Afternoontea

I use "AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard" for duplicating my clean install. Free Partition Manager - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard It's not actually a tool to create bootable USB, but if your notebook has 2HDD/SSD bays you can put your backup HDD/SSD on the second drive bay and use this to duplicate. It can even migrate the OS to a larger or smaller drive (the amount of data will be the question for smaller drives). My friend has a 1TB drive on his 2nd HDD bay and has one partition the exact size of his primary drive (256GB SSD) so he can copy it back with the application any time. I don't mess with my OS that much so I have a duplicated HDD stashed in my desk so I can replace it with the drive in my 2nd HDD bay when I need to write back my clean install. Works like a charm. =)

I have an Asus G73J and a Clevo P151EM1. I bought the Clevo for replacing the Asus as my business trip gaming gear. I would say either is a solid and you should look into what kind of deal you can get rather than which brand. Also if you plan to carry it around from time to time, I would suggest you to go to a local shop that has both 17 inch and 15 inch gaming notebooks (if not, have your friends show theirs) since if you plan to do so, 17 and 15 inch does makes a difference. That's why I got the 15inch Clevo to replace the 17 inch Asus. Might try a 15 inch Asus the next time though. =)

The short answer is, "there is". If you just want to overclock it mildy w/o flashing vbios and such, you just need to get software like MSI Afterburner. Mind that you need to edit the MSIAfterburner.cfg file in the installed folder. You need to add the line below. UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it Also change the UnofficialOverclockingMode value from 0 to 1. Or else it will revert back to default every time you reboot. I only use the Afterburner at the moment, but it allows me the extra performance to record my gameplay w/o having stutters where it would if I hadn't overclocked.

I would definately go for air cooling. I'd buy a game or put the budget on VGA.

Hi guys, I'm new here. I travel a lot so I have a bit of experience with this topic. First of all, I would reccomend one that will completely open up. Not like the one you slide your note in like an envelope, but a one that will likely have a zipper that can be zipped open all the way. The reason for this is for some notebooks, the envelope type will tear off the rubber feet after being stashed in and out repeatedly. I think you can imagine how good it will sit on a desk after that. And just for a small tip, If you put it in a large suitecase for business trips and such, I reccomend you get a piece of cloth that can be laid between the LCD and the keyboard while it's in the case. Many notebooks will have the keyboard rub against the LCD and create small scars on them when squeezed together and transported for a long time.