[ASK] Anyone know good review for MSI EX625?

Thanks for clearing up the actual size of this laptop MightyT.
Have you tried any of the above mentioned games yet?
And I know this is wishful thinking on my part, but is there any factory turbo mode to OC the GPU?
For $ 700 this laptop looks like a way to good of a deal to pass up regardless.

 

is there an upgraded version of the laptop? if theres a version with a bigger battery for 50-100 bucks more i would prefer to get that but i cant find any.

 

No factory mode to OC the GPU is available. You can maybe try ATI Tray Tools or some other 3rd party software. I don't risk any OCing on either my desktops or laptops so can't really comment on effectiveness of these tools.

I cannot locate any battery vendor that may sell extended life batteries for this laptop. Since it is new it may be a little while before some come out. Haven't had time to really try out the battery although previous reviews said it was in the acceptable range.

 

Thanks for the review. I already got a headache thinking "WTH should I do with stupid Vista?? And I know how much time it can take to manually search for all necessary drivers... nice to see that this problem is solved

 

Not sure if any of these batteries will work, but after a quick search this is what I found regarding any extended life batteries...

http://www.fedcoelectronics.com/pick_model.tpl?_cid=2&_mfg=MSI

If someone else has experience purchasing or obtaining a long life battery, please share.

Still haven't tried my games out yet, taking forever to download the Source games I play and I've got bail out for the weekend so it will not be until sometime next week before I can try out games on my EX625 :-(

 

many saying around 2 hours of battery. i need 2.5- 3 to be decent.

 

wondering how good this is for gaming?

like i know how good a 4670 is on a desktop, but how good it is on a laptop? how many have like tried crysis or assassins creed or GTA IV on this laptop?

 

This a a very good budget GPU, can't tell from experience but based on testing and using a friends ASUS N81Vp-C1 which has a 4650 GPU, the ASUS handles every game and gets very good FPS in games, most of them with high detail.
Crysis is playable but using medium detail to get good FPS.
GTA IV is a game that's very dependent of having a good CPU.( That's were upgrading the CPU comes in handy).
And that's using the 4650 GPU.
The 4670 GPU is a higher clocked version of it which means faster and better performance for games.
That's why for $700 this laptop is a great deal, the ASUS cost around $1200 granted it does come with a much better CPU ( T9550 2.66 GHz) but getting a P9600 2.66 GHz for around $300 and installing it in a EX625 you still save $300 and have nice powerful laptop that can handle most every game
That's my plan anyway.
Has anyone installed GDDR3 RAM yet? It should work.

 

Anyone know when this is coming to Canada? It would be cheaper for me rather than shipping it via NewEgg I'm pretty sure.

 

Hey, everyone! I'm interested in purchasing this laptop, and have a few questions regarding the CPU.

Can it be changed out for a faster one, and if so, what can I change it to? Any Core 2 Duo? Thanks in advance for your time and help.

 

Yes it can be changed out. A P8600, P8700, P9500, and the T9xxx series. Those would be a great upgrade. The current cpu they come with is a bottleneck.

 

All P series CPU's would work great, for $200 to $300 you could get a P8400 and up to a P9600!
This would really help in gaming.
Does GDDR3 Ram work in this laptop?

 

i have been monitoring this thread quite sometime now. and i am really interested in buying this laptop.

I am from the philippines though, and i dont know where to buy one. Philippines' MSI retailers does not have it yet X_x and i want it badly.

does MSI taiwan accept direct orders?

i know newegg is offering one, are they reliable? ordering overseas is a huge gamble X_x.

 

great thread, been reading this for an hour or so lol

i just pulled the trigger on this laptop from newegg but have a few questions if anyone could answer them.

1. What speed is the hard drive? 7200rpm i hope!
2. i saw that the processor it uses has a fsb of 1066mhz, but the memory speed is only ddr2-800, would i be able to buy 4g's of dd3 1066 ram and have it work with the laptop?
3. i went to a local best buy and wanted to physically see the difference between a 17' wide laptop and a 16' wide laptop, i feel like i would have been happier with a 17'. Although i might be retarded since i need to lug this laptop all around school.
So for people who actually own the laptop and go to school, do you think the 16' is good enough?

4. Im planning on having this laptop replace my desktop since it is more powerful than my desktop...is there some kind of docking station to where i can easily plug the laptop into?

5. Does the laptop have DVI out? my samsung 24' wide monitor is 2 years old and does not support hdmi, so i dont know what to do with that if i wanted to plug it in.

thanks for the replies!

 

It does not have DVI out, you cant put DDR3 ram into it either, As for the HD not sure what speed it is, I will have to get back to you on that one..

