MSI gx660r-060 is what we've been waiting for

finally, the 660 with a FHD screen. if i didn't buy my 640 a few months ago i would buy this in a heartbeat.

GX660R-060 xoticpc.com


Size & Weight

* 7.71lbs with 9-cell battery
* 14.72"(L) x 9.68 "(D) x 1.06"~1.22"(H)

2 usb 3.0 ports

i7-740QM

ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GDDR5 1024MB

6gb 1333mhz ram

2 7200rpm 320gb HDD

15.6" FHD Super Clear Glossy Glare Screen (1920x1080)


amazing, all for the low price of $1635.

 

Oh wow, this one's good!

The USB3.0 is definitely going to be a plus!

 

Whenever I look up the dimensions of the GX660/660R, I keep seeing 2 different sizes:

14.72"(L) x 9.68 "(D) x 1.06"~1.22"(H)
&
15.6"(L) x 10.6"(D) x 2.2"(H)

Almost a full inch larger each direction, which really effects portability. I wonder which one is correct?

 

The first.

 

Anyone know how I can find out the color display depth, color gamut, static contrast ration, and dynamic contrast ratio on a desired build before I buy it? Visual quality is prime importance for me.

 

Be careful. As always, some of the "great deal" builds available at exoticpc have the inferior screen, less memory, etcetera. Not really such a great deal.

Going from the stock i7 740QM to the i7 840QM processor in the Alienware M15X adds 300.00 dollars US to the price. In the MSI going from the stock 720QM to the 840QM adds 575.00 to the price. How much performance difference would you really see with the 840?

 

It's a screen that comes stock from MSI, I think you're really confused as to how some of the builds work. You're probably thinking of barebone laptops that function on a different business model and are targeted more to upgraders than people who are looking to stick with stock configs.

The price difference is based on whether its a reseller upgrade or manufacturer upgrade. It's not really so much someone trying to rip you off versus what's financially feasible for the person doing the upgrade.

 

920XM QS are around $440 on eBay. A much better investment IMO.

 

Is there gonna be someone in europe from which i could order this laptop and also allow this kind of customizability(like exotic pc). Because i don't know if they ship to such a distant country like romania, and if they do it's a tough choice for me to make, and on top of that i don't know how customs handle the taxes.

 

This company in Czech republic already have czech version of GX660R. I liked their service (I bought my GX640 from them)

MSI GX660R-096CZ - Czech Computer | czc.cz

As you can see, they offer fullHD screen, 6GBs of RAM, i7-720. Just what you need. I doubt one would want to customize anything in there.
For the price equivalent of 1620 Euro.

 

I am still trying to find out if this one has an express card slot or not...

anybody owns this can confirm me?

thanks

 

well specs say "yes", this notebook has express card.

 

this is released or pre order ?

BR

 

The GX660R-060US is a pre-order and is due to arrive late next week.

 

Unfortunatly you7 can't customize it, and xotic pcs has exactly the components i want, 840qm, crucial c300 128/256 Gb, 1Tb hdd. And crucial ssd is hard to find it seems in europe. But i still have to wait till october.

 

It seems to be as thick and heavy as a 15" clevo now, which loses the important thing gx640 provides - portability.

 

Portability isn't the only thing that makes the GX640 great. It's the amazing performance at the price point of 1,100 USD. I doubt I could have found a better or similar performing laptop as the GX640 with my budget of 1,100 USD. That being said, if I had a bigger budget, I would gladly go for the GX660 or something with similar specs.

 

How is it 3 dimms is dual chanell ?

The only retailer thus far i have found in europe who has decent customizing options seems to be kobalt computers in uk. They ship to romania. Unfortunatly they won't have MSI laptops, which is a shame. I really hope they be gettin some, allthough i higly doubt it.

 

Just curious about why you are getting the 840qm or even the 940. Is it mostly for video editing/rendering? By the way, does it provide any performance gain in games? (fps, etc). Trying to configure a GX660R as low as possible, but with max performance just for games (ram, hdd, cpu). Thanks..

 

I kinda reached the conclusion the 840qm isn't worth the exta 575 USD.
I was just adding a 128GB crucial ssd, (would have gone with the 256, but it's to much, still i might go with the 256 if i had enough money) and 1TB hdd.

I don't know if it is also worth it to get the 6200 intel link.

With 128GB crucial. it reached the sum of 2137 or 2172 with the intel link.
Pretty decent sum, even with the 150 extra usd for international shipping.

THE THING is, i don't know wheter or not i will be charged extra when it hits the border of my country. And the worst part is i don't know where to find that information. It would be a big plus if i won't be charged extra. But i can't be sure.

 

As far as I know there cannot be any additional taxes within European Union. Unfortunately, I don't know what happens when importing goods from outside EU.

 

The GX660R-060 has landed (along with the GX660) You should see them more readily available for the time being.

 

Perfect timing!

Question though. From all the pictures I've seen, I can't tell if it has an illuminated keyboard. Any chance you would be able to clarify this for me?

Also, in what array are the hard drives configured out of the box (default)? I'm not a big fan of RAID 0 on laptops, so will going a different route be a custom order?

Thank you in advance.

If it weren't so damn flashy, this would be my next choice easily. When are manufactures going to learn that powerful gaming specs does not mean Broadway/Time Square lighting or looks.

