Asus G53JW (A1 & 3DE) Owners' Lounge

thanks Voodoi and Butr0s... wat is the use of recovery partition in our hard disk?? and any modifications i should do for my g53??

 

I am gonna order another G53 from portableone again as they got tons in stock. This laptop is a great laptop especially the 3D version and to me, of better build quality than the m15x.
I got into a debate with him and finally he agreed that the G53 is way better especially in price to performance ratio.
I hope everyone is enjoying his laptop.
Sorry to hear that Voodoi laptop got stolen

 

Can anyone who owns this laptop (non 3D version) comment upon if the trackpad "mouse" buttons are loosening up over time, or are they still very stiff and rigid?

 

I use mouse so cant say
& I feel its too eaely to say
give it 6 months then maybe u will see a difference

 

Just placed my order through Power Notebooks.

So now the waiting starts .

( 1 - 2 Days to charge my credit) done! (3 days)
( 2 - 4 Days to process computer) done! (5 days)
( 6 Days for UPS to ship it to my home) yay! (5 days)

Think I'll get it before Christmas? It would be nice.

Got it the day before Christmas Eve.

 

When are people going to begin putting videos on youtube? I'm really interested in seeing this thing in action. I'm hoping to get it before x-mas.

Also, first post!!! Except more once I actually get the G53JW.

 

hey guys i just ordered mine recently. I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to computers and know the basics. I got this laptop because its seems like a very well rounded laptop and an outstanding gaming laptop. I was just wondering if you guys had any suggested software or programs to download, I'v heard that the asus is loaded with adds and stuff so i got a recovery disk so Ill probably reboot it. Any one else have any other suggestions, also any suggestions for good games to play besides black ops, starcraft, Wow..etc preferably rpgs? Thanks again for all your time guys.

 

Hi guys. Just wanted to ask how is the overall feel of the G53jw. I am having some problems with my current AW M17x (can be seen in the sig) and I will be refunded by Dell. I decided not to buy another AW at the moment but I am looking at this G53jw.

Since there is no direct distribution channel here in Romania, I can only buy preconfigured laptops and this is what the G53jw looks.
(part nr : G53JW-SX082D)

Cpu: Intel® CoreTM i5 460M
Display: 1366 X 768
Ram: 4GB 1066Mhz
HDD: 500GB @ 7200 rpm
GFX: Nvidia GTX 460M
It comes without an OS and a 2 year warranty.
Any feedback about my future purchase? There is one more config available with the FullHD display and i7 740qm cpu but it's double the price and in my opinion it's not worth the cost.
Not too thrilled about the display res but I guess I will get used to it, right? I'm thinking it should be good for 2-3years. The laptop I will use when I'm at the office for both gaming and working.

I have never owned an Asus laptop before, so any information or warnings about the RoG series (that plague the G53) will be highly apreciated.

Thank you

LE: I did read that it;s pretty hard to install/change the hard drive, but I cannot find out if it can house 2 hdd or just 1.

 

Recently became the owner of a G53JW-3DE, and am in the process of setting it up for my needs. I settled on this laptop after much thought, and this forum was very helpful to me, for which I thank everyone.

As a bit of heresy, I'm not using it for gaming. Yet. I wound up selecting this system more for its graphics capability than anything else, as I need to be able to do fast renders for work. Specification-wise, this was the best buy I could come up with, short of going for a workstation-class machine.

What I'm going to be doing is putting a retail copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (came with Home Premium 64-bit) on it, along with the design and graphics software I need. Now to ask the questions I have for the thread...

-Would I be better served to do a clean install of Ultimate, or an upgrade install?

-Is an SSD going to do anything to speed up renders?

-Does it do any good to shut down all of the graphics frippery in Windows 7, to speed up performance for things like rendering? I really like the Aero stuff, but the amount of headroom it has to take up in memory makes me wonder if I could shut it down for better performance while I'm doing design work and renders. I've had little luck asking this question of other forums, so I thought I'd ask it here.

