ASUS G74SX-BBK9 or G74SX-BBK11???

[Jordan]

I am getting a gaming Asus laptop from Best Buy. Right now they have 2 models that seem identical and the specs sheet they list isn't complete or accurate. I havent been able to find the specific differences between the 2 models G74SX-BBK9 or
G74SX-BBK11. They are probably small but I want to be educated in my purchase. They are the same price and I already chatted with best buy and the guy basically read me they webpage. It was so very helpful!

Any information comparing the pros and cons of the 2 would be greatly appreciated!

[BrodyBoy]

marslove wrote:
so the bbk11 Wimax card has built-in b/g/n wifi? I'm really confused, because buying a laptop with no wifi sounds like a teriible idea to me:) Will I be able to connect to wifi networks with the bestbuy bbk11?

They all have wi-fi. Some configurations have a wi-fi/bluetooth combo card, and some others have a wi-fi/WIMAX combo card.

But don't worry....they all have wi-fi.

[forsa]

Gentleman,

you are giving wrong information about the G74SX-BBk11. I own one myself, the BBK11, has a camera and a Microphone.
It also has a WiFi system in it, I am not sure why Best buys does not show the correct information, but the BBK11 is a better unit then the BBK9 which is the previous version, as now the G75 is the newer version of the G74SX-BBK11

Yes the BBK11 has 1 HDD 5400 RPM but you can add a second one as well. so you can have 2+TB in it.
Also the BBK 11 you can add up to 16GIGfrom the stock version at Best buys, or you can add the newer BIOS and go up to36 GB of memory.
Hope this help all of you trying to figure out the differences.

Forsa

[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]

Zygomorphic wrote:
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.

Zygomorphic wrote:
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]

fostert wrote:
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.

fostert wrote:
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....