ASUS G73SW Owners' Lounge

I think that anyone still selling them is doing so either from ignorance/incompetence or trying to somehow profit from the situation. I think it's now very clear that the chipset is indeed affected. The only remaining uncertainty is what Asus and retailers will do and how hard it will be.

I'm not 100% convinced that the internal hard drives are on the 6Gbps (unaffected) ports, but several posts with screenshots are compelling evidence.

I'm actually trying to decide whether to try to get my hands on another one as I may not want to wait until the fix in April. Am also worried that the schedule will slip and March/April will turn into April/May.

 

It has nothing to do with the CPU SKU and everything to do with the SATA controller in the ICH on the Sandy Bridge architecture... the SATA controller is identical in all 6 series chipsets, including the HM65. So no, you should not move your inventory of G73SWs, and yes... they are affected no matter what processor sits in the socket.

 

ok i know that. why are you quoting me? i never said anything about the cpu in this thread. my inventory has been frozen for a week and we put up the recal info on jan 31st on the order page. at this point i am sitting on it waiting to hatch. i just want to know why a week later most of our competitors are still selling these.,

 

I am quoting you because you said this:

There is plenty of solid info that * all* 6 series chipsets are affected.

I can't find a single G73SW for sale online. Where are all these major resellers shipping them?

 

I'm going to indulge in a little speculation, little of which rebounds to the credit of those who are still selling machines with these chipsets.

BigSellerA: the managers of the local stores in this chain have some discretion about marketing, but lots of pressure for financial results. They think/know that they might have to say, "I pulled the Latest/Greatest Laptop because Intel have flagged up a seriously reliability issue down the line." Someone further up the food chain is going to say, "Has it killed any children? Have any of the machines been shown on Youtube catching fire? NO? Then get them back on the shelves."

MediumSellerB: this branch is run by someone who thinks scruples are for losers. He puts a small sticker on the bottom of the box, which says, "Intel have notified us with a potential problem with some legacy features. You accept that MedSellerB is not responsible for any failures of the SataII channel 3 feature." When eventually something goes wrong, and when someone convinces the purchaser that it isn't "just the computer going wrong again," then this particular operator is going to be somewhere else.

OneManBandC: This bloke knows his stuff - almost. He says, "Look, I'm selling laptops with only one hard drive and one optical drive. I wire them up to the 6Gb ports, which are unaffected by this problem. So this glitch does not affect the machines which I sell." Of course, he's forgotten that some of his customers are going to add a second hard drive into the case, and that they are going to be affected, and going to come back to him.

PartsSellerD: she (lets be equal opportunities about this ) says, "I'm selling mobos to hobbyists. I tell them - "These mobos have the glitched chipset, you buy 'em as is - no warranty." A few of them are kids who think bad stuff will never happen to them. Some of them are so desperate to have the latest thing that they reckon they'll deal with that problem when it comes. Some are genuinely convinced they'll never need more than those 2 SATA channels for Aunt Susan's new machine. My customers are mostly informed adults - I let them take risks if they want to."

OnlineSellerE: He thinks he's going to be the next billionaire, and is too busy piling 'em high and selling 'em expensive to read stuff from Intel, and when people ask - "I thought Intel said this lot was duff." He says, "Oh, that was 24A batch ones, all of these are the new 24B - I know someone who slipped me some engineering samples. They're expensive, but you won't find them on the open market." He points out that he's had specialist training in Business Machines, and these are just what you need to get the best from Microsoft Office.

(I still remember the PFY in the "Business Centre" who condescended to explain to someone too old to really understand that, "All our machines are SXs." I persevered, "I had wondered if I should get a DX." ""Everything we have here is an SX." He was very proud of this - clearly SXs were The Thing. "Even the 286s?" "Oh yes, they're all SXs."

If you don't see the point of that story find someone who was trying to buy a PC 30 years ago and ask them.)

So, A is trapped in a bad place. B is immoral and may be a crook, depending on local laws. C is an optimist, who believes things because he's rather desperate about his cash flow. D may have a point - there is a legitimate market in damaged goods. E is a crook.

