Asus G53SW Owners' Lounge

Hello, fellow G53SW owners! Since we don't really have our own official thread here yet (and ALLurGroceries has kindly recommended that I start one up) I figured that I might as well get the ball rolling.

Post in here to discuss all the details of whatever version of the G53SW you currently own - questions, comments, issues, troubleshooting problems, reviews (both brief and verbose) are all welcome, as well as anything else you all can think of. There has been a good deal of general discussion concerning the G53SW in this thread that I started over in the Asus Gaming Notebook Forum including a comprehensive performance review with screenshots from TailGunner (which I suppose should be reposted here at some point). But it would probably be helpful for a lot of us to move over here to this thread, just to keep things consistent and to make it easier and more accessible for everybody to find basic information about the G53SW if they so desire.

This will very likely end up being a temporary OP - hopefully I'll be able to update this with more comprehensive information regarding the G53SW and the various models (and their specifications) that are already available out there. In the meantime, we're off!

 

Can you tell me what is the configuration of the 6GB Ram? 3x2GB? or 1x2GB + 1x4GB?

 

Sure thing - the configuration of the 6GB RAM in the G53SW-XN1 model that I purchased is 1x2GB + 1x4GB. There is a max RAM capacity of 16GB, I believe.

I'm not sure what the RAM configuration is in any of other models that are out, though. I know that there is 8GB RAM in the G53SW-A1 model, and 4GB RAM in the Best Buy model.

 

Score! We have an owner's lounge, none of the other laptops I owned was cool enough to have it's own lounge

Hey Kaworu,

If you've got a moment, do you mind taking a digital picture of the warranty card or even a cellphone pic or something and uploading it?

 

I'm pretty sure the other models are using two modules of the same size. I've been thinking of upgrading the RAM in mine when I receive it. I know I don't need anymore than 6GB but I'd like to populate two slots with 4GB modules for dual channel and just sell the 2GB and 4GB modules locally. Albeit, the difference would probably be negligible.


EDIT: After thinking about it, the BB models (being as watered down as they are) could actually have a single 4GB stick and have the 2GB stick hauled (which would have made a total of 6GB). Realistically, I have no idea and am just guessing!

 

Since they cost cut, if the BB models have 8GBs. My bet would be 4x2GB sticks.

 

Be aware that the first slot (Where the 4GB stick is inserted in every G53) is not easily accessible. Three of the four slots are accessible through conventional means, while the first slot requires the entire bottom assembly to be taken off. If you want to jump up to 8 GB of RAM, just buy one more 4GB stick and replace the 2GB stick with it.

I've been playing Test Drive Unlimited 2 at 1080p and medium settings for the entire afternoon. Frame rates are in the 30-40 range, overall a very pleasing experience. This is the quietest laptop I've seen thus far while gaming, I'm impressed.

Temperatures while playing TDU2 for about six hours:

 

Hey TailGunner, have you considered undervolting at all to reduce core temperature a little? 80 seems a little high, but after 6 hours of 1080p gaming haha that's not that terrible.

 

How to check your mobo has B2 or B3 stepping (B2 was recalled by intel)

1) Run command prompt in administrative mode
2) Type "wmic idecontroller get deviceid"
3) Check for Rev_xx (xx = 04, then the mobo is a B2 rev and affected by the chipsetbug).

PS: Borrowed from G73SW http://forum.notebookreview.com/7243925-post543.html but should work for G53SW also i guess.

The figures in 80+ are MAX temp, avg temp is considerably low i guess.
You should've seen peak/avg temp in my prev laptop (95+ for GPU)

Overheating is one thing which i'm very scared off, these figures looks very promising in that regards

Btw Tailgunner, can you mention your
1) Room Temperature (degree celsius)
2) If the area around keyboard or the keyboard itself is warm/hot.
Am assuming u dont use any cooling pad for LT.

