Asus G53SW Owners' Lounge

Normal 7200 RPM 500 GB HDD

Yes it does support dual HDD, an I'm pretty sure it even has the caddy for the second one pre-installed. I'm not sure about % but the 460M will give you a decent boost in graphic performance.

 

Yes the laptop has dual HDD support. It also comes with the caddy for the second one. Here is a helpful link for comparing GPUs and some gaming benchmarks Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

good news guys. i just made my order! this will be a nice upgrade from my current n61jq

 

I think you'll be pretty thrilled - I'm still really digging mine, still can't believe a gaming rig this nice only costs $1200. I picked up a wireless XBox360 gaming controller for windows and have been playing Bioshock 1/2 with it lately, what freaking *gorgeous* games, especially with the graphics maxed out at 1080p.

My only real problem is that I've become *totally* insane about keeping it perfectly clean and pristine - I buff it down with laptop-safe cleaning solution and oversize microfiber cloths at least on a nightly basis, even though the rubberized black finish hardly picks up any fingerprints or anything. I'm like some old guy with a corvette xD

 

I'm really looking forward to the day that I can do that with my own G53SW

 

Picking one of these up the coming week if they stay in stock that is. Will be my first laptop in years, been focused on a nice desktop for so long now. I travel with my work now so need to take the power i have at home on the road sometimes. I dont want to spend almost 2 grand on a gaming lap so this fits the bill perfect (Newegg version). Im looking for the best bluetooth mouse thinking the Razer orochi or Mamba. And a good sleeve protection case for it. any thoughts?. I know it will have to be a 17 inch case to fit. Also will be picking up a SSD drive soon to add as well. Good info here thanks btw.

 

I've noticed something that can be very frustrating and I'd like to know if anyone else is experiencing a similar issue or this is just an isolated case.

I know this is a gaming notebook and most people will plug it in while gaming. However, I don't even have the option of gaming while the laptop is not connected to the adapter. I get FPS drops every few seconds in every game I own while the laptop is running on battery power. As soon as I reconnect the adapter the fps shoots back up. I've disabled all the power saving options but I still experience the same issue.

Is this just a symptom of the battery not being able to provide enough power to run the GPU and CPU at 100%?

 

Ive always read and heard Zeiss that when gaming on a lap you should be plugged in. The CPU and other hardware dont operate the same when your not. It runs at a reduced level from my understanding. It takes alot of juice to run games and intense programs that battery power alone just cant do.

 

does the newegg version come with the 2nd HHD bracket inside? because if so, that would be very helpful

 

Yep, it definitely does, and it *is* very helpful. Really, the only difference between the XN-1 and the A1 in terms of the actual notebook itself is the amount of memory it comes equipped with initially, and the size of the HDD it comes with initially. As far as technical specs go, everything else is* exactly* the same. The only other differences are the warranty and the bag/gaming mouse the A1 comes packaged with. Otherwise, everything you hear about the A1 (and the G53SW in general) will hold true for the model being sold on newegg.

 

Actually, it has the same warranty as the A1. I called ASUS and they said, if you register the laptop you get 2 years warranty with 1 year of accidental damage. Newegg has it wrong on the website....

I think the HDD, RAM and lack of a bag, mouse are the only differences.

 

thanks again kaworu876!

 

You may be right but I received mine today and there is a warranty card inside that says "Register within 60 days and get an extra one year Accidental Damage Warranty."

Does that mean there's a 2-year Accidental + 1 Regular? A bit confusing. I'm going to call Asus and report back. Other than that the laptop looks swell. Loving the matte black color. I'll be more active on the forum now that I finally have a machine to work with lol.

 

I was considering buying the MSI GT680R-008US because of the audio system but not having a back lid keyboard is a deal breaker for me the ASUS from NE looks good and the price too but I was reading it has terrible sound system and them I saw the A1 has Altec Speaker and am not sure NE has the same if anybody can confirm that will be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance
gvtrick is offline

 

I order a G53SW from new egg last week and while I am waiting for it to arrive I have decided on some upgrades I would like to do with the machine. I need some info from the owners here on the machines they have.