This is an incredible machine, which I'm sure is going to last me for years. I'm just sad the new 23.6" display I ordered with it hasn't shown up yet...

Again, thank you, to all of you "old-timers" who have done all the work on this thread.

 

I received the package from Amazon.ca yesterday (2 days before the estimated delivery) but I'm still waiting for the package from newegg.ca (8GB of RAM + SSD Vertex 2 90GB) which, I have to say, is a pain in the when you are an international customer because they don't accept international Visa Premier credit card.. Once you've find a Canadian guy who's willing to pay for you, they put your order on hold because the billing address is different from the shipping address and ask you to call your bank to add the address to this credit card......

This is COMPLETELY different from France I tell you!

I'm really not sure I'll buy from newegg again even if they are cheaper...

Regarding the real subject here, I'll post benchmark results for those who are wondering what an SSD and more RAM can do.

Regards.

 

Hi Hendrix, there are some hands on videos in the first post of this thread, as well as one or two games being played. Were you looking for any program in particular? Unfortunately I only have a bunch of indie games like VVVVVV which won't really show off the power of the system too well.

I wouldn't worry about a fresh re-install of windows if you don't want to, there's very little extra software that comes on the system and close to zero adds. The only software I put on was the Adobe suite, Avira virus scan, and firefox (which doesn't scale fonts correctly for some reason). Black-ops, starcraft, WOW? Sorry : ( Currently there are no activision products on my system, I refuse to give any money to a company that's built on franchising, mictrotransactions, terrible DRM, and price hikes. I have been playing a lot of Super Mario Bros. X (now my favorite Mario game of all time) and left4dead2. A new mod was released yesterday re-creating a campaign from Dawn of the Dead.

Overall it feels fantastic to me. I've become more and more attached the keyboard as I've used it. I came from an Envy 14 which has a pretty excellent KB and I like the G53's better. It gives slightly more resistance and the backlight is more even. Also, the system can take 2 hard drives - but the bracket for a second hard drive is hard to find at the time being.

Its not heresy ; ) I didn't buy the system for gaming either. I have to crunch huge datasets for my research yet still needed a portable system (it moves between a motion tracking machine, my desk, and my apartment). It definitely fits the bill and cuts through my analysis in less than half the time of my ASUS F8SN.

Its up to you on the install. I'm fairly certain the driver disk comes with all the software you'll need, so doing a clean install shouldn't cause you any hardware headaches. On the flipside the system is fairly clean of junkware so an upgrade wont leave you with tons of garbage. If you want to see what extras come with the system look at my review linked on the first page, since I took off all of it.

I'm not sure if a SSD will increase the speed of a render. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any of that software, and don't know if its reading/writing to the hard drive as it runs each pass or if it does the work largely in the ram. I have a SSD in my system (only an ssd, I got rid of the other hard drive and will use an external if I need more space) and I like it a lot. The system has zero vibration anywhere on the palmrest, and everything loads incredibly fast.

 

Bought a G53JW last night.. Man, its a really great machine.. yes it's big.. but once you see all the value for the money you get.. it's one solid, extremely fast machine.

First thing I did was install a 60gb OCZ Agility2 SSD into the primary bay and moved the 500gb into the 2nd bay for storage. And of course, installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 x64 on.

Here's my WEI:



I'm only getting 200 reads and 100 writes on this SSD... but it's advertised to go up to 285 read and 275 write.. not sure whats up. I'm guessing the controller isn't that great on the mobo inside the G53J?

*EDIT: Waiting to hear what other people are getting out of their SSDs.. please post your results here!!

 

Has anyone bought a laptop sleeve that'll also fit into the asus RoG backpack for this laptop??

 

Its not worth getting a Sleeve for it

 

Are there any other owners who can weigh in regarding the trackpad's buttons loosening up for them over the time they've been using it?

 

i've bought a sleeve for 17inch on ebay without any zippers and I use it all the time. Perfect fit!

 

Hey, guys. I want to know if being able to capture videos can be achieved with the G53JW-A1 from a TV or receiver. If so, what would be needed?