 

Definitely, but unfortunately Nibitor can't read the 460M's BIOS currently. Once its developer updates it to do so, I will start experimenting.

1.) 23 Degrees Celsius.
2.) Keyboard stays warm, no difference in palm area!
3.) No cooling pad. It sits on a table or on a tray when I use it on the bed.

 

Are there any vents on the bottom or is just the front that takes in air and back that outputs the hot air? I was thinking if I use a pillow instead of a tray when I use it on the bed it'd be alright if it wasn't blocking anything on the bottom.

 

The removable panel on the bottom has ten row of vents running across, but it has minimal impact on the system's cooling. The two large rear vents are the ones doing all the work; the left side draws in air while the hot air is expelled out of the right side vent.

 

Yeah, my laptop has also stayed extremely cool while gaming - and the rear vents definitely do a lot of work, you can really feel the heat coming out of them. It's a surprisingly functional design, I thought the vents could be mostly cosmetic (because it does look very cool) but I'm legitimately impressed. I'm still thinking I'll get a good-quality cooling pad, to be on the safe side - I'm currently using an older Logitech lapdesk with external speakers on it, which I actually quite like even though it does nothing in the way of cooling. I've heard that the Cooler Master SF-19 is one of the best ones on the market at the moment. Anybody have much experience with this? Is that a good model to go with? The USB 2.0 version is like $55 on Amazon, whereas the USB 3.0 version is $70 or $80, not sure which. I wasn't quite certain which one of those to get - not sure I need the one USB 3.0 ports, but maybe it is a better idea?

But like I said, even without a cooling pad I've really been shocked at the low temps, seriously the palmrest is downright cold and even the keyboard barely gets warm, like TailGunner said. My old macbook would get incredibly hot, it would definitely freak me out. I haven't exactly been working the system very hard yet, though. Overheating was something I was worried about before I got the G53SW, but now that I have mine I'm significantly less concerned, thankfully.

Also, here's that test that Novino asked about, mine is 05, same as TailGunner:


edit: Also, Tailgunner, how much keyboard flex have you noticed? Mine certainly has a noticeable amount, it's really one of the only hardware aspects I find myself not *completely* pleased with. I have no real basis of comparison though, because the unibody MBPs I've been used to using really had zero noticeable flex whatsoever. I'm slightly concerned that my G53SW might have more flex than normal, or something. But looking at reviews for the G53JW at least, this is definitely an issue that has been noted by some people. That being said, I'm already getting used to it and using a lighter touch, and it's not bothering me anywhere near as much as it was for the first couple hours that I was using it.

 

In the XoticPC review of the G53JW they show that there is actually a strip of double-sided rubber-tape, for lack of a better word, under the left side of the keyboard. There is a film left on the tape so that the adhesive is not exposed to the bottom of the keyboard, I can only assume this was done so that the keyboard can be easily removed. Either way, if you think you won't need to get under the keyboard at any point (not performing any upgrades), then you can remove the keyboard, remove the film on the double sided tape, reinstall the keyboard. This should remove some of the "wobble" or flex you're experiencing. I can't see why it wouldn't be possible to put more of this "tape" along the underside of the keyboard to act as a spacer to remove even more flex. I probably will, depending on how bad the flex is of course.

 

In power saving mode, using only simple 2d programs, how much battery life are you guys getting with this notebook? With the Sandy Bridge processor, I'd imagine it's better than the g53jw

 

I got exactly 3 hours surfing the internet at my parent's house.

 

3 hours isn't bad at all considering the JW was maybe an hour and a half.

Is there anything else you can do to extend battery life when not using it for anything other than web stuff? (ie disabling cores, lowering clock speed) Maaan this week couldn't disappear fast enough. Wish Canadian shipping wasn't so slow.

 

3 hours sounds great to me. That's all I got on my last netbook.

