~Official G2S-A1 Owners Lounge~

Um, yes, it is, but it can be upgraded for $150 dollars to a 200gb 7.2k drive, then turn your existing into a portable external drive. The specs on the new laptop seems better in some respects. A smaller screen, good ram, little faster hd, but I have never heard of a 9500M nvid card. It does look nice at the 512mb spot, so thats a positive. If I was you, and I had some time, I would maybe wait. If you did not want the cost of the Sager notebooks, you ca wait till Asus comes out with a G3 or G2 upgraded with a bigger video card. The sagers are pricey but do have the 8800's which are nice. At this point, I like the 17inch screen, but the smaller screen does have some better specs. Sorry, I havent been too decisive here. Maybe re-edit your post and put what your are planning to do and such and we can see which version(s) would fit best.

 

bjluv, the prices will (almost) always be cheaper in US due to tax differences. No wonder there.

 

thanks gengerald % E.B.E

The lappy will be a cousin to the house desktop PC. would take it to travels and do some work on it. Basically graphics, web development, and internet stuff. Not so huge things though but I would just like a nice and fast PC when I am doing graphics and not a PC that I have to wait for after each action on Photoshop

 

Hmm, it sounds like you are looking at the 15.4" model, as you will traveling. It is possible with a 17", but the 15.4" is considerably easier. So maybe take a look at a G1S-B1 or B2. I like this one and definitely the price is killer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220256
I feel that for when buying it you should get the best processor (1st), hdd(2nd), and ram (3rd) that you can afford, that way you are a leg up when technology advances as usual. The B2 has enough ram to be using photoshop and fireworks alongside mozilla and music, with processing power so you do not have to wait for filters to render with a fast enough hdd that it will not take forever to defrag or transfer masses of files.

 

Thnx Gengerald for that last comment. It was really helpful. I like the G2S aluminium finish on the cover and it has a good processor of T7700 & 3GBram but the hdd is 300Gb 4200rpm SATA so that is what is making me think now.

The G1S isnt sweet to me because of the black glossy cover which will gather fingerprints definately and it is € 1 519,00 here (52,3€ cheaper than G2S) with the following specs

15.4" WSXGA+ Glare type (1680x1050) - Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 - 1.3MP videokamera - NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT GDDR3 256Mb - 2048Mb DDRII 667 - 250Gb 5400rpm SATA - DVD Super Multi DL Light scribe - 802.11a/g/n - Vista Ultimate - Bluetooth -

 

Very true. To be truthful, I am in my own little world on my G2S. I am doing a my new business website right now, and I have to remember to cut down the resolution and resize to simulate access standards, just one little thing that just brings me down to reality. I love my G2S, I just cannot wait until the G3 (in 10 to 20...years).


In an effort not to double post, I will piggyback this one with my new question. Tonight I just tried hooking up my laptop via svid and after quite a while I got it to work, however it seemed that it bounced from full screen to wide screen on my tv. I have not been able to test other cables/tvs, but I did cycle through the refresh rates, and it still happened. Anyone have an idea what this may be? Also, I tried the little adapted that I thought was svid to video, but it seems to no work like that, I took a closer look and its pins are lined up, not offset, anyone know that this does too? Once I get this all under control I will try to get a post out on some procedures, as it took me nearly and hour of connecting/disconnecting and pressing the tv button to get the darn thing to go through. Just my luck, someone will post the correct answers and then at the end say its the EBCACK error, which I bet it is. Thank you for your help.

 

I am looking at the LaptopVideo2Go.com drivers and after reading all their material, I am lost. Is anyone using one of their recent drivers with good performance? Also, would I need to update the inf? Thank you for your help.

 

Can anyone please reply to the post here. I don't w ant to double-post

 

hi, i just got my g2s and tried to play some games on it. but i've found out that the video card is assigned 1008mb using turbocache and it really hampers the performance of games. is there anyway to disable the turbocache feature in vista

 

You can't disable it on any card or os. It is just an allocation, so its not using the entire gig, just waiting to see if it is needed. THe ram is otherwise used by the system until called into action. The issues you are having are either due to the game itself (ie updates), your video card settings for your game, or the driver. The card does not overheat too bad, the max I have seen it is 90C and thats after hours of NFSC. If you post what game you are trying to play, I am sure someone will have some setting hints, or when someone who knows more about the custom video drivers posts up, then I may say go that route. GL.