 

I'm getting the same exact SSD in mine. (Hopefully delivered next week.) I'll post my results soon.

I'm purchasing this, something simple.
Amazon.com: 17" Widescreen Laptop Notebook Sleeve Soft Case for Fujitsu, Samsung, Dell, Acer, ASUS Eee PC, Gateway, HP, Sony, Compaq, IBM, Mac, Sharp, Toshiba models: Office Products

Hauppauge Computer Works : WinTV-HVR-950

You can record or view TV through Windows Media Center

 

I have been searching around the forum and I can't find a place to purchase the caddy for the 2nd hdd. Is there a seller that does international shipping. I tried ebay but could only find g73 caddys.

 

There's apparently a shortage of the OEM caddies for the G53, I haven't seen them in stock anywhere, and even resellers are having trouble getting them.

 

First post here from a long time Lurker. I've followed the launch of this laptop all summer and suffered through all the delays, until finally I was able to secure myself one of the first shipments to arrive in October through NewEgg. This laptop has been an absolute dream to use... until last night.

I'm hoping you guys can help me out. Otherwise I'm going to have to RMA, and that means no laptop for 3 - 6 weeks. So Here's my situation:

I noticed last week that the power cable was sensitive, and that when I bumped the power cable it would flicker between battery mode and AC mode, but I just shrugged it off as a loose as a bad AC adapter that I would replace after the Holidays. Apparently not, it was loosening the connection in the DC port itself! Last night, I come home to find my laptop without power. I unplugged the power cord and notice that the female power plug has ripped the male gold pin out of the DC port! Literally the male gold pin is stuck in middle of the female power plug, all that is showing is just the pointy gold tip.

I was able to remove the gold pin with a set of needle nose pliers from the female power plug. However after an hour of trying to push and reseat the gold pin back into the DC port I was unable to have it resecure it. Even when I thought it was secure, the female power plug would strip it right out again. Any ideas on an easy fix? Or am I stuck with sending it to an Asus repair center

I haven't even put much stress on the machine to warrant fatigue of this caliber. I leave my laptop plugged in next to my bed 95% of the time. All that I can think of is that I sit on the left side of the bed, which means the cable twists and drapes around the back side of the machine. But surely that wouldn't be enough continuous tension beyond expected conditions of normal wear and tear. Definitely not enough to cause pin to rip out of the DC port would it right?

Anyone have experience with this? Of all the threads I've followed on this laptop and the G73, I've never heard of this happening.

 

I have the same problem with the power adapter! The male golden pin of the DC port cracked. I RMA'd it on 11/29, and it is waiting for a motherboard...

It seemed that my power cable has been sensitive since day 1. It switches between battery and AC mode very easily (every time when I was moving the laptop from the the desk to the bed, and vice versa). Some day I was so pissed off and I pushed and shove the plug a little harder, the golden pin on the motherboard cracked. It feels so flimsy and if this is a problem due to the design, I will have to sell the laptop ASAP when I get it back.

 

Well this makes me feel a little less confidant about the build quality of the laptop.

 

Yeah I went ahead and RMA'd my machine last night. Although I'm not sure it makes me feel better or worse that someone else has the same problem. Better in that atleast I'm not crazy and not alone, worse in that it could be a serious problem and take a long time fix.

If it fails twice on me, I'm going to sell it and not look back! Make sure you post here when you get your machine back, and let us know if everything is intact.

 

oh ye it does take a long time to fix.. Because they simply swap in another mobo and they usually don't stock it. I was told it normally takes 2-3 weeks to have the material come in. I almost forget how the laptop looks like...

I sent the laptop to the Indiana facility and I've heard some bad stories about it, so I'm a little afraid. Anyway I will let you know how the RMA turns out.

 

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in purchasing the ASUS G53JW A1 from Xoticpc. I've listed below only the things that I've changed from the base configuration and the final price. I have a couple of questions before my final purchase.