 

googled and found out this thread, Are there anyone have trouble with battery saving button, sometimes it work, sometime it doesnt, and the setting of it also wield, i changed the light to 0/10, click save and it jumped back to 6, tried at least 5 times then restart since i feel restart is faster than hibernate. it worked after that, but few hours later it did it again,

btw, this laptop is just great, especially with the ven compare with my macbook pro, play crysis 2 full hd, advance setting( didnt try hardcore since I dont want anything hurt my baby ^^)about hour and the temp stayed under 80,just great !!!


p/s: 1st time i turned on the laptop, didnt see the backup partition, but i do now, didnt do anything since window 7 is a new world for me after 3 years of using macos.

 

Nice that we have our own little lounge now -- I'm a lurker who got his G53JW three weeks ago, and have been following posts in the forums here for quite awhile.

Figured it was time to de-lurk and say thanks to everyone. Your posts were a huge assistance in helping me make my decision.

 

Question from a random lurker:

What display (AUO/Hannstar?) does the G53SW use? Is it the same as the G53JW?

I'm trying to decide between getting a G53SW, G73SW, or Dell XPS 17 with 555M and the 1080p display plays a large factor.

 

Hey everyone!
I'm really considering buying this laptop, looks SO amazing! I don't really like the design, but what's really important to me is what's "under the hood".
So I have a question: what's the speed on the default memory config?

 

It has 6GB (1x2GB, 1x4GB) of DDR3 1333, AFAIK. I haven't actually received mine yet.

Tailgunner has actually replaced the stock RAM with two 4GB sticks so he can probably confirm the speed of the stock RAM and maybe even provide the cas latency.

 

Still having lots of fun with this thing, though I have had some trouble running GTA4. It's not really playing as fast as I expected it to - at full 1920x1080 resolution, I only get about 20 FPS when I set it to autoconfig the graphics settings (which is basically "high" across the board). But when I lower the in-game resolution to 1366x760 the FPS goes up to like 55 or so, and it becomes definitely playable. It's also crashed a couple times, which isn't so nice. But again this is weird, because I can play SC2 (a much newer game) at "ultra" settings with no issues whatsoever. The GTA4 issues seem a bit non-standard, but maybe I'm missing something. Not that playing at the lower resolution is all that bad - I can still *play* the game and it looks freaking awesome, heh. But I should be able to play it native resolution, I think.

I might just need to reinstall windows. I've deleted most of the really obvious bloatware, but not everything. That might be the root of my problems, not certain. Hardware-wise nothing is wrong, I retested the experience index and everything is right where it should be.

 

Prior to reinstalling Windows, do try some drivers from nvidia or laptop2go.com
As a matter of fact, they released a major version yesterday 270.61
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Select the Automatically detect option which would detect the right version of driver for ur lappie (generic approach for any laptop/OS).

Performance
Increases performance for GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. v266.58 WHQL driver

PS: Wouldn't recommend this on a fresh system. Driver experimentations can lead to jagged resolutions, unexpected results (which can be fixed by fresh OS installation anytime).
Also it might not be possible to use the Nvidia driver straightaway. I'll give it a try myself once my lappie arrives.

 

I have to admit that I am slightly reluctant to just reinstall Windows. I still need to set up my recovery DVD (or DVDs, rather), and I'm certainly not doing the reinstall until I've done that. Unfortunately I can be a terrible procrastinator at times >_< I only *just* bought some DVDRs today - amazing how cheap they are now, 50 of them only costs like $10. So I should get around to that tomorrow. I'm definitely gonna try that new driver and see what it does first, though.

On another note, in the previous thread Chastity had asked me what the LCD panel part number was on my G53SW - I looked it up in the device manager, and it is the same as in the G53JW - AUO15ED. I guess this means they didn't take your suggestion? It is still, to my eyes, an absolutely freaking GORGEOUS screen. I prefer glossy so much over matte, it's much more like actually watching a nice TV, or something. It just seems... prettier, less dull. This is easily the nicest-looking notebook I've ever personally seen, in terms of sharpness, crispness, definition, color, etcetera. I haven't seen many recent ones, though. I'm sure nicer ones are probably out there but, well, this is pretty damn good to my eyes.

