What is black,
backlit, 17.3" and HD
weighs almost 9 pounds
costs 1899.00 new, but 1000.00 refurbished
and can do 3D autocad easily while it plays other 3D games?

Yeah, you would have me guessing too until I had to go computer shopping for my son today. He will need a laptop for his college architecture course. The college sent me the specs and they weren't all that impressive. So I called the administrative office to ask a few questions. Good call; they answered a LOT of things that weren't on the spec sheet. Like, dedicated graphics, dedicated memory, best size screen etc.

Armed with that info I went looking on the web. Took the better part of 3 hours and tons of geek speak to finally isolate 2 contenders. They were both ASUS. So I looked up ASUS for quality reviews. Them and Toshiba were the industry best pics. The worst? Dell and HP - the crap I'm dealing with now....and hating it.

Now I'm always leary about the word 'refurbished'. Did some digging on that too. Turns out that most of the 'refurbished' laptops are returned by customers NOT because of performance issues, they just picked the wrong one, or can't get used to them. Not saying that there aren't some stinkers out there either though. So the store can't turn around and resell them. They return them to the manufacturer for reconditioning, testing and overhaul as needed. When done they are sent back for sale as 'refurbished' units. There was a word of warning; don't buy seller refurbs, buy only factory refurb.

Several of the geek speak sites I visited actually spoke highly of refurbished units, because they have the advantage of having been tested by the manufacturer to ensure quality control before they are returned to the market. So, overall more than 90% of the refurbs are just because people returned a product they dont really like. Some people won't buy refurbs just because they aren't 'brand new never opened before'. These are the same people who will only buy a new car that has been driven by about 5 people getting it from the factory to the dealership, but the car is "new", and they are the 'first driver/owner'. Oh well, guess I'm not that picky.....

So YAY for my side. My son is getting an ASUS 17.3" HD screen, backlit keyboard, i72630QM processor G74SX laptop. This thing has the best graphics card, huge 1TB memory, 8GB HD expandable to 16GB, yada yada yada. I was sold after I did the research. It's kind of like buying that cheap used 72 Cutlass Supreme and finding out its a repainted original W30 X code car with a 4speed. Oh yeah, it weighs in at about 9 lbs - not a lightweight by any means. It will be here in about 10 days.

Best part: this 'puter' costs almost 1900.00 retail. Refurb price was 1000.00 and free shipping. Admittedly the warranty is only 90 days instead of 1 year, but I'm willing to take that chance for a 900.00 difference.

Now it's time for me to go shopping to replace this crappy HP.

 

9lbs for a laptop . I'm surprised lenovo didn't show as a contender. Although I work in the tech industry, I always find buying a computer is somewhat a pain. I'm just happy my work issues me a new laptop every three years.

 

Actually Lenovo was rated, but their reliability over 2/3 year cycle was almost as low as HP. Dell was even better than Lenovo

One of the reasons I didn't go with Mac is that the Architecture course does not support Mac use and the software isn't compatible. Wierd huh?

I hear ya on the puter replacement. I used to get mine replaced every three years too. We also used lenovo and IBM thinkpads. Sorry if it offends, but they were crap. Of course, that could just be based on the IT folks giving us puters that didn't meet our usage with lots of graphics files. May have been right too, because we weren't permitted to store info on the hard drive, it had to be on the company server so it could be backed up every night. Yup, it's great to be retired and not put up with their totalitarianism anymore.

 

haha, I don't really want to get into a mac vs pc debate, but I don't think I've had a PC I didn't build that didn't crap out after a few years. I have a few macs and love them, but will definitely agree for the power they put out... grossly overpriced.

Either way, congrats on getting your son the new machine. Hopefully it works well for years to come.

 

Well, don't know how the reliability factor equates. I put my machines though quite a pounding. The one I'm using right now is 8 years old. Very likely needs a new hard drive. Maybe you could tell me???
It boots normally, but takes forever to launch Explorer *yeah, I know* . Some websites it pulls up fine and fast, others it takes forever - case in point - C.O. takes forever to respond; like a dial up. WAC pulls up fast and leaps from file to file like a deer trying escape a charging cougar. I'm not hearing the drive make a lot of noise that it didn't before.

This is an old dual quad core Intel pc. Only started being 'slow' about 3 weeks ago. Is that more harddrive, or could it be virus. I run AV, the computer gets defraggeed and scanned regularly. If you know a quick fix? PLEASE LMK....

 

Harddrives running out of room would not usually effect your browsing. Using IE could definitely do that. I would use firefox or chrome immediately. As far as if it could be a virus, its really tough to tell... viruses can do just about anything and its really just annoying. Has CO always been slow or was just something that started this 3 weeks ago?

 

C.O. in the past was really fast; the slowdown just started 3 weeks ago. So what is chrome? How do I install / use it instead of IE?

 

Google chrome is google's fancy new web browse. Fast, light weight, and more importantly... just not IE.

https://www.google.com/chrome

Give that a shot and see if it helps, if it doesn't, continue using it but we will have to figure something else out for your issue.

