[SpeedyHTPC]

Just got my hands on this laptop. I thought I'd give PC's another go while all 3 of my consoles collect dust. MAN, this thing is impressive.


Look at these specs


ATi Radeon Mobility 5870 1GB 1920x1080 on 17.3" backlit LED display

i7 core at 1.6GHz Turbo to 2.8GHz

8GB ram

etc


Runs, chews, spits out everything with spare power even at 1.6GHz.

 

[Troubleshooter]

Meh - I'm going for the A1

Sissy. Seriously this thing looks crazy. I was wondering if it was appropriate to post here regarding it, but hell it has an HDMI connector for HTPC gaming! I'm guessing you were in on getting one from Newegg for the 15 minutes that they had one since it's an X1

It's a smokin deal for the machine if you can live with the bulk. I'm confident that it will meet or exceed the ability of my main gamer platform with a 4870 and a Q6600 at 3.2Ghz.

-Trouble

 

[SpeedyHTPC]

Hah I saw that. But I looked at the 15" for a while (3 days) and decided that I didnt want to go with 2nd rank 360 GTS. The ATi 5870 is 1st rank. During this time the X1 has always been there.


The A1 has dual drives and BD combo I think.


I dont lug the laptop everywhere so the weight is fine. I would have went for the 15" series if they had a GTX 280 but I guess its overkill.


I'm new to Asus, so theres some getting used to with the chicklet keyboard and 1920x1080 than 1920x1200. Everything else is perfect. 1080p says HTPC.


I'll get a benchmark out of this thing to compare. It has gobs of junkware so im not sure if it will affect performance or not. Still deciding if I should wipe it.

 

[Troubleshooter]

Enjoy it man, it really looks slick and from what I've seen runs great without the problems that Alienware had on their M17x machines. The A1 does indeed have BR and the dual 500g drives but nobody has stock on them right now. I plan to get a SSD to replace the boot drive. I'm getting it mainly as a full bore machine for my boat so I won't be lugging it around much either.


I hadn't realized just how bad Nvidia had gotten about re-re-re-rebadging their video cards. I guess that 360 is a rebadged two generation old card or something.


I've also been watching the Alienware X11. Completely different machine type but also looks very slick.


-Trouble

 

[CHAVAN30]

yes wipe it, i have an asus g60vx and the bloatware is extremely intrusive when trying to download/play games, etc.

 

[SpeedyHTPC]

Yes, the GTX 260 is ranked higher than the later released GTS 360.


CPU and memory aren't being used much, not sure how the "TSR"s interfere.


I ran 3d Vantage on this thing but when I clicked on the orb, it said my trial is over. So where did my results go? Why do they hide the results ?


The Alienware X11? You mean the M11x?

 

[Daniel I]

He must mean the the M11X, I have ordered one and it should be in sometime early March.

 

[SpeedyHTPC]

I just priced the M11x with similar options except CPU and its already at 1549.00. I dont think the GT 335M is leaps and bounds over the ATi 5870. I got 17" for lower price. Any reason why you went for the M11x?

 

[Troubleshooter]

Yes, I meant the M11X. Being a unix guy for all these years just makes me type X11 often without realizing it

I don't see the two as really similar other than their gaming focus. The M11X is certainly portable and can give fairly decent battery life at the expense of CPU power and screen size. The GT335 is nowhere near as powerful as the 5870 and the CPU is a downright lightweight.


I still have my hopes up for an HP Envy 17" to come out soon. I think we might just see the 5870 in there as well though I'm certain it won't be as inexpensive as the Asus. Right now with the A1 model of the Asus not really available and Newegg jacking prices as they tend to do with hot items on the X1/A2 and the M11X still not shipping, I'm in a bit of a waiting mode.

-Trouble

 

[SpeedyHTPC]

Like everything about the Asus except the chicklet keyboard. It has the same ugliness back when the PC jr had it. Its a bit insensitive and keys are a bit too wide.


I'm a unix guy too but I hardly use X...except for Oracle.

 

[Troubleshooter]

Well I took the plunge and ordered an X2. It's supposed to ship on Friday. X2 has a single 500GB HD and BR drive and no bag or mouse so it was perfect and the price was right. Gonna get an Intel SSD to throw in, just have to figure out a bracket for it. Can't wait

-Trouble

 

[SpeedyHTPC]

I didnt bother to benchmark my laptop but someone else benched it and only came out with 13K on 3dmark06?? my SLI 9800GT with a 3.0 GHz 8400 is faster..wth?

 

[Troubleshooter]

I never got mine. Cancelled the order from Microcenter (I'll avoid these guys from now on. terrible service, no clue, lies, etc. It was very unexpected). I have a new A1 on order from Amazon which will hopefully ship sometime in 2010.


From what I've been reading, the laptop is pretty fast. I'd be surprised if your 9800GT setup is faster. There is a HUGE discussion about it over at notebookreview.


-Trouble

 

[SpeedyHTPC]

Gosh, the Asus G73J are top picks at that site.I looked at the Sager and I'll take the Asus any day.


It does benchmark Just Cause 2 at 20FPS with everything set to max instead of SLI 9800 GT's at 9-10FPS with same settings. So I think the 3dmark06 score of 13K may be wrong.

 

[spawn1980]

I wasn't sure where to post these questions. If it's in the wrong forum my bad.


1. I was wondering if the G73Jh X1 can support dual HDD and ? like the A2. And does it come with the second caddy? If not where can I find a extra HDD caddy for it.


2. Does the X1 also support Max 12gb 3 slot DDR3 10600 like the higher models? If not what is the max memory is can hold.


3. Would it be ok to mix up the memory (ex. G.Skill 4gb and Corsair 4gb) because I know it's not a dual nor a triple channel.

 

[Scott Simonian]

I own the g73-rbbx05 (the best buy one) and it only came with the one hdd but it does have room for a 2nd.


Take it from me as I JUST installed my 2nd hdd two days ago... you WILL NOT find a caddy for the g73 available anywhere. I found it only at asus parts europe and put an order on it and it has been unavailable for months. Just canceled my order.


The space for the hdd is very small so you really dont need the bracket at all. When you connect the hdd to the sata port it freefloats fine but I wanted some peace of mind. I found some foam gasket material and test fit in some small slices of that. Fit in snug like a charm. Had the 2nd hdd installed, formatted and had things moved to it in less than 10mins.


If you would like, I can take some pictures of the inside and the process if that helps. It was WAAAAYYYY easier than I imagined it to be.


Dunno about the ram. IIRC, it supports up to 16GB but it may be limited to 12GB. I forgot.

 

[spawn1980]

So is it dual channel?

 

[Scott Simonian]

Looks like it is dual channel according to this link.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43122

 

[spawn1980]

Cool Thanks guys.

So I assume every else is the same between the X1 and A2 Besides the obvious Blu-Ray, HDD, Mouse w/Bag, Extra Ram, etc.... If it is that's great news.. Because I wanted to put 2 Momentus XT HDD/SSD Hybrid Hard Drive and at lease 8gb of Corsair ddr3 10600.. And maybe some cheap wireless mouse from biglots. lol

 

[Troubleshooter]

Yes those are the differences between the X1 and A2. I think you only really need to pay attention to the -rbbx models that sell at Bestbuy which have less RAM from what I've heard and lower rez screen at least in the US/Canada. I think there's some other funky models out in other parts of the world. I don't know why you'd bother swapping on the RAM though. They have mostly all come with 1333. I also thought the chipset has an 8GB limitation but could be wrong. The machine really is great if you get a good one and can deal with the size.


-Trouble