On the same subject, I recently watched Blade Runner on this notebook, and I have to say that I was extremely pleased. That's one of my all-time favorite films; purely in terms of visual appeal and aesthetics, it is quite possibly my number 1 favorite film ever. I'm not sure that I can properly explain why, because there are probably other films out there with better visual effects, or ones that are more technically stunning, but in my eyes there's nothing quite so artful, soulful, and atmospheric (again, just on a visual level) as Blade Runner - and yet it's almost 30 years old! Watching it is, like, my personal benchmark test for any screen. I don't know if I could assign a number score to how good it was, but it was really, really beautiful to see in high-res on this screen.

EDIT: Important note about the link Novino posted: The version of the nVIDIA driver that he linked in the post above mine is for the Windows 7 32-bit OS. The G53SW uses Windows 7 64-bit The correct link is right here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-270.61-whql-driver.html

Don't worry about it though, Novino - honest mistake. I'm totally new to this whole 32-bit/64-bit thing, being a longtime OSX user. I didn't even try to install that first one you linked, I was just going to open it when I noticed "32bit" in the file name. According to the faq I just read, 32-bit drivers do not work at all on a 64-bit system. Would it even have let me install it, or would it have installed and then just not worked? Anyway, I just caught it in the filename before I opened it - no harm done. But hopefully nobody here actually installs it by accident, you should edit your post if you read this.

 

The G53JW-XN1 on newegg just went up in price by $25. Does that mean they're gonna get the SW back in stock? I certainly hope so. I've been watching the price of the JW fluctuate around $30 here and there. Been reading the forums for a while, I can't wait to buy the SW. At what price reduction would you guys consider the JW from newegg (at $1170 now) at this moment?

 

Yep - I just checked and the price of the G53JW-XN1 on newegg is now $1189. Is that the price increase you were talking about? The G53SW-XN1 is definitely still $1199, but out of stock at the moment, like you said.

Honestly, I don't know why anyone would buy the JW-XN1 over the SW-XN1 with a price difference of $10. The only plus that the JW has is an additional year of parts and labor warranty. I'm not sure what price reduction I would consider the JW at, but it's certainly not that.

I guess it all depends on how much is worth what. As far as I know, the only difference between the two models (at least the XN1 version) are the processors (i7-2630QM in the SW-XN1, i7-740QM on the JW-XN1) and the memory (4GB on the JW-XN1, 6GB on the SW-XN1 and a max of 16GB on both). I think most people would agree that the i7-2630QM by itself is a big enough upgrade that it warrants a lot more than a piddly $10 increase - there is plenty of information out there comparing the two processors, just go to notebookcheck if you're curious to see what extent the 2630QM outperforms the 740QM.

Basically, unless you're really on a tight budget there is no reason to buy the JW-XN1 whatsoever at the moment. It sucks to have to wait, but it could come back into stock tomorrow very easily. I wouldn't be surprised if they increased the price of the SW-XN1 at least equally to the increase on the JW-XN1. It just wouldn't make any sense whatsoever to price up the older model and not the newer one.

edit: whoops updated faulty RAM info about the JW-XN1, my bad.

 

Yea it really bugs me to see the price difference so low and the SW being out of stock. I'd much rather buy the SW but I would strongly consider the JW if they knocked down the price a bit more. Personally if the difference was around a $150 I'd get the JW although the sandy bridge would definitely be "futureproof." I've looked at benchmarks between the two processors and the SB (as expected) far outperforms the i7. Man I really wish Newegg gets it in stock. I might just call them up.

 

Finally they processed my order which i had placed on Friday I guess NE doesn't work on weekends.
Surprisingly enough the warehouse seems to be just 7 hrs drive from my place. Hope the ground delivery happens tomorrow or day after.

