ASUS G751, but which version to buy?

[Zelgiusthebrave]

So my current laptop is nearly 6 years old, still running strong too surprisingly, but it's under-powered and aging. It's an HP Pavilion dv6 15" entertainment laptop and it has served me well for school and some small games.

 

I've been looking at some MUCH beefier laptops and decided I'd like the ASUS G751 because it suits the needs I have and future upcoming needs, it's crazy awesome looking (by my standards) and it has options, and I love options.

 

So just using Newegg right now for pricing info (and specs as I won't be purchasing from Newegg since I'm adamant I can find a lower price elsewhere such as Amazon) I decided on either the JT-CH71 ($1,499) or the JT-DH72 ($1,799) and the only thing I'm saddened about is the fact neither have the blue-ray option, but I'm not willing to spend over $2000 for the versions that do....even if they have that gorgeous 980m and over 16GB of RAM.

 

At first I was leaning on the DH72 due to the already installed SSD but lately have leaned harder on the CH71 since it's quite a bit cheaper and I can upgrade later.

That said, the only upgrade I'm sketchy about is turning the HDD boot drive into an SSD boot drive (by purchasing one and just keeping the HDD as mass storage) and upgrading RAM. I know 32 GB isn't needed for gaming but I will be doing a lot of work that with 32 GB will make it go faster and easier.

 

First, upgrading the boot drive. I do have a Sabrient HDD dock that has support for 2 drives, 3.5 or 2.5, so in theory I could just put the HDD and an SSD into the dock, press the copy button on it, then install them and set the SSD to boot drive in the BIOS correct?

 

And the RAM is a tricky one. ASUS has this on their webpage http://rog.asus.com/375732014/g-series-gaming-laptops/gallery-g751-upgrade-guide/so it seems easy to upgrade but it looks like they have more RAM installed UNDER the other RAM they removed on top. There is a screw beside it that looks like you're able to lift it out and remove the others below it. As I haven't worked with one of these machines specifically I don't know if that's possible or if it's even needed for that matter lol.

 

And then the blue-ray, as I watch a lot of movies/tv shows that are blue-ray, would it be possible to upgrade the optical drive in it to a blue-ray drive? I've never heard it done before so I wouldn't know.

 

Thanks for any suggestions ladies and gents!

[Prastupok]

-snip-

 

G751JT without the SSD, and buy a 500/512gb ssd for the same price (1750.) That's what I did, and I love that laptop as a mobile workstation.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

G751JT without the SSD, and buy a 500/512gb ssd for the same price (1750.) That's what I did, and I love that laptop as a mobile workstation.

 

So then it would have the 2 2.5 drives (1 SSD 1 HDD)

Would my idea involving the SSD boot drive HDD mass storage work then?

[D2ultima]

I'm going to be honest. ASUS machines are a bitch to open up and clean. More of a bitch than playing Dark Souls blindfolded. Far less open up and add in new hardware. ASUS designs their machines very anti-upgrade-friendly.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

I'm going to be honest. ASUS machines are a bitch to open up and clean. More of a bitch than playing Dark Souls blindfolded. Far less open up and add in new hardware. ASUS designs their machines very anti-upgrade-friendly.

 

Fair enough, and I can agree. Had to diagnose a problem with a friends ASUS, not this model but another older with Win 7, only problem he ever had though and he still uses it today.

 

Plus I'm not afraid of tearing into things as I've made a Hackintosh before and made 3 laptops work together as one bigger laptop (although that caught fire eventually....)

 

I may just get the lowest priced one, copy the HDD to an SSD and make it the boot drive then I'll have 1,512 GB of storage till I figure out how to upgrade the RAM haha!

[D2ultima]

Well good luck with it! Also remember Clevos and MSIs exist too, if you are interested in non-ASUS models.

[Prastupok]

Fair enough, and I can agree. Had to diagnose a problem with a friends ASUS, not this model but another older with Win 7, only problem he ever had though and he still uses it today.

Plus I'm not afraid of tearing into things as I've made a Hackintosh before and made 3 laptops work together as one bigger laptop (although that caught fire eventually....)

I may just get the lowest priced one, copy the HDD to an SSD and make it the boot drive then I'll have 1,512 GB of storage till I figure out how to upgrade the RAM haha!