 

thanks for the reply. but after removing all the bloatware and some unneeded services, i've seen a great performance increase and also many games run without a hitch. still i wish turbocache was optional.

 

Well, I have finally figured this driver thing out and will have a short guide coming soon. I have got my G2S-B1 to 4178 with minimal gpu oc. I am using the latest http://laptopvideo2go.com/ drivers (167.62 w/modded inf) and oc'ed to 500/750. My standard was 3982 same driver, no oc. This is 249 points up from stock drivers from Asus for this laptop at 3733.

 

Turbocache has nothing to do with Display card. Turbocache is used by OS and is not shared.
Yes, there is a way to turn it off but again what you are trying to do is turn off the shared memory RAM given to the display card which might be achievable using Riva tuner or something.

 

Also, is there a volume control knob on the g2s or is it totally software controlled ? if there is a volume control knob, i am unable to find it or i may just be too stupid..

 

No nob, only fn keys

 

Thanks again. Thats the only thing I don't like about it.

 

ok ordered my G2S 4-5th March, 2008 and should be getting it in 3days. Will keep you guys intouch with how it goes.

This is the config. Hope it looks good

Asus G2S-7R066G with Mobile Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 (2,4 GHz / Gamer)
- 17” WXGA Color-Shine TFT, 1440x900
- Intel Core 2 Duo Prozessor T7700 (2.4GHz/4MB/800FSB)
- 2048 MB DDR2-RAM 667FSB
- 200 GB SATA-Festplatte 7200rpm
- 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, 1024 MB TurboCache (DX10)
- DVD+-RW DL LightScribe Laufwerk (8x/4x/16x/10x/12x/24x)
- Wireless LAN ntegr. (54a/b/g/n)
- Bluetooth
- Hybrid TV-Tuner (Analog & DVB-T) und Fernbedienung
- Digitale Antenna
- HDMI & E-SATA
- AV-In
- Web/Videocam integrated /w 1,3MP and a microphone
- 5in1 Card Reader (SD,MMC,MS,MSP,XD)
- Bag and Mouse
- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
- 2 year Pick-Up and Return Warranty

 

Sick tuner and antenna, I wish that was available over here in the US, I am assuming since your are (germany?) your screen res is capped at 1440?

 

unfortunately, I got an email that lappy is out of stock so I will have to look for something else or search somewhere else where I can get it quite cheap. Yes I was planning to buy from Germany because here in Finland, they are much more expensive even with there crappy configurations

 

I think I would have to wait for the M70Sa or M50Sa although I do not know when this one will be out. It looked impressive from what I saw online. Does anyone have information on release dates?

 

Those with XP installed, did you have any problems getting it to work? Can I just follow the instructions on G1S wiki page?
http://asusg1s.wikidot.com/installing-windows-xp#other-mirrors

 

I haven't tried it but there are also guides on the Asus Member zone.

 

I was just looking at the SMART for the 200GB hdd and it seems that nothing I throw at it, other than NB Probe will read it. I have tried HDD Health and ntune. Anyone have any recommendations. I believe its a Hitachi.

 

In XP I use MobileMeter and it never failed to read the temp off any HDD that I had.

In Vista, I don't know...

 

any1 has new 8600 driver that dont mes up his HotKeys like Fn+F7,Fn+F8?

 

I just had an issue with hotkeys and the only way I was able to resolve was to system restore, then reinstall the new intel wireless and video drivers. I driver reinstalling everything labeled atk off the Asus site as well as reverting to the old stock drivers. You may want to try a different set of drivers before trying this.

 

NB Probe doesn't tell me any much more than windows system info shows.
NB Probe just says CPU temp, cpu fan and speed normal....

 

CAUTION: Vista 64Bit Ultimate and Service Pack 1

I have finished installing SP1 on Vista 64 bit ultimate. Let me warn and tell you. It is a huge disappointment. Microsoft did not fix some of the major issues. Instead there is a serious glitch on CPU LOAD and Usage. My CPU is showing like over 50% usage even when not running and real time intense application. Fans are going crazy. CPU temp that stayed around 57 Celsius before Service Pack 1 is touching 70Celcise Plus This is running your laptop plugged into power or without power supply. I am having to turn down my system performance to battery saving so my RAM and CPU clock drops and don't get utilized like crazy.