 

Ok, I just loaded it and am trying it out. The page seemed to load faster than 15 minutes ago. I'll do a little more surfing on here to see how it pans out.

I just noticed that the dialogue boxes have gold edge around them, and I know have spell check enabled as I type. Is that also a feature?

 

I haven't used IE in such a long time I'm not sure what features it has now. But yea, you may need to just use chrome for a while, read over the settings to see what it can do. There is also a huge slew of extensions you can instal onto the browser too that can be found here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions

 

Thx for your help on this. Funny thing. I just told my son how great this Google chrome works. He says "Yeah I know, I downloaded it on my pc last year". Then he proceeds to 'school me' on the extensions link that you sent. So now I have 'angry birds' as a backdrop.... The top tabs do take a little getting used to, but I'm really pleased with how the site is responding now. Thank you again.

 

We run 64 bit full suites of CAD PLM systems at work on the Lenovo. But that's just because we have a contract with IBM. I've heard good things about the ASUS.

 

Congratulations on the new laptop I wish I had one like it.

Out of curiosity, do you know what CAD software your son will be using?

I am surprised about the Dell ratings. I am using a Dell laptop I bought 4 years ago for school (including CAD software) and have been pretty happy with it and it survived 3.5 year in my backpack.

Allan, a question about Chrome. If it has the automatic spell check, is there a Canadian English choice for the spell check language? I know for Firefox I have to choose between US or UK and as you know, both of those are slightly different.

 

You got some bugs in your puter Allen or most likely the old operating system like my old one don't seem to work well on the internet anymore , and like yours , CO was taking forever to load until I got the new one . I'm very glad I got a new one now , don't mess with that old crap anymore , get the new It's worth it !

 

Same with us Tony - it was a contract. Didn't know much about brand reliability and power until I started searching

1. Right now he is using Revit. Not sure what college will use - they weren't specific about that - just the laptop requirement. It will be an Auto Cad 3D of some sort though.

2. I'm glad your Dell experience was +. I've talked to others who share that feeling, and others who say otherwise.With any brand, there's bound to be + and -. I've actually had good luck with HP and it's supposed to be more problematic. Luck?

3. Chrome. I'm still getting used to it. I don't like some of its features already, but I can adjust. For languages? check the following link; http://support.google.com/chrome/bin...n&answer=95416

I keep this puppy pretty well protected with AV and try not to overtax it (ha- obvious lie) most of the time. Since I installed Chrome? My web speed has gone from 30mph to 600!!! I think the problem was that I was just relying on too old a browser (or is that bowser - yup bowser. It was a dog ) As far as OS? Yes it's the nefarious memory hog Vista. But overall it hasn't caused me as much headache as I've heard others complain about. The navigation through Office is sometimes a PITA, but like everything you get used to it.

I'm looking at my PC kind of like you're looking at your CS. I'm trying to make it last as long as possible with the least amount of $$$ spent. When this thing gives up the ghost, I will spend it. Till then - nope. It's an Intel core 2 quad Q6700 processors with 3GB memory and clocked at 2.67Ghz per processor. Overall it's darn fast for such an old unit.

 

Well you're NOT going to believe this. I got an email from the store that sold me the ASUS unit. They say 'Sorry, we don't have that in stock any more so we aren't billing you for it". What a bunch of horse$poop. They had 2 on line when I bought them.

I did some checking with their customer service and found out: The number of units displayed on the web is supposed to be accurate. The number available is reduced each time an authorized transaction occurs. I get that. What I don't get is why they processed my order if they say it wasn't in stock, when their on line inventory says it was. After I bought the unit, I checked and the number avail had dropped to 1. I think I just got royally screwed here. I'm keeping my eyes open for a best alternative.

Fortunately, my son doesn't NEED this until Sept, but I'm the kind of guy who will plan that far in advance. Why pay more when you don't have to?

Maybe a bright side to this though, there may be an opportunity to get an even better deal before summer??? Fingers crossed.

Any of you ever run into something like this?

 

wow, thats unfortunate. I check sites like dealsea.com and slickdeals.net. There are always computer deals going on, you just gotta keep your eyes open. Good luck

 

Thx Joffroi,
I'll check those sites out. Still would love to buy the ASUS, but I'm not stuck in the mud about it. If another really good one with the same features comes open with a Toshiba or possibly Dell or Lenovo I'll look at them seriously too.

You can't believe how devastated my son was when I showed him the email. Thx for all the tech tips and overall support you've given; it's really appreciated.

 

i think Tigerdirect.ca is the Canadian equivalent of those sites. They're out of Toronto so shipping is alot more reasonable.

 

Thx Tony. I just looked at them and the same ASUS unit there is 1714.99 A little rich for now. Fortunately there's no panic to get this laptop until late Aug. By then SOMETHING's got to turn up.

 

Ding ding ding ding....
Best Buy - Asus 17.3" Laptop featuring Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor (G74S-HBK7) 999.99

Bought it about 2 hours ago, confirmed in stock and will be here on May 1.