ASUS G Series G60JX-RBX05 NoteBook Notebook Review

With a Intel?Core i5 430M (2.26GHz) CPU. With a 16" video screen, 4GB Memory, 500GB HDD, a DVD R/RW, and NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M embedded video chip set.

My old IBM T-30 is getting a little long in the tooth, it is still serviceable but after seven years I think I need to upgrade from a P4 to a newer laptop.

After looking at the different choices between the major manufactures, the options, and cost I decided on the ASUS G Series G60JX-RBX05 NoteBook.

Although there is a Toshiba laptop that compares with this ASUS laptop the cost was just under $300 more.

This laptop is a repaired computer. Having dealt with both Toshiba and ASUS for years I trust ASUS more. No driver CD or restore CD came with the computer, so if it has any problems I will have to do it the old fashioned way and install every thing manually or make a ghost image of the OS partition.  :)

As with all ASUS G Series computers this laptop doesn't support USB 3, I may invest in a PCMCIA card if I find my external drive is too slow when I test it.

ASUS G Series G60JX-RBX05 NoteBook Specifications:

Well there is a small learning curve with some of the functions that this laptop has.

I use a wired and wireless (USB) mouse when I travel. That is ok, but the touchpad has to be disabled while using the wireless, seems to interfere with the signal from the wireless. The wired mouse is ok when the touchpad is on.

It has Windows 7, Home Premium... No adding it to my local Domain.

Older versions of operating systems lack support for SATA drives. If the BIOS does not have IDE or Legacy options for the storage then your only choice if you want to install an older operating system is to use a way to create an the install media with the added SATA drivers to support AIHC or OIHC SATA devices.

Once you create the install media you will need a way to boot the computer, I used an external USB CD/DVD drive to install XP on this computer. Yes it is possible to change the OS to an older version of Windows.

Note: The internal DVD is SATA III, it will not boot from a CD tht has the drivers slip streamed on to the media, the drives need to be in the boot section of the media which I have not figured out how to do yet...

After much hem-hawing around I have Windows 7 Pro 64bit installed. I had to download all the drivers from ASUS support for the hardware.

Because I don't have the recovery CD I lose out on a couple of good programs, one is the Turbo Boost (overclocking) and another is the Power Options both are ASUS programs.

One thing that really bothers me is if you use the ESC key at boot up and select a drive other than the default hard drive that drive (such as the DVD) that becomes the default boot drive. It is a little annoying because it took me a while to figure it out while I was installing Windows 7 for the second time. (I was getting a bootable device not found on the second restart, weird).

Over all once I get the OS optimized the way I like it I think I will really like it.

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Online support for ASUS G Series G60JX-RBX05 NoteBook: manuals, bois upgrades,  and  device drivers. One year warranty for most ASUS laptops. Having dealt with ASUS over the years I would give their support a 9 out 10

However newegg.com does offer a one year no questions asked replacement for a nominal fee, I suggest you take them up on the warranty, this bumps the ASUS normal 1 year guarantee to two years.

If you decide to go with a 'Recertified' computer be aware that the documentation and cd's may not come with the computer.

Note: If you are in need of drivers for this notebook go here G60JX-RBX05 NoteBook, you will find them in the "Support" section on the main menu.

Update 02/14/14 - After a few years this notebook is running strong however after carrying it to the UK on our last visit I think the next trip the netbook will be my traveling companion, this thing weighs 8 lbs and after lugging it through customs two times it is not worth the effort for what I used a portable computer for, checking my email and playing a game once in a while...

Update 02/14/20 - Ten years this computer has been my go to for travel (the little netbook wasn't as good an idea as I thought it would be for travel - well for me) and I lugged this computer around until my Misses said: "We have some extra money this year what would you like for a Christmas present?" (Considering she just received a new iPad for her birthday...). So I have a new lighter, faster, slimmer ASUS K550XV with an i7 CPU, 16 GB RAM, 480 GB SSD, 4 GBR NVidia video, 16" display... ya, and it weighs less than four US lbs! This computer is now my Web site system, a few things left to do but when you read this page it is on this computer!

So when I say do your preventive maintenance I mean preserve your computer, 10 years and it is still going strong!