Still, hats off to F & G who have done the right thing, because they are honest traders (like yourself) and commiserations to H who would do the right thing but has just gone out of business because someone thought anything sold by A had to OK.

 

Hey, does anybody know when next G73 will come with Ivy Bridge?
Or which is a laptop with similar spec and price, because I would really like to buy one because I need it for Colleage...

 

they are still out there but have been reducing in numbers. none are advertising the recall and i am sure few are telling customers who already got this machine. I am sure it would be very expensive for a company known to push pre orders to recall all the early shipped laptops which is why they did not.

hahahha
i was too young for the 286 but my parents did buy me a 486dx at a brooklyn tradeshow which ultimately magically turned out to be a 486sx years later when windows 95 came out. this was actually before the age of the internet as we know it now. I was downloading for free jazz jackrabbit from compuserv at that time in 1994 or around. I had even spent 250$ on a 2mb memory upgrade which gave me a total of 4mb ram. and compaq wanted to bill me 30$ for out of warranty support ultimately to charge me nothing because the AMERICAN tech support felt bad for a young kid. Yes at that time they were actually all american. In a few years time all support for compaq and their competitors shifted overseas for home warranty

i had a customer ask me "does international customer also get prepaid shipping"? The answer is yes! If your vendor shipped to you overseas he is responsible for all expenses dealing with the recall.

 

Hello ,

I am from Europe and i bought on 1.02.2011 an g73sw a1 from hidevolution.com . After i found about the problem i called the guys from hidevolution and told them to cancel my order. They told me is too late because they already shipped the laptop. I told them what can we do in that situation , because asus said that all affected clients will have their money back. They told that they will think about it and let me know.i Because i never heard from i called them and ask for the info. They told me that they will cover half of the shipping cost for deliver, so if i want to return i will have to pay all shipping cost. I asked them to write this in an email, no response from them. My question to u is ... What can i do with this seller if he doesn twant to To return the full amount ? If the payment was via paypal can i open a dispute ? Thank u for all the info !

 

Probably around this time next year, at least on desktops is target to Q1, i think laptops as with sandy bridge, should also appear around the same time.

 

I guess I'll now be waiting till May or June or even later for the G73sw-3de's to be available for purchase...............

 

they are responsible to
1. cover the entire cost
2. remove the listings from ebay
3. tell their customers about this
odds are none of this will happen. i am sorry for your loss.

 

Amazon did not reverse my overnight shipment, but honestly I'm glad they didn't. They pulled the product from their pages Monday night.

I have spoken to ASUS and Intel, and the consensus was to keep and enjoy my laptop, and when Intel finishes getting fixed inventory to OEMs, they'll contact me about an equipment swap with minimal downtime.

This problem is absolutely massive and not even a week old... no wonder people are having trouble getting all their ducks in a row and information correct.

 

Is the SW's screen 120hz?

 

Nope, unless you get like, a 3D version of it

 

i categorically disagree, do not try to downplay this. after 30 days of ownership you can forget a new replacement. After 30 days only amazon will allow you a replacement, asus will decline. Who at asus advised you to keep this? how did you even get a hold of anyone there that knows anything about this?

 

Do you actually have any evidence of this or anything else? Please name just one vendor that's not doing the right thing so I'll stop thinking that you're making up phantom 'competitors'.

There are many of us that do not have the option to return the laptop now and sit idle until the fix comes. We have to wait for the new chipset to come out and (gasp) get it fixed. Please stop spreading your panic about this. It's not really a big problem in the scheme of things. Return the laptop now if you can do without it, or wait for it to be fixed.

For the real Asus response, just visit their link and call their hotlines. They say specifically "ASUS notebook and desktop products are covered by a warranty service that addresses the design error, with both swap and sales return offered as options to customers."

The sky is not falling.

