G50vt-x5-RF (Refurbished) Review and lounge

I'd like to start up a thread for the refurbished G50vt-X5 so we can share experiences with them, including performance, defects, and trade-ins. I'll share as much as I have.

Please see Clutch's review for a full breakdown of the new G50vt-x5: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=376685

Ordering

I ordered the G50vt-x5 from TigerDirect a few days ago. Titled G50vt-X5-RF (RF for Refurb most likely). I bought it at $739, but they're down to $719.99. Through bing.com->"Dvd burner" search->(Link to tigerdirect.com's burners)-Laptops you still get that 10.3% cash back, so 719.99-74.16= $645.83. Great deal if you don't mind waiting the 60 days to get that cashback honored, pretty good deal without. I shipped ground at $1.99, which was said to be 5-7 days but only took 2, most likely due to short distance (IL to PA). It comes with a 3-month Asus warrenty.

Packaging (UPS)

See attachments for the unboxing. It came in an oversized box (a bit dented at the top) filled first with packing paper and then the laptop box. As you can see, the refurb box is not the nice looking Best Buy box. However, it was in good shape. Along with the laptop, It came with the driver/reinstall disks, instruction manuals (fast install, general, and express gate), the battery and power supply. There was also the TigerDirect pamphlets stuffed in the big box. As of now I don't see a Asus warrenty form. I'm wondering if I need to call to set something up.

The laptop looks pretty much brand new. I did not notice any scrapes/scratch defects on the laptop. WIth the glossy cover I think my prints are making it look worse than when I got it. The inside may not have the giant Best Buy advertisements stickers on it, but I do see the Nvidia/Windows/Centrino stickers.

Battery

There was some concern over whether this battery is still the BB version, which was 9-cell. The version is A33-M50. I put that in google and it tells me its the 9-cell. It also looks like the 9-cells for sale. (I'm pretty sure its 9-cell.)

Startup

I installed the battery and plugged everything in. The track pad works well, so do the clickers. They're a little stiff for my tastes, but I'll be using my mouse anyways. Windows vista 64-bit installed/setup without a hitch. I installed some of the more useless google bloatware that comes with it. I'll post some deatails of the specs in a later post. I'm a novice at overclocking/flashing/benchmarking so please be patient with me.

Heating

I'm planning on keeping this on the Zalman NC2000 cooler at most times. That said, even with the cooler I do feel some warm spots as I type this. The right side of the trackpad seems to get warm. The LED seems brighter on that side. Since i have it turned off using the handy interface there is no heat. The big vent on the left is pushing out the warm air at a steady rate. I'm glad I'm right-handed. It gets a little warm where the base of my palms rest as I type.

There are no other major hot spots except one, which is my biggest concern. The hot spot is to the right of the Asus emblem at the bottom of the monitor screen. You can see on my last image the piece of plactic film that is bubbled out a bit. Thats where it is the hottest. Its almost hot enough to burn my finger. I'm not sure if its FROM the plastic, and that bubble is where the heat gathers, or that that bubble has formed from earlier usage. Let me know if anyone else has experience of this, and if taking the plastic cover off helps it.

Preliminary testing

I only had time so far to install WoW and Left 4 Dead to see how things are running. I downloaded the latest video driver from asus support.. but I think it was from last year? Let me know if there is a newer driver that would help me out. WoW fps flying above Northrend+dalaran and staring out far into the distance (most demanding for me usually) was 34, about 36 when i tapped on turbo extreme. I'm pretty happy about that. Left 4 Dead runs well, let me know what commands run the FPS/averages.

I'll install Fallout 3 later and post some FPS's, as well as some temps. I'll get around benchmarking too. Let me know if you have some requests.

 

I pulled the trigger on this deal last night. With MS cash back I could not resist. I should have it in 2 days.

I plan on running it with both Vista and Windows 7. I've seen alot of people buying these so I guess if there are any problems we should start seeing them in a day or so.

 

My limited advice is to check for heat spots.. and I'm asking folks to check for a warm spot to the right of the ASUS emblem at the lower right-hand side of the monitor.. I'm wondering if there is some sort of short in the wires that is causing this. Anyway I hope it works out well for you.

