dstrakele wrote:
I'd confim your retailer has a return or exchange policy for defective units. Then if you should have the misfortune to get a unit with a problem, you can get a refund or exchange it for a new system. Since you report it is a clearance unit, exchange will be unlikely, but I'd still rather have my money back then RMA it to ASUS and have to wait while they repair it. Once you enter the RMA process, problem resolution is with ASUS and not the retailer, so the computer problem is then YOUR problem and the retailer is off the hook.

I have 14 days to return it if unhappy which will be my only option I guess due to the clearance. Cheers for the advice.

fostert wrote:
@spursbob: I got that exact model (CST1-CBIL) from Staples in my city back in October. It was and still is a terrific deal: $1350 Cdn. got me the 1920x1080 FHD screen, 8 GB of RAM, 3GB GTX560M, 2x500GB 7200 HDDs (I'm sure you know the specs) and one rock solid machine that I can honesty say I have never experienced any of the common G74 problems that i have seen on this forum with. It too being a G74 has the same idiosyncrasies (like turning off the touchpad in the BIOS locks the keyboard), but I am very happy with the Staples version: it is as top-notch a G74 as any other out there, and certainly not a "gimped" model like the BestBuy versions.

You have 15 days with them to try it and return it to them for refund. The only thing I do not like with the CBIL is the 1 year warranty with ASUS. Why not the standard 2 years? I'm crossing my fingers I never need to exercise it.

The only drag about Staples for me was their "special":\ free World of Warcraft Cataclysm game with purchase. What they don't tell you is that it is an expansion set that requires you to own the original game to use; it is useless otherwise. Staples wouldn't budge and give me something else in its place, even a lower price kids game for my daughter. Useless.

Good to hear you are extremely satisfied with yours and have had no issues; hopefully mine is fine too. This forum makes scary reading. The 1 year warranty sucks but seems to be very common in Canada except Quebec where consumers are protected by the 'reasonable length of time' law so 1 year means nothing. I didn't see any free game offers Cataclysm will soon be on Kijiji. Cheers.

For today's mass-produced electronic gadgets, I think it is important to prepare for a possible defective unit. Be aware of your retailer's return and exchange policy. You want to be able to easily return a defective unit or better, immediately exchange your defective unit for a new one.

When you get your system, test every feature completely:
- examine the display for stuck, bright, or dead pixels - or poor resolution, flickering on dark backgrounds at low brightness levels, etc.
- test all of the keys on the keyboard - including function key combinations
- test all ports on the system to make sure they function
- test the ODD to confirm it can read and record media
- test the card reader
- test the touchpad, particularly when typing
- test the system audio performance
- test WLAN and LAN internet connectivity and performance
- run some stress tests, like furmark or Prime95
- run a chkdsk and memtest86 to confirm a sound file system and memory - get a SpeedFan Online Diagnostic Summary of your HDD(s)
- leave the system running and try to keep it busy for at least 48 hours - any electronic component failures are likely to occur in this time
- load up and test the main apps (or games) you plan to run on your system.
- do any other tests you can think of...

If you do encounter a problem, go to a support forum or google your issue and see if there is an easy fix. You have the advantage of studying the threads in this forum to learn about potential problems and their solutions. Try a factory restore or a clean Windows 7 installation if you feel like troubleshooting. The key is if your system has issues right out of the box that cannot be easily resolved, it is best to exchange the system, or return it for refund. It is possible you may need to make more than one exchange to get a system without issues. My rule of thumb is if the third exchange does not resolve the problem (three strikes, you're OUT), then re-evaluate your purchase decision.

Avoid letting the retailer convince you to RMA the system to the manufacturer. Once you do that, the system problems are now YOUR problems and must be dealt with between you and the manufacturer. The retailer is off the hook. Let any problems with brand new systems be the retailer's or the manufacturer's problems.

For today's mass-produced electronic gadgets, I think it is important to prepare for a possible defective unit. Be aware of your retailer's return and exchange policy. You want to be able to easily return a defective unit or better, immediately exchange your defective unit for a new one.

When you get your system, test every feature completely: Your only goal is to determine if you will keep or return/exchange the system within the retailer's return/exchange policy period.

- examine the display for stuck, bright, or dead pixels - or poor resolution, flickering on dark backgrounds at low brightness levels, etc.
- test all of the keys on the keyboard - including function key combinations
- test all ports on the system to make sure they function
- test the ODD to confirm it can read and record media
- test the camera and built-in microphone
- test the card reader
- test the touchpad, particularly when typing
- test the system audio performance
- test WLAN and LAN internet connectivity and performance
- run some stress tests, like furmark or Prime95 - monitor CPU and GPU temperatures during these tests
- run a chkdsk and memtest86 to confirm a sound file system and memory - get a SpeedFan Online Diagnostic Summary of your HDD(s)
- leave the system running and try to keep it busy for at least 48 hours - any electronic component failures are likely to occur in this time
- load up and test the main apps (or games) you plan to run on your system.
- do any other tests you can think of...

