Pros: - GeForce GTX 1060 - Great keyboard - Little-to-no bloatware - looks nice - Plenty of room for RAM upgrade - Can be instantly overclocked on demand from Windows through the built-in software (I haven't really played around with this, because it has plenty of power for my needs as-is - It is not overly loud. It has nice cooling, but the fans are unobtrusive. This might change if I were to run it overclocked, or possibly play some more graphic-intensive games, but so far I've been pleasantly surprised.

Cons: - Big! This thing is close to 10 pounds - Short battery life: I drained the battery playing Subnautica at default graphic settings in less than 3 hours.

Overall Review: I bought this refurbished, and I was very nervous about it. It is the first laptop I've bought as a refurb. I did something I never do, which is purchase the extended warranty, but the brief warranty period (90 days, iirc) that comes with it wasn't enough. So far, I'm very happy with the purchase. I can find nothing wrong with it, although I still need to do some additional stress tests, and check out some of the ports. It looks brand new. It booted up immediately. All the parts are there. I have no complaints. I will point out some things that I noticed caused confusion for some purchasers: This is the G5 line of Acer's Predator 17. The difference between the G5 line and the G9 line seems poorly documented, and has apparently been a source of frustration for some purchasers. Essentially, the differences as I've found them are: - The G5 does NOT come with a G-SYNC monitor. The GeForce GTX 1060 card in this laptop is definitely compatible with G-SYNC displays (although make sure you get the appropriate NVIDIA control panel and drivers), but that's for connecting to an external, G-SYNC capable monitor. It does not apply to the display attached to this model, which I believe is a 60Mhz. The G9 version apparently comes with a G-SYNC capable display (possibly 75Mhz). - The G5 does not let you customize the colors of the keyboard backlighting. They are red and blue. You can turn off individual backlight zones (or all of them), but you cannot change the colors. I believe the G9 lets you customize from "millions of colors". - The case itself does not light up. I believe the Predator logo, and possibly some of the corner accents, on the G9 version light up when the unit is powered on. - The G5 does not come with the extra cooling unit to replace the optical drive. That is a feature for the G9. The G5 does not come with an optical drive, either. - The G5 does not have the subwoofer built in. - I'm not certain, but I think the G9 may have lighting for the touchpad. - I also believe there may be a different finish for the G9, and possibly better cooling. Hope this clears a few things up for people.

Pros: Powerful system. Looks great. Solidly built.

Cons: Asus support is garbage. Asus Armory is defective bloatware. Comes with McAfee bloatware.

Overall Review: I loved this when I got it. It's sharp looking. It's fast. The display quality is excellent. It had enough processing power to play games on max setting while rending 3d print jobs in the background. But 3 months into owning it, it started overheating the plug where it connected to the power supply, because the heat exhaust fans aim directly at the plug. The rubber on the plug got soft, causing a loose connection. As a result, it would constantly flip back and forth between battery and charging mode. Because of the Asus software pre-installed to manage the hardware, this caused the display to black out for a second each time it transitioned mode, making gaming (or just about any other task) impossible. I sent it in for warranty. They replaced the motherboard, but left me with the damaged power adapter. The replacement motherboard had a defect, as well, which caused the computer to fail to access certain online assets. I sent it in for another RMA. They replaced the adapter, but decided to "fix" the defective motherboard by just reimaging the drive. They never tested it. I sent it back for a third RMA. This time they "tightened some loose wires" on the wifi card, reimaged it... and didn't bother testing it. The problem persisted. I had to send it for a fourth RMA, where they replaced the entire notebook... with a refurbished unit. It arrives back today. I'm hoping it actually works, but I'm disappointed that I get a used PC to replace the one that never worked right to begin with. I'm never buying Asus again. Their motto of "in pursuit of excellence" is a joke, since they're clearly focused on pursuit of mediocrity.

My product was shipped directly from [major online retail competitor] with a gift receipt for the [major online retail competitor] price (about 40% cheaper than the Newegg price). Tracking information was wrong. Other than that experience was okay.