Please think not twice but thrice and frice before installing the new SP1. It is going to take Microsoft some time and serious tweaking to get it to work like its supposed to

 

I agree with you raikay, I was bummed at some of the fixes. I mean the quicker transfer speeds are nice, and no BSOD, yet, but I was hoping it was going to be that magic fix-all. Since I am having issues with my S-vid to TV, I now have to update my BIOS, revert to stock drivers, wipe everything clean and reinstall SP1, again, another 3 hours, then send my laptop back to be molested by Asus. The last couple weeks have been a let down :/ Hey, only like what, 3 years till the next Windows OS, maybe they get is right, like XP? I am having some lag issues now with CPU usage, but not to that extreme you talked about. Well my venting is over.

 

Sorry about sidejacking thread for the AMD64 model, but us Asus G2.-A1 owners need to help each other as much as possible. Asus no longer will perform ANY testing on newer upgrades after unit is on market. Please email me w/ any good info so as to keep this thread pure for the CD2 & NVid group!

SUPPOSEDLY the AMD 64 models have some sort of 1GB turbo option built in! Or am I mistaken by misleading spec sheets & advertising copied from CD2 models? I have only one empty mini PCI e slot {*}, other appears to be AR5008X WiFi. HAVE NOT pulled WiFi card to look under it yet for 2nd slot!
- - ATI 2600 HD (vs your NVid 8600) still has 512 MB of hybrid VRAM (if 2GB SoDimm) bumped from 256MB DDR3. BUT how much VRAM (aka Turbo Cache?) if 4GB of DDR2 800 in the SoDimm slots?
Asus tech claims only 512 MB of Turbo Cache still (?*?) - - - -ANY GPU-Z benchmarks from 4GB owner/users ?*?

Or would just getting Fast USB (x# GB recommended?) & activating Ready Boost be just as effective for the money spent ?
Maybe just put HDTV tuner in MT miniPCIe slot {*}? http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=236401

 

ahem.. the rate at which the consumer graphics cards are being produced, it is hard to timhe the switch from one to the other while refreshing platforms.

Asus is based in asia. so on each platform refresh from intel, they decide on which form to take for 6 months [ till the next refresh ]. This is a mess this time. The new 9xxx series is based on a 65nm process, so more energy efficient and the geforce go 9600Gt still due, they had to make a choice. I bet they wanted to fit the G1sn with a 9600GT if it was possible.

I think they would have made a better machine if they would have kept the G1Sn the 8600 GT [ 8700 GT needs better heat management ], and the G2Sn with a 8800GTS. This would have given the G2Sn a popular machine.

The G1 series needs to be thickened a bit. The inner heat is spreading everywhere, causing it to be quite hot. If Asus would have worked on the heat management and dared to equip the G1Sn with a 8700 GT or the 8800 GTS, it would have given the Alienware m15x a run for the money !!!

As we see, only Gateway is cashing on the 8800GTS, which is ~80 % performing as the 8800GTX, but not much of a premium price !!!

Now what we are thinking, the Asus might have thought it long ago. There must have been some problem which had led to such decisions.

 

ok...

@ Digi: Bud, do not worry about turbo memory, for the price and time it is not worth it. Installed and already using it is ok, but do not go out of your way. Your money is best spent on a RAM upgrade. Either bump to 3GB or a full 4GB. Of course you will only be able to use less if you go 4GB, but its cheap and will give you a significant performance boost. If you really want the whole turbo cache thing, just geat a cheap 2gb quick usb drive, but my vote is for the ram. Once I went to 3GB, everything changed, despite still not using 100% of the physical memory

 

Asus NB/DTR w/ 4 GB SoDimm RAM (Maxed) & used for digital Video Editing on the road. After review of An&Tech interesting testing & discussion of ITM 19jun07 & skimming Eddie/Bto results & associated comments. Normally WinTask Manager Perf & Resource Momitor are open to evaluate Sys operations!
I was wondering if; any one has considered or Tested / tried this, is it even possible with current drivers & M$ coding (still need more aggresive prefetch?).

1. What is largest size of ITM currently available? Would it be of benefit to have a 2 or 4 GB ITM dedicated just as a Ready Drive, not split (1/2 boost)?