Let your system run and try to keep it busy for at least 48 hours straight. With electronic gadgets, failures are more likely in the first 48 hours of continuous use.

If you do encounter a problem, go to a support forum or google your issue and see if there is an easy fix. You have the advantage of studying the threads in this forum to learn about potential problems and their solutions BEFORE you've even received your laptop.

If you encounter a problem that resists an easy fix, try a factory restore or a clean Windows 7 installation if you feel like troubleshooting. The key is if your system has issues right out of the box that cannot be easily resolved, it is best to exchange the system, or return it for refund. It is possible you may need to make more than one exchange to get a system without issues. My rule of thumb is if the third exchange does not resolve the problem (three strikes, you're OUT), then re-evaluate your purchase decision.

Avoid letting the retailer convince you to RMA the system to the manufacturer. Once you do that, the system problems are now YOUR problems and must be dealt with between you and the manufacturer. The retailer is off the hook. Let any problems with brand new systems be the retailer's or the manufacturer's problems.

tkd_ron wrote:
I bought my g74sx-bbk7 (i7 2630qm,8gb ram, 2 500 gb 7200rpm drives, intel centrino 6150n wireless, gtx 560m 128 bit 2gb mem, 1600x900 display ) on clearance from best buy for $1099.00 and I am very happy with the machine, although it gets knocked for being gimped, I have had no problems with it in the five months I have been using it, and after doing a clean install it runs really fast and gaming on it is excellent I think the 128bit gimped card benefits from the lower resolution of hd+ i.e. (snipped) .

I've had the opposite reaction to my Best Buy G74sx (i7 2670qm 8GB RAM, 2 500GB drives, GTX 560m with 2GB video RAM and 1600x900 display).

While it is labeled as a gaming laptop, it's really far from it with today's games, at least mine is. Don't get me wrong... I love my laptop as it affords me the ability to move around with a computer by my side, however if the main intention is to be able to play video games with good performance and visual quality, this laptop just doesn't cut it.

When I bought it, it was a spur of the moment decission and since Best Buy is the only local store in town where I live, and this was the closest to a gaming laptop that could be bought locally, I bought it. I'm not sorry that I did, just wish it could live up to the handle of being a gaming laptop for me.

On almost all of today's modern games that I've tried on it, I've either had to lower the visual quality to what I consider to be an unacceptable level, or play with unacceptable frame rate. About the only games that run acceptably on it, are games like Minecraft or Terraria, neither of which tax most older computers anyway.

It's hardware should out best my desktop (AMD Phenom II 965 BE with 8GB system RAM and a GTX 465 Nvidia card with just 1GB of video RAM) however the desktop plays all of today's modern games on either high or ultra high settings with great FPS, which makes me a little sad considering the laptop's price when I bought it.

Anyway, I second that you should thoroughly check out every aspect of your laptop, including writing a good amount of data to the hard drives. On my laptop the 2nd 500gb hard drive was dead within 5 hours after first starting my G74sx. Thankfully I had a good experience with RMA'ing the HDD back to asus and had a new HDD in my hands in less than 3 or 4 days of them receiving the returned HDD. Other than that, there has been no physical problems with this unit which makes me happy.

So, I bought the laptop to be able to have better performance and visual quality than my desktop and use it (almost) exclusively for gaming, and use my desktop (the old faithful workhorse) as my work computer. But it turns out it's the opposite and the laptop is now almost exclusively left to work and the desktop to gaming, which makes me sad.

I know, I must sound like Cybil with 9 different personalities what with being happy and sad, but I hope that one day I'll find a real gaming laptop that can play today's games with good quality visuals and good frame rates too. I've even gone so far as to wipe the drives and fresh install Win 7 with just the absolute necessary ASUS software for the laptop to run, and while it starts into Windows 7 very fast (definitely faster than my desktop that hasn't had a refresh in close to a year now), it's still not capable of gaming with good visuals and good performance.

But hey, gaming may not be the OP's thing so what I've written may well not even apply to them, but I thought I'd temper what you may have read on this forum about how great these laptops are for gaming, because in my opinion, they're really not, however they may well be the best thing on the market in this price range. I don't really know since I've not invested the time to look further into what was available on the market in laptops for gaming, as it would just give me one more personality to sadden me.

Anyway, I hope you have better experience with your new laptop than I've had with mine (regarding gaming, not over all function, since it works good as a workhorse computer).

Oh and don't get me wrong, it's got a whole lot of niceties regardless whether it were a desktop unit or a laptop, like the lighted keyboard (love that) and the 7200rpm HDD's, and the clarity of the images on the screen to me is really fantastic amongst many other nice features. Great for work for me, not so nice for gaming.

Enjoy yours.