 

Judging by your nick, I'd say you are from Romania, just like me, and yes I bought the laptop from the same place.
Against all odds and what people are saying here I am keeping my laptop. I have spoken at Asus service here and they did advice me to ship it back to hidevolution for a full reffund, but I said I will wait for march/april period for either a fix or whatever the solution will be.

I am not having any issues now and I do need the laptop for work.

 

Yes indeed i'am from Romania! I also want to keep this, but the problem is that we do not have any support in Romania for Asus. Where will u repair the laptop when the fix appear ?

 

RHS Company is the authorized Asus service center. I have contacted them and they said it would be best if I could ship it back but they understand that the shipping costs are too high to do that and we both agreed I will keep the laptop and when the time will come hopefully a repair method will be in place.

 

Are u still able to return the laptop to hidevolution ?
I will try to give back the laptop and them to refund all shipping . I don t if i will succed but i will try

 

I am not interested in a refund because I need the laptop and I am confident if the sata port will fail, a repair solution will be available and I will be able to take advantage of the warranty. I think that shipping is not covered for international shipping, don't know if they will accept. They will definitly accept the refund, but it will take time, and they wotn cover the shipping cost. Let me know how it goes.

 

Obviously Phaeron you need to do your own research. Google shows a few retailers still selling. And the support hotline is a joke. I heard the internet form is easier, but since I have not opted for that option I will believe my friend that it is more reliable. If you have doubts and do not want to believe the problems that exist, its not his problem. And I have heard he was a reputable dealer as well. I do my own research. I really really wanted to keep my laptop as well, but no matter what he tells us, its still my problem and not his. I did not buy from him.

I phoned in support about 5 times hoping for different answers as well as messaging on facebook and email. Why don't you do the same and find out what your options are and what you think can happen. I was lied about the problem so I opted for the refund. But sure they told me it will take 10 days max each time, when the website tells me different!

I do not ignore previous threads. Look at the photos and the problems and judge for yourself. There are people who refunded but tried to help others who will not or unwilling to send back. And the information just keeps changing. I am prepared for the cry me a river thread and the only reason I am still watching this thread is because I still intend to buy from Asus. And geared2play has been more then helpful so I will defend him.

 

i say again for those who are hard of hearing. i rather have my notebook attacked by an angry chimp then have it serviced by a major repair center. We have repaired thousands of notebooks over the years and dealt with most of the manufacturers repair centers. If you want to pay full price for what is possibly a refurbished notebook which had a motherboard replaced then you are simply misinformed or dilusional. the sky is not falling and personally i dont care. I am here to tell you the obvious and this is obvious. What intelligent person pays full price for what is likely a refurbished notebook in the near future?

i have dealt with asus hotlines for years. i dont need to call them. i know EXACTLY what to expect as an end user. I am not the end user though, i am a vendor and i dont have to call the same "hotline".

 

Geared2play - I agree with you that I'd rather return the notebook and get a new one when the chipset is fixed. But for many of us, that is not an option. Of course I don't want to pay full price for a refurbished notebook, but I don't have much of a choice. If I see further proof that only the BD-ROM drive is affected, then I'll be one of the people that just risks it and doesn't bother with the return/repair.

I agree with you completely that everyone should return the laptop for a refund now. I am just in the minority that is dealing with the tradeoff of that not being an acceptable option.

Anyone else running a C300 and getting the same results as RNeon?

 

I'm in the UK, so I don't know anything about US consumer law. Is this a matter of federal law or state law?

Your mention of ebay, however, lead me to assume that in some cases people might be buying through ebay. If anyone has, then they can try to get ebay themselves involved if there are problems with any dealer.

 

Good Lord... honestly Geared2play I'm kinda sick of your hysterical nonsense. As Phaeron said... some of us are simply not in the position to return the defective laptop, and that is a) not our fault and b) the responsibility to do so therein is contingent upon an equal replacement being made available expediently from the OEM or vendor... a condition which cannot be met and for which the consumer cannot be held responsible.

If I can't trust the the manufacturer of the laptop for reputable information about the repair or replacement process, why in the world would I trust some anonymous vendor on the internet who is accusing "many" of his competitors of acting unethically?

