Gaming Laptop suggestions (Never buy ASUS)

[shaQ]

I'm looking for a gaming laptop, pricing 1000-1500$. I'm looking for quality support. I currently have an ASUS G74SX, the left shift key came from Newegg (and I'm assuming out of the factory) broken when I first got it but it wasn't a big deal, but the motherboard gave out after 2 years and I sent it in for an RMA. I paid 65 for the shipping from NY to CA, 75 for a new motherboard, 65 for labor, and another 10 for shipping back. In total, with shipping back and forth, and them having it for 22 days at the headquarters, I didn't get my latop back until almost a full 5 weeks. I got it back today, and the left shift key still wasn't fixed and my motherboard is still broken. As soon as you turn the computer on, its one big bright green screen of crap that I won't go into detail with but it is the motherboard confirmed and apparently ASUS has a "Final Testing Phase" for each repair.. all they had to do was hit the power button to see it wasn't fixed (because they never touched it obviously). Now as I sit on hold for over an hour for a supervisor since the other support workers are in "disbelief" of this happening, that it came back the same way I sent it. If I can't get them to do it for free and pay for 2 days shipping back and forth, I rather buy a whole new gaming laptop then give them another dime. Does anybody have any suggestions? I was looking into MSI and iBuyPower as of right now.

Oh, and I've been building desktops for years and I didn't write any of that for tech support. I can see what the problem is and know they just really screwed me here. I wrote that story for you guys to recommend not buying ASUS EVER... EVER.

[haxartus]

ASUS is actually a pretty exceptional brand. Maybe you got a bad sample or something.

[Deleted]

I'm sure someone knows a lot more than I do when it comes to laptops but I generally see Lenovo, Sager and MSI mentioned, now which model etc. you need I have no idea about.

[Fluorescent0]

This fully cusomizable Sager is pretty nice.

MSI GT60-2OC is also a nice alternative.

I'd go for the first one if I were you, great deal and you can customize it as well. If you're playing MMOs upgrade the CPU to an i7-4800MQ and if you want faster booting add an SSD as well.

[Cyanotical]

ASUS is actually a pretty exceptional brand. Maybe you got a bad sample or something.

no, they aren't

Asus makes good stuff, but when you take into consideration their customer service as part of their brand they are not very good, yes they have good marketing, and they like to cater to enthusiasts, but the reality is that they have some of the worst customer service of any industry

Avoid Asus if you can, if not, just be wary that they will not support you if you have a problem, especially with laptops

[tielknight]

I paid 65 for the shipping from NY to CA

Oh boy you got jipped good there. Shipping shouldn't have been more than $15-20 to send something that size across country.

That bit aside, Sager's are pretty decent but I don't' like how much they charge for SSD's and if your getting a laptop, a SSD is damn near essential to make it more resilient to bumps/nudges/drops/etc. and the power consumption alot better than a standard HDD.

You could look at CyberPower's Fangbook, their SSD prices are much better.

[Kymei]

Tielknight it costs about 125 dollars to ship a computer and monitor from CA to NY, welcome to reality.

[fluffhead]

Tielknight it costs about 125 dollars to ship a computer and monitor from CA to NY, welcome to reality.

first off, it was a laptop, second off who would send a monitor with their computer, do you think a computer hardware company would not have the needed peripherals?

[Cyanotical]

when i had to RMA my g73 it was roughly $70 from colorado to california, if you just wanted to slap and address sticker to the side of the laptop i could see it being $15-20, but the reality is that for a consumer to safely ship an 18" laptop its going to be around $70

[Deleted]

perhaps a silly question but how long was the warranty on the laptop?
because here parts atleast have 2 years of warranty (some more) but if it it died outside the warranty this might be a possible case of getting it returned this way when not agreeing to pay for repairs?
assuming the situation is legit just keep going up in the chain of command should be some guy that will help out.
however i must say i get the feeling there are some important details missing in this whole story.

[Locruid]

no, they aren't

Asus makes good stuff, but when you take into consideration their customer service as part of their brand they are not very good, yes they have good marketing, and they like to cater to enthusiasts, but the reality is that they have some of the worst customer service of any industry

Avoid Asus if you can, if not, just be wary that they will not support you if you have a problem, especially with laptops

I have 3 Asus Based Computers in my house. 2 are over 6 yrs old and still going strong and 1 is less than 2 yrs with absolutely no issues.

I COULD say ATI based videos cards suck arse cause I had 2 fail within 6 months of each other and my Nvidia experience is quite good. But I also know that's not the case cause one of my other computers has a ATI based Graphic Card thats still going pretty strong. My Asus 9800GT in my wife's computer still plays flawlessly. Are there better brands? you bet, but Asus is pretty damn good in my book.

And in case you're wondering I have 5 Desktop Computers and 4 Laptops lol. My Toshiba and HP laptop are pretty strong and my 8 yr old Dell Laptop just wont die!

[fluffhead]

I had an ASUS laptop and i got that green shit on my screen as well, it would start up for a second then boom green lines across my screen and it would shut down, i fried the MOBO by having it on my lap with a blanket over my legs that blocked the vents, aside from the user error it was a fantastic laptop

[BicycleMafioso]

Thread moved to subforum.

