G74SX 17.3" screen. 17inch laptop cooler or 19inch laptop cooler

[swangger]

I'm wondering if the screen is 17.3" so should i get the 17inch laptop cooler or the 19in laptop cooler? kinda confused on what the real size is.

I'm getting the laptop in a couple of days.

[BrodyBoy]

I think 19" would be too big. Before you order, though, it's worth pointing out that most laptop coolers wouldn't work with the G74. They are generally designed to push or pull air through a laptop's bottom vents. But the G74 is unusual in that there are no bottom vents. The cooling intake vents are on the top cover (just under the lid when it's open), and the exhaust vents are out the back of the computer.

So most coolers...blowing air at, or sucking air away from, the bottom on the laptop.....really don't effect the G74's cooling. FOrtunately, it has excellent cooling on its own. I'd suggest you just use it for awhile and then decide if you actually need supplementary cooling.

[swangger]

Thank you very much, you saved me a lot of money for now 🙂

Another simple question, how long do you think a G74 will last? 3 years? 5 years? or much less than that?

[BrodyBoy]

swangger wrote:
Thank you very much, you saved me a lot of money for now 🙂

Another simple question, how long do you think a G74 will last? 3 years? 5 years? or much less than that?

Boy, that's a tough one. I really couldn't venture a guess. In my experience, laptops fail when a critical component finally craps out and isn't worth replacing....in three of my laptops, this has been the video card. Alternately, they last until their hardware becomes obsolete enough to start limiting the software you can use. They become dinosaurs and you just want a new one. 🙂

GPUs are much more powerful (and run hotter) than just a few years ago. If this laptop is going to die of hardware failure, rather than obsolescence, I suspect the non-upgradable nVidia GPU may lead the way. But that's just speculation, and I really have no idea how long to expect it to last before it goes.

[swangger]

BrodyBoy wrote:
Boy, that's a tough one. I really couldn't venture a guess. In my experience, laptops fail when a critical component finally craps out and isn't worth replacing....in three of my laptops, this has been the video card. Alternately, they last until their hardware becomes obsolete enough to start limiting the software you can use. They become dinosaurs and you just want a new one. 🙂

GPUs are much more powerful (and run hotter) than just a few years ago. If this laptop is going to die of hardware failure, rather than obsolescence, I suspect the non-upgradable nVidia GPU may lead the way. But that's just speculation, and I really have no idea how long to expect it to last before it goes.

How long did those 3 laptops you had last?

[BrodyBoy]

swangger wrote:
How long did those 3 laptops you had last?

A couple HPs lasted about 3-4 years, I think. In a Toshiba that had dual GPUs, one of the cards failed while it was still covered under my AmEx extended warranty coverage, so we got it fixed once. Eventually, when it was about 4-1/2 years old, the GPU failed again. Would have been about $600 to fix, so we shopped for a replacement instead, and eventually ended up with a G74.

[fostert]

swangger wrote:
Thank you very much, you saved me a lot of money for now 🙂

Another simple question, how long do you think a G74 will last? 3 years? 5 years? or much less than that?

In all the lappies I've owned the first things that went on them (to the point of where there were unusable) were not electronic, but mechanical. Cracked and broken plastic chassis', cracked screens, worn out touchpads and buttons, and as I type this on my 2005 Dell Latitude D610 I am holding the screen up with one hand, because both hinges have cracked and it flops down otherwise (gotta replace the wraps of electrical tape golding the screen on). In 15 years of owning notebooks, I've never had an electronics failure. The G74 is built solid mind you, but I bet the first thing to go will be the touchpad or keyboard. But those are replaceable.

[Aysoos]

I personally, like having an inch or so of the cooler jut out and I find that a massive computer sitting on a smaller cooler is just weird and kills the image of the "jet." I don't use a cooler for my G73 (I dunno about the G74's cooling) since it runs cool enough. However, my old Asus laptop runs hot, although it is just an entertainment series with a 1.6 DUAL CORE that over heats alot. Its a 15 inch but I use a 17 inch cooler, since the screen may be 15 inch, but the screen border takes up some space and all. I would say, don't buy a cooler, since the G70 (G73 onwards) are designed for maximal cooling capacity (according to manufacturer).