I plan to upgrade the wireless card and the RAM in the machine.

1. Is bluetooth supplied by the same card as the wireless networking? I will be grabbing a new Intel wireless mini PCe card for the machine and I need to know if I should plan on having that card handle the bluetooth duties as well.

2. Is it Kingston RAM in the machine or something else?

If any of the current owners have the details on the items above that would be a great help as I can pick up the upgrades this weekend and have them ready for when the laptop arrives this week.

I also plan to add a 500 GB Segate Momentus hybrid drive to the machine and to make that drive the primary boot drive with the stock 500GB drive for back ups. All in all a new wireless card, 6GB more RAM, and the additional HDD will only add about 200 dollars to the price of this machine for me.

Thanks.

 

Hi all, my first post here.

I just got my G53SW a couple of days ago, and i am very extremely happy with both performance and design, it's quite a machine. Only small thing is the display - i got a 1366x768 model, and allthough im happy with it, im not HAPPY with it if you know what i mean.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to have ASUS upgrade the machine with a HD display (for a reasonable price), or should i just return it and get a HD model?

Thank you, Jesper

 

Yes, the WLAN card in the G53SW is the Atheros AR9002WB-1NG. If you replace it, you will lose bluetooth connectivity unless the new card is also a combo card or you plan on using a USB bluetooth dongle.

Hyundai Electronics. Not the greatest, but it works. I stuck some Samsung DDR3-1333 sticks in there alongside it and they seem to be cooperating fine.

 

Yeah, I'm going to look into the warranty thing too - it would be *fantastic* if it actually does come with two years/parts + labor - that newegg deal just keeps getting better and better! And you guys just reminded me that for some stupid reason I haven't mailed out that accidental warranty card yet! D'oh. I'll be doing that on Monday first thing in the morning, luckily it hasn't even been 30 days yet since I got mine, let alone 60. But still, I like to be on top of things, normally.

Also, I too positively *adore* the matte black finish. It doesn't pick up finger prints very easily, it doesn't reflect light, and as a color it goes well with pretty much everything. One of the nice things about it from my perspective is that pretty much all those sexy-looking Razer gaming accessories are also matte black, and match the G53 *perfectly*. For example, I use my DeathAdder mouse quite a bit, and also recently got a Nostromo keypad (which is a freaking awesome accessory and makes keyboard-based gaming a lot better, couldn't imagine playing SC2/WoW without it anymore). Anyway, both of them are rubberized matte black, just like my G53, and so they even look like they could be made out of exactly the same material. Combine that with my new Timbuk2 laptop-messenger bag, which is also soft black (albeit with silvery trim but I figure the trim matches the white backlighting) and I feel extremely color-coordinated when I break out my equipment - it's a truly satisfying feeling.

Not to mention it all goes well with my wardrobe, which tends to be firmly on the darker side of the color palette. I also find myself wearing my black leather shoes a lot more often these days, specifically because they match my bag and laptop. Yes, I admit it - I actually think about whether my shoes match my laptop. I'm not insane though, just homosexual. Fashion sense can be a curse, it always just ends up costing me more and more money in the end.

This might be a foolish question but anyone else successfully accessorizing their G53's with anything particularly cool, or effective? Specifically, I'm curious about lapdesks/cooling pads, first and foremost - I've heard good things about the Cooler Master series, but I don't know how *comfortable* they are. Anyone have any experience? I'm also hunting for a good audio setup, since obviously no laptop speakers are spectacular and I require some thumping bass - I pay good money for my own apartment, and having spent over a decade wearing headphones all the time out respect for parents/roommates/whatever I am *done* with them for the time being. I'm really looking for a high-quality set-up that is wireless/bluetooth-enabled (I don't want any more stuff that needs to be plugged in, thank you) but still sounds really good, preferably costing no more than $100 - who knows if that's do-able or not.

