G51-RX at BB
The G51 series is Asus line of new gaming laptops. The series is the successor to the G50 and it has two models so far. The G51-RX and the G51-VX. The G51-RX is sold exclusively at Best Buy and boast the following specs: A Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, 320 GB of HD, a 15.6″ screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768, a backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad, wireless and bluetooth connectivity, webcam with face recognition technology, DVDRW burner, and the showstopper feature – Nvidia GTX 260M with a gigabyte of dedicated video graphics. The laptop sells for about $1,050 before sales tax.
On the other hand, the G51-VX is sold through 3rd party online resellers like XoticPC and Amazon. The price starts at $1,600 before any applicable sales tax, but Asus is offering a $100 MIR until September 19, 2009. The price difference of about $600 gives you a Quad Core processor, a two 320 GB of HD or a total of 640 GB, and a 1080P or Full HD screen. The model sold through XoticPC can be customized and you can add more processing power, RAM, HD, and even change the optical drive to a Blu Ray burner, while the same model sold through Amazon cannot be customized.
However, the biggest difference between the Asus model sold at BB and the model sold at online resellers is the warranty that comes with the hardware. The BB model only has a limited one year warranty with Asus and you have to pay extra and get the warranty service BB offers if you want to extend it. On the other hand, the G51-VX has a two year warranty with Asus and a one year accidental damage coverage and a 30 day bright dot replacement warranty that comes standard and comes at no extra charge. If you factor in the difference in warranty coverage and the upgrades in screen resolution, processor cores, and hard drive, the G51-VX is actually a better deal than the BB model.