After a month here's my GX600 review

Intro:
I needed a laptop for some remote web surfing, TV watching and light gaming. Size and portability were very important so the 14.1” laptops seemed to be the perfect size. Sadly, none of the 14.1” models had the type of graphics Horsepower that I was looking for. I needed at least an 8600gt(m). So it was off to the 15.4” models. The 15.4” models considered were the msi gx600, Asus G2S-B1, Acer 5920g (I like the HD-DVD drive), the Toshiba 412/425 and a few others.

I decided to go have a gander at the laptops over at the local Circuit City and after looking at a few of the 15.4 inch models one thing was clear, these things are huge! I could not believe the size of the Acer 5920G. In pictures the Acer looked so cute and neat, but in the flesh it was a behemoth. The Toshiba was worse. I was beginning to get a little frustrated because up until that moment all of the 15.4" were too large for me to consider getting one (don’t even get me started on the 17” models). When I was about to leave I spotted a neat sized HP notebook (dv6000t). I first thought that it was a 15” or a 14.1” laptop because the HP was so much smaller than the other 15.4” inch notebooks. When I saw that the HP was indeed a 15.4” laptop I immediately started to get interested. I mean the HP looked sweet; it had Harmon Kardon speakers, HD-DVD drive, and a cool looking case. After more research the HP only had 8400gs graphics (bummer!). If the HP had better graphics I would have purchased it for sure.

I went to HP’s web site and wrote down the HP’s measurements. Anything larger would be too large IMO. The MSI gx600 had the exact measurements as the HP. The Asus was within an inch of the HP’s dimensions but a one inch increase in length and/or width turns a neat size laptop into a behemoth imo. It’s amazing the difference an inch can make (no, I’m not female

So I ended up getting the GX600 mainly because of its size and decent specs. For someone who was concerned so much about the size of the laptop I ordered the GX600 without seeing it in person. I was sure that if the GX600 measurements were correct, then the laptop would be the perfect size. When I received the laptop it even looked smaller than expected. I guess the color black can do that.

Here’s a picture of the laptop:


General impressions/Use
I’m not really a fan of the tribal tattoos (flames) but the black piano finish is deep and shiny. The down side is that the glossy finish provides the perfect recipe for a finger print magnet. Every touch leaves a finger print smudge. Other than that the build quality seems to be top quality.

There is some chassis flex in the lower mouse pad portion though. It isn’t the type of flex that you can feel if you were to twist the laptop in your hand, but it’s the type of flex that seems to affect the touchpad mouse buttons. Let me explain; someone had reported that if you were to press down hard enough on the area around the touchpad that it will activate the touchpad mouse buttons. At first I found this not to be true, but after playing COD4 and Bioshock I noticed that I was firing my weapon without wanting to. When I pressed down (sort of hard) on the area around the touchpad, low-and-behold the mouse button started firing the weapon! It’s weird because even though the mouse button is being activated by the press around the area, there isn’t a click (like the click that would happen if you were to press the mouse button by itself). It seems that pressing down on the area around the mouse puts pressure on the same plate that the mouse button itself activates. It’s not really an issue. Once I was aware of what was happening I stopped putting pressure on the palm area while playing FPS games. To be honest it takes a really firm press to activate the mouse buttons by pressing the surrounding area. Or you could just simply turn the touchpad off, problem solved.

What else? The side scroll bar on the touch-pad fails to respond at times. I’d say it happens at least 4 times a day. How I get around it is to click on another window and then back to the window that was having the problem. Just today it happened and I got it to work by tapping the scroll bar on the touch-pad. It’s far from being an issue, just a minor annoyance at times. The Touchpad also completely died on me once and it took a true laptop cold boot (unplug from wall, remove battery) to resolve it.

I’ve had the unit for a month now and everything is working as advertised. Everything except sleep mode. Sometimes the screen will not display anything when returning back from sleep mode. The screen is completely blank. I have to put it in sleep more again (with the power button) and then hit the power button to bring it back up. The screen works after that. The funny thing about it is when I bring the screen up the second time you can see what I tried to type in when the screen was blank the first time. There’s some sort of screen issue when returning from sleep mode. It’s gotten progressively worse to the point where sleep mode is a pain. What else? Vista has crashed 4 times in the month that I’ve had it.

Sound
The speakers could be better. They have no real Bass or extended highs. They sound tinny and have 0 depth. Some content like certain TV shows doesn’t provide enough volume to overcome normal cafeteria noise. You will not be able to hear your GX600 if you are in any area where there are 3 or more conversations going on. That’s why there’s a headphone output. The headphone output cures the cafeteria dilemma but barely. The system cannot amplify certain content loud enough to drown out surrounding noises, even with headphones. For example; Some You-Tube videos do not play loud at all at any volume, while MySpace profile page music (and other YouTube videos) played loud. Maybe a “turbo” button for the sound system would have been nice. I guess the source has a lot to do with it because the speakers are capable of loud volumes. COD4 cranks on the gx600. While there wasn’t any bass, the explosions and flying aircraft produced loud realistic effects. Even with the headphones on COD 4 is loud as hell, drowning out all other outside noises, I actually couldn’t turn it up all the way for fear of my hearing

Screen
I’m no display expert but the GX600 screen favors well against my benq 24” monitor in quality and crispness. I haven’t notices any dead pixels or any ghosting while playing games. I actually prefer the matte screen because of the lack of reflections, which is good when you are computing outdoors in daylight (something I plan on doing once old man winter gets out of here).

