Setup Planning Basicsin this part i will try to give you some brief ideas on what i think is a better g-series (compared to stock machines).
in terms of better user experience, i suggest you do this:
1. OS drive - use SSD instead of HDD; this is where you put your OS, apps, and games that you play most;
2. Data drive - convert your stock HDD to data drive; this is where you store your files; you can also move some of the key folders and pagefile from C: to here, to free up space;
3. RAM disk (optional) - a small ram disk (2gb or more) can be used to boost up the performance. by pointing the system- and user-based temporary folders, scratch disks, and web cache to the RAM disk, you can move high read/write operations in such folders to it and thus reduce further write/erase cycles in your ssd. there are a number of free RAM disk apps for this purpose. here is
how i set up mine using
SoftPerfect RAMDisk.
if you still think there is not enough storage space for you, then if you do not use the DVD-ROM (most of us don't these days), just simply swap it with a compatible HDD caddy and put another HDD in. usually, a 12.7mm SATA-to-SATA HDD caddy is good enough for a g55/75; however, there might be variations of the connector as reported by some friends here, so you should double check the compatibility before purchase. to maximize compatibility, it's better to
convert data drives to
MBR disk.
for a g55/g75, we have 2 SATA 3 (6GB/s) ports (hdd bays; msata slot), and 1 SATA 2 (3GB/s) port (DVDROM drive). the layout that makes more sense is to use both SATA 3 for ssds, and hdd uses SATA 2.
now back to the topic of OS install. here i will focus on the fresh install of a single OS. the fact is that many of us have our own preferences. some of us prefer dual boots because each OS get raw throughputs from the underlying hardware; alternatively, you can use virtualization for this purpose (if you have w7/8 pro, there is a
built-in feature that allows you to do that).
when you're are ready to go further on your own, you can explore more options to make full use of your system.
1.
Windows 7 versus Windows 8in general, w7 and 8 work fine on a g-series; as long as you:
i) have the legit license of your OS; and
i) make sure working drivers that you need are available either at ASUS's website, or directly from the manufacturers, you're good to go.
you can identify and verify all these from your device manager.
note: as of the time of writing, the driver for Atheros .ac wifi adapter is still not available for w7. if you happened to have this adapter and you have stock w8, i suggest you stick to w8. compared to those with stock w7 (home premium, 16gb ram limit), you get the advantage from w8 that has a higher ram limit (128gb).
-
UPDATE: to those who have Atheros .ac wifi adapter, @demoadds
reported that there is in fact a working driver.
please try it out and report it in the relevant threads!2.
UEFI versus BIOS Installi suggest you stick to UEFI. the recent bios enhancements improve boot time in UEFI. furthermore, for machines with preloaded w8, you get to access an additional security feature: the secure boot control that is supposed to further minimize the security risks of your system.
however, if your daily usage is more towards BIOS, it's fine to go for it, too.
to check if you're running UEFI or BIOS install on your current system, simply open up the file, C:\Windows\Panther\setupact.log and look for 'Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect' without quotes. the immediate next line below that line will tell you it's EFI or BIOS.
2013-01-30 09:02:54, Info IBS Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect:FirmwareType 2.
2013-01-30 09:02:54, Info IBS Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect: Detected boot environment: EFI
3.
Stock versus Fresh Installmost of us find a fresh install to be the least problematic (and save a lot of space, especially when you use a ssd). we had a number of issues that were either caused by the bloatware that came bundled with the stock OS, yet-to-find-out driver / OS issues.
4.
Recovery Strategythe last thing i would like to touch a bit is the recovery strategy. by default, with everything stock, we should have a working recovery (F9 recovery) that allow us to go back to factory state when bad things happen. with fresh install, and everything wiped, you can still implement a similar recovery strategy.
this is especially true for machines without the tool set to create recovery DVDs (notably those with preloaded w8).
there are a number of options to create a working copy of recovery media:
1. using third party cloning and imaging tool, such as
Macrium Reflect.
2. using the built-in back up and restore (w7) / windows 7 file recovery (w8).
this is
a video that gives you an idea on how easy it is to set up a recovery using system image. you can use the same install usb to initialize the recovery option.
i hope by now you can get the idea what you can do with your g-series. and with creativity of your own, you can rebuild your system to be more slick and responsive by making full use of its strengths, and still preserves the emergency recovery option that is provided by the factory setup.