G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Hello all recently puchased the asus g73sw-bst6 from best buy i know it has some draw backs but i am a premier silver member so i wanted to see if the bst6 was going to be ok or if the bst8 is worth it. So i thought i would share my thoughts with those who are also considering either of these.



Specs:

Processor i7 2630qm-2.0ghz(turbo boost to 2.9)

Ram: 8gb 1333 mhz ddr3

Hard Drive: 750gb 7200rpm(677 available, 645 with removal of bloatware)

Graphics: Nvidia GTX 460m 1 gb ddr5 VRAM

screen: 17.3" 1600x900 (i know its not the high def one and def hurts it.)

Price: $1,299 before tax



Windows experience scores:

7.4, 7.6, 7.0, 7.0, 5.9 (respecitviely)

My alienware in my sig scores:

7.1, 7.4, 7.2, 7.2, 5.9



Side notes: the blue led under the screen wont turn on is this no longer an option or mine does not work i dont know yet i only recieved it yesterday at about 5:00pm EST also upgraded the 460 drivers to the latest official nvidia ones the 266.58 i believe they are.



Build: Very solid feel the lid is coated in a black matte finish, hinge feels solid, everything fits together nicely no major gaps or creaking, no keyboard flex, it is a very study laptop its heavy no question but its a gaming laptop it will be i dont mind the weight since i am 6'3 300lbs lol. But certainly not something i am going to bring to the office everyday just for home use. MY only isse with the build is that every g73 asus i have tried (had a few g73jh's and one jw) the rubber foot on the right hand side of the laptop closest to you does not touch my desk. every other one does but that one and its just slightly above but you can see a gap. I tried it on my counter and other tables all to the same end. (not a big deal just weird.)



Keyboard & Trackpad: Nice chiclet style keyboard keys have a nice short throw for gaming and the full numberpad is a plus. but it does not feel as nice to type on for word processing. It is the same keyboard on pretty much all the latest g73's with no keyboard flex. The trackpad is nice and the xW models all have the splits mouse buttons which make it much easier to press. Trackpad has a much nicer feel and is easier to use then the one on my alienware although i never use it i always have a mouse plugged in except on the go. One nice feature is when you plug in a mouse it automatically disables the trackpad so you do not accidentally hit it while playing.



Sound: good sound the subwoofer helps a lot definitely fuller sound than my alienware but when i game i use a pair of tritton ax720 so the comps speakers are only for vids on youtube or something.



Battery: I managed to get about 2 hours out of the 67% charge it started with. Have yet to test a full cycle.



Screen: the weakest point i cannot recommend enough the high def screen especially since my alienware has the 1600x900 screen but is smaller so it is definitely worse quality plus the non glossy bothers me but that is just personal preference.



Gaming: Battlefield bad company 2: i average 35-60fps with native res, all settings to high except shadows, 2xaa played very smooth.

MW2: all settings to max was around 45-80fps average

Black ops: kept dropping fps on max high was good around 30-45fps average

SC2: played on ultra with around 30-60fps (very processor intensive game)

I have downloaded the crysis 2 demo and will test that later when i get home.

Overall my alienware performed the same if not better in some games (a bit disappointed.)



Overall: it is a great laptop for those in need for a new laptop, if you have something relatively close in specs i would pass or at least go with the high def screen from best buy in the bst8 model or from somewhere else. but it is a must. and i have no real complaints with the laptop just the screen but i knew that when purchasing it since the bst8 was backordered i wanted to try it.



If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask it is looking as i will be returning this and waiting for the bst8 or picking up an m17xr3.

Reply 1 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Nice review. I'm considering this laptop myself. I have a few questions that I was hoping you could answer. How well does the wireless card perform? Is it dual-band? What security suite was pre-installed? How are the viewing angles color, and contrast on the display? I know it's only 1600X900. I'm more interested in the image quality than the resolution.