 

i did a little bit more research and found that the hard drive is indeed 5400 rpm..

kinda sad about that, but will probably just replace it.

one more thing is, for this notebook...sata 3.0 is what im looking for if im looking to buy a new hdd to replace it?

 

1. You found the right answer. Although it is SATA 300 and personally as an owner it is more then fast enough.

2. Why? It is plenty fast enough with the current setup of 4gb of RAM. This is what PC Wizard reports:
DDR2-SDRAM PC2-6400 (399 MHz) - [DDR2-800]

3. Believe me when I say it is incredibly portable. Very light and the 16 inch screen is more then adequate. Playing games like TF2 I had to put it further back like my desktop PC because I was getting vertigo with it being too close.

4. No MSI only docking station I'm aware of. I use a Targus universal stand on my wife's dell laptop and you can easily buy universal docking stations or just hook up the peripherals directly to this laptop. It has it all.

5. You can either buy a VGA to DVI cable or HDMI to DVI cable. Check out Walmart. They have cheap cables and are just as good as the more expensive crap at Best Buy. If you don't believe me, read consumer reports and their reviews of cables. I use em on my HDTV and their fine, although I have not gotten around to hooking this laptop up to my HDTV.

You will not regret your purchase. I'm still stunned at how powerful this laptop is for the price and the vid card is amazing. I finally was able to play a little TF2 on it at high settings and was amazed. It also runs very cool.

Good luck with your purchase

 

thanks for the reply MightyT, helped me out alot.

i have one final question.

Does MSI make a 9 cell battery for this laptop? i cant find one anywhere.

other than than im looking foward to my laptop coming! should be here by tuesday

 

I jumped on this also. I've been lurking around for months, and this is a GREAT deal.

The closest thing that comes to this was the $1050 for the gateway 7805u with the 1080p screens that best buy was selling too early (only the first batch had them! the 7805u is now $1150 and doesn't come with 1080p screens)

I think this deal beats that one when it comes to "bang for the buck"... i don't see anything out there that is more worth it right now. Most laptops at this price come with onboard graphics... this not only comes with a vid card but a really good one.

You get bluetooth, 2.0mp camera, a vid card almost as good as 9800m gs, and a NICE looking laptop (unlike the best buy g50vts), which is rare for something this price. The closest to matching this is the x5 or x1 at best buy but i'd die of embarassment if i owned one.

i'd rather buy this for 700 and upgrade in 2 years, rather than buy something for +1000 and upgrade in 3 years. This will definitely hold me over for 2 years, at least.

 

This is a much better deal than the Gateway.
I hope the rebate is still offered for a little while.
Anybody run any new game benchmarks for this laptop yet?

 

See my response (#155) on page 16 regarding all I could find on extended batteries.

 

rebate extended all through june

 

Considering you can get the MSI for $699 after rebate (749 before) and the ASUS is currently 899 at best buy, is the MSI a better deal? Just how much of a performance difference is there?

Ick, the ASUS is really.... ugly.

 

The 9800m GS is a better card by far. If your looking to do some heavy gaming then the 9800m GS would be the way to go.. 256 bit compared to just 128 bit..

 

Yes the 9800M GS is a better card, but the 4670 is no slouch either.
The only thing holding back this laptop is the CPU and not the GPU , you can still play most games at medium to high settings with this card, all except maybe CRYSIS and GTA4.

 

As soon as i got mine, i immediately updated and then installed fallout 3 (just to get an idea of how well it runs games).

The game automatically determined that I could play on "high settings" and I didn't adjust anything else.

Fallout 3 is super smooth running at native resolution and high settings. That passes my test... this laptop is a keeper for $699.

 

I just got the laptop two days ago. I have not had a ton of time to work on it because I have been installing programs after work. It runs like a champ. Even with the processor being the low point. The resolution is still pretty good for the screen. Its not the best but it will do. Its a fantastic laptop and runs everything I throw at it. I am going to get a notebook cooler just incase I need one but I doubt because the thing is silent. I love it for $699. Thank you rebates! If anyone has any questions write me and I will be happy to try them and answer for you.

 

I don't know if this is still relevant or not but I recently found this 9-cell option on AVADirect.

http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_parts.asp?PRID=13975

It would be interesting to see what gains (if any) came with using this option

 

I have been searching for months, maybe even a year, for a good inexpensive laptop. And I am glad I waited, when I get the money I'll be getting the ex625. I should have it by the end of this month. The thing that was holding me back was the 6 cell battery and I looked everywhere for a 9 cell. Thanks to the previous poster for finding that 9 cell battery. I also plan on getting a p8400 processor. That should suffice me as a good gaming/portable laptop.

