ASUS G74SX-BBK9 or G74SX-BBK11???

[Shawnnepc]

@MrRuckus, skipping BestBuy is usually a good idea. For whatever reason, they often skimp on the quality of their computers. On the G74 variants, they originally shipped to BestBuy with a 1600x900 panel, while everyone else used the nicer 1080p panel. The 5400 RPM drives actually aren't that much slower, but they make less noise, and they give better battery life. ASUS knows that the people who are really concerned about performance will simply go with an SSD, which runs rings around even the 15K RPM SAS server drives.

Don't forget the gimped down versions of the 560m.

best buy uses the 128bit version of the card while the ASUS stock one is 192bit

[Zygomorphic]

The 128-bit version is on the G53SX, the BestBuy G74SX models use the 3 GB 192-bit variants. At least, the one I saw did - unless they are doing 128-bit 3 GB versions.

[fostert]

Does any game today actually use all of that memory bandwidth (192bit)? I recall reading that today's PCI-e x16 bus is never even close to being saturated, so its the bus that actually represents the bottleneck in real-world graphics performance (synthetic benchmanrks are always going to benefit from increased memory bandwidth as thats what they measure!). Is this true of memory bandwidth: i.e. all other things equal, will a 128bit 560M really perform dismally compared to a 192bit??

[Zygomorphic]

Dismally, no, but there are instances in which the 192-bit interface on theG53SW is slightly faster than the 128-bit interface on the G53SX. It is not enough for me to be willing to take the hit in battery life and increase in heat though! The GTX560M for the little bit of gaming that I do is way overkill...but the ego pump is nice!

[fostert]

Dismally, no, but there are instances in which the 192-bit interface on theG53SW is slightly faster than the 128-bit interface on the G53SX.

I could be wrong but this sounds like it is only true in synthetic benchmarks. In real world performance I doubt a difference would be felt.

It is not enough for me to be willing to take the hit in battery life and increase in heat though! The GTX560M for the little bit of gaming that I do is way overkill...but the ego pump is nice!

Agreed 100%: the CPU, comfortable robust keyboard, incredible display, RAM capacity, excellent cooling, beefy display hinges, and sleek looks are all why I bought the G74. The 192bit 560M in it is just a little pointless matter of pride for me!

[cinbennett]

I bought the BBK11 in March because I needed a laptop that could handle my heavy usage. The BBK11 does for the most part, but the problems I have with it make it not worth it. I can't put it to sleep without it blue-screening, which means when I wake it up I get the black screen telling me it was shut down incorrectly. I've had it into Geek Squad 3 times, and they keep telling me nothing is wrong with it. Last I checked putting a laptop to sleep isn't that big of a problem. Plus it randomly loses the internet, requiring me to run the troubleshooting for it to find it again, or sometimes having to shut it down and restart it to find it. I would skip this computer completely, particularly if purchased at Best Buy.

[Zygomorphic]

I could be wrong but this sounds like it is only true in synthetic benchmarks. In real world performance I doubt a difference would be felt.

Correct - that's the only place it shows up to anything more than +3 FPS out of 75+ baseline.

Agreed 100%: the CPU, comfortable robust keyboard, incredible display, RAM capacity, excellent cooling, beefy display hinges, and sleek looks are all why I bought the G74. The 192bit 560M in it is just a little pointless matter of pride for me!

Second that! I wanted the high-res display and the quality construction for <$2000 - only ASUS hits that market well. Most other companies skimp on the display or build quality...or general reliability which is even worse.

[fostert]

The hinge on the G74 is built like a brick s**thouse, and that was incredibly important to me. I bought the G74 to replace my 2005 Dell Latitude 610. The cheap hinges on that had completely disintegrated and the screen was held open onto the laptop body with wraps of electrical tape. Got tired of rewrapping every time the screen was accidentally moved. It served me well for 6 years mind you....