 

You really might not have to wait very long at all. I mean, I purchased mine almost exactly 1 week ago now, and ever since I have seen it go in and out of stock on ... 3 different occasions? Maybe it was only twice. And at one point it was officially "deactivated" which made some of us think it wouldn't even be coming back into stock at all until maybe newegg had sold their current stock of JW-XN1s. But the SW-XN1 still came right back after a day or two.

So I would just wait, and chill. Sign up for auto-notify, and make sure to check your e-mail diligently over the next few days so that you can be assured of having enough time to purchase one for yourself when it does come back. Call them up if you want - you might get some inside information, but I wouldn't expect anything other than "it is currently out of stock, and we will hopefully be getting it back into stock at some point in the future" or something equally meaningless.

Awesome man, good to hear! Judging by the notebook you had versus the one you're getting, I think that you (like me) are very likely to be seriously blown away by the level of performance. Unless you've already been using computers with that level of processing power, in which case you know what to expect. I really had no clue just how absurdly powerful these things had gotten. Also, It took them a while to process my order at newegg too, I had to call them up and get them to expedite the verification process in order to make sure I got mine by last Friday, and they were actually really accommodating. I hope you get yours soon and everything works out for you!

And yeah, I think newegg abides by the whole "business day" thing. At least you don't live in New England where we had our own silly little holiday exclusive to our region on Monday - Patriots Day. Weirdest holiday ever, I think it's just an excuse for all the businesses that take every single opportunity to close to have an extra day off. The only thing meaningful about it to me is that the Red Sox play a day game at 11AM on Patriots Day every year, which means I'm never able to watch it. Oh well.

 

Woo! My tracking number finally has location updates, Left LA and landed in Vancouver REAAALLY hoping it's here by Friday. I don't think I can take another weekend. My first power computer haha I got my hands on a copy of Mafia 2 to play with, it looks gooood.

Btw the JW-XN1's also have a max RAM of 16GBs, somebody posted that the max was 8GBs. They're basically identical except for the CPU and the SW comes with an extra 2GB of RAM preloaded into it.

 

Lol, i thought u already recieved yours, assuming that u and kaworu placed ur orders around same time.
I hope you get it before me

I'm more of relieved than excited.
Was skeptic about bagging this deal, since i placed my order on Friday evening and soon after it went out of stock again.
But newegg really amazed me on Moday. They finished processing, packaging and dispatching all on the next working day, without any need to call them up for expediting.

Am waiting to get blown away myself , couldn't finish my "The Forgotten Sands" on previous laptop, since it required lot of precision, and the fps wasn't really helping.

PS: I updated the driver link, try the "detect automatically" option, that should work easily. Thanks for checking the same

 

Haha ya, we ordered the same morning, sadly Canada is far. Prince of Persia! I'll add it to my list of games to play I definitely had a sense of relief once mine was packaged and shipped, those constant out of stock notifications after i bought it freaked me out. I can't wait to see this screen a 1080P resolution on a 15.6" screen just blows my mind.

You'll probably get yours first Novino I'm just satisfied knowing one is on the way.

 

The only game that has given me trouble so far is Grand Theft Auto IV; it skips and stutters often but in between that I had good framerate. I think it's an issue with the patch update so I will try again tonight.

I played Crysis 2 from start to finish in one session. Ran it at 900p, Gamer settings. Fluid gameplay and still looks great. The G53 still hasn't shown any signs of overheating or throttling. Best $1200 I've spent.

 

That makes me feel so much better, because I really had the exact same problem with GTA4. Like I said before, if you switch the resolution to 1366x760 or so it should play smoothly, or it did for me. Hopefully there's some other way to remedy the issue, because it should run just fine at native res, all things being standard.

 

did anyone have a problem updating their Graphics Driver for v270.61? mine says the installer cannot continue cuz they could not find a compatible graphics hardware.

 

Get the modified INF from here and drop it in the display.driver folder at wherever the 270.61 drivers are extracted.