 

finally you get it, congratulations!
i´m still aiting for mine, the shipping to Argentina really takes a lot, but in a few days i should recibe it.
How much brighter is the led?

 

Can't wait! Should be there tomorrow. But I was wondering why do I have 2 tracking number? One says: Billing info received and the other In transit - On Times.

 

I think I saw the same thing as well. One is for the site's tracking, and the other is for the actual shipping company's tracking. Use the second one you got.

 

Well I received it today. Turned it on and powered up and the screen was black. Tried again.. no better.

Called ASUS went through their trouble shooting (all the things I already tried) and was told to contact the reseller.

Spent an hour on the phone fighting with them for an exchange and becuase I used paypal they would only issue a refund and I would have to buy it again.

Being me I did not like that answer.

So while fighting with them to get an even exchange I fixed it myself. Popped off the hinge tabs, reseated the LCD connector and what do you know. It works now.

Let the fun begin.

Also on another note. I bought it from TigerDirect. The notebook itself is the BB model. It has all of the BB crap loaded on it.

 

lol. You know what they say: Never better served than by yourself

 

That is true.

Finishing up Windows & install and then I will play.

 

I'm wondering if there is some sort of issue with my LCD connector myself. Was that LCD connector on the right side, like where my hot spot is?

I payed with my check card so they're ok for an exchange. I'll send this one in and see if I have better luck the next one.

 

Wow UPS left my laptop at my front door!. No signature nothing! Lucky its not raining! and Lucky my brother was home few time after. Wow 1000$ left at my front door. I guess thats waht you get with that 4$ shipping!

So if you are going to take the 4$ shipping. be sure to be home when they'll deliver it.

 

Yea, I had the same thing happen to me as well. They could at least cover it with a plastic bag.

 

Just got mine last night. I couldn't play much with it cuz i went to the AC Milan vs Club America game, but i stayed up tll 3 am today fiddling around with it. I dual booted Win 7 RC and Vista, but couldn't get any of the drivers to actually work in Win 7, like I would install them, and in device manager all of them were recognized, but none of the software worked... like direct console, touchpad functions, etc.

I checked for a heat spot but did not notice any (will check again). Also is anyone getting some kind of buzzing noise from the right side? I cant figure out if its my HDD or the DVD drive, it makes the sound twice while booting up, and sometimes I hear it when I'm just doing stuff on it.

I'll look into it more and let you know.

Overall, I like it a lot, just ordered a slappa spyder backpack for it! (if you use coupon: gadgetmadness, you get like 5% off, and they are also with free shipping.) Quick boot feature is nice too!

Edit: Also, I read something about keyboard lag with the synaptic touchpad drivers or something like that... i played CS for a few minutes and didn't notice any keyboard lag.

 

Well, as I said got the LCD working and installed Windows 7. No problems.

Get home today and guess what. F****** LCD isn't working again.

On the phone with TD again.

sigh.....

 

RMA given. They'll refund me and then I have to order again. They will give it to me at the cheaper price I paid and will also still honor the MS cash back.

Just sucks I have to wait. They are out of stock as of today but they have more coming next week.

 

that's a bummer, i'm going to run 3dmark and some other benchmarks on mine tonight to make sure its stable

 

Thanks for checking that area for a heat spot. Its probably just bad wiring in my own laptop. Gets hot after about an hour or two of gaming. I noticed it by feeling all over the place for hotspots under full load. If you put your finger there for a few seconds you can feel hot hot it really is.

They emailed me a shipping label to print out so I shipped it back to them on 7/23. I'll see if the next one is any better. If not I'll hold on to it.

 

i ran 3dmark 06 and got ~8500 score, of course i used the free version and I couldn't change any video settings :O
ordered 2 hdmi cables from newegg and i'm going to test it out on my tv. So far no issues, b/s the fact that i couldn't get the drivers to work on win 7

Anyone notice the IR port in the front? Do you think it's possible to use it with a remote control?

 

Quick question:

Is the X5 like the X6 in regards to the ExpressGate button? In other words, when your computer is powered down is the ExpressGate button lit up?