 

Can anyone tell me why they want to replace the wireless card in the g53? what is wrong with it? too slow? drops connections?

 

I've had this computer as of May 6th, and I spent the entire evening cleaning out bloatware and installing the basic software I needed (chrome, antivirus, steam, etc). I've had the following issues as of now.

1) There was a preinstalled version of Google Chrome on the machine. I tried running it but it did not load at all. I also tried uninstalling it from control panel and it did not uninstall. So I went ahead and installed Chrome using IE. Now theres 2 Google Chrome's in the Programs Installed list in the control panel. This is quite strange. Now while this may not affect the computer's performance overall, my obsessive compulsive personality compels me to find a solution to this quirky little "problem."

2) I installed Grand Theft Auto 4 using a retail copy I had and successfully activated the product key. I run the game, and it loads fine. I can even get to the menu and start the game. Right from the beginning (the first scene where Niko is on the ship) I noticed a ton of lag. When the loading screen finally ends and the "game" begins, I notice a ton of lag as well. The game is unplayable as of now. I went on Rockstar support and there is only one issue reporting lag on their website ( Screen flashes, pauses, and hiccups when pressing keys on the keyboard in GTAIV with Windows 7 64-bit ultimate : Rockstar Support ) 64-bit- while skimming through the "PC Troubleshooting" section which has 42 articles in it. I'm running on the 266.86 driver and tried upgrading to the 270.xx driver on nVidia's site but failed. The driver started loading and gave me the "Could not find compatible hardware" message. Is the "old" driver causing freezups in GTA 4? Or am I doing something wrong? I changed the resolutions and the hiccups still persist on 1920x1080 and 1366x768. This is the only PC game I have now that will really "push" the computer so I really need to run it and test the system.

3) The wireless disconnected as I was typing this up and it scared the living hell out of me. I remember reading something about the wireless card failing in the G53JW thread. Anyways, I clicked on the "troubleshoot" link, windows did its thing and restored connectivity. The wireless works fine now and I hope there are no further issues with this anymore. [SOLVED]

4) The Fn keys stopped working but I reinstalled the ATK driver package from the driver disc (after installing the one from the ASUS website in vain) and the keys worked again after a quick reboot. Note this was successful after the uninstallation of the ATK package and reinstallation using the DRIVERS DISC included. [SOLVED]

I'd appreciate any input, and help with the unsolved issues (especially the GTA part) and I apologise for the long post. Thank you very much.

 

A common complaint from the other G series laptop threads is that the Atheros card that ASUS uses it sub par (driver issues, weak connections, drops, blue screens.) Since it is relatively easy to replace the card and the Intel Mini PCIe cards are pretty cheap (20 - 30 dollars) a lot of G series laptop owners recommend this as a standard upgrade to the machine.

If you are opening the machine to add RAM or another HDD the wireless card is right there and replacing it is fairly simple.

John

 

Does the motherboard of the g53sw w/ 2720 upgrade support 1600mhz ram? Answers are highly appreciated

 

1600MHz ram is really only for machines that allow you to overclock, the G53SW won't let you adjust RAM speed or timings in the BIOS (not to mention it's sandy bridge which further complicates overclocking), you're stuck with SPD. So the short answer is no... I don't know of any ASUS that can do that, there is one thread about a sager: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-got-1600mhz-ram-work-there-sager-np8130.html

 

Ah, was starting to think 1600 was a little high in a laptop. Just happened to see it on some customize-to-buy sites where with the 2720 you can get 1600mhz ram with it... figured that it might downclock the 1600mhz even though the 2720 can support it... due to heat? Am I correct? Still learning somewhat...

 

You're probably in uncharted territory there. You could ask one of the retailers and see if you get a response - I'm not sure.

 

I had this same issue with GTA 4, and in some respects I've solved it, while in other respects I've yet o find a solution.