[icausewipes]

My network card blew a gasket (not showing up on dev manager) and I'm stuck using wireless....

Asus G73S

[Lyaral]

I have 3 Asus Based Computers in my house. 2 are over 6 yrs old and still going strong and 1 is less than 2 yrs with absolutely no issues.

I COULD say ATI based videos cards suck arse cause I had 2 fail within 6 months of each other and my Nvidia experience is quite good. But I also know that's not the case cause one of my other computers has a ATI based Graphic Card thats still going pretty strong. My Asus 9800GT in my wife's computer still plays flawlessly. Are there better brands? you bet, but Asus is pretty damn good in my book.

And in case you're wondering I have 5 Desktop Computers and 4 Laptops lol. My Toshiba and HP laptop are pretty strong and my 8 yr old Dell Laptop just wont die!

Cyanotical is talking about their customer service. There are plenty of brands out there which make good items but no matter which company you buy from a certain % within the batch will fail for no apparent reason. It is only when an item fails and you have to RMA it do you find out how good a company actually is. E.g Corsair I've never had a single issue with the item I had to RMA.

The other problem is some people can't get their items RMA for various reasons then go ahead and spread bad rumours about the company so you can only really believe what you have personally experienced or close family/friends.

[Cyanotical]

I have 3 Asus Based Computers in my house. 2 are over 6 yrs old and still going strong and 1 is less than 2 yrs with absolutely no issues.

I COULD say ATI based videos cards suck arse cause I had 2 fail within 6 months of each other and my Nvidia experience is quite good. But I also know that's not the case cause one of my other computers has a ATI based Graphic Card thats still going pretty strong. My Asus 9800GT in my wife's computer still plays flawlessly. Are there better brands? you bet, but Asus is pretty damn good in my book.

And in case you're wondering I have 5 Desktop Computers and 4 Laptops lol. My Toshiba and HP laptop are pretty strong and my 8 yr old Dell Laptop just wont die!

stating how many computers you have is irrelevant, but in case you are wondering, my current board is a RIVE, my previous was a R3F, before that was a CH4F, before that was a M4A78Pro, i also have 4 Asus laptops (1 g73, 1 g55, 2 c2d generics), multiple sound cards, multiple graphics cards, an essence one, and another X79WS, all of these are Asus brand

the reason stating this is irrelevant is that unless you are a retailer or distributor, your sample size is just too small, just because you have had no issues with a particular brand does not mean that 100,000 other people haven't, regardless though, Asus' product quality is not up for question, they make good stuff, everyone knows this, it's their customer service that is terrible

It is only when an item fails and you have to RMA it do you find out how good a company actually is.

exactly this, very well stated

[tielknight]

Tielknight it costs about 125 dollars to ship a computer and monitor from CA to NY, welcome to reality.

Sorry but whoever your using to ship it is ripping you off if you are not using 2-day shipping.


OT: Some companies seem to be "it's great as long as it doesn't break, because once it does you will wish you had never bought it in the first place". They do make good products, BUT, their awful CS will scare away any customers that have the...pleasure of dealing with a broken part and the RMA process.

Also wondering when shaQ will pop back in here and update us on what their replacement is going to be :P

[shaQ]

shroudster

The laptop only had a 1 year warranty and I paid for the repairs and got back the same laptop. There isn't more to the story then what I said. I'm 211 in the hole, 38 days without the laptop I use to make money to live, and they sent it back to me the same way I gave it to them, it's just not fair.

tielknight and all

After 4 hours of phone customer support, I FINALLY got to a supervisor and they are paying for expedited shipping to them and back to NY, but they can't promise a quicker repair process than last time but they said they'll try. Obviously, I wouldn't say they are going to personally find my RMA and make sure it skips a few processes so its quicker so I'm sure they were just telling me what I wanted to hear. Although this sounds fair, but like I said, I use this laptop for a living, not gaming, and the longer it isn't with me, the longer I'm personally gimped and I told them this and I'm pretty sure that's the only reason they gave me the free expedited shipping both ways. Who's to say they won't just send it back broken AGAIN though if they couldn't fix it the first time and just charge me money.

- - - Updated - - -

Cyanotical

You speak for me so perfectly, it's almost as you were watching me go through it, I love it lol. I don't have not one complaint about the quality of this laptop, the laptop was great and things die out, things happen, that doesn't bother me at all. When things do happen though, ASUS support isn't going to be the one to throw themselves out there and help you even after you pay. They sit there and talk to you like you're 5 years old and think you're brainless. I just don't understand how they have a "End Testing Phase" and all they had to do was hit the power button to see it's broken, they didn't do that or saw it was still broken, saw they had it for 21 days and just said screw it and sent it back out to me. I will NEVER buy ASUS products ever again in my lifetime.

[tielknight]

snip

If it comes back with anything not fixed you can call them up again and tell them unless they send you a replacement, since they are unable to fix it after multiple tries, you will seek legal action against them(you are paying for repairs that are not done properly after all). You would be well within your right to(and they would know this too) and they should bend over backwards to make you happy so they don't have to deal with a(very expensive) lawsuit.

You could even recoup lost wages if you ended up going to court over it seeing as it is your primary source of income and their laziness caused you to lose income.


It's the main thing I don't like about big companies, you end up with workers that don't give a damn if it works or not.