MSI GE600 coming out Early April

could anyone post some pics of the internals?

 

$900 USD plus about $15 shipping on NEWEGG.

 

Much better machine then expected, thanks for the review bagienny.

 

here is the "maple" skin from skinit. i trimmed the edge to give it a border. i really wish laptop makers would not make shiny scratch loving lids.

bagienny's thorough review helped convince me to get the ge 600.

the only hardware problem i have had so far is that tuesday, the internal fan stopped working, causing overheating and shut downs. somewhere in a gx640 thread, i eventually remembered someone said to unplug and remove the battery. somehow, this reset the fan to work. i have had no problems since then.

now that i have had more time to use and play with this thing, i want to get more games.

city hunter: i hope your laptop works out well for you.

 

Bah. Still deciding. LOL

 

City Hunter or Opositive do either of you have Supreme Commander 1? If not could you try out the demo and check the frame rate, or is it either playable? I understand that a game like that should be more processor intensive so while I know the 5730 can handle it I'm wondering about the i5 430m.


Also what disks does the GE600 ship with? Restore disks? Windows 7?

 

Opositive everything is still running good. No hardware problem yet. Hope everything else goes well for you from here.
Sorry verfed I don't have Supreme Commander, but if this notebook can handle BFB2, I'm sure it can handle Supreme Commander okay as well. Yes it ships with a restore disk and a copy of Windows 7.

 

Wow thanks City Hunter, I am amazed that they send out a copy of Windows 7 and a restore disk AND WINDOWS 7, like an actual disk! I thought I saw a picture of a Windows 7 disk on the newegg pictures but I wasn't sure if it was for real. That's it I'm getting it.

 

To owners of GE600,

What are your thoughts on the keyboard? Does it flex much? Gets hot while gaming/benchmarking?

Finally, how hot does the GE600 runs?

 

On a scale of 10 (0 min flex, 10 max flex), I would give it a 2. It doesn't flex during normal typing and usage.

During gaming, it doesn't get 'hot'. It gets warm though. Under normal usage with the GPU turned off, the thing is VERY quiet and cool.

 

Is the surface of the laptop glossy?

 

Yes, it's glossy, but the paint is a metallic paint (with shiny flakes) so finger prints are more hidden than my eee PC which had pure black glossy surface. The palm rest area is semi-gloss, not much finger print shows there.

 

To the GE600 Owners:

Whats about that issue from PurePC Review?

" Cons: -Problems with the Radeon video
As in the case NBLB2, GE600 also have problems with playing movies. Attempt to watch the movie in Adobe Flash or any material with material from the ends DXVA reset the display driver or permanent suspension of your computer. If you use the HD GMA said the problem does not occur at all, so if you intend to view the videos on YouTube or watch a movie, just check whether the current use of the integrated graphics chip. Probably the problem is resolved in the next release of drivers provided by MSI. Attempt to update display drivers from AMD's original parcel ends out of lack of capacity to switch graphics processor."

 

After a brief test, it seems that the problem only occurs when using Windows Media Player (the default player that came with Win7). I tried using VLC player to play the same video, and no problem whatsoever. Radeon GPU was enabled.

 

How about watching Youtube?

 

Can you describe the "problem"? What is happening exactly. Lags?

 

Never encountered the problem during Youtube.

Actually, I only noticed it when I display the screen on an external monitor. The problem is that the monitor would go blank, then reset itself 5 seconds later, and a message would say that an error occured with the driver. It would keep doing that 3-5 times until it would go blank completely without further self reset. Then I had to manually power cycle the monitor. After that, I used the VLC player and the issue was no longer observed.

 

Is there a way to fix this "radeon issue"?

 

Probably the only fix will be new Radeon Drivers from MSI. Someone should report that to MSI

 

hi, I want to buy the GE600-002, newgg says it have 1year warranty and MSi says 3 year limited, What is the true warranty?

 

is mouse and backpack included?

 

i bought one from newegg. after registering online at msi usa, my account at msi reflected a 3y term.

no backpack/mouse--i think those are promo's with the gx640 and 740, but promo bags are usually not that sturdy.

this past week i used my ge600 on large external monitors for powerpoints and videos with wmp without any lockups or problems. i also have not had any problems with youtube.

