MSI GX-640 - Best Gaming Laptop for Price?

I've spent the better half of my day comparing laptops and my eyes are almost bleeding. My list of final selections includes this laptop (as well as the Asus G51Jx-A1). The purchase website would be:
M.S.I. GX640-260US Intel Core I5-450m 4gb DDR3 500gb 7200rpm ATI Radeon HD 5850 DVDRW 15.4

1) The Asus apparently has major heating issues, what about the MSI?

2) People are saying the MSI resolution is bad for gaming, others say the screen is 'cheap' and easily breaks, is this true, or just over exaggerated claims?

3) The Asus is quite heavy as per claims, what about the MSI? It's the 'lightest 15" gaming laptop", right?

4) The 17" MSI (740 I think) is also a possibility, is it quite heavy on the lap?

...

I need some convincing since MSI is a new company to me. Tell me why I should or should not buy it over the Asus I linked. Pros/cons?

Thanks alot guys! Very helpful forum!

 

Go with the MSI, it's great for it's price and the 5850 will crush a 260GTX.

 

Yup, will do. Upon further investigation, the graphics benchmark shows the 5850 as the 5th best single card out, with high ratings, while the 260 sits at 30th~ place with only a quarter of the 5850's score. So in essence, the 260 would be garbage for new games, while the 5850 would flourish for 2-3 years.

Oh and by the way, do you warrant the 250$ for the i7 upgrade or the 150$ for 6g ram upgrade? I was considering it but I'm not 100% sure if It'll be a huge improvement down the road. Thoughts?

Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6-2.8GHZ 45w 6MB [+ $250.00]
6gb DDR3 1333MHZ (2gb+4gb) [+ $150.00]

 

6Gb Memory according to me is not necessary at all, so you can go without this upgrade for now (and maybe it won't be needed until the new baby from Microsoft comes out).
About the CPU ... well a faster CPU is always better You can see a comparison of current CPUs on the market and you have to decide for yourself is it necessary to spend 250 more.

 

Very helpful, thanks!

 

When equipped with GDDR5 as in the GX640, the 5850 is closer to the third or fourth best laptop card, I believe. The GTX 480M and HD 5870 beat it, but it's approximately on par with the GTX 285M.

 

There was this nice review posted of the GX640 . . . what sold me on a gx640 was looking at the benchmarks. For the most part, the differences between the gx640 (with ATI 5850) versus the ATI 5870 were pretty small, especially considering all the 5870 machines in the comparrison were also equiped with i7 processors. just didn't seem worth it to spend hundreds more in only a few frames. I can always upgrade the proc. down the road if games start demanding it more.

 

I totally agree. My budget and overall needs dictated that I go for the GX640 anyway, but all the reviews and benchmarks made me feel more confident about finally placing an order over the weekend. I would have loved an i7 and a 5870, but the cost-to-benefit ratio was not worth it for me given my budget, etc.

Hopefully my order arrives next week. I may upgrade ground shipping to something faster because I'm getting too antsy waiting