 

yes it is. Which is kind of cool, when you shut down, it stays lit up and when you press it, takes it about 5-8 seconds to boot up into the expressgate OS

 

After 20min, I didn't notice any heat spot on mine too.

again, after 20min, I didn't notice any kind of buzzing sound.

Edit: How do you know at what speed the CPU is running under extreme mode?

 

download cpu-z

but i noticed that it just varies from 1.7 ghz to like 2.3 ghz in the extreme mode

 

Does this refurb qualify for the free windows 7 upgrade?

 

Yep got that heating point on the right side of the Asus logo and right side of the trackpad. My plastic looks good and not melted. Its hot but not enough to worry about.

 

What do you guys think of buying these refurbished notebooks off of ebay or J&R? The only places I can still find them shippable to Canada.

Should I be concerned the warranty may not be valid if I am living in Canada?

And the biggest question....

Why are there so many refurbished X1/X5's?

 

OK Guys i bought and received my g50vt x5(refurb) 1 week ago and i thought it was time to not only say "thanks" to those of your who have submitted your problems but a healthy "HOO RA" to those of you that have fixxed/fiddled with these submitted issues.
(now lets start)
I come to the world of Asus as a mature 30+ gamer. My history is ONLY with gaming notebooks as i dont and never have owned a gamer desktop. My work is about 55-80% on the road so i game in my spare time for fun and as a way to spend time with my gf. The first gamer i had was an Alienware 5620d.. fyi it was among the first laptops to actually have dedicated graphics(lol at the massive 64mb). after it burnt out and long before they were purchased by dell i switched teams. I bought a dell xps gen2(later versions known as the xps m170) for some obnoxious price like $2700. I know what your thinking but in the early 90's dell was a powerhouse corporation and had the very best customer service. The gen 2 was great so, ofcourse, i bought the xps m170 it was great so i ofcourse bought the xps m1710(and heres where dell fell off) it was an AWESOME FAST machine but bad design and it fried 2 motherboards and 3 video cards.. i figured bad unit so it was sold still under warrenty and i rolled the money into dells newest(at the time) machine the super workhorse xps m1730.. needless to say lights, bells and whistles a gamer do not make.. i mean 2 motherboards and 5(yes 2.5 full sets of sli) video cards fried later.. I QUIT. now i wont dog dell and i hope the guy who bought it from me off ebay likes his sweet awesome table weight. A flawed design and bad airflow is the problem and until they fix it, as sweet as the machine is, it WILL fail on you. (daves history lesson over)
(onto the present)
I searched and searched for a strong gaming machine with the focus on building a machine with gamers in mind(like alienware of the 90's). not to dog the big pc manufacturers but they would rather win you with HUGE 500gb(still 5400rpm lol) drives then give you what is required to actually play decent games(i.e. chip must have high fsb, memory must be high speed, video card must be dedicated and most important IT MUST BE KEPT COOL or it will downclock itself resulting in poor game frame rates . long story short i read clutch's review and surfed the site for issues and resolutions and it seems that there are a few issues with these machines but they have ALL been fixxed and easily explained for the average user. thats why i got the Asus as problems will happen but on some machines the fix may be VERY expensive or far from the ability of the average user. Anywayzzzzz i got it, its been a week i run a utility called RIVATUNER with a handy vista sidebar tool that shows you a bar and tells you your fan speed, your cpu temps and clock speed, your (video card)gpu temps(very important) and the clock speeds of it. basically its a set of idiot lights for your pc so if you see the temps go out of sync with averages you know to stop before you fry something. Once you optimize the Asus g50vt and remove the bloatware this machine beats the xps(with sli dual 8800gt's) on its vista experience score. only things i did was update the video driver(i used the newest version from nvidia home site) i dont feel the need to "flash" the video as when you do such things you trade durability for nominal performance gains. I ran ALL microsoft updates and even installed the dreaded g50 killer "Vista service pack 2".. 7 days of hard gaming 5-8hr's/day, no issues, no problems, no bsd(blue screen of death) **(although i did ditch the antivirus from asus and installed Avast Free home edition but there all the same and sp2 was killing g50's i think because of the asus installed antivirus)** anyway im very happy and yes longwinded so sorry but i figured i put in my 2 cents from the "old mans" perspective
(on a side note)
Now guys im not trying to insult your members but i think many of them are kindof used to using desktop keyboards and mice.. some of the issues i hear seem to be comming from the desktop perspective.. now(just to say honestly) the keyboard never misses keystrokes(notebooks have limited space so keys are smaller and the "feel" is much different) if it misses you missed the machine did not miss(ask these guys a week later and they type flawlessly im sure). comming from all those gamer notebooks let me assure you this keyboard is fine, touchpad is fine, monitor is fine, the venting of hot air and the ability to re-seat your heatsinks and clean your own fans easily is a BIG BIG plus.
IF YOU ARE ON THE BENCH deciding to buy or not to buy this notebook you better get it because it is a very well built machine yes there are lemons but overall the customer satisfaction as a whole is very very high. so order it and join the club... come on in..the waters fine
~dave

