Can you recommend a laptop? (based on my specifications)

[alcomplex]

It is 2 am in Australia at the moment. I am going to bed now. Tomorrow when I wake up I will continue my research but will order one of these laptops by the end of the day. I would appreciate very very much any last minute advice that you guys have for me in regards to the Asus Verse Metabox debate.

I think I will have to settle for the i7 720 due to the price issues unfortunately, but this will be a slight step up from my 3.2 ghz Pentium 4 PC. : ). I would prefer to get the GTX 280 video card as it is said to be 10% to 15% faster than the previous model video cards.

Special thanks to Maziar and ibnsina for your continued help and advice. I am curious ibnsina what you think about the Asus G60J as you think the previous Asus is a good buy.

 

[ibnsina]

ASUS G60J screen resolutions is only 1366x768 and HD is 5400rpm, but you get blue ray. I think ASUS G51IJ-A1 is much better.

It might be good idea to buy it from reputable US company that delivers to Australia, because Asus warranty is international.

ASUS G51IJ-A1 is selling in Australia for $2149.00 AUD. You can get from xoticpc.com for 1,535 AUD (1,405 USD). Even if you get charged 100$ for shipment/taxes. You still saving around $600 AUD.

http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-gaming-laptops-ct-118_96_98.html

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=1405&From=USD&To=AUD&x=43&y=8


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METABOX W860CU costs $550 more than ASUS G51IJ-A1 for slightly faster gpu. As I said before, you need topay $195 for 2 years warranty. So thats $750 more for slighlty faster gpu. And you dont get 30 days dead pixel warranty, No gaming mouse and no bag too, the choice is yours.

Make sure you buy this laptop from reputable company, just in case you wanted to exchange it.

 

[Maziar]

Yes if the price difference is much,go for the ASUS G51J,its a very good choice too and you get extra mouse,bag and illuminated keyboard as well

 

[JackNaylorPE]

here's the same Clevo model from Australia:

http://www.p4laptops.com.au/order-w870.htm

Other potential source

http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/

wondering if my builder ships to au

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=W870CU

 

[alcomplex]

Thankyou for all your help everyone. I am currently trying to find a place in Australia that sells the ASUS G51J with a few additional specs like 6GB of ram instead of 4 and windows ultimate.

I will confirm once I have made a purchase and also will write a review once I have recieved and tested it for anyone else with the same issues in the future.

 

[alcomplex]

here's the same Clevo model from Australia:

http://www.p4laptops.com.au/order-w870.htm

Other potential source

http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/

wondering if my builder ships to au

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=W870CU

Hey I am considering importing from America the ASUS G51J because its not available in Australia any time soon and I can still get it repaired here due to the global waranty.

Could you recommend any companies that sell the ASUS G51J and would ship to aus?

 

[ibnsina]

“Xotic PC accepts International Orders, require payment via Bank Wire, Check or Money Order. For any Warranty the customer is responsible for shipping both ways to our service center in the US”.
Since Asus warranty is international I don’t think you have to worry about this.
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Rather then adding 2 GB more memory at the cost of $255, I think you will gain more speed by replacing the primary hard drive to Intel 80GB X25-M Solid State Drive at the cost of $230 (80GB is more than enough to install applications/games) . You will still get second 320GB 7200rpm hard drive for backups.


http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-g51ja1-p-2674.html?wconfigure=yes

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Why exactly you want windows 7 ultimate? Xpmode?

 

[alcomplex]

“Xotic PC accepts International Orders, require payment via Bank Wire, Check or Money Order. For any Warranty the customer is responsible for shipping both ways to our service center in the US”.
Since Asus warranty is international I don’t think you have to worry about this.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rather then adding 2 GB more memory at the cost of $255, I think you will gain more speed by replacing the primary hard drive to Intel 80GB X25-M Solid State Drive at the cost of $230 (80GB is more than enough to install applications/games) . You will still get second 320GB 7200rpm hard drive for backups.


http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-g51ja1-p-2674.html?wconfigure=yes

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Why exactly you want windows 7 ultimate? Xpmode?

Cool I didn't realise that site sold the asus model. I wonder if they have it in stock and can ship immeditately.