2. Does Vista in effect temporarily reassign the page file location to a USB drive when ready Boost is activated ?
Would it be best to have an 8GB fast {=2x RAM or should it be a higher / greater? 12GB*?} (150x or >) flash drive assigned as the permanent Page file ?

3. Do any current GNU/Linux distros or other choices make any or better use of this HW tech than M$ Vista & Intel already provides ? (Remember main use desire is Capturing & editing HD video, desire rapid turnaround for low delay in Live broadccast via broadband)

 

I have no technical problem with my G2S, but aesthical I have. The media control is blackening somehow. I did not notice it before today and it is ugly and unsettling for me. Somehow I may have caused it, since its surface is darker and rougher to the side I mostly use and where I usually place my hand on; I don't know how clearly you can see from the pictures I took. The buttons work, however I can't seem to get past the looks of it, so I wanted to know if this has happened to someone else and if there's a way to clean it.

 

Hi guys... is it really so, that i CANT update my Graphiccard drivers of the nVidia Gforce 8600M GT on my G2-S with Nvidia directly???


Do i really have to download from ASUS directly and can't use newer drivers as they publish on Asus's website?

When i try to execute the setup of Nvidia it always shows me the message that there where no drivers for my actual hardware setting...

 

As has been mentioned before, goto www.laptopvideo2go.com and you can download a modified driver.

 

For a device to be compatible and useful it must conform to the following requirements:

* The capacity of the removable media must be at least 256 MB (250 after formatting)
* Devices larger than 4 GB will have only 4 GB used for ReadyBoost
* The device should have an access time of 1ms or less
* The device must be capable of 2.5 MB/s read speeds for 4 KB random reads spread uniformly across the entire device and 1.75 MB/s write speeds for 512 KB random writes spread uniformly across the device
* The device must have at least 235 MB of free space
* NTFS, FAT16 and FAT32 are supported
* The initial release of ReadyBoost supports one device
* The recommended amount of memory to use for Windows ReadyBoost acceleration is one to three times the amount of random access memory (RAM) installed in your computer

I have built in NAND Flash 1gb ITM. Bootup time is same as it would be without it. Hibernations and sleep seems to be efficient.
I hope above answered your question. 12 GB ITM? noway you will be wasting the 8GB and it will sit idle.

 

Your laptop and the display card are paired which means made to run with each other UNDER Manufacturers specifications and drivers only. Nvidia DOES NOT support Mobile Laptop GPUs at ALL...Unfortunate.

Your best solution in order to play the latest and greatest games is to use a so called Modified Driver. Modified Driver is an exact replica of the original Nvidia Forceware but with little alterations for latest games and cards. For your G2S this is the page you need for downloading.....SERIES 167 Drivers at laptop video 2 go. Direct link>>>
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=84

I am using v167.62 Vista 64bit | Clevo 2008-01-20

I couldn't be any happier with this driver. Why???

• 
  [*]Assassins Creed Maximum settings with DIRECTX 10 Working no crash 22FPS
  [*]Gears Of War Maximum settings with DIRECTX 10 Working no crash 15 to 25 FPS
  

The driver mentioned above is for 64 bit and gives you TRUE DIRECTX10 support. Tested and Proven.

Asus website with its pathetic Nvidia drivers does not support Directx10 the way it is supposed to.

****Do not forget to download the MODDED INF in order to install the driver.
****Pay attention to which OS you are downloading the driver for.

 

DEAR Asus owners,

Im hoping to find a bit of help from perhaps someone who has had similar problems. I installed a seagate 7200 drive yesterday, which after taking out my stock hitachi was probably a good choice the drive sounds like i has something loose in it and i have been experiancing huge frame rate drops in wow. ( I have also installed 4 gigs of ram)

Now with a fresh install of the asus drivers and software and windows.... I cannot seem to get windows to update at all. Im really starting to hit the wall with this ASUS G2S-A2. I tryed installing sp1 as a standalone as well with no avail.

Also when i preform a fresh install it fails to install direct console, and doing it manually leads to , direct console not exsists message.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know, Or should i try installing windows xp, or perhaps 64bit, Maybe performance gains there?

 

If things went bad when you installed the new HDD it is probably the cause. Take a look at my Tips and Tricks (signature), under "Has my HDD gone bad", maybe that will help you determine if there is something wrong with the HDD.