 

So, here's something *important* that I've been meaning to write a post about. I was reading through some of the owners' lounge thread for the G53JW before, and made a post there last week before I got my G53SW inquiring about anything important I should know about the model.

One of the first things I was told had to do with the power brick, specifically the part that you plug into your notebook. Apparently, the power cord is something that has caused some issues with the G53JW - and by extension, the SW model has the same issues, since the design really hasn't changed much. Not a big issue, but annoying nonetheless. The power cord plugs into the right side of the notebook, close to that center but still nearer to the rear of the laptop than the front. I personally find that location to be a little problematic, partially because I'm used to the Macbook Pro where the cord plugs into the top of the left side. But apart from that, the power cord is very close to where I (as a right-handed person) would want to use an external mouse. So it's just a bit bothersome to have the cord be in the way if you're trying to do some gaming with a mouse. Not impossible to deal with, because you can just just position the mouse a little lower, but it's still not really perfect or ideal.

In addition to this, apparently there have been a noticeable amount of G53JW owners (more than just 1 or 2, I guess) who have had further issues with the cord and the location. Specifically, they've somehow had the pin snap off inside the laptop. Which I can believe, since it definitely fits into there quite snugly, and if someone were to, I dunno, grab it in the wrong place with a fast and sudden motion, drop it and tried to catch it in the wrong way while it was plugged in, or any type of mishap that I can't think of or imagine, I could easily see the pin breaking off or something similar happening. I can't see myself easily having this problem since I'm very careful, but who knows - this kinda thing can just happen, sometimes.

The good thing is, there is a solution to these problems! You can buy this for a measly $6.95, which I ordered myself on Saturday and just got in the mail today: LC53 - Right Angle Converter for 5.5x2.5mm Connector. Pretty self-explanatory. It's a right angle/90-degree connector that basically means the power cable is nicely out of the way of any external mouse you might want to use, first of all. It also fits less tightly, and plugging the connector directly into the laptop makes me personally worry a lot less about anything snapping off inside the laptop. If something bad were to happen and pressure were to be applied to the connector while it was plugged into the notebook, it feels to me like it would be more likely to pop out on its own accord, and less likely to snap off inside the laptop. Plus, if it were to break somehow, you wouldn't have to worry about repairing/replacing the power brick - just the $7 connector. And I'm not saying the 90-degree connector is too loose, by the way - it definitely stays in there. To me, it feels like more of a normal fit, whereas the regular cord, like I said, just feels a bit too tight/snug.

So, if that post was too long and you didn't read it, here's the gist: Buy the LC53 - Right Angle Converter for your G53SW. It's cheap, it will make it a lot easier and more comfortable to play games on your G53SW with an external mouse, and it will decrease the chance that you will accidentally cause damage to the connecting cable on your power supply and to the laptop itself. I've got mine, it works perfectly, and I believe it's an *extremely* wise investment to make if you own this model notebook.

 

Thanks for posting that, it maked it more convenient for others to find it.

I'm going to look for another power supply first though -- the factory one gets alarmingly hot, which makes me believe it's not a very efficient unit or it's getting overloaded. I will take a look at the 180 watt Targus unit and maybe some other options. Some of those may already have their plug at a 90 degree angle, hence why I am holding off.

 

I am thinking about getting a G53SW. Is there space for two 2.5 in hard drive or just 1 HD? What model WiFi card is in the system? How many antennae wires are available?

 

There is space for two hard drives. The manufacturer of the wifi card is Atheros. There are just two wires.

 

was wondering if you can raid the HDDs like on many other laptop with dual HDD bays

as well as wondering if the sata for the HDDs is sata 3.0 gbps or sata 6.0 bgbps. i was thinking it would be 3 because intel doiesnt yet have their own solution for sata 6.0 gbps

also what are the specs of the ac adapter?

also does anyone know if a larger batter is available?

