ASUS G Series G73JH-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870

Pros: Big Brute, Powerful i7, good for gaming, nice looking, big n sexy, solidly built. great monitor.

Cons: Mouse Pad not well designed or positioned for typing - Over Reactive, Poor Battery Life - 1 hr, runs very hot. Had to RMA once in 2 months and again in 8 months for same problem of not charging.

Other Thoughts: Good Idea in Concept ... thats why I bought it. But the usability has been POOR. Won't but it again or recommend it.

Pros: Great laptop when it works, but it breaks easily and often.

Cons: I have owned this laptop for just over two years, and have had to RMA it 5 times, always related to the graphics card. The most recent time, ASUS has told me that they will no longer repair it for free, and that despite their inability to repair it the last several times, they will no longer treat it as under warranty. Despite the fact that they placed a faulty graphics card in my machine, they will no longer take responsibility for their shoddy work. I now have a 1700$ brick, and I will never buy an ASUS product again.

Pros: i7 Processor is pretty fast, Radeon 5780 runs *most* everything even nearly 2 years later

Cons: Horrible driver support from Asus means there are some games you simply cannot play. There has not been a driver update in nearly 2 years that Asus supports, and as a result attempting to install ATI's drivers leads to frequent BSODs.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

I do apologize for the issues you are having with your notebook. Please visit our driver support page here http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=G73Jh&p=3&s=252. You might be able to find the drivers you are looking for. It is unfortunate that driver support seems to stop after a few years, but with games and applications constantly coming out, it is difficult to keep things up to day in some of our older models. I hope your issues can be resolved via the driver support site. If not, always remember you can get notebook support by calling 1-888-678-3688.

Best Regards,

Tien
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: great specs

Cons: Horrible customer service, bad drivers, a KNOWN design flaw with the touchpad requiring disassembly and removal of tape that holds it in the unit, incompatability with SSD hard drives, etc.

Other Thoughts: I was reminded how much difference there is in different companies, today when I called DEll to get serevice for my wife's laptop, experienced NO problems and got great service, then, called ASUS to service my laptop and received NO service or satisfaction. Hence the title of this review.

Pros: Powerful machine, can handle most of the graphics programs I use.

Cons: Unable to update graphics card drivers, if I do, windows becomes unstable. The touchpad is useless. Every time I try to use it, the pointer motion becomes erratic at best, or doesn't move at all. Half the time it jumps all over the screen then moves backwards! The bluetooth drivers are almost as buggy. Every blue tooth mouse I've used with this laptop randomly stops working. The laptop just refuses to acknowledge commands from it until I turn the mouse off and back on again. The lack of reliable control and the inability to upgrade the computer make it almost useless for me.

Other Thoughts: This is probably the worst computer I've ever owned and I regret buying it. It's the worst $1600 I've ever spent.

Pros: Had it for over a year now, and I must say it's still in great condition.

Runs the games I throw at it usually at max settings with a great frame rate!
I played games like Bad Company 2, Black Ops, Counter Strike, Left 4 Dead, Crysis 2 Demo, which all ran perfectly smooth on the laptop. (30-150 FPS)

The keyboard can take some time getting used to, but afterward, it feels great.

Cons: There's a bug with the cooling fans at first, but I was easily able to fix this by updating the VBios
(and I'm not quite the "techie" type, so updating this thing is a piece of cake)

It's Huge. I wouldn't see this as a big problem, but I happen to travel a lot, and carrying this thing with me (Along with it's huge charger) can be a hassle

So in the end, I'm currently going to sell my laptop
(In great condition still) only because it's WAAAAAAY to big for me, as well as needing some money for a cheaper laptop since I'm heading to college soon.
(Don't want to carry this beast to my classes all the time)

Other Thoughts: Overall, if your a Hardcore Gamer that does not move around alot, I would highly recommend this laptop.

However, if you are the hardcore gamer, constantly on the go, you might want to stick to a "smaller" laptop.

This laptop makes the Original PS3's Size look bad.

Pros: When it works it delivers what I expected.

Cons: Numerous issues, just google "G73J known issues". I've personally experienced the "gsod" issue which took quite a bit of tweaking to get it down to a 'seldom happens' state. Also experiencing horrible static at random. Tried numerous 'fixes' on the forums with no success. It now occurs so often I've broken down to try an RMA. As everyone else here can testify, their RMA / Service in general is awful. Just look Asus up with BBB if you need further proof.

1st level techs provide no actual tech support, you have to send it in to get anything done. Not looking forward to a process that has a good chance of leaving my notebook in worse shape than I'm sending it out in.

Other Thoughts: Will never buy another Asus again, unless they rebuild their support process from the ground up.

Pros: Great specs. Fast processor.

Cons: It breaks. often. Radeon video drivers are not up to the task.

Other Thoughts: My brand new Asus G73JH stopped working suddenly about 91 days after purchase. The display went black when booting the computer. We got an RMA number and sent in the laptop. In the 2 weeks since we shipped the laptop we have heard the following from Asus:

Day 1: "We have not received the laptop." (we have proof of signature from FedEx)
Day 2: "Someone is looking at your laptop."
Day 3: "We have not received your laptop."
Day 4: "The ticket is not updated, we can't give you a status."
Day 5: "Please give us the tracking number so we can locate your laptop."
Day 6: "Nobody has updated the status."
Day 7: "We did not receive your laptop. Oh wait we did. There are no notes.".
Day 8: "The status has not been updated."
Day 9: "The status has not been updated. We cannot tell you who is working on it. We cannot tell you when it will be fixed".
Day 10: "We have not received your laptop".
Day 11: "We have not received your laptop"... "we DID receive your laptop"..."status has not be

Pros: I don't know, I haven't had my laptop long enough to use it.

Cons: Asus support is horrible. I got my laptop from Newegg in Nov and noticed it had a black dot and a keyboard that sometimes didn't log strokes. I called Asus to have them fix it. It got sent in and the keyboard and the black dot did get fixed. However it got sent back with a scratch on the screen. I had to call again to get another RMA to get this fixed. They tried to charge me for shipping. Had to call to fix that. After FOUR weeks I finally get my laptop back. They had replaced the screen with one with a 1600x900 res one. It took FOUR phone calls and getting hung up on twice to get them to admit to the mistake. They tried to tell me it a was a driver problem and wouldn't even look at the old service reports until I got a newbie service person who was willing to check. If you are lucky enough to get a laptop with no problems, this could be an amazing computer. However if you ever have to deal with Asus, it is NOT worth it. Don't buy Asus.

Other Thoughts: If you are lucky enough to get a laptop with no problems, this could be an amazing computer. However if you ever have to deal with Asus, it is NOT worth it. Don't buy Asus.

Pros: Amazing Power, Fast Performance, Can run any game and push it to its limits. ASUS simply did it again!

Cons: The mouse button is near impossible to press both buttons down with 1 finger, which hurts for some of the games I play. But I usually play with a USB mouse, so it's all good.

Other Thoughts: Besides the Mouse Button on an axle, this is the best laptop I have ever owned.