I have spoken to ASUS, twice actually, Intel twice, and Amazon once.

Returning this laptop is not an option for me. Read that again. Returning this laptop is not an option for me. Is that clear? Ok, good. I bought this laptop when the problem was not "out in the wild" yet, and there is no tangible repair option for an equivalent (read: *not* G73JW) replacement... the parts do not exist. Amazon cannot reasonably expect me to return this laptop for repair or comparable replacement because the option does not exist until Intel can produce the parts which extends beyond everybody's typical 30 day repair/replacement policy.


I have been * explicitly* told by ASUS (and Intel) that affected notebook users will be getting cross shipped *** swaps*** (not repairs) of a directly equivalent or revised (read: upgraded) Sandy Bridge model when the fixed parts come in. They advised me to have a backup plan for my data so I could image it on to the new system when they are ready. They are very plainly and very clearly not deserting the early adopters (I suspect because they full well know the early adopters are some of the most fanatical and often vocal technology users).


I don't get your approach to this situation. I don't get your hype of this. After 30 days of ownership of a clearly defective product with no equivalent replacement, you can damn well bet I'm going to get a replacement. And I have heard it from the horses mouth.. twice. So until you get an ASUS or Amazon rep on the phone with me or on this board with credentials to say I'd prefer you quit the baseless "the sky is falling" approach and back up your claims with some substantiation ... the case numbers and chat logs with the official representatives of the companies I bought my laptop from are all the "good word" I need.

Thank you very daggum much. I am running full steam ahead... I am writing an asus-wmi kernel module so the hotkeys and WMI-wrapped ACPI functions can be used in linux. I am enjoying this laptop and using it as it was intended while Intel manufactures the revised parts. And when I find out the ASUS has a replacement to provide me, I will switch to that immediately. I suggest you stop worrying about what your non-customers do with this laptop and get back to selling the ones you still can. Either way you slice it that seems to make better sense to me.

 

Your nuts, NatorGator! First off, good luck to your support swap. You got further then some of us. The rest of us can only be happy if you can pull it off. It will give us hope in the future.

And as far as I am concerned, geared2play does not deserve the bashing you guys gave to him. All the information he has given was from a professional point of view. But there will always be people who want the best at the cost of going backwards. (me being one of them at times) And hence why people like me probably had jobs in the support field. =D geared2play only mentioned that "IF YOU CAN ASK FOR A REFUND, YOU SHOULD DO SO." He was speaking to a couple of others who had both options open.

And did you ask geared2play to sell what he can of his remaining stock? Now we know what type of person you are lol.

The situation has changed since Asus has taken a role to exchanging the products. However he only explained what me and some other guys who called in before you, were dealing with. Which was trash support. We did not get a reply for a new replacement unit. We got a reply for a swap. (a motherboard swap) And my first reply was for me to send it directly to Intel cause they do not make any of the components inside my laptop. Sigh. My third call they told me they could have it repaired under 10 days. So unless you can read inbetween their support calls, it may seem like a hassle free product support of not going to happen! So I hope your swap is a new replacement swap and not a swapped motherboard or a swapped refurb unit etc. Which is all under their repair guideline. FYI

First off it was not a matter of if Asus would do whats honored. It was a matter of when and how many weeks it would take for them to do it without any screw ups.

First off NaterGator, what field are you in and which company do you work for? And Costco is a good example to trust a vendor over a manufacture. I buy a lot of products from the trust of a reputable vendor. And how is geared2play an anonymous vendor?

I am sure no professional IT support would consider your opinion a good buy or a good move, which is why I am asking. This seems to be a more personal move on your part. Cost being one of the major factors. Are you not under that 30 day mark with Amazon? I thought they didn't start shipping until the 24th or something? 30 days from the day you received your laptop right?

