your self control

 

you wont find a better deal than $999... even if its another laptop with a better graphic card..it would probably only have a 9800m gts and its not worth paying the extra few hundred bucks.

i run cod4 with evrything extra/high AA/2x the only thing off is specular map at a steady 125 fps.. and even if i turned on spec map i dont drop below 90 most of the time which is more than fine for evryday gaming..but i play competively so I need higher fps thats why i keep it off.

And I also run Cod World at war everything Extra/ high but with AA off and i average around 90...

Hope that helps you to decide to rip the packaging of your laptop and put it to good use NOW! lol

I feel like an asus rep, wheres my commision?

 

Hey Guys....
Just picked up a G50VT-X1
Couple of questions...
1) The keyboard issue....what the verdict? Is this a problem that if it happened I should take back to BB for a replacement?
2) The sound issues....same question as above.
I guess I want to make sure I am getting a good laptop and not a lemon. Or is this laptop destined to have it "issues"

Thanks.

Oh yeah....any other issues I need to know about?

 

no issues with mine..

 

1. I can only speak on my experience, but sometimes I do notice that some letters get left out of what I'm typing. Frankly, I don't think its my keyboard tho. I think I'm still getting used to typing on a laptop after typing on a desktop keyboard for so long.
2. My laptop speakers pop sometimes. Its a bit annoying but something I can deal with since most of the time I'm either using headphones or have it hooked out to a sub and desktop speakers.

 

Hi
My laptop graphic card temperature while playing some games like Assassin's Creed reach 80 degree centigrade.
Is it normal?

 

mine tops around 86 celcius maybe 87 thats without a laptop cooler.. if you want lower temps buy yourself a laptop cooler..

 

I just bought this laptop, amazing for the price, i find the flashing blue lights annoying do you guys know a way to turn it off?
thanks alot

 

If you open up the Direct Console (first touchbar button, has the little gamer's republic logo on it) you can change the LED light options in the window that comes up. Power Saving mode will turn the side LED's off, and Advance mode will let you customize the lights to be fully on or off as well.