 

ok what ive been told(and read) is the problems were in the hard disks and alot of guys actually returned machines inside the window because they released the x6, so now we get a huge amount of upgraded(new, different HD) x5's and we get a great price on it, also it is a discontinued unit(although just released in early 2009 btw so it quite up to date and very sturdy built)

 

IF you dont get a win 7 upgrade certificate your NOT eligible i would say your not eligible just since you asked the question, you can still preorder and get like 50% off but this machine runs vista fine so i am not sold yet(new OS means compatibility issues) wait for a year until getting win 7

 

The Asus website states that this model qualifies for the upgrade. I already filled out the form for my windows 7 upgrade.

 

hmm it says my serial is invalid for the refurb??? i guess there is no upgrade for the refurbished ones

 

Thats true, there is no free update for the refurbished ones.

dgdve, be careful about using the Nvidia drivers from their site. They do not recommend the typical nvidia driver for this brand. I had problems when I upgraded using the Nvidia site's driver. Then I went to the asus support site and downloaded the driver there, and it works much better. Everything seems to be working well for you though, although it won't hurt for you to give the asus site a shot and see if you have any performance changes.

 

Cool ill do that tomorrow in the AM.. i just usually dont trust pc manufacturer sites, but if you had a problem with the nvidia driver i most likely will experience the same issue, thx for the heads up

 

please keep us updated because if you get a Free upgrade(or even a discount) for win7 we should all get it

 

I've been running the latest drivers from the nvidia site, and no problems here. I got k-lite codec packs installed, both 32 bit and 64 bit and xvid tv shows work like a charm. As well as my good old counter strike 1.6

 

How are everyone's temps with this laptop? My idle temps seem maybe a little high:

CPU 45/53C on idle.
GPU idles around 55C.

 

That's good for laptops. My MBP and Mac mini regularly surpass 60C just sitting. Is there a ASUS utility to crank the fans while I'm playing games?

Cheers,

 

Yea I guess I'm in a new world now. This is my first laptop, I'm coming from being a desktop-PC-building enthusiast where anything over 35C on the CPU @ idle is HOT.

 

Same boat here - got the refurb from J&R. They confirmed that it WAS eligible before the purchase, but now are telling me that it is not. Don't trust them either way, the service there is horrible.

 

Mine came with Windows showing it was not a legal copy. I had to go to Microsoft's page that checks such things and verify it was legit and install all the updates before the message would go away. J&R did offer to replace it if that did not work.

Cheers,

 

just got mine 2 days ago. i dont think that i have the upgrade either, but its fine, this computer is seriously a complete package.

very solidly built. comes with everything i need.

gotta love that small lcd at the top of the keyboard as well!

just saying hi to fellow owners!

 

Thanks for the review and for starting the owners' lounge! This thread was added to the ASUS Info Booth and to the ASUS Reviews and Owners' Lounges Index.

 

Just read your review, and its great!

I checked to the right of the emblem and it is downright boiling. I think that it may be the backlight. My Studio 15 got really hot at the bottom of the screen because that's where the backlight was positioned. Its probably nothing to worry about.

 

You mean the inverter? I don't think the backlight would emanate so much heat. The inverter, on the other hand, just might.