Reply 2 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Last I checked, the SW doesn't have an LED under the lid.

Reply 3 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Quote:

Originally Posted by seasalt29 Nice review. I'm considering this laptop myself. I have a few questions that I was hoping you could answer. How well does the wireless card perform? Is it dual-band? What security suite was pre-installed? How are the viewing angles color, and contrast on the display? I know it's only 1600X900. I'm more interested in the image quality than the resolution.

The wireless card is good not the best but good it also has the built in feature for wimax connectivity which i will never use since this thing is too big to use on the go which is the only place you would really be away from wifi lol.



it was some suite called triton or titan honestly was the first thing i removed since i use norton 360.



viewing angle are not great it really becomes washed out at anything more than about 135 degrees so your constantly adjusting the monitor based how your sitting. trust me though the display is the weakest part the 1600x900 really hurts it. colors are not crisp they are accurate and it has the color setting button by the speakers but not something you would want for high quality images. it just looks washed out even after messing with the settings is it usable o yes and when you are gaming its not as bothersome but wehn just looking at the desktop or web browsing its obvious. i would skip the bst6 and go for the bst8 or the xa1

Quote:

Originally Posted by KuroLionheart Last I checked, the SW doesn't have an LED under the lid.

Thank you i thought i read that but couldn't remember.

Reply 4 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZombieZakk . . . it was some suite called triton or titan honestly was the first thing i removed since i use norton 360. . . .

I use Norton myself. Were there any problems uninstalling the included security suite and installing Norton? Some security suites don't uninstall cleanly and require special removal tools. Was it Trend Micro that was preinstalled?

Reply 5 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Quote:

Originally Posted by seasalt29 I use Norton myself. Were there any problems uninstalling the included security suite and installing Norton? Some security suites don't uninstall cleanly and require special removal tools. Was it Trend Micro that was preinstalled?

haha yea that was it like i said it was my first removal no it removed cleanly just uninstalling through control panel. i was worried it was going to be a pain like some are but it gave me no issues and left no trace.

Reply 6 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZombieZakk viewing angle are not great it really becomes washed out at anything more than about 135 degrees so your constantly adjusting the monitor based how your sitting. trust me though the display is the weakest part the 1600x900 really hurts it. colors are not crisp they are accurate and it has the color setting button by the speakers but not something you would want for high quality images. it just looks washed out even after messing with the settings is it usable o yes and when you are gaming its not as bothersome but wehn just looking at the desktop or web browsing its obvious. i would skip the bst6 and go for the bst8 or the xa1

135 degrees is not that bad. The display on my HP dv5t washes out a bit at the top and bottom when I am looking at center! Let me ask you this. How does your G73 1600X900 display compare other 1600X900 displays? I know 1080P is better but I may have to get 1600X900 and I'm wondering if the one on the G73 is as good as the ones offered by Toshiba, Dell, Hp, etc. I know none of them are great.

Reply 7 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

does it have usb 3.0?

Reply 8 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

Quote:

Originally Posted by seasalt29 135 degrees is not that bad. The display on my HP dv5t washes out a bit at the top and bottom when I am looking at center! Let me ask you this. How does your G73 1600X900 display compare other 1600X900 displays? I know 1080P is better but I may have to get 1600X900 and I'm wondering if the one on the G73 is as good as the ones offered by Toshiba, Dell, Hp, etc. I know none of them are great.

the only other 1600x900 display i have is on my m15x and the m15x looks way better because it has the glossy screen, colors are sharper and its about 2" smaller so the pixels are denser. yea the viewing angle is not horrible but you definitely need to keep adjusting the tilt since it washes out more vertically but if your at an angle at the desk as in side to side it is not bad,

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxERIKxx does it have usb 3.0?

yes it does 1 usb 3.0, 3 usb 2.0.

Reply 9 : G73SW-BST6 initial thoughts review

One thing to note about the SW is they finally changed the grill covering the speakers.