The Netherlands G75 Selection - Disappointed

[Gabber359]

Hey to all those reading and yes, my first post here (finally got the DB error fixed I see :P)

Since the beginning of this year I've been waiting for the G75. Information was limited due the NDA Intel had on it's Ivy Bridge, yet after the deadline came and went kept checking and checking etc etc everywhere I could for more info. I've been a fan of the G-series ever since I saw some G73s/74s in college and fell in love with the design, mostly because I'm a huge fan of the F-117A/B-2 Stealth bomber which this designs leans towards.
I've also been a fan of Asus ever since the first A8N-SLI Deluxe came out in 2004/2005 and was part of my first totally self built PC. A friend of mine thinks along the same lines and is now on his 3rd Asus laptop. Not because anything was wrong with his previous ones, but just part of an upgrade cycle. Up till now, Asus was pretty darn good...

I've been patiently waiting for the G75 to appear in NL. 3 months down the road, nada. till about last week when a *single* model appeared.
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/315192/asus-g75vw-g75vw-t1086v.html
One of these shops is about a 10second walk from my house where I usually do most of my purchases. I went to take a look. Very nice, BUT...I hate the specs. I've had a very specific set of specs in my mind. I haven't seen a single model out there that fulfills my requirements. (in Europe or outside Europe). After emailing the shop with my wish list, I got a polite answer saying that the above model was the only one available at the moment, but possibly more to come later on (fair enough, still a bit bummed though).

My next step was to put a post on the AsusBenelux FB page asking them what's up with the limited model availability. I got a reply stating the obvious; models depending on region etc *now selling with Ghost Recon !* (really? Did they really need to add that marketing to their reply?) and this is where I got quite mad: "Later in the year a variant WITHOUT a SSD is in the works"
What on earth does that have to do with my question? Out of which selection of snide marketing responses did that come from? Not only is it totally irrelevant to my question, it's also extremely unhelpful. You can also compare it to: "I'm going to release a new Ferrari model, but with a 1.0l 10BHP engine".

Regardless. The point is there's only 1 model available here in NL. Those I've browsed via amazon.co.uk, ebay and amazon.de do not fulfill my requirements. I'll leave out the obvious and just post what I'm looking for:
GTX 660M (not a 670, not a 675), 16GB DDR3 (not 8, not 12), Blu Ray BURNER (not ROM), 256GB SSD + 750GB 7200 RPM (not 1TB 5400, not 1.5TB, not a single 750GB drive either).
So you see, it seems to be an impossible combo. I have 3 weeks left to buy a laptop for my second year of college after working my balls off this summer to afford the 1800+ euro price tag. Unfortunately it seems it's going to be a case of "Alas poor Asus, I knew them well..." and I'll have to suffice with a custom built laptop from BTO (good specs/quality/service, but the case and keyboard are abysmal/boring).

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading. Maybe someone can shed some more light on this issue? Or give a glimmer of hope as to what more models might be coming? Highly doubt anything is going to appear in the next 3 weeks though. I can't wait till halfway through a college term either.

OT: Is there an mSata connection available on the G75? Just curious.

[Zygomorphic]

Open up the case and upgrade it yourself! Get a model with the 660M (order in from out-of-country), and buy the SSD, RAM, and HDD from newegg or a retailer like that. You will save money, and get exactly what you want. I upgraded my G53SX to 16 GB of DDR3 1333 and added a Seagate Hybrid drive...tough on the G53, easy on the G75.

[c_man]

There is no real reason to get a 660M. Do that only if you plan to go extreme OC. Performance is better on 670M, battery is not that much less, heat is not a problem.

Another 8GB of RAM are easy to put in and cheaper.

Same with HDD/SSD. I would get a Samsung SSD anyway and nothing else.

You might find a BR unit at your local Asus service or Ebay. It's easy to replace.

To be honest the model you want is so damn expensive in shop, I would not get it. We have almost everything you've said, except 660M, but it's like twice the money. Forget it!

You could go Clevo with a custom build in Germany.

[Zygomorphic]

Like he said, Clevo isn't nearly as nice a machine...I've seen them, and they aren't. ASUS quality trashes the Clevos that I have seen (which isn't many, I'll admit). @c_man, @gabber359 might want the 660M because it runs cooler with better battery life. If he isn't intending extreme gaming, he might prefer the cooler-running computer (I would).

[Gabber359]

Zygomorphic wrote:
Like he said, Clevo isn't nearly as nice a machine...I've seen them, and they aren't. ASUS quality trashes the Clevos that I have seen (which isn't many, I'll admit). @c_man, @gabber359 might want the 660M because it runs cooler with better battery life. If he isn't intending extreme gaming, he might prefer the cooler-running computer (I would).

Thanks for the replies 🙂

Yes I've thought about upgrading it. I've seen plenty of posts on that issue and I would have mentioned it in my original post, but I didn't want it to become TLDR. For such a hefty pricetag I'm really not going to start unscrewing things and upgrading this, upgrading that, risking damaging something etc. You'd think you'd be able to buy a model that fits your requirements.

As for the 660M, it's a Kepler core. Runs cooler, draws less power. I've also seen that overclocking thread, so it can be pushed if need be. 670/675 is a Fermi. Why on earth would I want an older generation model video card in my new generation laptop? Boggles the mind. Maybe if Asus made a G75 with a 680M it would be a different story 🙂
I don't do extreme gaming. I *am* a hardcore gamer though, always will be, but I don't run stuff at max res with 16x AA/AF and all the bells and whistles. My desktop has an Asus 8800 GTS 640 and it runs stuff fine. A 660M is lightyears ahead of this card. This laptop is also going to be a virtualisation platform for running Windows Server/Linux/Whatever for testing/work/school projects.

[Zygomorphic]

I run VMs on my G53SX without a hitch...my work laptop is slower than my VM :(. Speaks volumes about my G53's performance. VMs are CPU bound, not GPU, so either is great there. I would pick the 660M myself to have a cooler (and quieter) card in my computer. When I game, I do it hard-core on minesweeper :). 680M upgrade option would be sweet though.

[c_man]

How much cooler is 660M in real life with G75?

[Zygomorphic]

I have heard that it is cooler, by exact numbers I cannot say. The 660M is the newer Kepler architecture, while the 670M is an over-clocked Fermi (570M). The Kepler architecture cut the power consumption and thus the heat, so it runs cooler (fewer cores help too, of course! :))

[c_man]

It would be interesting to know since my G55 with 660M was not that much cooler than my G75 with 670M. Laptops themselves are both just warm. And my N7720 with 650M (so Kepler) will burn your fingers. Just going Kepler does not mean laptops will run cool.