XoticPC offers gaming notebook buyers an alternative to the boring and heavy Clevo-based units sold by most of its competitors. Asus’ hefty (but not grotesquely-so) G73JW is the starting point for the custom build XoticPC sent over for our evaluation.
Limited portability is one of the biggest weaknesses attributed to modern gaming notebooks, with comparisons to professional bowling balls typically favoring the more sports-oriented device. High-performance business notebooks that can’t game at all weigh half as much, and most models that attempt to fill the void have small screens.
The problem, of course, is that most “big” gaming notebooks are designed with the flexibility to host multi-GPU configurations and even desktop processors. Customers not interested in such opulent customizations typically look to off-the-shelf solutions from Asus and MSI to fulfill their basic gaming needs. XoticPC asks the question: “why not customize one of those?” And so the company did.

The same processor interface that allows Asus’ G73JW to host a low-cost Core i7-740QM is used by XoticPC to incorporate the much more power user-friendly Core i7-940XM Extreme Edition, while two memory slots left empty in the base model get filled by XoticPC to expand total memory capacity to 16 GB. An 80 GB Intel X25-M SSD, custom-overclocked graphics module, and custom lighting round out a bill that roughly doubles the G73JW’s original price tag, while maximizing its performance potential.
| XoticPC G73JW Component List | |
|---|---|
| Platform | Intel PGA988, HM55 Express, MXM-III Discrete Graphics |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-940XM (Clarksfield) Quad-Core 2.13-3.33 GHz, 2.5 GT/s QPI, 8 MB L3 Cache, 45 nm, 55 W |
| RAM | 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) Samsung DDR3-1333 MT/s SO-DIMM, CL9, 1.5 V, Non-ECC |
| Graphics | Single Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M, 1.5 GB GDDR5 "Redline Boost" to 810 MHz GPU, GDDR5-3240 |
| Display | 17.3" "Full HD" Glossy, LED backlit TFT, 1920x1080 |
| Webcam | 2.0 Megapixel |
| Audio | Integrated HD Audio, Software EAX 5.0 and THX TruStudio |
| Security | Asus SmartLogon face detection, ADSM drive encryption |
| Storage | |
| Hard Drive | Intel 2nd Gen. X25-M 80 GB, MLC, 2.5", SATA 3Gb/s SSD Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500 GB, 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s HDD |
| Optical Drive | PLDS DS-4E1S Blu-ray Reader / DVD Writer Combo Drive |
| Media Drive | 8-in-1 flash media interface |
| Networking | |
| Wireless LAN | Intel Ultimate-N 6300, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, 11/54/450 Mbps |
| Wireless PAN | Broadcom BT-270 Internal Bluetooth V2.1 +EDR Module |
| Gigabit Network | Atheros AR8131 PCIe 10/100/1000 Mb/s Ethernet |
| IEEE-1394 | None |
| Telephony | None |
| Peripheral Interfaces | |
| USB | 3 x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 |
| Expansion Card | Internal Only |
| HDD | None |
| Audio | Headphone, Microphone |
| Video | 1 x VGA, 1 x HDMI |
| Power & Weight | |
| AC Adapter | 150 W Power Brick, 100-240 V AC to 19.5 V DC |
| Battery | 14.6 V 5200 mAh (75 Wh) Single |
| Weight | Notebook 8.6 lbs, AC Adapter 1.9 lbs, Total 10.5 pounds |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, OEM |
| Service | |
| Warranty | Asus Two-Year Warranty (Add $349 for Three-Year Full+Accidental) |
| Price | $3,608 |
This configuration’s processor upgrade cost nearly as much as a bare CPU, though we must admit that Asus’ design makes the process something most users wouldn’t want to attempt themselves. Enthusiasts looking for the same zing with less bling can save a few hundred dollars by using Asus’ stock lighting. This particular build was simply designed to show off most of what XoticPC has to offer. Let’s take a closer look.
- A Better Starting Point?
- The Xotic Solution
- Inside XoticPC’s G73JW
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: Synthetic Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Power Consumption, Battery Life, And Efficiency
- Conclusion
The new Asus G73SW on Xoticpc has sandy bridge
I'm waiting for a possible "G73SH" with Radeon 6970m, though it might never happen.
But seeing that performance for $3000 is just 'good', I'm gonna stick with a $1400 desktop. I think I can get a 50% performance increase with half the price.
I like the Clevo based alternatives a lot more. This is ugly and boring.
It does disappoint me however that the Clevo 18.4" is 16/9 and not 16/10, but neither is this.
Oh, and by the way, Sager sells its NP7280-S1 (Clevo) with the way I configured it with:
17" 1920x1080
Dual GTX 470M
i7-950 3.06GHz
12GB DDR3 (triple channel, so you get 4GB less memory, but 50% more bandwidth)
2x750GB 7200RPM + 120GB Intel SSD
6x Bluray reader/DVD writer
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 wireless
Bluetooth
3 year extended warranty
All for $3,643.
So, better CPU, better GPU (nevermind there's two of them), 3x the HDD storage and a 50% larger SSD, better warranty, and all for $40 more.
Screw you Zotac and Asus. ^_^
If you are looking for an enthusiast laptop I definitely recommend checking these guys out and do your price comparisons. One nice bonus is you get a bloat free OS from them.
My two cents.
Hope you review the SW version soon with the new Sandy bridge CPUs
If doing a review like this in the future, having the basic model in the test as well would be nice, so we could see exactly what the changes does to the performance.
I was wondering the same thing.
Ummm....they are out already
http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm
P150HM, P150HM-PS1, P170HM, P170HM-PS1
Pro-Star has the same Asus BTW, with blue or red KB backlighting rather than the flag thing for $200 cheaper.
$100 cheaper at Pro-Star's site