 

update con i just found out:

the keyboard miss 2/5 times if type really fast, i play gunz and i cant do my skill as i want because of the missing

 

Could anybody confirm this,. I thought that the G53 Jw/Sw are keyboard malfunction free -> compared to the G73s.

 

Well, my keyboard is certainly malfunction free, I have had nowhere near a ratio of it missing 2/5 times and I definitely type fairly fast. I'm not sure what review you read that in. I mentioned the only issue I had with the keyboard, which is that there is some noticeable flex (not very much at all, really) and the only reason why it's significant for me is that I've been using a unibody Macbook Pro for years which had no flex whatsoever in the keyboard.

Anyway, where did you hear that, about the keyboard, iTsLee? There are very few official reviews available out there, and I haven't read that statistic in any of them. Certainly not in English, at least - did you read that in a review written in another language? Just guessing, but English doesn't appear to be your first language. Perhaps you misunderstood something.

edit: Again, I play a decent amount of SC2 and need to use hotkeys very quickly, effectively, and accurately and have run into no significant issues at all so, I'm not sure what specific problem you're having, iTsLee, if this is based on your personal use of the G53SW.

 

if just normal typing, its totally fine,i just say with the game require a really good keyboard like Gunz, G53sw not really does a nice job

its based on my exp, well SC2 doesnt need to use key that quick like gunz, and i dont have any problems about the keyboard with another game, so if u dont play Gunz, ur fine

 

First off, thanks to everyone for providing some great information about the G53SW-XN1! I have read through this thread as well as kaworu's original thread about the computer, and I am really interested in getting one when they come back in stock on Newegg (unless someone knows of another place to get one for about the same price).

I saw some discussion about warranty, but can I get a confirmation about the exact warranty that comes with the Newegg version of the G53-XN1? Also, is it possible to extend this warranty (for accidental damage) through Asus? If so, what is covered and how much does it cost? I know you can purchase an extended warranty through Newegg that is provided by Service Net, but that warranty does not seem to cover accidental liquid damage (I plan to call Service Net sometime next week to ask about it). I'm a very careful person, and I have never used a computer warranty before, but having it makes me feel more comfortable.

I am also thinking about the G73SW-XA1 that Amazon is selling ( Amazon.com: ASUS G73SW-XA1 Republic of Gamers 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black): Computer & Accessories ). Compared to the G53, the G73 has 2 more GB of memory, and a 750 GB hard drive (7200 RPM). All other specs look the same, except for the screen size. My only issue is I'm afraid the 17.3 inch computer will feel way too big when transporting it and when using it on my lap (I'm sure using it on a desk will not be an issue). Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advanced!

 

though 15' and 17'' is different, but g53 and g73 have quite the same weight, and g73 is not really bigger than g53 that much to be consider

 

Well, except they don't have exactly the same weight, and the dimensions are actually a little different. But it's true, not hugely different.

In terms of weight, the G53 clocks in at 7.90 lbs, and the G73 at 8.00 lbs - both of these weights are with battery included, of course. So, that is pretty close.

Dimension-wise, this is what newegg lists: G53 is measured at 15.60" x 11.90" x 0.80" - 2.00". The G73 is 16.60" x 12.80" x 0.80" - 2.30". The depth figure in both models has a range, because when closed the notebook is actually tapered so that the back is considerably thicker than the front. I should also add that the chassis is *not* identical in these models - the G73 has two small hinges on the front cover that control the opening and closing, whereas the G53 has one big central hinge. Personally, I find the one big hinge to be far more aesthetically pleasing, but that's largely based on person preference.

Anyway, regardless of which one you buy, it is going to be a damned big notebook. I had to buy a 17-inch sleeve for my G53 because it's just too big to fit in the 16-inch ones comfortably, for instance. It comes down to personal preference, and whether the extra screen-size is worth the extra money and the extra inch in increased width and height .

edit: oh whoops, i'm an idiot! i knew i was neglecting something absurdly obvious