 

Howdy all! I bought this laptop a month ago (rf-x5) and happy to report (knock on wood) that i haven't had one problem.. nothin over heating, no strange sounds and no system crash's at all.. I was a desktop user and to tell you the truth i bought this on a spur of the moment. I have played games, watched movies and benched marked the system and it is very solid. I did have a problem with the wifi disconnecting all the time but i updated the drivers from asus and that has been solved. I completely removed the micro trend and some of the other preloaded software that came with it but reason being is because it was of no use to me. anyhow 2 thumbs up from me on this little jewel..

LOST

 

Hi lost_loven. Welcome to NBR. Very nice tidbit on the G50. The Intel 5100 wireless card is notorious for stuttering and dropping, but I am glad to hear that updating the drivers has solved this issue for you. And because I am feeling generous tonight, I am giving you +1 rep for your very first post courtesy of the KGB.

 

Well I am on my second unit and am a little puzzled that the second laptop has a piano black finish instead of the orange lightning/puke.It looks like an X1 instead of an X5,but all the spec line up as they should,including an X5 9 cell battery.
The first unit came as pictured but I had a problem with the computer abrubtly shutting down when pressure was applied to the area around the left touchpad button.A little impracticle as most of my clicking consists of left clicking,so I sent it back.
I love the unit,the price is amazing,but I would have been quite happy to buy this unit new if I had had the chance.Anyways,hope it works out!

 

Hey,

I'm joining you guys in the world of Asus G50Vt-X5-RF owners. Bought mine from TigerDirect.ca...just received it...all I got in the box was the laptop, the recovery and driver dvds, battery, and HALF of the AC adapter.

That's right. I opened my box only to find that they hadn't sent me the part of the cable that goes from the transformer to the wall...Which luckily seems to have a somewhat standard design..so I get to borrow someone's half cord until TigerDirect and Asus quit pointing fingers at each other and one side steps up, takes the blame, and sends me the half I need.... Preferably with a "We're Sorry" gift.. but I'm getting greedy, and rambly.

I haven't gotten to use it much so far, was hoping if someone could help me out a tad.

I'm not used to the laptop business, and I'm hoping I can find a way to fix this bloated OS.

As a student at my college, I have an account at msdnaa.net, where I can actually go and get the retail version of Windows 7 Professional in advance. I'm worried that if I wipe my hard drive and get Windows 7 on, none of my neat new laptop options will stop working, such as the mini-display screen, LED control, etc etc.

Kind of looking to see if I should do it, or should I wait till ASUS will actually support it and just try to clean up the bloatedVista, and if so, how?

 

from what i have read windows 7 is not to friendly for the driver support on this machine.. I personaly never did like vista but then again i tried it when it first came out and now that i have it on here on this machine i am not minding it with a tweak here and there (for the month i have owned it now). I like the mini display just to see what is going on. i have used this link http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4126501#post4126501 and have got far better use out of it as well. I did uninstall all the useless software that came with it just to conserve hard drive space but thats me being cheap with the real estate of a 300 gig hd. If yer concerned with how many process's your running with the boot when finally done I got it down to 68 but where I bought it from i seen it down to around 38.. but i think that slimming the system pretty thin. I have it down to 68 processes running and find it just as fast from day one running with 79 processes. 90% of the time this thing is plugged in and when I do have it unplugged I used it on it power saving mode and have gotten just over 3 hours battery life on it and still had like 20% battery life left. I can ramble more if you like but really its up to to you if you want the flashy stuff what vista has for eye candy or turn it all off and have a windows 95 looking machine...

my 2 cents..

lost

 

I bought the extra drive bracket and installed a second drive so I could install Windows 7 w/o disturbing my working Vista install. Windows 7 included all the correct drivers during the install or during post-install Windows Update (except the special buttons across the top). It is much faster than Vista when playing my games. -- Company of Heroes and Titan's Quest Immortal Throne.

Also bought the bluetooth piece but can't figure out where to install it. Also still trying to find the 6 cell battery so I can get rid of the 9 cell bit sticking out the back.

Cheers,

 

k cool windows 7 installs fine, but what about the top console.. i like the buttons and their uses.. any one find a fix for this yet?

lost