Inputs outputs
There are no inputs on the rear which would only be an issue if the machine was being docked every day. I tried the HDMI output and my TV identified the signal as 1080p! The output looked great which makes me even more upset that a HD-DVD drive wasn’t available on the GX600. Maybe I could upgrade the DVD Drive to an HD-DVD Drive later? Contrary to what the manual says the sound wasn’t transferred by the HDMI output.

Heat and Noise
The Heat and Noise that the GX600 produces depends upon what you are doing. Under light-load situations the laptop does make slight fan noises which sound more like air moving than anything else. It’s never annoying in that situation. Under load the laptop air noise is increased. The DVD-ROM is about average in regards to noise as is the Hard Drive, sometimes. I say sometimes because for the most part you can barely hear the Hard Drive being accessed and then there are times when the Hard Drive Noise becomes more prominent, still never annoying just a little louder. Last night the Hard Drive was making some ticking noises that I’ve never heard before. It sounded like Morse code. I haven’t heard the noise since so maybe it was nothing (I hope). I forgot to mention that I had the Hard Drive upgraded with a 7200 Seagate HD.

Heat isn’t an issue. Although the unit does get very warm under heavy gaming, I was still able to game on the GX600 while on my lap, while wearing boxer shorts without discomfort.

Gaming
I’ve now had the laptop for 1 month and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a truly portable laptop fit for light to moderate gaming. The GX600 fares better playing older games (quake 4) than it does newer games (bioshock) (cod4).

I’m still in the process of evaluating the GX600s gaming ability, but so far you have 2 choices (maybe 3) when it comes to playing the newest games on the GX600 (The older games will just fly on the GX600).

1) You can turn down the graphics quality settings in the game (I haven’t tried that yet)

2) You can turn down the res (1024x768) at the high quality detail settings.

3) You can turn down the res (1024x768) at the high quality detail settings, and then scale it up to fit the screen.

For benx009: COD 4 @ 1024x768 played wonderfully. I had the game choose the “optimal settings” (which it found to be 800x600) and then I changed the resolution to 1024x768 manually. The frame rate never got below the high twenties during the most intense firefights at that setting. 40-45 fps is the rate that I saw when there wasn’t any action. I even saw it spike past 60!! And all of this with the turbo button off. I noticed a slight jump in performance with the turbo button on (maybe 2-5 fps more) but not enough to justify using it all the time.

COD4 on my Sharp LCD HDMI Output

Windows Media Center HD glory!


System Specs:
Processor Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 800MHz FSB Processor (Turbo button overclocks processor to 2.4ghz)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium
Chipset Mobile Intel® PM965 + ICH8-M Express Chipset
Graphics & Video Module NVIDIA® Geforce® Go 8600M-GT 512MB VRAM + Turbo Cache-With Support For Microsoft® DirectX® 10
Main Memory 2GB DDR2 667 SO-DIMM Memory, MAX: 2GB
Display 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) Widescreen Non Glare ACV (Amazing Crystal Vision) Display
Card Reader 3-In-1 Card Reader
Hard Disk Drive 250GB SATA 5400 RPM 1.5Gbs Hard Drive (Upgraded to Seagate Momentus 7200rpm)
Optical Drive Built-In Super-Multi Drive (Supports DVD RAM)
Built-in CMOS Camera 1.3 Mega Pixels
Keyboard 103 Key Full Size Keyboard
LAN/Modem Built-In 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Modem Module
Wireless LAN Bluetooth Integrated Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN - Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N
I/O Ports
• Express Card x 1
• HDMI x 1
• eSATA x 1
• Monitor (VGA) 15 pin D-Sub x 1
• USB 2.0 x 4
• IEEE 1394 x 1
• MIC-in x 1
• Headphone out x 1
• RJ11 x 1
• RJ45 x 1
• TV-Out-S-Video x 1

Audio Realtek ALC 888H
Short-Cut Keys Power On, Email, Internet, Personal Settings, Turbo Mode
Battery Pack & Life Li-ion 6 Cell Battery (4400mAh)
AC Adapter 19V DC, 120W / Input: 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz Universal
Dimension 358(L) X 259(D) X 27-33(H)mm 14.09 (w) x 10.19 (D) x 1.06 - 1.26" (H)
Weight 5.85 lbs (Full System With 6 Cell Battery)
Security Kensington Lock Slot, BIOS System Password Protection
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3dmark testing results (with hacked desktop drivers. The default drivers’ 3dmark results were about half of what you see below )

3dmark05
1024X768 no turbo
Main Test Results
3DMark Score 6947 3DMarks
CPU Score 10082 CPUMarks