5730 driver: 8.683-091217a-093780C-MSI
CCC: 2009.1217.1632.29627
[I knew the keypad would be useful someday]

 

Problems with Youtube might occur when you have a >= 10.1 Flash version. Prior to this release there was no GPU acceleration whatsoever.

 

Agreed, although i did find if that ever happened, reinstall flash without the aid of the useless flash downloader always did it for me , the earlier 10 was quite stable.

 

Just wondering if anyone knows when GE700 would be release?

 

Where do I get this releases?
Can you test this version maybe:
http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/flashplayer10_1_rc4_plugin_050510.exe

So GPU Accerleration isnt working atm? Do you have Problems with movies/flash when using external monitor?

 

Yup, same problems while using external monitor. But these problems seem to only affect some of the GE600 units, as most of the users doesn't seem to have that problem.

 

Ordered this this morning. I needed something to last me through until the 8740W comes out, or I decide to skip the i7 and wait for the next iteration (which is more likely).

Resolution sucks, but for basically $60 out of pocket (after selling the system it would replace, a Dell Latitude E5500), it should hold me over in L4D2 and TF2 for a while.

 

Excuse me, but what are the 8740W?

 

HP Elitebook.

 

How many fans does the GE600 have?

 

One.

(ten characters)

 

I just got one of these. Really enjoying it but I had a question.

This is my first laptop so I don't know a ton about how things work but would it be possible to format the whole thing and install a fresh copy of Win 7 from a disk I have that I used for my desktop? The number is on the back of the laptop so ive got that, but I am unsure whether that number will work with any old install of Win 7. What I have is an upgrade disk, although I use it on my own desktop as a full install disk since I like to install from scratch.

 

Do you have an external monitor? Maybe you can test some moviez on it and doing some youtubing. Cause many have issues with Flash and stuff.

Thanks

 

If it's the same version as the laptop (e.g., OEM Home Premium x64) then yes you can. While you're at it you can remove the silly restore partitions that MSI creates, freeing up space. If it's a retail copy of Windows, then the OEM key won't work.

 

I just got this laptop yesterday after reading all through the forums and coming to this post. The main things that convinced me were the reviews that bagienny and oppositive posted. I figured chiming in with my (subjective) take would be good to help others make their decisions about this laptop.

For anyone looking for a "budget" gaming notebook that looks and performs great this is really an excellent fit. I haven't gotten to do any rigorous gaming with it yet, but my benchmark results are in line with the previous reviews, absolutely destroying my old laptop in everything. I'm looking forward to seeing how some overclocking goes

It took my awhile to realize that I needed Cinema Pro turned on to activate the subwoofer, which really made the sound about 100x better. I wouldn't say it's anything special, but the sound without Cinema Pro sounds terrible imo. I need to set up my 5.1 speaker system with this since it has the 7.1 speaker jacks (another main draw).

There is very little flex, except for the right side of the palmrest. It isn't awful, but i wouldn't go around grabbing the laptop with only one hand from that part of the laptop. The keyboard as others have said is also not the greatest. They keys are very thin and kind of loud, it just doesn't "feel" like the greatest keyboard ever, but it's definitely not the worst either. The numpad is a big plus for me since I'm going to be a math PhD student next year and running calculations in mathematica and sage is a pain without it. I really do like the track pad; it's responsive and the multi touch works well. The buttons are a bit loud, but overall I'm very happy with it.

That being said, it is very light and definitely a laptop i would throw in a bag and take with me to class and work on a daily basis. The battery life is stellar when you think about the components you are getting, up to 3:45 for me on maximum battery settings doing standard web browsing. When I want to sit around and play some games or watch some movies, the various built in settings help get performance to just the right level. It comes with very little bloatware and was a cinch to setup and I had no issues with it out of box. If i had to give this laptop a number rating, it'd be a 9/10.

Note: I got this at Jr.com and used 5% bing cashback to get it for $855 (no tax outside of NY and like $2 ground shipping)

 

Thank you Final_Spirit, I think you have convinced me to buy the MSI GE600.

 

Wait...the GE-600 is no gaming rig...LOL

GE-600 series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

@Final_Spirit

Do you have any issues regarding Media Player / Flash movies like youtube with activated ATI graphics?
Or any issues when using an external monitor?

 

I haven't set it up to an external monitor yet, but I'll hook it up to my TV through hdmi later and let you know how it goes. I have used both the ATI and integrated graphics settings on youtube and hulu and not seen any issues that the other users reported.