Ram upgrade is easy on these. And yes, you can use the SSD as boot. That's how I have mine setup:)

There are clevos of course... But you'll pay through the nose for one.

[D2ultima]

Ram upgrade is easy on these. And yes, you can use the SSD as boot. That's how I have mine setup:)

There are clevos of course... But you'll pay through the nose for one.

Clevos are cheaper than ASUS (unless an ASUS is pre-built and on a sale, but then no customization). Always have been. In fact, you don't get a cheaper gaming laptop than a Clevo. And if you only know expensive Clevos, you are shopping in the wrong places. OriginPC, Digital Storm, iBuyPower, CyberpowerPC, etc can be in excess of $1000 more expensive than Sager/Mythlogic/etc on fully specced out Clevos. 

[Prastupok]

Clevos are cheaper than ASUS (unless an ASUS is pre-built and on a sale, but then no customization). Always have been. In fact, you don't get a cheaper gaming laptop than a Clevo. And if you only know expensive Clevos, you are shopping in the wrong places. OriginPC, Digital Storm, iBuyPower, CyberpowerPC, etc can be in excess of $1000 more expensive than Sager/Mythlogic/etc on fully specced out Clevos. 

 

If you compare apples to apples between Asus and Clevo... Clevo is generally more expensive. Customization comes at a price. 

[D2ultima]

If you compare apples to apples between Asus and Clevo... Clevo is generally more expensive. Customization comes at a price. 

Oh no, I was comparing apples to apples indeed. I always have. ASUS has never been at the top of the "value per dollar" list, though their absolute most recent offerings have done a decent job of it. Especially a more fully customized ASUS; those get far far more expensive than others. As I said: pre-built models on a sale from somewhere like amazon will be likely the best you'll get, but anything beyond default Clevo wins.

 

Assuming you pick the right rebrander (and possibly right reseller), as I mentioned.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

A friend of mine owns an MSI (not sure what model) and I've known him for about 3 years, same time he got it, and while he said gaming on it has been nice it's not all that durable of a machine and it's given him problems.

 

Never heard of Clevo really, I'll be sure to check them out. And honestly is there a really big need to upgrade a laptop other than storage and RAM? Maybe in the future the GPU won't be a dedicated card and will be interchangeable but maybe not for another 8+ years.

[D2ultima]

A friend of mine owns an MSI (not sure what model) and I've known him for about 3 years, same time he got it, and while he said gaming on it has been nice it's not all that durable of a machine and it's given him problems.

 

Never heard of Clevo really, I'll be sure to check them out. And honestly is there a really big need to upgrade a laptop other than storage and RAM? Maybe in the future the GPU won't be a dedicated card and will be interchangeable but maybe not for another 8+ years.

No desktop reliably lasts 8+ years either, though.

 

Anyway, MSI have improved their offerings with the GT72 and GT80 recently. The older machines weren't the most top notch, but were definitely internally better than lenovo/razer/etc. They didn't get the "roulette" ASUS has, where sometimes you buy it and it's awful and it just never works right for the rest of your existence or something.

 

And you probably have heard of Clevo laptops... just not with the name Clevo. OriginPC's EON series are Clevo. Falcon Northwest use Clevo barebones too. Avadirect, Digital Storm, Eurocom, etc all use Clevo. iBuyPower and SOME of CyberpowerPC's notebooks are built off Clevos.

 

They're all around and you have no idea

[Zelgiusthebrave]

Actually Digital Storm is the only one I've heard of completely honestly haha.

 

So as for a place to purchase, since all the sites I looked at have the same price for the JT-CH71 so now it's just a good place to purchase from.
 

Newegg, Amazon, Microcenter, I usually see as the top 3, Xotic PC seems like a great place especially with the customization options available (cause lets face it, this machine with the red fins on the rear with some built in red LED's would be AWESOME) but I have never bought from them before.

[D2ultima]

I can vouch for XoticPC. Definitely one of the best sites out there. They're a great reseller and the customization on usually-locked-down machines like MSIs and ASUS and Gigabytes etc is great.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

Awesome! Sounds like I'll end up spending that $1700 either way ;]

 

Thanks for the helpful insight mate.

 

Stay gold!

[D2ultima]

Not a problem; hope you get a good machine, whatever you buy!