With the Cougar Point chipset glitch starting to fade away, we’re starting to get Sandy Bridge systems in for testing. ASUS sent us over an earlier version of their updated G73, the G73SW with i7-2630QM and GTX 460M—still with the B2 chipset stepping, but it won’t matter for our testing, and the B3 versions should be shipping any time now. If you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a new gaming notebook, there are a lot of fast, new offerings to choose from.

We’ve already looked at the G73 chassis twice now, and the latest version only makes a few minor tweaks other than the CPU/chipset. We’ve also previewed the same hardware combination with MSI’s GT680R. This is going to be a somewhat shorter review, then, but we did take some time to do a bit of extra stress testing, and we’re happy to entertain other requests at this point. Read on for the full rundown.

The original ASUS G73Jh was an instant classic: a great performer with a good screen, build quality and cooling at an amazing price. Six months later, ASUS is coming out with a “new and improved” version with a few updates to make things interesting. Most of the upgrades are straightforward but sensible: the i7-720QM has been replaced with the new i7-740QM and USB 3.0 support is now part of the package. The far more controversial changes come courtesy of the GPU: AMD’s HD 5870 is out and NVIDIA’s GTX 460M is in, which also means HDMI 1.4 is now included. While the HDMI update is nice (but mostly useful if you want 120Hz 3D output), the GPU performance is a tougher call. Is this a better overall notebook or mostly a lateral move? That’s what we’re here to find out.

ASUS has made it a goal to increase their retail presence in the mobile market. With their successful Eee PC and UL series, they cover the netbook and entry-level markets. At the high-end, things get a bit more fractured. Do you want a multimedia laptop with Blu-ray support and reasonable battery life, or are you more interested in a high performance gaming notebook? The G-series has generally catered towards the latter, and with the G73Jh ASUS now has one of the fastest notebooks around.

Performance is all well and good, but there are a few big [cough] problems with gaming notebooks. The obvious ones are size, weight, and battery life. The more performance oriented the parts in a laptop become, the less likely you are to get a lightweight chassis or good battery life. The G73Jh does nothing for users interested in addressing the size concerns—we'd suggest looking at the Alienware M11x as a viable small gaming laptop. The other issue with gaming laptops frequently comes down to the almighty bottom line. We've seen some good attempts at keeping prices reasonable, including the ASUS G51Vx. The G73Jh does cost a bit more than other gaming laptops, but take a look at the spec sheet and suddenly $1500-$1600 doesn't seem so bad.

You get an i7-720QM CPU, HD 5870 GPU, 8GB of DDR3-1333 memory, a full terabyte of storage (via two 500GB 7200RPM HDDs), and a 1080p LCD. Speaking of which, did we mention that finally we have a laptop with great specifications where the LCD doesn't suck? Sure, it's still a glossy LCD (not like you're going to be using it outside much), but the 1000:1 contrast ratio is a feast for the eyes. If you've been on the lookout for an affordable gaming laptop that doesn't cut corners, the G73Jh is now in the pole position.