Phaeron: I tried to find pictures of the chipsets degrading but could not find it. There are too many articles to find the pictures now. But if you can find it, I hope BD is the only problem you will have. I personally doubt that other problems would not arise. Even if they are not supposed to.... May I suggest that on a professional level that you back up your data regularly and do not rely on imaging as a source of back up. Since this is a motherboard related problem. I can see a lot of problems with trying to image your laptop.

Just my experience...

Also some credit card companies may offer a buyers protection service. You guys may want to look into it, if you are having a hard time with refunds.

It is also nice that Asus copied this from the other manufactures.... "All warranties for affected motherboards will be reset to give you enough time to carry out any exchanges." That was a major role why I opted for a refund right away. And I suggest that you guys make a print screenshot of whats happened and whats covered etc.

 

You're right about that.

And in my opinion it wasn't quite that professional. He lambasted his anonymous competitors for shady business tactics, when the more likely explanation of the few that may have still had a listing for G73SWs was they are large and monolithic and sell so many products they haven't realized the G73SW is affected... or that they still list it as available but aren't actually shipping units. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, IME it leads to a better resolution and a happier life.

Uh... no you've got that exactly wrong. I think I was pretty explicit in saying that he shouldn't sell any of his Intel 6 series stock. So I guess that's what kind of person I am.

I suggest you do your due diligence and keep calling back until you get an answer from an informed CSR. Inform them up front that you are recording the conversation too.

I am an electrical engineer and I do not work in the computer industry.

I have until March 1st to return the laptop to Amazon for a refund minus a 15% restocking fee. That is not a resolution, that it a net loss and leaves me without a computer to do my job. It is not a solution, it is not a solution covered by the Intel or ASUS guidelines. All parties involved understand the gravity of the situation and Intel is devoting a lot of money towards fixing this cleanly for their OEMs. The same precedent has already been explicitly set by other OEMs as well, MSI for example states:

It is pretty clear to me how OEMs are handling this. They do not want a class action suit. Intel does not want a class action suit. This is a bigger deal than a limited recall from a single OEM for a bad design or oversight and it will not work like a small scale operation. But I digress....

Did you not look at the SATA port tool listing which drives were connected to which? There are no pictures of chipsets degrading other than ones Intel has in a lab at this point... the gate oxide is not going to break down at normal voltages and temperatures for months at the very minimum. BD is definitely the only problem, and as the transistor is part of a peripheral clocking tree, it's pretty clear the SATA-2 ports will be the only parts affected. I'm not trying to be condescending, but you really don't sound like you've got a good grasp on the fundamentals of the issue at hand... trust me there is no risk to other parts in the system or other peripherals going offline. The biggest worry is performance degradation of the SATA-2 controller and perhaps of the ICH overall trying to deal with the torrent of SATA-2 errors. Degraded SATA-2 (bluray) performance is it period. End of story.

This is true and good advice, and since I purchased on an Amex card I have a little extra swing.

I do not believe ASUS is copying it from manufacturers though, they are dealing with the same situation and are definitely not stupid enough to get themselves into trouble. You opinion of caution is not without merit, but this overall attitude of hysteria about the quality of service and the horror stories that will come from the sandy bridge recall are a) unfounded and b) frustrating.

 

I am like NaterGator, need the laptop for work and no replies from Asus Support from my side. I am not PC savvy and if worse case, I cannot replace or repair, I'll have to sacrifice my BD, bite my thumb and keep the laptop and hope the work I do with it pays for the machine itself...

 

I spoke with Asus UK just recently and they said that a solution has not been decided upon yet but they have reassured me that once a solution will be settled, people who chose not to refund their newly bought laptops, will benefit from the said solution. Therefor I have utterly no worries about this.

 

I can't really say anything further that wasn't covered poetically by NaterGator. I didn't want to start a flame war, but I do want to see an end to the hysteria, FUD slinging and the feeling my some that they have a monopoly on the truth. As much as I can't stand the tone/delivery of Geared2Play, at least it seems like he will take care of his customers and I salute that.

As early adopters of high end technology, everyone on this forum should take solace in the fact that they carry a great deal more weight with Asus and Intel than they realize. When push comes to shove, these companies will bend over backward to appease us, so I too am not worried.

