Is G73JW A1 a slight Step Backwards?

[ShadowDemon]

Hey everyone,

I am looking to purchase my first gaming laptop and I am one of those annoying people who takes forever to buy something and does tons of research.

The G73JW - A1 was just recently added to Xotipc.com's preorder list. I was excited about the computer because of the ram and i7 720 to 740 upgrades. I didn't know much about the video card and so looked into it at notebookcheck.net . The Nvidia GTX 460M seems like a downgrade from the ATI Radeon 5870. (It did perform better on the Unigine Heaven Engine) The ATI Radeon 5870 just seems like a better card, in terms of FPS and Benchmarks. (Click the FPS or Benchmarks to see a chart for comparison. This may be a bad indicator of how a video card is rated, correct me if I'm wrong please)

I know people were having problems with the ATI card, and maybe that is why they changed it for the new model, but it seems to be fixed now. I just was wondering if I am right in thinking that the Nvidia GTX 460 is a downgrade of sorts. I am no computer expert by any means, so please guys correct me if I am wrong. Just curious to hear other people's opinions on the subject.

[Brian@ASUS]

honestly we will have to see benchmark performance when the product is released. i know in some cases the 460m had better performance than the 5870 for DX11 benchmarks, but the results i saw were on high settings. its possible that in certain settings, the DX11 performance may be better than ATI, but in if they were set lower, maybe ati would be faster? i wont know until we get the final production unit in. i think it will also matter based on the game you are running, along with driver support. Nvidia has always done a great job with their drivers where you see performance increases in games. you also get the added benefit for 3D support and 1.4 hdmi for your 3D tv if you're into that sort of thing.

in regards to the 5870 GSOD issue, it is currently being worked on. we have a beta that has been working quite well and waiting for approval to be released

[ShadowDemon]

Yeah I just saw that notebookcheck.net had released their benchmarks today for the 460M and they seem to compare it a lot to the 5850 which leads me to believe it is not as good as the 5870. When you place the 460M and the 5870 benchmarks together (using their numbers and setups) it seems the 5870 is better. But like you said, till you can test it you will not be able to tell too much.

If you just made the G73JW-A1 with the 5870 it would be so much easier, so get to work=P

[MattL]

The last thing you could possibly want is the video card that's in the JH.

Trust me.

[ShadowDemon]

Ok then make it the Nvidia 480M=)

[Tindrael]

Why? Now there is no problem with it and it will be stronger then the 460M in the JW. Overall the JH with Mobility 5870M is stronger then the JW with 460M, if you see a JW benchmark score close to the JH, it is probably because the JH has 720QM and the JW has 740QM CPU.

The only reason to buy JW is because it has 1 USB 3.0 and you can connect it to 3D TV. If you don't need these, the JH is a better choice for gaming and a cheaper one too.

[kiba]

Im not sure what your budget is but you might want to look into getting a g74 instead, or maybe even a g75, i love my g73 but it is a bit outdated. as far as the 5870 goes, after i updated the bios/vbios, my jh seemed to run at the very least on par with my buddy's jw. Still runs like a champ and i love this laptop, but i love my g75 more.

[xeromist]

This question is nearly 2 years old. I'm sure if he were buying a laptop now he would be looking at a newer model.