Basically, maybe one out of every 5 times, when I load the game it is unplayable and full of hiccupping, like you said - this does not happen *all* the time, by any means, but often enough. I would say it's 80% playable - but it should be 100% playable. I also had the game crash on me on one occasion. Further, the game does not run nearly as fast as it should - I basically have to lower the resolution to 1366x768 and the graphics a tiny bit (which is WAY more than I have to do on far more graphically advanced titles than GTA 4) to get around ~40-50 FPS and make the game playable. That is not standard by any means for this notebook (neither is the hiccupping) and there should be some solution.

I've heard it suggested that it's a patching problem, and there could be a solution out there. That makes some degree of sense to me. I don't know why you can't get past the hiccupping, but try loading up the software and opening a save game past the opening cinematics at the lowered resolution and graphics. It's not ideal, but if it's playable for me it should be playable for you.

And just as a note, I've run quite a few other games/demos and GTA 4 is the *only* one to present these problems. I'd like to find some solution eventually, as it's definitely a game I'd like to play smoothly with higher graphics at full resolution. I'll try to put this problem out there in some other forums, maybe it's been run into before and there's an easy fix that we're missing.

 

Is there any wireless card that you guys have found that have bluetooth connectivity? Would the the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 Network adapter give you bluetooth connectivity?

 

The Intel 6230 wireless card is a wireless/bluetooth combo card. Here's the specifics of it: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 – Overview

 

I read somewhere that this laptop has a 500gb hybrid drive with 4gb of flash storage. Does it actually have this drive? If so, how much would an SSD inprove performance?

 

Greetings,
I have lurked long enough. I have ordered the G53sw xn1 and am awaiting delivery. My wife and I just saw a Sony Viao with 3d. I know the screen can't handle 3d, but can the graphics card? I can just hook up an external monitor.
Anyone played around with this?

 

I am split between this computer and the alienware m14x. I know this is a bit cheaper, but other than that, can anyone give me any advice on this decision? thanks muchly

 

Yes I believe GTX 460m is capable of 3dTV play. There is a sticker on the laptop but I haven't played around with it yet. Just keep in mind you'll need a 1.4 HDMI cable for 3d. A regular HDMI cable can be used for other stuff

It really depends on what you are planning to do with the laptop. If you intend to play games, go with the G53sw. The M14x has a GT555m card which won't really be able to handle games (as well, if at all) but the GTX 460m will give you reasonable gaming results for the next couple of years (hopefully). Also it depends if this laptop is your primary or secondary computer. Judging from the JW and SW forums most people seem to use the G53sw as a primary "desktop replacement", including myself. The m14x does not have a 1080p screen either, but it is more portable than the G53sw. So at the same price you're getting a smaller, more portable but not so "professional looking" computer (due to the Alienware lights, but thats just me ) with a lower GPU and display. So all in all it comes down to use. Hope this helped.

 

One of the reasons I got the G53SW instead of waiting on the M14x is the fan noise, if that helps any. The G53SW is the ideal gaming notebook if you are sensitive to fan noise. People are already having issues with the M14x's fan being loud and apparently the current issue with it is the fan kicking on and off often.

 

Thanks. The guys at the alienware forum seem to be playing everything on the gt555 and getting great results (as long as the computer is plugged in). That graphics card might not be as bad as you say it is. I will be using this as desktop replacement. I would get the upgraded screen on the m14x. And as far as looks go, I like the alienware better. I'm a sucker for the pretty lights. I also was unsure about asus, because I've owned dell all my life and really liked the keyboard better than any brand that I've tried. I don't remember how asus keyboards feel, but I just know that I'll like the alienware. I guess I'd like to know just how much worse the 555 card is compared to the 460. That and the price might make choose Asus. Thanks again

Thanks for the warning, but fan noise doesn't bother me. I'm used to it. and I wear headphones. not a deal breaker in my book.

