Saku
- التعليق
On paper, this laptop should be a decent budget gaming laptop based on its specs. Which was why I was initially disappointed when I brought it home and found out that it was beyond slow, much slower than the old laptop I was replacing. I struggled with it for several days, googling fixes for the "100% disk" issue and disabling services, running windows updates, removing bloatware, just hoping it would become zippy and I could get to gaming. Nothing really helped, and it was unresponsive to the point where it was unusable and I was on the brink of bringing it back. Not wanting to do that, I finally settled on trying a clean install of Windows - not the factory reset, but installing Windows from the image on Microsofts website. Doing this ensures that youll get Windows without any bloatware or other settings that are bogging the computer down. However, this will not include some essential drivers so it will require some additional work once Windows is installed. Heres some tips for this process in case it may be of use to any of you: [ Before Re-installing Windows ] -Back up any files and anything else you may need. -Record your Windows Product Key (From File Explorer, right click "This PC" > Properties). The installer should automatically pull your Product Key from the BIOS, but better to be safe than sorry. -Optional: Go to the Microsoft Store > My Library and download the two free games (Age of Empires & Gears of War) that came with this purchase. This way they will be in your library and available for download as long as you sign into your account. I do not know if they will otherwise be available when doing a fresh install by this method (If you do the restore to factory settings, you can still download them) -Optional: I recommend also installing an M.2 PCIe 3x4 NVMe SSD card for much faster performance. If you opt for this, I recommend installing it prior to running the Windows installer so that you can put Windows on the SSD right away, unless you plan on cloning the HDD later. These can be a bit pricey. I bought a WD Black because it was cheaper than Samsung 970 EVO and it is performing well. [ Now Re-Install Windows ] You will need a formatted USB Drive w/at least 8 GB. -Google "Windows Media Creation Tool" and download the tool from Microsofts website. This tool will create a bootable USB drive for you that you can use to re-install Windows on your PC. -When ready, shut down your laptop. Boot to the BIOS by pressing and holding "F2" and press the power key. Set the boot priority to your USB drive. Save and exit ("F10"). -The laptop should boot to the USB drive and run the installer. -When it comes to partitions, I deleted everything except the Recovery partition. This is a failsafe so that you can restore to factory settings. If you installed an SSD, make sure you select that drive to install Windows on. Note: This installation will not come with the laptops WiFi drivers. Connect by an ethernet cable or put the drivers from the Asus manufacturer website on a USB drive so that you can install the drivers as soon as Windows is installed and get your internets! [ After Installing Windows ] There will be some drivers you need to install to get your computer up and running. -Run Windows Update. There should only be a few updates since the Media Creation Tool installs the latest version of Windows 10. -Go to your laptops page on the Asus manufacturers website and download any drivers you need. VGA is mandatory since it will install the drivers for your Nvidia GPU and Geforce Experience for automatic driver updates. Run Geforce Experience once downloaded and make sure you update to the latest Game Ready driver. -Go to Intels website and make sure you at least install the HD graphics driver. -Open the Nvidia Control Panel (right click Desktop) and set the Nvidia card to the default graphics card. Laptop will use the Intel card for regular browsing, but switch to Nvidia for things like gaming. -Optional: If you put an SSD in your computer, you can also go to "Disk Management" and create a volume on the 1 TB HDD so you can have that for storage! With that, your laptop should be all set up pending any further customization or adjustments youd like. Hopefully it should be running great as well. After I did all of the above, my laptop is lightning quick and gaming on it is awesome. It also looks cool (although I would prefer a thinner bezel around the screen). The GTX 1050 works well for all the games Ive tried, with no lag and few frame drops that Ive noticed. Granted I do not play many graphics intensive games but it does the job well for games like Sea of Thieves, Civ V, and MapleStory 2. Getting it there was just a hassle and almost not worth it. When I buy a new laptop from a brand like Asus and with specs like these I expect it to run smoothly out of the box with minimal setup on my part. I expect to do some updates of course, but this was ridiculous. Because of this Id rate it around 3.5 stars - performs great when you get it there but wayyy too much hassle. Battery life is also terrible lol. But Im very happy with it now and hopefully I could save you guys a little bit of time. Feel free to share any tips you may have!