Welcome FailNinja to the ROG Member Forum, glad you could join us. Hahahahahhaa.... Good chuckle, thank you.
If you continue reading you will find most of the blown out EPIC problems are
mostly lack of patience. Most issues are quickly, by any reasonable standard, resolved.
We never see or hear from ALL the owners that are thrilled unless they come here
to go to the next level.
If you have been reading this forum and paying special attention to Laptops you will
know that Chastity @ Asus is right on every single, even the smallest of questions,
and the members jump in all over the rest. So relax, here, you Are covered.
Did you read the same sort of nightmares about the 73? How did that work out
for 'your buddy'? Is he still waiting for his to get straightened out? Thats what I thought.
Now, that leads us to your particular situation being stationed overseas with the
US Air Force, and may I SCREAM THANK YOU for that.
Do you have someone stateside that could ship it to you if you cant get it done in 2 weeks?
This way if there are any RMA issues from the retailer it can be taken care of quickly and cheaply.
These things happen, it is a long way from factory to warehouse to retailer to you.
Who knows the horrors the laptops endure, and of course defective units can slip through QC.
Best to resolve that before it leaves stateside.
I dont speak against Amazon in the least, I have had nothing but positive experiences with them.
However, what may be invisible to the consumer is the ministores that any item could be coming from. That said, buyer beware. Even though the re seller has to deal with Amazon freezing them out, this is little help to you sitting in Germany with a defective unit, as slim as that chance may be.
The Warranty? Hahahahaa..The laptop does come with a huge stone with this
carved on it.....all I can say to this is, it is an Asus..and THEY stand by their name, from my experience.
So yes, by all means, rely away, let questions fly, give your experiences, and thoughts.
Other brands? There are other brands? Do they ROG? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Looking forward to a positive outcome for you.
Best of Luck.c.