 

I was also seriously considering the M14X before I found the G53SW. The way I see it with the ASUS you get a better display (1080p vs 720p or 900p with the M14X upgrade.) You get more RAM with the ability to expand the RAM to 16GB instead of 8GB on the M14X. With the GS53SW you get a better graphics card with DDR5 RAM instead of DDR3. You get the ability to add a second HDD if you want as well with the ASUS. All this plus the G53SW costs less than the M14X. If you are really wanting the better gaming machine then the G53SW is the one to choose.

EDIT you can find benchmarks for mobile graphics here http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-460M.33612.0.html

 

Hey Yogi, here's a link that may help Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech Look for the GT555m and GTX460m

You do get optimus technology with the m14x and probably better battery life. It also is lighter. But since GPUs are non-replaceable on both these machines, the Asus may last just a bit longer before the GPU starts to bottleneck when it comes to gaming (if you are the type of person who consistently plays newer games, won't matter so much if you're a heavy Counterstrike player for instance). Overall it all comes down to price/performance for use and upgrade-ability options. Hope this helps

 

The allure of Alienware in terms of looking really flashy is strong. I bet they sell a ton of units just because of that. It's the same reason why yuppies (like my parents) love their Mac products - it's a desirable aesthetic. For most gaming-oriented consumers, there's just something about the way the Alienware products are designed and marketed sort of calls out to you, it seems. They have that damned annoying ad that plays on streaming websites everywhere, too - that thing even got into my head.

I sort of find the people that advocate Sager even more annoying in a way, though. They make solid notebooks and everything, but they're just a Clevo reseller - there's half a dozen of those out there. And I don't understand how they get away with being competitive in this market without a backlit keyboard - it's not expensive to add, but it's actually a pretty important feature in a gaming notebook (since most people like to do their gaming in darker lighting - makes it a more immersive experience - and backlighting is fairly essential to seeing what you're doing for most people) that you'd think it'd be a requirement to be competitive.

Ultimately though, I think Asus is a nice middle ground between the two of them. Not as cheap as Sager overall, but unlike with Alienware you don't feel like you're paying a premium for a pretty-looking skin. This might not be very PC of me to say, but Alienware consumers tend to really bother me on some level. After hanging out in the "what notebook should I buy" forum a bit, it seems like the amount of money someone is willing to spend on a gaming notebook is inversely proportional to their intelligence - and invariably, those people with a ton of money want to buy Alienware. Seriously, and I don't quite know why that is. But there are all these barely-literate people who REALLY want to drop $3k on an M17x with maxed-out components. Despite the fact that they could probably spend a lot less money and get something that fits their needs just fine - but it's like they *have* to spend as much money as possible, just because they can. I seriously doubt that most of those people are spending their own money, because if they actually worked hard for that $3k, they wouldn't want to spend ALL of it on a notebook for leisure purposes unless they absolutely had to.

 

thanks for letting me know. I don't want to waste my money. Only problem is that g53sw is out of stock again on newegg

watch this video:

YouTube - Crysis 2 on the Alienware M14x

I'm not saying that the 555 is as good as the 460, because it isn't. but it seems that it can tackle pretty much anything that is currently available in games in highest settings. this doesn't mean that I'm going to buy an alienware. I just wanted to make sure you have your facts straight.

 

Ah, it shouldn't be out of stock for very long - I doubt more than a week or two at most.

And don't listen to me completely about the Alienware thing - I'm partially just a little bitter that I don't have unlimited funds to spend on sexy technology. I'm even seriously considering getting an M11x in the next couple months because I still want something netbook-sized with a little power behind it. But who knows about that.

