GX640 Questions ... Gaming on Battery?

I want a smaller, lighter laptop with much better battery life than what I have currently in my Sager NP8662. I tried going the netbook + powerful laptop route, even with an M11x, but I realize I just want/need a single decent notebook that is lighter and smaller and will get decent battery life, plus game.

I've been strongly considering the HP Envy 14 but have kept my eye on the MSI GX640.

Has anyone tried gaming using the battery? If so, what game and how long? Does the CPU underclock on battery at all? I was considering the XoticPC FORCE 1656-ID4 actually only because it's more configurable and cheaper too, but seems to be the same machine more or less (but ~ 0.25lbs heavier for some reason).

I was considering an i5-520 or 540m or even the 620m CPU.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

I would not recommend gaming while on the battery. at most your gonna get 2.5 hours on this thing with just wifi and internet browsing. And thats downclocking and all.

And adding higher cpu's just means more battery wasted.

For me i take mine everywhere, but before i play something im pulling out my mouse and looking for a power outlet. Hell today i spent 10 hours at school playing games just cause they had AC lol.

But for MSI and battery life the ge600 seems the best route with the switchable graphics. Decent vid card in it as well.

 

I guess the other thing is screen resolution is important to me. 1366x768 is way too low for any amount of desktop work. 1600x900 minimum, that's why I liked the GX640.

From some other posters they were saying they could get like 3.5 hours on battery. When I had an M11x it spoiled me. Over two hours of gaming on battery and still time to spare to browse the web. Problem was the screen itself was too small and the resolution too, not to mention screen brightness was not good.

 

Ahh, here we go, no gaming, but Anandtech test claims ~ 3 hours with heavy flash web browsing:

MSI GX640: $1100 for a Speedy DX11 Laptop - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Does the GX640 incorporate switchable graphics though? I thought I read somewhere that it doesn't. Seems odd since the GPU is integrated right in the i5 chip.

 

No switchable graphics on the GX640. I'm assuming it's because this is a gaming laptop and as such, you'd want to have your drivers always up to date. With switchable graphics, you will have to rely on MSI to provide you with updated drivers.

As for battery consumption, it took me 2hrs &10mins to go from 99% to 10% battery charge. GPU clocks were at 300/400. I was surfing the internet and doing a little openoffice stuff while listening to music the whole time at 15% volume. Brightness was at 60% and I had a USB mouse plugged-in (in case it matters). Not the most power efficient, but not bad considering the hardware.

 

yea i get about 2.5 hours sitting at the local bookstore stealing wifi waiting for my wife to get off work. at 100/100 tho.

 

All things considered that isn't bad at all for the hardware in this laptop. Once you cross that two hour threashold it opens up the mobility considerably. It will get your through a meeting, a class, an hour at the coffee shop, an hour waiting at the air port, a short flight/drive etc...

I considered a sager 8690, but less than an hour of battery life essentially teathers you to an AC outlet. You have juse enough juice to unplug it an move it around and then plug it back in, but not much more.

Anywho, I'll be ordering a gx640 within the week, exciting!

 

In reality, MSI wanted to keep the cost as low as possible for this notebook. Switchable graphics are very costly to implement at the moment, and this would have translated into a higher retail price for us.

Besides, in this age of sub 3lbs netbooks and tablets, I consider the GX640 to be more like a desktop replacement with the battery acting like a UPS, a temporary/convenient power source when there really is no AC outlet around. I'd keep this monster plugged in as much as possible.

It's a true gaming laptop we're talking about, not some sissy Macbook.

 

I'm confused about the switchable graphics. AFAIK ATI offers switchable with the i5 GPU in their driver package already, unlike nVidia that requires OEM drivers. Also, the switchable portion is part of the chipset, just requires a bios implementation and software switch.

It wouldn't reduce performance of the laptop when you wanted it though. It's like driving a Camaro and opting not to switch of four cylinders to conserve gas on the freeway if the feature was offered.

 

Here's what savvy NBR members told me when I asked about it:

 

optimus is for passive switching

active software switching should work over reboot + bios i think

 

I don't know about you, but I don't want to reboot my computer everytime I switch between the IGP and the discrete chip.

 

Remember, thats how it originally worked, and to be honest, my machine starts up fast enough after its optimised, its not a problem, and getting another few hours out of it, definately worth it.

 

Not all manual switching require a reboot. Lenovo's don't, M11x doesn't. Not only that if you don't care if dedicated GPU is on all the time, then just leave it on. And won't have to deal with it.

Perhaps it would require a little more hardware but IMHO worth the small premium (what $50 max) you might pay if it meant an extra 60-90 minutes of battery life.

Either way its a moot point, because they didn't include it. If a revison does, then maybe I'll consider it. I'm just surprised because then it would be a definite alternative to the MBP or Envy 14, granted slightly larger and heavier but with an HD5850 over the 5650, I'll take that any day.