Getting an Asus g50vt a1

OK I'm getting this laptop for Christmas, its already in my parents closet. After doing some research I already decided when I open it that I'm not going to mess with the RAID. I'll be using the default raid because I'm not to computer savvy, I don't want to screw something up and other people say the RAID doesn't matter too much when it comes to gaming even though it does help some. I discovered that nVIDIA is letting you upgrade your graphics card for free on their site. So ill be checking for that. I wont be upgrading BIOS unless there is a problem that I detect with the current BIOS. Ill use FN+G to toggle the combos that I need for gaming. I won't need to worry about keyboard lag since I'm a slow typer. Is there anything I'm forgetting that I can update or problems? Other owners of this do you like it?

 

Hmmm... do you mean graphic card drivers?

 

I think so it was on the front page if notebookreview.com
Also how does raid work? If I take my laptop out out of the box can I just start playing or do I need to configure stuff? What's the default raid or hard drive distribution setup?

 

Dude I bought the A2 and its similar to yours. If I recall correctly I come setup nor with 2 hard drives. 1 HD had the OS and the Asus utilities and the other was blank. I went ahead adn setup the Raid on it. I will recomend first get familiar with the laptop and such before you go ahead and start messing with Raid. The laptop comes ready for gaming, and you could just un-install the software you dont want. There are threads here on what ASUS software you need and what you dont. Good Luck

 

Yes I know but what im saying is how does it distribute data out of the box. Does it spread it over both HDs? or does it mirror it on each HD? or what?


Ok I think I decided not to mess with any RAID thing until I really need it becuase I don't really understand how to setup and reinstall all the stuff such as the OS. I also dont really have an external HD to backup my data so I don't want to lose anything important. I can wait for the load times its not like its going to take that long anyway. Can I use RAID in the future after backing up the HD? or would it be easier to set it up right when I get it due to only having to reinstall the basic stuff with the backup disks? Also how long does all this take?

 

please remember, expressgate does not work when using RAID. Personally I find expressgate a lot more advantageous than RAID.
Also, it's not rocket science to "set up" RAID; all you do is go into the BIOS on boot and change an option.
The HDs come with 2 partitions on each, one on the primary HD is for the OS, program files, public folders etc.
The others are 116GB each I think. I did not change the partitions as it suits me; one for media, one for other stuff etc.

 

Hmm what's expressgate?

 

Really greeeeeeeeaaat lappy

about the hdds they are seperate in windows without raid 0

but its really really great lappy and the cpu is strong (compared to my last T7300 2GHz laptop)

GET IT!!!

 

Already in my parents closet I also bought fallout 3 and unreal tournament 3 already so when I turn that baby on Im going to own some noons LOL

Also I could care less about raid now I set that up later when I think I need to

 

Actually EXpress GAte DOES work with RAID. Asus has a new version on the web to download. I have insalled it and it worls.

 

Nvm I know what it is now

what are the pros and cons of it?

 

Expressgate is a mini-os that will boot up real quick and you can surf the web, listen to music on your Pc and small things like that. So if lets say you have only 20 minutes to spare instead of booting up Vista, you can click on the expressgate key and you up and running in a jiffy.

 

is there any cons?

and doesnt the g50 asus laptop come with a power button just for this?

 

News to me that theres a new version, thanks for telling me!
There is a seperate button to the right of the OLED screen that is on permanently, even when the laptop is switched off, so you can boot into expressgate (in nothing short of 3 seconds )
Its a really cool app, you'll like it!

 

Cool cant wait to try it out on christmas

 

where on the site did you find the new express gate? im running raid and it doesnt work, latest version on their site says 08/2008...version 8.3

 

which driver is best for 9800gs? 185.xx??? that one doesnt seem to install on my g50vt-a1...suggestions?