GT60 3K Edition First Impressions

If I used any of the Adobe programs, I'd be glad to get some footage for you. I gave up using their products when they started their cloud subscription stuff. (I like to buy products once and not deal with a "rental" plan) I never dial down the res for work stuff...but admittedly I don't use the most high end software.

 

Hey, great machine you got there, :thumbsup:

could you possibly run HWinfo tool and see the exact model of your screen? Thanks!

 

I could be misremembering, but I thought that Kevin from GenTech perhaps posted the exact model earlier in this thread...or maybe it was my gameplay thread. But, here's the info I have from my Device Manager: Panasonic IPS panel (type MEI96A2) Hope that helps. Thanks!

 

I can't wait - My unit gets in Thursday :'( damn holiday... I have 3x Crucial M500 240GB ssds to swap into it, my friend will work on customizing my bios - he has been busy unlocking/unhiding everything in the Fangbook bios of his, with great results.

 

By the way, I did get a snapshot (sorry for crummy picture quality) of Adobe Photoshop Elements on the 3K. Typical non-optimized Adobe handiwork on display...not ideal, but useable...

 

Still love this screen...... it's just pure awesome!

 

Mine finally arrived but..my happines didn't last long, unfortunately screen was damaged. Still looks interesting and I wonder if it was just caused by mechanicall dmg or bad matrix quality mounted in the factory. Can't wait for the next arrival -that frustration just becouse of hollidays and related to it delays is priceless eh. Wish you all even BETTER New Year!

 

That could have been a badly seated display cable.

 

Looks like a bad screen to me, and you should contact vendor for a replacement, or MSI for warranty service.

 

Here's a quick two month update on what it's like living with the 3K: First of all, you never get tired of the screen. Stellar and the best I've used. Also, this is a very stable machine...no heat issues (the turbo boost fan helps if you don't mind the extra noise)...keyboard is also a positive for me (that's a personal preference issue...but I don't miss keystrokes and that is my main concern with any laptop).

However, there are some quirky issues that have come up. Just about all of my software allows me to run native res (2880 by 1620). When that is the case, the experience is awesome. I haven't run into a game that won't allow me to run full detail (pretty much) at 2880 by 1620 which is crazy. But...when you run into software that doesn't fully scale to that res, it can get weird. I have a couple of legacy games that most people probably don't play (Links 2003) that just look awful on this machine. One new game (Rise of Venice) that most people also don't play looks terrible also since it's highest available res isn't close to this one. It also looks bad on the screen. I don't use Adobe Photoshop Elements very much, but as you can see with the screenshot I posted earlier, the interface is less than ideal without scaling.

Very torn right now. Still love the machine...but have had thoughts about selling it and moving back to a native 1920 screen (perhaps Razer Blade Pro) and giving up the GPU horsepower. Browsing on this laptop is pristine with Firefox since text is CRYSTAL clear...so giving that up would be a letdown also. Therein lies my dilemma. Hang onto this and wait for some of the software to catch up as this res becomes more common or bail and go back to the fully compatible and familiar.

Still a highly recommended laptop. But, if you're considering it, do your homework and find out if all of your software will scale this res.

 

^^ Id like to buy it of you, but.... probably will have to sell my arm and leg for it...?

 

Funny thing about the 3K, it's not that expensive when you really think about it. I paid around $2200 (shipped) two months ago. $2099 plus shipping. Most of the other GT60's with 780m's go for around $2000..so you're really only paying around $100 to $200 more for this screen. I did a price check request on the price check forum and didn't get any response. No idea what someone would pay used for one of these...or if there's a Razer Blade Pro owner thinking about making the jump and willing to trade. Not trying to sell this here...but just trying to give some advice to anyone reading the posts in this thread thinking about buying a new one.

 

holiday777, if you lower the resolution, which one can you use at all?
Lower the resolution, and then change scaling of text. Would it help?