 

Hey N1c0, I ran hulu, youtube, and played some Portal on my tv through the hdmi connection. Everything was smooth with ATI graphics turned on.

However, I now have an odd issue. If i move my laptop a little bit, for instance if it's in my lap and I tilt it to the side or pick it up off my lap, the laptop beeps... I'm not sure where it is coming from yet and I'm currently looking into it. It's just a bit disconcerting to not know how/why this is happening. Nothing seems to be wrong, temperatures are fine, everything is functioning so it doesn't seem like something is loose. If anyone has ideas on this that would be great.

 

Did all of you do a clean install on the GE600?

 

what's the battery life with med brightness on intel gpu surfing web with headphones on?

 

OK guys, I'm into 1 week + 1 day of ownership of this GE600, and I LOVE IT! I was a software tester for a wireless company for an internship, and I've used dozens of different laptops (Lenovo, Fujitsu, HP, Acer, Asus) because we have to test our software on different configurations. This MSI blows them all away.

I really love the thin, sleek and profession look. I use it for my new job which is research and development on Silverlight/Visual Studio 2008, and it handles the job superbly. When I'm not working, I play CoD MW2 and the performance is stunning. I highly recommend this laptop.

The only downside is the glossy screen, but I'll get a viewguard in the near future to fix this. Regarding the ATI Radeon issue, I only noticed it when using Windows Media Player. Of course, I don't use that, so I haven't noticed it ever since it happend the first time.

 

Thank you

Can you run some Movies with Media Player on external Monitor please
The beep... is it a continually beeping or just a short *beeep* ?

@ Final_Spirit @ JunkStory
Whats about battery runtime?

 

Thanks for all your comments, i think i am going to purchase the GE600 as well.

 

I haven't got any new issues with using external monitor connected via both D-SUB or HDMI. It just takes some time to tweak the parameters for a while, but once you do it, it's flawless.

You can get about 2,5-3 hours with power saving mode. A little above 3h with dimmed LCD to minimum.

 

I got mine yesterday. Here are my thoughts:

The Ralink wireless is a piece of crap, thanks to its lack of support for 5ghz band (I had the same complaint with the Gateway NV5927U I bought for myself/my wife). Unfortunately, replacing it requires the removal of the CPU & videocard heatsink/fan assembly. Not difficult, I had it all done in less than 10 minutes, of which 8 of those minutes was probably spent cleaning off all the extra thermal compound. I have an intel 5100N in it now, and it's much better. Also, it does have the 3rd antenna for anyone looking at a 5300/6300/etc.

Keyboard is mushy, not nearly as firm as my mom's CR600, my clients' 3 GX-620s and 1 CR700, my cousin's A6000, or my friend's GX-720. I've had worse though. I don't feel like it's a matter of it needing extra backing so much as the key movement themselves.

Subwoofer puts out decent enough sound. No complaints here.

Plastic is glossy, but I knew that going in. If I was that worried, I could have shelled out for the 640's aluminum. I will say, that mine is by no means gold colored. It's titanium.

It handles L4D2, TF2, and UT3 like a dream @ default res. I'd prefer a higher resolution for my time outside of gaming, but that's what other computers are for, this is just to play games on.

I'll be wiping it when I get home. I imagine that I'll have as many issues trying to go with regular Radeon drivers as far as switching is concerned as I did with my W500?


It's no Thinkpad, it's no Elitebook. But it's a good enough laptop for my foreseeable future.

 

Are there other owners whom find that the wifi is weak?

@NecessaryEvil:
Can you show a tutorial on how to switch the wireless cards? Much appreciated.

 

@n1c0
I just did my p90x workout through the laptop hooked up to the TV using hdmi fullscreen in wmp with no problems at all on the ATI graphics.

The beeping is also just a single beep once in awhile if I shift the laptop around a bit in my lap or on the desk. It seems to go away after restarting though. It came back once, then I restarted again and it hasn't occurred again. I'll probably open it up tomorrow to see if something weird is going on inside, because random things beeping is a bit too unsettling for me to just let it slide...

@killerfrenzi @n1c0
The battery life at 50% brightness, max battery settings, wmp playing music to headphones and web browsing is about 3 hours. For anyone interested, the battery life tanks with the same settings/tasks when the ATI graphics are turned on.