 

Those upgrades would make it a great arguably the best budget "gaming laptop" out now.

 

I just got the EX625 and upgraded the os to windows 7 64 bit. It seems to be working well, but there are a few issues. The eco button, the cinema button, and the p1 button on the touch sensors no longer do anything, and the dolby control center will not load. any ideas on how to fix these issues?

 

Hi Seth, I'm in the same boat as you. I cannot get the ECO button and Cinema button to work on Win7 x64... But for the dolby control center, what I did is installed the drivers from the CD that came with the laptop after windows7 was done and loaded. I just navigated into the CD and choose the 64 bit folder (if I remember quickly) and ran .exe setup.

 

Hi to everyone,

please can somebody post some photos of the vdeo card of this notebook, because i want to know if the video card is in mxm II slot e i want to know if have the same position of the components at the mobility 3650/3670.

Thanks to all.

 

I'm doing Win7 32bit. Same problem here...
- "Subwoofer" button doesn't work (cinepro or whatever)
- Eco button doens't work
- ALSO - Microphone next to the webcam isn't detected. It only finds the 2 inputs on the left... but not the third one on top.

 

where did you guys order your ex625. i want one too.

 

Yeah, my microphone isn't coming up either and the subwoofer doensn't seem to be detected.

 

Newegg has it for 700$ after MMR. I Just received my ex625 last night, I have to say that I am quite impressed. Plays Fallout 3 @ native res, high setting @ an estimated 45 fps avg(fraps running).
One question... would a p9500 run too hot in the ex625 or should I opt for the p8600? from the reviews I've seen the heat sink is somewhat on the small side. I aim to upgrade CPU and HDD(from 5400 to 7200 rpm) That should make this baby a real humdinger Any input would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

damn.. i have just read newegg's policies. they dont ship internationally.

 

Not sure about windows 7 32 bit, but for the 64 bit version the buttons didnt work after the installation process either, however i went on to the MSI website and downloaded and installed the System Control Manager. The eco engine and Cinema Pro now work. Not sure about the P1 button. I dont use that button atleast not yet but everything that i was slightly worried about as far as compatibility issues installing win 7 rc have been resolved, and definatly install win 7 64 its way better than the piece of bloated vista crap that comes installed on the msi ex625. hope it works for ya.

 

Does the EX625 have a synaptics touchpad?

Anyone experiencing the same problem that the GT627 has with the touchpad finish wearing off?

 

You can download the System control manager along with the drivers and such from here:

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=utility&maincat_no=135&prod_no=1678

This one is for the Dolby and it works for 64 bit:

http://laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24108

I am thinking about buying one of these (EX625) for my wife.. If I do I will be upgrading the LCD to a 1680 x 1050.. Thats really the only downfall to this laptop, still is the best bang for the buck though..

 

Thanks guys, i'll try this later when I get home.
BTW, has anyone used a notebook cooler for this laptop?

 

Wouldn't work. This is a 16:9 screen so you'd have to find a 1600x900 or a 1920x1080

 

I do believe they make 1680 x 1050 screens that will fit in this.. If not I will go another route..

 

It's not the same rectangle shape though... I doubt you'd be able to perfectly fit a 16:10 screen on a 16:9 laptop without some kind of off-balance.

 

just another tip.. Before i installed win 7 i tried to make it work with the vista install and i also tried to update the 4670's drivers from the amd website. The new updated drivers will not work for vista they only work for windows 7 which i find very strange and that was the deciding reason i switched over to 7 rc. I dont want to count on MSI to keep my drivers up to date no thx. windows 7 rc is fantastic i have vista 64 on my main rig and thinking about installing rc there as well.

 

noone has mentioned anything about the antenna input on the right hand side (next to the power input).. i assume it's for a built in tv tuner?

I'm from australia, and i'm not sure if our model comes with the antenna input

 

what's the dimensions of the touch pad

 

Some models do not come with the tv tuner included but still have the antenna input. In my model, i don't have the tv tuner but the antenna is still included. I found a website that sells an internal tv tuner that will work with ex625, but they are out of stock at the moment. MSI Internal TV Tuner If you look up the sku on google, you can find other websites which sell this item.

 

After installing Windows 7 32-bit, I installed the Vista 32-bit audio drivers on the MSI website. This fixed the webcam microphone and really cleaned up "playback devices" area ...

Also, if you go into device manager, you'll see that windows 7 didn't find a driver for one of your devices. I discovered that this is the ENIR CIR driver which enables your infrared. Again, the vista 32-bit driver in the MSI website was sufficient to get this set up.