 

It's not worth the tradeoff to be constantly moving desktop res down. What I always strive for when the app isn't native is try to set it at 1920 by 1080 or some 16 by 9 scale. This thing is beautiful when running native...which about 98% of the time I can do with no effort. It's that 2% that sucks Thanks for the input, though. You and Ken have been a great help throughout the entire process!

 

Isn't there an app that allows resolution change while launching an application through different profiles?
I forgot the name of app.

 

There may very well be command line type of triggers that could be created. Regardless, there is just a big jump down in quality when the screen doesn't read native. It happens so irregularly, it's probably worth tolerating. Again, the laptop is still an awesome piece of tech and very much recommended.

 

Have reluctantly went ahead and put this up in a for sale thread....thanks to all for their input.

 

That's a bit sad but the 3k is not for everyone but it's a nice option for those who can use it.

 

Just wanted to say thanks, holiday777, for all of your continued posts to this thread. Your comments have been really helpful to me as I've been shopping for a laptop over the past three months. I was so ready to pull the trigger on a 3K screen, but I'm thinking 1080p is really the best way to go. Until Adobe gets ALL of their apps optimized for HiDPI, the higher res screens just won't cut it.

 

Well the high DPI screens anyway, these companies really should have implemented intelligent scaling but they have been as lazy as the panel manufacturers.

 

Glad that this has been helpful to you. I absolutely love this screen...but there have definitely been software moments that were not ready for prime time. Not MSI's fault (or even Microsoft's in my opinion...the improved scaling in 8.1 is impressive). If I wasn't between jobs, I would definitely hang onto this...but all things considered, best to let it go. Thanks and take care.

 

Well I don't see an "official" thread for GT60 3k edition's...so I'll post up here.

I just ordered mine on newegg. I'd been waiting 5 years for something non-apple in a 15" to break the god-awful 1080p barrier. I'm still not sure why all those sites with "top 10 best gaming laptops" all seem to miss this gem. Hands down, this is THE BEST deal you can get on a 15" gaming rig for the price. I've had my GX660R for 3 years, and I knew another MSI was in my future. I can't wait.

 

Congrats to your purchase.
Don't forget to update everything on your system once you get it. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks! I searched around a bit before I decided to go with win 8, rather than spend the extra $140 to downgrade to win 7. I almost bought from you guys, but APO shipping was a deal breaker--it was just too expensive.

 

Just get the start menu tweaks for 8 and you should be happy.

 

Yup it is.
APO/FPO shipping is exclusive for USPS.

You can upgrade to Win8.1 later when you receive the notification from Microsoft Store.
Or you can use Class Shell for an older look.
http://www.classicshell.net/

 

To be honest, you will best serve yourself to take some time, after installing Win 8.1 to get used to the start menu. In the end, with 8.1 you can set it to always boot to desktop, among other nice things that make it less of an alien experience

But if things get the best out of you, yeah software like classic shell always help.

 

Hey everyone,

So I've just updated Windows 8.0 (preinstalled by MSI) to version 8.1on my new gt60, I prepared all the drivers that I could download from the MSI site for my model just for quick install (just in case of troubles with connection).
But what actually happened was normal update without black screens/problems and everything seems to be ok -but that's quite suspicious and I want to make sure that I can run normally on drivers dedicated for W8 version while using uipdated windows. Is it normal?> I heard about that black screen appearing after upgrading , do I really have to change current drivers? Can I expect any future issues due to usage of non updated drivers?

Thanks

 

The only way to be 100% sure is to keep running it and see.

 

I upgraded my GT70 0NE from 8.0 to 8.1 and just the Nvidia driver and Intel driver have been upgraded ever since, because they get updates quite often. So far haven't found any driver problems on other devices. And no Bios or EC upgrades, too.

 

I was going to use win7 on mine after initial testing. After noticing how it was nice to have the MSI software work nicely on 8 I stuck with it. I am glad I did, but I do hate the quirks that it has in the OS. I previously had a GT60 0NE