1. Is it a good investment or a waste of money to get the 1year no dead pixel guarantee ?

2. Since I have external hard drives I wanted to save some money by switching the first drive to 500GB 7200 rpm drive. I read that once you customize the stock drive a recovery partition is no longer available. My question, is this a good/bad trade off?

ASUS G53JW-A1 ($1470.58)
- 8,192MB (8GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (4x2GB)
- 4X Blu-Ray Reader + 8X DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)
- -Intel® Advanced-N 6200 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience Woot. I'm going to be extra careful with my power cable from now on; like everyone else the fit is very tight and it requires some force/twisting to unplug.

Also, I had some mild rattling from my dvd drive whenever I bumped the table or palm rest. I disassembled the notebook, took off the palmrest, and took off the bottom panel but couldn't figure out exactly what was causing the problem (I thought about just sliding a small piece of cardboard into the clamps, which probably would have fixed it). However, when I put everything back together again the sound had gone away - and I'm not exactly sure what I did (I had already tried simply tightening the screws and it didn't help).

 

G53 is a great machine and I have yet to see any problems on these boards about it, except for a couple power adapter issues, which I just noticed in this thread. I don't think you should avoid purchasing it because of that, since the majority are very satisfied. "Lemons" exist within all companies.

Why don't you find a US reseller to buy it from (I personally got mine from GenTech when I did own one)? For nearly all Euro prices I've seen, the US price after customs/taxes was significantly cheaper. Also, US resellers have i7-740/1080 in their units. You should avoid 1366 becaue I find it atrocious, in my opinion

It can house 2 hard drives. If you buy from a reseller, they can save you the trouble of installing.

It'll be great for gaming 2-3 years, so you won't have to worry. By the third year, I predict low-med settings, but as it stands, it's ultra settings on nearly everything.

@simplynik
I personally think the 1 year no pixel warranty is a waste of money. I have yet to see anyone on these boards or people IRL claim they've gotten it.

@exorcistkiller
Most of the horror stories do come from that facility

@wingzerox8
I'd recommend a sleeve or plastic film coating for the G53 since it's very easy to smudge mark it. Since I've owned both the G53 and G73, the G73 doesn't smudge at all due to its rubberized LCD shell, so no cleaning is ever required. So if you don't like cleaning the G53 frequently, get a sleeve, people

 

Just wondering, is the bag that comes with the g73 the same one that comes with this one? Asus has a different bag in the picture on their website.

 

@Voodooi : thank you for the extensive reply. Unfortunatelly I am kinda limited to this online shop here (some financial issues, with a refund, yada yada) and this is the only G53 they have in stock and up for order. In reply to the atrocious res display I guess I will have to get used to it since there isn;t much I can do. Neither do I find other laptops as powerful in the same budget.

 

Well, the G53 bag for me was a perfect fit, but for the G73-3D, I received the exact same bag as the G53's, so Asus seems to be cheap in that department. G53 users are safe, but G73-3D users will have to buy another bags since you have to squeeze it to death in order for the laptop to enter.

The bag is recommended for G53 users, since the padding covers all areas.

 

FYI, I received the parts today and installed them without (too many) problems...

I said I was gonna upload some pictures of the results but I obtained the exact same results than Diversion so...

I'm just a little bit concerned about the paperboard thing so I'm gonna look on ebay or something like that to get a hard drive bracket and fix this issue.

It's a great laptop, don't hesitate to buy it!!!

 

anyone from Canada wants to group buy some HDD brackets?

http://www.asusparts.eu/index.php?cPath=163571_67674_73347_199593_199596_210420


only 7 euros but shipping is like 20 euros!
If we buy 5, we can have 1 for 11euros each because shipping does not change

 

had my G53 for less than a week. Last night, windows performed 44 updates, and this morning, key board back-lighting is not functional? Any leads would be appreciated.

 

Uninstall and reinstall your ATK drivers. You should get the latest from ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

 

I had the same keyboard problem when I did my updates and ALLurGroceries is correct. Download the ATK drivers and then make sure that not only is the keyboard lights button (upper left of the laptop) turned on, but also make sure that they are turned all the way up, Fn F4.