If you're a gamer that likes the new cool laptop, then I hope you've already returned it. The minority remaining that can calculate the benefit of the better system in billable hours, met deadlines, reduced compile/rendering times can make their own decisions. In my case, the cost benefit analysis is laughably in favor of using the laptop for the next few months.

 

"a) Why should you care? You said you already got everything you wanted to hear from them... and you seem to know all the answers for your end

b) frustrating is being an early adopter and whining about the risks. Why should you care, I am posting to help others get a resolution, not a solution. things happen like this all the time being an early adopter.

Actually I am very surprised at how Asus handles support. I will continue to buy products with Asus. I do like them, but I was hell of pissed about the support and do not want to see it happen ever again on my next calls, which I hope there won't be any more. Before the official page showed up about returns, it was hell.

But yes Asus has a repuation of getting support done even after bad support.

 

I believe herein lies the source of your terrible experience. You being on the ball and getting the news about the chipset issue before the customer service people led to the issues you had. The story broke on 1/30 or 1/31, and Asus posted their official response on 2/2. Everyone that obsesses about tech news was scrambling and worried for those couple days.

If you were surprised that Asus customer support was confused until the official response filtered down to them (2/3 or so), I don't know what to tell you. It takes time for these things to filter down to the front lines since management and sometimes marketing has to get involved.

I find it's good policy to empathize with the CSR people as they're beaten on by their management and their customers, and often have the least technical training in the whole chain. I certainly would give them some leeway in this situation that suddenly blew up in their face. They could have done better, but the confusion was certainly not a surprise to me.

 

Normally I agree. Here is more painful experiences I had.... I did not list more before cause I did not want to flame up more but here is a few more experiences.

Yeah I gave them that much, I gave them a heads up that I was calling about a problem that may or may not of affected my laptop and I was wondering if I could get a follow up call regarding a possible recall that may affect my laptop. And that other retailers have told me it did in fact affect my laptop.

But instead they told me that my Asus laptop and all of its components are not constructed by Asus and that Asus being only a brand company is not liable for any of the components inside my laptop!

I had it escalated to a manager who said it was a problem with Intel and to send it to Intel. I said if I had a problem with the video card, they said to send it in to Nvidia and not to Asus.

Can you please tell me how this is at all acceptable regardless of sandybridge issue? ( I know I have brought up this issue)

That is shocking to me. Some of the other calls even told me that the Asus G73SW is not on their site and that I have an Asus g73JW and to send it in or that I do not have an Asus product and to give them a link to where I may of purchased my product. When I purchased from Amazon they told Amazon to pull off the SW from their site and relist as a JW. =D I told Amazon that was not the case.

Other calls had suggested that I send in the laptop now and wait for them to hold my laptop until it is repaired. Bad beat after bad beat lol.

Although I did remember seeing an official web form to file a proper RMA online. I cannot find it anymore. With all the issues I had, I asked Amazon to take it back in honor of their 30 days. But hopefully you get your laptop resolved before I get my new replacement order. I plan to order a couple more. Please let us know how smooth your replacement turns out though.

 

Acceptable? No. Surprising? No.

From your earlier posts, your calls were from before they had figured out a response internally, so of course they tried to evade blame. I'm sorry you (and many others) had a bad experience, but don't flame out on me, none of those responses are surprising. And if you don't go in with more information than them, you'll not be able to knock any sense into them.

Good for you on the return, you're better off for it. The replacement will be a pain for me, but far better than returning it now.

If you want to get really PO'd, go to ebay and look at this listing. They're trying to pass off a G73JW as a G73SW and sell it for $2500. I've already reported it to ebay's fraud dept. If we collectively want to help less savvy people, let's all report it to ebay. That and save some whales.

I'll definitely report back on the replacement experience in a few months.

