I'm looking to purchase the asus G71GX-RX05 (bestbuy) around mid September, and have a few questions.
1. It comes with a 500gb (5400RPM) hard drive, would it be worth it to upgrade to a 7200RPM?
2. Comes with an 8-cell lithium-ion battery, how much would going to a 7200RPM hard drive effect the battery life (bestbuy says Up to 1 hour and 55 minutes with stock configuration, don't know how accurate that is)
4. I know this laptop is pretty big (17.1") does anyone have an idea of how well it fits in a 17" notebook backpack?
5. Does anyone know a laptop cooler that works well with asus laptops?
Also are the webcam, mic, audio and wireless good?
Thanks in advance!

1. The performance difference between the 500GB 5400rpm and a 500GB 7200rpm will only show in benchmarks and probably not be noticeable at all for the user on a day to day basis.

2. 2.5" notebook HDDs typically use 3-5 watts of power and even if the 7200rpm HDD does utilize more power, it will be in the range of a couple to few minutes.

3. ?

4. The Asus G71 series is actually quite large for a 17" notebook. Try look for notebook backpacks in the 18"+ department.

5. The Zalman NC2000 cooler is a popular choice among the online community.

Nc-2000 is a great cooler. The G series tends to have a chasis that is a good amount wider than the avg 17 and 15 inch notebooks. My G50 is as wide as my old m9700.