 

I ordered G53 caddy from asusparts 2 weeks ago and still not arrived. BTW i stupidly ordered two different units(G73 & G53) if anyone from UK wants it send me a PM.

 

hey all
a lot of info in this post put me to purchase a g53, thanks.
one question though - I have a samsung 2233rz monitor which is 120hz capable. I also have a hdmi -> dvi v1.4 cable.. I have tried plugging in the monitor to my laptop with this cable and I can't get more than 60 hz. This is really a deal breaker for a gamer such as myself... anyone have any suggestions or ways around this?
Thanks.

 

Agreed, I had the keyboard lights go off on me after I shut down one day and pressed the increase brightness button a few times and bam they were back. No problems since.

I have another question for the owners here:

How do you get audio over HDMI?
I was playing a 1080p video out of hdmi on my TV (freaking sweet btw), but I struggled to get the audio playing out of the TV as well. Is there an option for this somewhere or is it a little more complicated than that? The silver lining is that the speakers on the laptop are so nice, I didn't even realize the laptop was playing the audio until I tried to change the volume with my tv remote. I bought the amazon model of the G53jw and have done the windows updates but not much else.

Also, if you guys are itching to try out the USB3.0, I saw this deal yesterday and ordered one:
Supertalent 16GB USB3.0 flash drive for $25
http://www.fatwallet.com/best-deals/super-talent-16gb-usb-3-0-flash-drive/

 

Guys I'm thinking of buying this laptop, but it will take some time, so what about waiting the Sandy Bridge model, have you heard anything about it? What about their prices, will they cost the same?
What fps has you gotten in Crysis in the highest settings?

One more question, I'm interested in the angle of viewing of the screen, since I will use it and someone will be sitting in front of me seeing my AutoCAD work and telling me what to do, and I've read some customer reviews saying the angle isn't wide, so what's your opinion?
And does it hurt you eyes after long periods?(I put glasses for sight correction)
Thanks in advance

 

I am also experiencing slow download speeds - I can't get much more than 40k/sec. I know my connection is 20mbit, and on my other pc my wireless card goes at over 2.1mb/sec.. what could be causing this?
Thanks

 

@byc
You can change your audio from Nvidia Control Panel once you hook the HDMI to the TV there should be another option there.

@Shaman
Don't have problem with the default wireless card getting 300kbps download on my 2.5mbps internet connection. Try changing your power settings.

 

hmm yeah no such luck... im trying a recovery now, see how it goes.

 

try to update the driver. Atheros Wi-Fi have serious driver issue with W7

 

Wish I could help you. When I hooked up my G53 to the TV video and audio were automatically sent to the television set.

Its not worth waiting for in my opinion. From a gaming perspective sandy bridge won't add a whole lot, and its pretty rare with laptops that cpu's are the limiting factor in most graphic intensive programs. In addition, the 6000 series ATI cards coming out soon are also only small steps up - they are the northern islands family and are still build on 40nm architecture. If you want to wait - I'd say skip the coming generation and wait until next summer. By then the Northern Island GPU's will be out (28nm) and you should be able to get a sizable bump in both CPU and GPU power at that time.

 

ok ill try now, recovery did not work..

 

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/atheros.htm

Try latest driver under Atheros : AR5007/AR5006/AR5009/AR9285/AR9287 WiFi Adapter section

 

painfully dloadin 23mb atheros driver @ 11k/sec
thx will do

OK - I have downloaded the most recent drivers, and I have tried a separate external USB WiFi adapter all together with no success. I'm now thinking it could be something related to the router? There's another Dell XPS in the house that works fine, as does my desktop with a wireless USB card. I use a Thomson TG782T modem/router (it comes with Telstra broadband) .. any ideas guys? I'm stumped..

 

wait you have to download version 9.2.0.113 beta driver (latest one for PCI-E cards)

 

will give it a shot now, ta
edit: how do i put this driver on? its just the sys file with a couple of others. tried through device manager but it says the most recent driver is installed.