 

Anyone else having trouble getting the "ASUS VirtualCam" software to work? I've tried reinstalling it to no avail, program starts and I get a fully interactive icon in the taskbar (meaning I can right click, mess with settings etc.) but it never actually gives me a camera window or anything.

 

I think the facts are very clear about what the problem is and everyone's right to return the machine.

Let's be nice and not beat a dead horse, yeah?

If this thread turns into a flamewar it will be closed.

 

Depends on what you would be using it for. If you are going to use the system peak power of the discrete graphics processor, and comparing i7-740 to i7-2630, you will see a slight difference in power consumption (not too noticeable actually) but when it comes to integrated graphics - there is a significant difference (from what I have experienced). And according to me, it will have some affect on the heat but not so much that you can tell people about it.

But other than power/heat - I have noticed a better clock speed. I am stating the obvious but yeah! And about the heat, you can get a diamond thermal compound (extra $40-$60, i think).

Prices - The JW has definitely fallen down but it's about $200 from which ever retailers I have seen.

The JH and JW-A1 had some issues, the 3DE and ROG ones are good! I dont think you'll have to worry about them as long as you keep away from the A1s.

I am now in Australia, and wanted to know if there are any laptop customization in the country. I would like to avoid the customs!

I wanted a G73SW itself but with i7-2700K series processor with 8GB DDR3 1600MHz, at present they are providing the 1333MHz only.
And the screen replaced with a "matte" type LCD.

Anyone knows of a good place in Australia?

Hey Sparkz, Its to do with the digital rights. It kinda is to manage piracy, by not letting user to make copies of the movies. For example, if you have rented a movie online it'll allow you to play only once or twice. And if you have bought a movie, it'll be with you forever but you cant burn it on a CD or give it to ur friends via USB/Bluetooth etc.

SO it prevents piracy, but who are we kidding? There are ways of getting around it and this actually never stops. So don't worry much about DRM, i would say.

 

It's been quite the heated discussion here regarding the return/refund/swap decisions.

I have mine coming in some time this week. And yeah its a bummer that there is a flaw but from what I gather, the laptop will survive 3-4 months atleast...and thats the worst case scenario.

Is there any information on what kind of service will be provided by ASUS when Intel comes out with the solution? And I'm from Australia...

 

The best way for you to figure that out is to contact them. Phone them, email them, use the channels they provide on the 6 series chipset fix portal. It will probably vary from country to country based on what is required via local consumer protection regulations so it is impossible to say.

Ultimately you need to make sure you've done the legwork and arrive at an approach that leaves you satisfied and comfortable. If you don't have closure, keep hammering away at the support system until you can reach someone who understands your concerns and can address them. It would be unwise to simply read something on a forum and take it for granted.

 

As long as they dont leave me out to dry in the sun, I should be fine...and with Asus I dont think thats going to happen.

 

Hidevolution refuse to refund my international postage so I cannot afford to return. ASUS UK advised me to return as it is less than 30 days, but this seller has poor customer service and they are still selling these time-bombs. I will have to take my chance with ASUS, hopefully they will come up with a solution before it fails. It's a real shame as this is a great laptop

 

I likewise am in Oz, and if I was to buy from any reseller here it would be from this place Logical Blue One - ASUS G73SW-A1 Gaming Notebook

He is very active on the whirlpool forums and his service is supposedly very good.

But I have already bought a G53JW-A1 already just before Xmas from one of the very good dealers on this forum simply because they can be bought cheaper from here rather than in Oz. You would think that with our $Au above parity with the $US at the moment that things would be a bit cheaper but they are not.

The G53 went to my son and I was holding out for the G73SW as a desktop replacement, but now I'm torn between wanting my first laptop or building my own new desktop system.

Cheers,
John

 

Also in NZ: I called ASUS hotline and was given a six digit number and told to take the laptop back to the vendor for a refund. When I called the vendor, they told me that I can hang on to it until the new ones arrive and just swap it for a new one (expected in April). Sounds good to me as I really like the G73SW!