And about the GT 555m vs GTX 460m - really, just do your homework. That might not sound like fun, but given the money you're spending you need to educate *yourself*. There is a quantifiable difference between the two. It's not ENORMOUS, but it's there. Looking through notebookcheck, the 460m is anywhere from 25-50% better depending on the relative strengths of the systems and various other factors. That's just a rough estimate from glancing through the numbers, though, nothing scientific. You'll absolutely be able to run plenty of games on both cards, it all has to do with how much that extra FPS or extra graphical setting is worth to you, and what your expectations are about playing graphics-intensive that are being released in 2013, if you even intend on keeping your notebook for that long. And then other factors like whether you care about the Optimus technology, and whether battery life is even important to you at all. Or how important the brand-image of owning an Alienware notebook is to you.

Ultimately, nobody can decide how powerful a GPU you need except for *you*. Don't trust random posters on an internet forum, but don't trust random youtube videos, either. Go to notebookcheck and other benchmarking sites and do your own research, and decide what you need.

 

Got my G53SW today!

Haven't unboxed it yet, it's sitting on my office desk until tonight.
This is the first batch of G53SW's that has been released in Scandinavia (im from Stockholm, Sweden).
There seems to be two variants one with I5 and 4GB and one with I7 2630QM and 8GB, i got the I7 version.

My last laptop was the Alienware M17x R1 with SLI setup and it's still working ok.

Any tips and ideas what to do when after i have started the G53 for the first time, ie driver upgrades, bios upgrade etc. Should i remove all the installed "bloatware"?

Any tips are appreciated!

 

The GT 555M isn't bad at all, overclocking it would make it perform pretty close to the 460M. However, its memory bandwidth deficiency can hurt it in the long run. For what it is, that's some strong numbers.

Wipe bloatware, or better yet, do a clean install. The only thing you need to keep to maintain OEM functionality is the ATK driver, Power4Gear, KB Filter, and pretty much anything with "drivers" in it.

 

I don't agree with you, I did quite research on gt555 compared to gtx 460M I don't think the difference is that huge to the extend of not being able to play games...I would suggest to take another look at the benchmark

I had my eye on the x14 as well also the dell new xps before I come across the g53sw-xn1

what I did is I compared the benchmarks for games between the two gt555 vs gtx 460M and I don't think it come close to 25-50% I would say it's somewhere around 5% but you might see some exception in certain games but in general performance is around that

considering only 5% having Optimus on gt555 makes it quite appealing as it will switch to the intel graphic card when you don't really need that much gpu power and that would lead to better battery.

if someone can get us some info about the x14 battery life would be nice to know.

btw what do you think of this for couple extra hundred bucks?

Alienware M17x Laptop Details | Dell

I'm not sure if it has Canadian version for dell.com/ca but you can check.

what I find it catchy in that specific compared to ours is:
advantages for me:
-3D capable screen
-eSata (im not sure if g53sw has one but specs doesn't mention it as it could come handy)

disadvantages:
-wondering what's the battery life like on that beast
-extra 1.5lb compared to ours (don't miss understand me I hit the gym almost everyday but still laptop weight still means something to me although I know the asus kinda of heavy for 15inch)
-I hate the 17inch screen dimensions as I find it annoying to carry it everywhere or fit it in backpack (again asus 15inch dimensions getting close to usual 17 inch)

gratz, I'm suppose to get mine any minute now as i'm waiting for the delivery guy

 

Thanks man. Great advice.

 

For those who are having stuttering issues in Grand Theft Auto IV, download ThrottleStop and set it to Profile 2 (Game) as shown below:



Please report back on how GTA runs with ThrottleStop. For me, it helped tremendously; I can run the game at 1080p with medium settings, 35/70/50/9 distance settings and the game runs virtually smooth.

 

Oh, man - thank you so much for this. BIG-time improvement. It's ceased being buggy as hell, I get nice and smooth FPS using the same settings as you (whereas the game was totally unplayable at 1920x1080 resolution before), no more crashing, no more weirdness in general. It made me realize just how funky it was running, even when it didn't skip all over the place, even at a lower resolution.