Detailed Test Results

Game Tests
GT1 - Return To Proxycon 31.3 fps
GT2 - Firefly Forest 20.9 fps
GT3 - Canyon Flight 32.8 fps

CPU Tests
CPU Test 1 6.3 fps
CPU Test 2 7.2 fps

3dmark05
1024X768 turbo
Main Test Results
3DMark Score 7024 3DMarks
CPU Score 11550 CPUMarks

Detailed Test Results

Game Tests
GT1 - Return To Proxycon 32.3 fps
GT2 - Firefly Forest 21.0 fps
GT3 - Canyon Flight 32.8 fps

CPU Tests
CPU Test 1 7.2 fps
CPU Test 2 8.2 fps

3dmark06
1024x768 no turbo
Main Test Results
3DMark Score 3359 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 1365 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 1228 Marks
CPU Score 1691 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 11.047 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 11.701 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.535 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.855 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 11.052 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 13.51 FPS


3dmark06
1024X768 turbo
Main Test Results
3DMark Score 3436 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 1362 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 1228 Marks
CPU Score 2104 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 11.021 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 11.68 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.665 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 1.066 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 11.055 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 13.507 FPS

Pros: Neat Small Chassis, Nice Screen, good enough to play every game out there.

Cons: Speaker and headphone output could be louder, Glossy finish is a fingerprint magnet, some chassis flex.

Verdict: A very solid portable machine. The most powerful laptop for its physical dimensions (the Dell is a little larger and uglier), highly recommended for portable PC gaming (if you don’t mind turning down the graphic settings for some of the newer games)

 

To enable the audio output via HDMI you must go into the realtek hd audio manager and switch from analog (local speakers) to digital. Once you click on the digital tab you should see all available digital inputs/outputs, HDMI being one of them.

Check the msi global site, there may be an updated VGA driver to help with the resume display issue. Also make sure turbo mode is disabled before sleep..........

Great review!!

 

Thanks!

I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

 

Excellent review Spoonie, I'm really happy to see that COD4 runs well on the GX600, and 3300+ 3dmarks was more than i was expecting anyways. And just like you, I'm also interested in the GX600 because of its dimensions, so hopefully I'll be purchasing one soon... But is the native resolution 1024x768 or 1280x800???

p.s. maybe you can contact a moderator to get your review into the reviews section?

 

Thanks!

Native res is 1680x1050 I'll edit my review and put my system specs

I hope it's worthy. I mean my grammar sucks. I'll reach out to them.

 

Nice review!

 

Nice. I can't wait for mine to arrive. Should come either today or tomorrow....

 

What about the battery life? I just recenly got mine and I'm pretty pissed at the crappy battery life. However, the laptop is so good otherwise ...

Anyone know where to buy a larger battery for the GX600?

 

I have to agree about the 6-cell battery not having a lot of battery life. The 9-cell obviously provides more. My local dealer stocks 9-cell batteries.

 

well, i finally ended up going with the gx600 neo (from cyberpower) since it's pretty much a cheaper gx600 minus the turbo button. the gx600/neo has everything i could ever want for a 15.4" notebook: power, style, and a full keyboard, all packed into <6 pounds. couldn't ask for more.

 

Congrats! The Turbo button is almost a gimmick. I never use it, even while gaming. you're also going to love the number pad. Well... At least I do

Enjoy Buddy!

 

It depends on what you are doing. I can only get about 40 minutes out of the thing while Gaming. But I get 1 1/2+ hours while web surfing and reading emails (which isn't bad). I'm always close to an outlet and I also got the car charger, so battery life isn't a big deal for me, yet.

You can get a 9 cell battery which last about 1/3 longer. The downside is that it sticks out of the rear and isn't flush with the rest of the laptop. Try Rkcomputers

 

The Turbo button is, yes, next to useless. I tried it once, but it really didn't do much in terms of performance. Makes no difference, except in benchmarks.

Build quality leaves a bit to be desired...The hinges are wobbly, and the left palm rest can flex quite a bit. And then theres that finish....God, its soooo glossy. Just looking at it puts fingerprints on it.

But its pretty tight. Its got a pretty good tradeoff between power and portability, and the high res screen is a nice touch.

 

My hinges seem to be fine There isn't any play when you twist it and they keep the screen where it put it, without moving. My Hinges seem to be solid. Guess I'm lucky.

 

Its especially noticeable when you first open the laptop, but its similar kind of to some of the older laptops.

I guess wobbly isn't the right word for it - almost like the hinges are over-tight. Most modern laptops aren't like that, but I distinctly remember my old (800MHz P3 old) Sony VAIO having hinges like that.

 

If this thing could do 2~2.5hrs on battery I swear this would have been laptop of the year.

 

yeah, battery life on that baby isn't the best... but there is a 9-cell available, albeit extremely difficult to find

 

I got two hours out of it in normal use....Thats still on the low side though - 3 would have been nice, but I think the 5 that I got with my Dell Vostro 1500 (8600GT; with a 9 cell battery though) would be asking a bit much.