 

Thanks for this thread, now I got one of my answer: G72SW use 2 SATA-III ports and one SATA-2...
Thanks to Intel Sandybrige defect... I won't buy this laptop now...
I agree with Geared2play.com that retailers shouldn't be selling these latops anymore... (the defect ones, of course)
I agree with Geared2play.com that if you have a laptop build with SB you should return it for refund... if for any reason you can't hope you will get a replacement one (but from what I read on this forum and others, poeple already experience refunding or return problems... of course Asus and Intel return anouncement is nice written black on white, reallity is sometimes different for end-users faced to some retailers)

I hope that Intel as well as Asus will allow end users to distinguish defect models from the fixed new ones (because I'm not sure that if I buy a G73SW hope 3D in April or May that it will be a new one as some resellers may still have old ones in their stock and still sell it to us as they only see profit and no service... so... I would certainly trust buying a new model from Geared2play.com )

And finally, hope that the next Asus G73SWfixed-3D will have
- SATA-3 x 3
- e-sata
- USB-3 x3
- Optimus enabled
- An upgraded GPU

Now, my questions: (yes, more than one...)

1. The 3D models have a 3D 120Hz LED screen.
Can we connect an external 3D LCD screen and also use it in 3D at the same time as the laptop screen?
Same question for connecting an external 3D TV via HDMI?
(Or in other words, could we get 3d on more than one screen?)

2. Does de G73SW use this new EFI GUI bios ?
Thank you

 

This seems really good (since I was expecting a completely negative response). Not as great as XOTIC PC but good enough! Thanks John. And what's his whirlpool display name? Now with the Intel 6 Series chipset issue, I am not sure if I would go for this one, unless they solve it by Feb End (that's when I would really require a laptop, I am hanging on till then). If not fixed, I would like to talk to him about other options and stock availability.

Thanks again John,
Apoorv

 

Sure glad I could help, just bear in mind that our model is slightly different compared to the A1.

His user name is Jack-LBO and you can find him at http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/user/80230

Also another helpful link regards import taxes etc if you still have the urge. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1619137

Cheers,
John

 

Ah yes, Optimus. I'd assumed until recently that Optimus would apply to the G73SW. Powerful integrated graphics for everything I do, bar gaming - low heat, low noise and low battery demand for most of the times and power only when it was really needed. What a splendid idea, especially with a high-end graphics card.

Then I read that Optimus only works with mid-range graphics card. Why? Surely it is the high-end graphics cards and their users who need Optimus the most. And those using SB - with its excellent internal graphics - which should be prime target for such an arrangement.

So, does anyone know why Optimus is not for high-end scenarios, or if/when we're likely to get them for SB-based systems?

 

I can't fathom why optimus is not enabled based on the SKUs, it seems like every piece of hardware supports it (talk about wasted silicon on the die!). If I had to guess the BIOS or software wasn't ready (read: mature enough), or more likely they were looking for product differentiation.

I'm not expecting any kind of upgrade when the fixed SB parts come out. It would certainly be a nice gesture, but I don't see it happening unless producing a bunch of a single (even slightly better) model actually ends up being cheaper for ASUS from a logistical/production standpoint.

If it makes you feel any better it is exceedingly unlikely it would flat out "fail". If anything it's much more likely it will slowly degrade in performance: read that as "get slower", possibly ultimately being too slow to use.

But when I say "it", in the G73SW the only thing that's getting "slow" is the bluray drive. The rest of the system will be unaffected, so as long as the bluray drive is not totally critical for your workflow or enjoyment you'll be okay. Odds are way way way in your favor that ASUS will have a resolution long before that's a problem, though.

Of your questions I can categorically tell you: no, the G73SW does not use a graphical EFI bios. But yes, it does support UEFI booting and GPTs... I have Windows booting through EFI and my disks are setup with GUID partition tables.

I don't know if the GUI EFI bios is good or not, but I'm not missing it. My bootup time is really really good.

 

Is this "problem" just Asus, just Notebooks or is it Intel? Surely it can't nVidia who must be really keen to spread Optimus.

And why aren't more people objecting?