 

Mr Kryptic as EBE stated your main problem seems to be you hard disk.
Corrupt installation
Physical corruption/damage to the hard disk
Once you get through installing the hard disk and functioning 100% then i would worry about Service Pack1.
Service Pack1 has its moments. Failed installations on Service Pack1 for Vista is a KNOWN problem. It is common then you think it is. Microsoft even has a Live Chat Support Link 24/7 just for Service Pack1 Installations and problems. I do not have the link handy right now so please google it.
Service Pack1 needs some mandatory updates before SP1 can be installed.
Again after your hard disk installation, update your windows with all that is available except SP1. Then check your update history and see what has FAILED. Fix that failed update first before installing SP1.

***Be advised news is that Microsoft is gona pull the plug on XP support, sales and service in June 2008. I would advise you not to install XP on this machine which runs and looks beautiful on Vista whether 32 or 64 bit.

 

Quit drinking coffee on your G2S man
That is one ugly stain. I would say try Windex/Simple Green very mild and gentle solution applied to the NAPKIN FIRST and then scrubbing the stain off.

 

A bit off topic,

I find this a bit hard to believe. At least in the corporate world, I'm pretty sure many will go with XP for at least one more year.

 

well, ive done another install of windows vista. On the new harddrive, Just by the sound of how quiet my computer is again, i think the old harddrive was infact on its way out anyways. The asus install discs are finicky at best, partly due to some pop up windows. that show up asking you to reboot before the asus drivers are ready. Also removed 2 gigs of ram for this install, who knows, i just didnt want another failed install.

Still no direct console though.... Im hoping one day i can get this sorted out it was kind of a selling feature of this laptop.. Can anyone possibly lead me to the driver that runs the lights and oled, Something tells me its the usb unknown device that keeps showing up and when i searched the asus driver disc nothing showed up for it.

 

Your USB drive in device manager has nothing to do with OLED or Dconsole.

Lights are controlled by anything that says ATK on the driver's CD. If you are seeing a USB drive in device manager try giving it a path to the Driver CD when installing/updating driver from the device manager and see if it finds something.

Here is the link that will help determine the drivers you need...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=100357

 

I can imagine why you would be surprised on this news. Microsoft was pushing for January 30, 2008 as last date for XP. But they extended to June 30, 2008 on a sheer pressure from comp manufacturers. Here is the link that backs my initial statement.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/microsoft-extends-sales-of-windows-xp-till-june-2008/

 

That talks about buying the OS, yeah that's quite likely (although I'm pretty sure many corporate customers won't like it). Support and service though should be kept for at least a few more years.

 

Actually, the statment that says my usb drive has nothing to do with it is completly wrong. I Have found the cable that will turn my oled off, Its located under the keyboard around the qwsa keys small square cutout. If i unplug it the device dissapears in device manager and the ASUS that shows turns off. When I plug it back in, The ASUS oled powers back up, shows the usb device again and the oled powers up displaying asus.

I have ran alot of differnt routes, in this process And yes the atk drivers do have something to do with it, But ive installed them many times, and repartitioned from the drive and the cds, with still no avail. I have also tryed using device manager to install the usb its self from the atk drivers to every other driver on the cd. Also tryed almost all of the microsoft stock drivers. If my local shop does fix this I will make a post telling everyone how they did, However at the end of this I may end up with a new laptop.

 

Ok if you say so buddy...that a USB drive in device manager is powering your OLED in that case you are right. So you have a Physical Problem and not software related. In that case you should return the laptop from the place you bought it from or to ASUS if you can afford to wait a month or so delay as the fix it. If you trust the local shop then i guess you can get it fixed there.

Would you mind telling us where you bought it from? Refurbished, New or used?

 

DRIVER.......
yeah no problem, the local shop is www.memoryexpress.com located in calgary alberta
and hands down one of the finest establishments i have ever delt with it was bought brand new, and they have a instore instant product replacment, which means my laptop doesnt goto asus, it means they fix it by next week or replace with a brand new one. So now ive completely dismantled my hp zv6000 and found out its fan was broken and was basically in the middle of a melt down, so i moved onto fixing up my old desktop which has another whack of issues. Reminded me of how greatful i am to have my g2s.


And raikay how does the g2s perform on vista 64 bit?