Considering your options for this laptop
Considering your options for this laptop
I assemble many PCs occasionally (mainly for personal use every so often), but lately I've been traveling more. That's why I purchased a Rog Strix 2021 from Amazon US and had it shipped overseas. It was a good deal at $1500, and it came with the mobile 3080. About ten days later I received it. The first week was really tough—my machine would freeze during games, sometimes without any games running at all. Eventually I found a discussion on a Microsoft forum that suggested checking chkdsk, which led me to a solution for disabling hardware acceleration in Windows 11. This reduced the blue screens while gaming, though random crashes still occurred (no sound, just stuck). I also encountered issues with MyAsus trying to restart the laptop after installation, which triggered a blue screen loop. Eventually I removed MyAsus, and after that my crashes stopped. I tried installing a 2TB SSD in an older machine, but Windows couldn't find it. I still can't say if the problem was with the laptop or the SSD. After returning it to the store, they tested it and replaced it with a 1TB Samsung SSD, which is working well now. I upgraded my RAM from 16GB to 32GB and passed recent benchmarks. I'm still deciding whether to send it back to Amazon, keep it, or do more testing. I'm also unsure about warranty implications since I bought from Amazon US instead of locally. It seems stable now, and the manufacturer offers a warranty. What should I do? Return it? Keep it? Run more tests?
Edit: I accidentally damaged an RGB flex cable—the part that secures the unit. It will still fit and work, but it's now very thin (about 2mm). It looks like it could be reassembled, though it's a bit tricky to handle.
The main concern is returning it, as I’d prefer a solution that functions without issues, especially for prebuilt items. If it’s not working as expected, I appreciate a fix that works reliably the first time. If it’s something I built myself, I get it—I know what I’m doing, but still value a quick return if it fails.
The GPU drivers were updated on the day I received it using GeForce Experience. The problem I encountered was event ID 0: Game crash with "The description for Event ID 0 from source - Microsoft Community which I fixed about a week later with this thread." It appears stable now after adjusting settings and upgrades. The Amazon listing mentions FUTUREPROOF, allowing easy memory and storage changes via its pop-open screw. The main concern seems to be the RGB cable connection—plug is working, but the plastic cover came off. Replacing the stock memory and removing the extra SSD should resolve it. I’m leaning toward accepting it now, as it looks fine and will require another international shipment, though I need to clarify how to fix the flex cable issue.
Mainly due to the improvements I made and the minor issue with the RGB cable, which requires fixing, plus the extended shipping time back to the US. That could lead Amazon to reject my return, and since I’m moving countries soon, I’d prefer a simpler process if I were in the US.