A dual video card MSI laptop?

I have been thinking about this for a while. Next year I want to get a new gaming laptop, and after looking at many many different ones over the past few months, it really seems to me like MSI is one of the best brands in the business. The only thing really holding me back from deciding to get a GT70 type is the fact a couple other brands have dual video card laptops (AW M18x r2, Sager NP9370). That extra card is expensive, and requires the laptop to be heavier/bigger to allow for better cooling, but its worth it to many because it cranks your laptop up from good, to fantastic, better than some high end desktops even. It also future proofs the laptop for many years to come. Most laptops with one card, even if it was the best at the time it was bought, can't play new games at MAX settings with decent FPS 2 years later. A dual card system can still do it though.

I think it would be a god idea for MSI to throw their hat into the SLI laptop ring. The quality and power they put into their machines would probably even leave the m18x in the dust. There is definitely a market for these types of machines, or else the competition wouldn't have their own versions.

Features it could have.

bigger screen?

Full Aluminum chassis construction!

Dual vid cards (obviously).

Desktop CPU options?

Even more ports (Definitely at least one thunderbolt port).

larger/better keyboard.

better cooling standard.

etc...

What do you guys think? Should MSI make a dual card beast? And if so, what should it have?

 

No SLi in MSI. Keep the SLi for the expensive guys.

 

Yeah all their cards don't even have a SLI/Xfire connector soldered on.

 

implying 2500+ is not already expensive...

 

I wouldn't know how to pay that much for any MSI notebook. I don't know where you're looking or what kind of ridiculous overpriced upgrades your about to pay for but its definitely not a smart move.

 

The gt70 0ne has a sku that it around $2500 if not more.

 

It obviously wouldn't be targeted at the average consumer, or even the mid-high level ones. More towards the people willing to spend a very large amount to have a lot of power and peace of mind for a long time. The sager np9370 starts at around 1500-1600 dollars and comes standard with dual 670's, i7 3630QM, 8 gigs of 1600 Mhz ram, etc... bumping it up to dual 680's, an i7 3840QM, 16 gigs of ram, a larger hard drive, and a few other upgrades, will top out around 3 grand. That isnt bad at all, considering the GT70 with ivy bridge and a single 680 starts at 2500$.

Obviously if MSI made a dual card laptop it would turn out more expensive than a sager, but the price would still be manageable to a large group of consumers. (the above settings on an AW m18x would run over 4 grand, yet there are people who buy those without batting an eye).

 

I understand the idea of an MSI dual card laptop is appealing to some, particularly those who are not fond of Sager and Alienware... however I think from a business branding strategy, it would be a bad move for MSI..... not that the units would not sell, they would. But it would dilute the brand image for their GE/GT 60/70 lines.

Lets take a look at the major players in the market.
Alienware - has a brand of image of "the very best at any price".... when you buy an Alienware, you expect to pay more. (you also expect to get more, and wether or not you do is NOT pertinent to this analysis)

Sager/Clevo has little branding issues to worry about, they make whitebooks and leave most of the marketing up to end channel resellers, and over course people like us are already well informed and don't need a god branding campaign to know what a Clevo is and what it does.

ASUS has positioned themselves on the bottom end of the market. Low powered video, no great customization options, but you can buy it newegg and bestbuy, and you can do it all without dropping $2k+... low enough that uneducated consumers will buy it, and yet good enough that entry level enthusiasts will also buy it.

A little higher priced than the ASUS, you find the Samsung Series 7 Gamer. Mildly popular on the consumer level, but never embraced by the greater gaming community.

Which brings us to the final contender, MSI, who has positioned themselves PERFECTLY in the market as it stands now. They have a widely known brand which consumers do not associate with overpriced. They can sell cheap models and compete directly with ASUS in the consumer channels, and they can sell more expensive models and compete directly with Alienware and Clevo in the enthusiast channels. They don't suffer from Clevo's lack of a known brank, or Alienware's "excessively expensive" brand image.

MSI is in a great position, the "sweet spot" in product branding. Introducing a powerful beast to compete with the m18x and the Clevo monster really does not serve MSI's interests well, it would shift their product brand image into a more expensive one, and they don't want to go head to head with Alienware branding in that segment. Since they majority of their sales come from and would continue to com from the GT70 / GT60 sized units, introducing a niche market product (dual vid notebook) which has the potential to damage the branding of their bread and butter gaming notebook segment would not be a smart business move, regardless of weather the laptop would "sell" or not.

 

Just checked the Mythologic site. The prices are super reasonable, and they have a great deal on 2 SLIed NVIDIA 670's 3GB cards. I'm sure the OP has found a system by now however! ^-^

 

Hate to break it to you, but it starts out at around $2000, not $2500. MSI Notebook Official Website - Product Preview Page

There's a reason these don't have SLI, as others have stated. They aren't trying to be the Premium/Top Performance brand. They aren't trying to be the bottom end brand (ala Asus). They're trying to be the middle of the road, 1 step down from the top. They fill that role perfectly, and they shouldn't change a thing, period.

 

I think so long as they took care of their core branding, extending it is not a bad thing.

We have seen that they have extended themselves down with the GE and GX series while maintaining the GT series.

 

Thats the gt60, not the 70. the gt70 starts at several hundred more than the 60 because of the raid ssd.

I now realize that making a dual card laptop may not be in MSI's best interest, although it would be cool. I am no longer in the market for a large dual card laptop myself, I need something smaller for the work I am doing, and I have had a medical bill that has set my budget back a bit.

 

The gt60 with a good capacity single ssd in the main bay makes a lot of sense.

 

I owned an MSI laptop a few years ago, I forgot which model. Anyway I sent it back because of many defects and bought myself my current BEAST.Yeah you pay a little more but the build quality is great, the cooling is awesome with a fan for each card and one for the Cpu plus you get a 3 pipe heatsink with the XM Cpu.But the best thing is the superb Next Busines Day in home tech support. If for example, one of my cards gets bricked, I call tech support and they overnight the part and there is a tech in my house the next day.

 

Yeah, I linked the GT60. You can still get GT70's for $2250 though. Newegg has them. It's where I bought mine (for the same price). Still, even at $2250 it's ALOT cheaper than Alienware/Sager/Clevo can offer comparatively. Yes, they might have dual video card capability, but are you going to shell out $400+ later for another video card? You'd be better off getting a newer generation card than another one. =P

 

The difference between MSI machines pre GT680/GX660 is and the current machines is quite stark in terms of cooling and quality, of course the M18X has them beat on cooling but is much larger and heavier.