I want windows 7 ultimate for its backup feature. Me and my Dad are maybe going to get the same laptop and my dad wants the backup feature and I might want it to so I can refresh my comp back to an old copy if I get a virus

 

[ibnsina]

Full-system Backup and Restore comes in Home Premium edition too . (only network backup is disabled ). I have to say I really like Windows Backup and Restore, is very simple and effective.

You will backup your system to your second hard drive (or external drives), so i dont think you should pay extra $195 that xoticpc charges for Windows 7 Ultimate - 64-Bit or $139 through Microsoft Any time upgrade..

Regarding stock-shipment you can email-call or have livechat with sales department. Contact page http://www.xoticpc.com/contact_us.php

 

[ibnsina]

I got slightly bad news for you AlComplex, Xotic PC dont have ASUS G51IJ-A1 in stock, they getting it after 3-4 weeks. "Apparently is the most popular gaming laptop in the world."

Another bad news is they charging $249 for UPS 2-3 days shipment.
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We need to try to find different reputable company that ship there. 😀

 

[alcomplex]

I got slightly bad news for you AlComplex, Xotic PC dont have ASUS G51IJ-A1 in stock, they getting it after 3-4 weeks. "Apparently is the most popular gaming laptop in the world."

Another bad news is they charging $249 for UPS 2-3 days shipment.
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We need to try to find different reputable company that ship there. 😀

I think every company is out of stock though : /


And its not entirely bad news. Least I know its a good laptop and it just confirms the idea that I should wait till after the new year to buy my laptop. Prices may come down and all the new shipment of these G51Js will be in. Maybe something better will be out in January?

And it is better knowing than not knowing. Thanks ibnsina!!

 

[ibnsina]

I agree.....

Asus might bring out new gaming laptop with faster gpu in the next 2 months.

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Other option is if you know some one in usa that can buy it for you, newegg.com have it in stock.

 

[alcomplex]

I agree.....

Asus might bring out new gaming laptop with faster gpu in the next 2 months.

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Other option is if you know some one in usa that can buy it for you, newegg.com have it in stock.

Well its the waiting game...lol thanks for your help I guess I'll have to wait to start gaming.

 

[alcomplex]

Well the story is nearly over. I have ordered the ASUS G51J with one adjustment on the normal specs. Replaced one of the 320 gig hardrives with a cosair 64 SSD 220 mbs read and 180 mbs write as you suggested. It is not easy to get good prices and laptops where I am so I have imported from Western Australia and once the shipment of the laptops comes in I should have it by early january hopefully.

I will let you know how it performs

 

[ibnsina]

That should be one fast of a Laptop, lucky you! You are covered for 2 years as well. Since it comes with 30 day pixel warranty, so make sure to check your Laptop for dead pixel, using a program like Dead pixel tester. http://www.dataproductservices.com/dpt
Looking forward to hearing your review.
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Usually Laptop manufactures install many useless programs/demo games; this really slows down the system.

One solution to this; is to do a clean windows 7 install, and then download/setup whatever device drivers windows 7 didn’t detect.

Finally use windows backup and restore and make a complete system image and store it in another hard drive (or partition/ external harddrive/usb pen drive /blueray disk/dvd disk etc). At the end of backup process it will ask you whether you want to make a bootable disk, do make one just in case your hd malfunctions.

 

[alcomplex]

Sweet thats great information thankyou. Is there some function on Windows Seven Ultimate that helps with the backup? Not sure how to go about doing it

 

[ibnsina]

This guide is good;

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/how-to-create-a-system-image-in-windows-7/

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Find out if that laptop comes with Windows 7 installations DVD. These manufactures are becoming so greedy these days, they charge you over $1000 for a laptop, yet they don’t want to supply you with installations dvd.

If didn’t come with one, let me know, I guide how to download a genuine version.

 

[alcomplex]

This guide is good;

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/how-to-create-a-system-image-in-windows-7/

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Find out if that laptop comes with Windows 7 installations DVD. These manufactures are becoming so greedy these days, they charge you over $1000 for a laptop, yet they don’t want to supply you with installations dvd.

If didn’t come with one, let me know, I guide how to download a genuine version.

Wow thankyou that will be very usefull for me!

 

[alcomplex]

I have posted a new thread.

Please close this thread.

FYI The G51J never arrived and is now supposedly out of production. Also it has heating issues.

 

[blklgt05]

read here

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/55367-35-seeking-gaming-laptop#t225687