This makes me tremendously happy, because I've really, really been wanting to play this game and it *finally* works the way it should now. It was bothering the hell out of me that this was the one game that the G53SW just did not seem to like for whatever reason. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping this is a permanent solution... but there's already a hugely noticeable difference. Thanks again - I seriously owe you one.

Out of curiosity, what precisely is Throttlestop doing to our hardware that is solving this problem?

 

As I expected, overriding the laptop's ACPI profile to let the CPU and GPU run at 100% of its capacity. The one unique factor about GTA IV compared to most other applications/games out there is that it makes full utilization of multi-core processors and the GPU simultaneously -- somthing that every day users don't see outside of synthetics benchmarks.

With the stock 150 watt power supply running abnormally hot when the laptop is under load, I had a feeling the power supply is near its limit. ASUS and most manufacturers prevent their laptops from 'brown-out' and instability issues by limiting the utilization of the components that draws the most power. This is why I like using GTA IV for stability testing; it's interactive, and it puts heavy load on the computer. The reason no one else notice this particular behavior in other games is because most other games tend to only utilize 60-70% of the processor since they are not multi-threaded.

Feel free to use ThrottleStop to enjoy GTA IV, but I would keep an eye on the power supply if you are planning on gaming for hours with it. With the ACPI overridden by the program, your power supply is going to take a higher load and can cause it to burn out if ran for an extended period of time.

The previous generation G53/G73 were already drawing 120-140 watt under load, I don't know why ASUS did not upgrade the power supply for this generation.

 

Oh wow - you're absolutely right. I've only been playing this for an hour and a half, and the power brick is basically as hot as it's ever gotten since I had the notebook. Almost a little impressive, in a way.

Thanks for the breakdown of just what's going on, though - it helps to know just what the problem is, and why GTA IV was causing issues whereas other programs like SC2 were posing none. I can sort of see why this game in particular, just due to the nature of how it's played, would utilize hardware components more fully than most. So it's not necessarily the speed of the GPU/processor themselves, but the extent to which they're being used, hence it being a power issue rather than an issue with, say, the quality of the GTX 460m/i7-2630QM themselves.

Even still, the notebook itself stays remarkably cool and quiet throughout all of this. It's honestly amazing how effective the cooling is without making obnoxious noises. I mean, I remember the one time I was messing around with a friend of mine's Alienware notebook, and that thing might look kinda sexy and all, but it definitely heats up like nobody's business and sounds like a hairdryer on full-blast half the time. I really find it bewildering that more isn't being made of the cooling on the G53SW - was the JW model as effective in the same regard?

And as for the power supply not being upgraded, I honestly can't say it surprises me. They've probably got warehouses full of these power bricks lying around that they had manufactured in bulk for some particularly cheap price, and still need to get rid of them. No doubt the display panel wasn't upgraded either for similar reasons. Why should Asus feel obligated to make additional hardware improvements when there are undoubtedly plenty of people who will upgrade their notebooks for the SB processor alone? I mean, god forbid a multinational corporation do something nice for their consumers out of the sheer goodness of their hearts. Not that I'm down on Asus or anything, but, well, they're still a corporation. Not some friendly guy who lives down the block.

 

This is an excellent tool and excellent information but it leads to the obvious next question; is it possible to get a different AC Adapter with more power to work with this laptop? I don't want to burn my house down or cause issues with the laptop components from brownouts.

 

That's what I'm trying to find out. I have a Targus 180 watt power supply in route -- I am hoping these newer BIOS have adaptable ACPI that allows the system to increase the threshold when it detects a more powerful power supply. I guess we'll find out in a few days.

 

I have a question, when I open the screen and press the power button it doesn't work right away and it takes like 5secs to get the button to respond

I would assume it's some how a safety feature for the power but I would like to get a confirmation from the people who own the same laptop, can you turn on the computer as soon as you open the screen by hitting the power button?


or do you have to wait the 5secs before you get the power button to respond?

notice:that I'm getting the same issue weather it was all turned off or hibernating

thanks,