 

No illuminated keyboard.

They are setup in raid 0 only. Raid 1 is not available in the setup utility.

 

Nope..The spacey disco lights are all in the wrong places. I guess they believe everyone who buys powerful notebooks is a club going hip hop 20 something seeking approval from peers. LOL I would turn that stuff off. The M15X I ordered and returned was far worse though. . That thing screamed "HASBRO".....

The machines apparently do ship with raid 0 unless you indicate you want them to from what I have seen. RK charges $29 to remove the raid setup.

I would actually like to delete one drive, the $94 Blue Ray option and wait for SSDs to drop and stick one of those in there. But it seems there is no option to delete a drive for credit. (XoticPC will drop the Blue Ray and $94 which is a start LOL) Now if I could get them to drop a drive......That would put me in my less than $1500 sweet spot every three years when I am buying a new lappy. The technology moves too fast in my opinion and possibly "skewed" logic to pay more than that. No matter what is purchased today it will become extremely "old news" and extinct in three years whether one pays $1500 or $3000. (I cannot believe I paid nearly that for this E1705 refurbed Dell a few years ago)

So I like to first get the fastest "sweet spot" processor (currently the i7-740) top end Video card. GTX285 or 5870 4 GB ram is enough and leave off the frills like Blue Ray, 50" TV resolution on small laptop screens and extra drives. I am anxious to see what the mainstream vendors are going to price this lappy at and at what spec. Seems they are pricing the GT660-003 pretty low. (dropped $50 in a week).

 

The GX660R-060US does ship with raid 0 from the manufacture. On both models the "R" is the indicator of the raid 0 setup.
GT660R-004US and GX660R-060US are both shipped with raid on and setup on both drives from the manufacture.

 

I saw that and corrected my post. In that regard, I won't be buying any configured twin drive lappy in raid setup . The GT660R-003 has a single drive.I guess I will have to wait and see if a spec is released for the mainstream vendors on the GX660 similar to single drive GT660R-003US.

 

I'm so getting this laptop. In fact I'm typing this on my 3 year old GX600. Wish it had an illuminated keyboard though. Oh well... Nothing is perfect.

 

ok since it has landed... anybody can confirm the express card slot and the line in and mic input?


thanks

 

The GX660R is going to be HUGE.

 

i really want to like this notebook but i cant get over the crazy ricer disco light show and flamboyant looks

 

They are at the manufacture, we should have some on hand in a few days and I can verify both items for you. There is no reason this model should not have both features.

 

The illumination can be completely turned off and once done is not noticable at all.

 

Thank you for the response.

Now, will the consumer be able to reformat the drives and set them up to their liking? (1 boot drive/1 storage) or is it locked to only RAID 0? (which I highly doubt, but can be wrong)

I just can't believe they would include landing strips but no illuminated keyboard. How ironic is that!

Tell me about it!

 

Yes you can reformat and completely disable raid. You will end up as you said with 1 boot and 1 storage. I have the GT660R and that is exactly what i did with my model. Once you make your 3 recovery DVD's you can reinstall on any drive or combo of drives.

 

Although there should be on one this caliber of notebook there is no illuminated keyboard. There will be no other option but Raid 0 available. We should have a video review posted later today on this model.

 

My idea is also to skip the raid. That's why i like exotic pcs, because they "allow me" to use speed drive (crucial real ssd) and storage drive (1TB hdd)
Because i don't want to be gettin twin 320gb or 500gb hdd only to take them out and swap them for a ssd and a tb hdd.

Also, xotic is also my choice because they have the option to add a storage drive. In my head storage drive means 1TB hdd. as in biggest capacity hdd available for laptops. Not the 750, or the 640, but the TB hdd.

Crucial ssd are also the one of the fastest ssd available now (in some cases they saturate the sata II link) so they enter the category "speed". Category "storage" is biggest hdd available that can be fitted inside. And that's, as i said, the TB hdd.

Also, this is in my opinion the perfect balance between speed and storage.

Setting up raid means you don't get neither speed, nor storage.
If you set up 2x7200rpm 500gb hdd, you get somewhere in between, decent speed, and storage, bUT with the version above, you get way more speed, and ofcourse more storage.
If you go the other way around setting up 2 ssd, you get speed, allthough is much more speed than one crucial ssd, the thing is you sacrifice space and money, for more speed, speed wich is on top of the speed of the crucial, which is also big as it is.

The best option is "speed" and "storage"
That's why i want twin bay hdd laptops. And most twin bays are 17". Before this model i never thought there were any twin bay 15". Someone mention an asus, but that's old news.

If you add to all of this, the premium sound, gpu and cpu, together with that hd@32fps camera and posssibly more than decent sound card, togther with all the features mis offer on top of this, you can easily conclude this MSI laptop is probably the BEST option AT THE MOMENT.

Not even a x7200 tempts me more than this msi jewel.
I will get one for sure. No questions asked.

 

awesome looking forward to this

 

Here are some benchmarks that were completed earlier this AM. Video will be posted later on today.

 

Found a video of the machine for people wanting to get a better look at it .... Looks very nice overall..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLcs94ED1Hk

 

Excellent temperatures, a good 10-15c cooler than the GX740

 

wow, cooling is by far much better than the gx 740 =[

 

It has a hot key to kick up the fans which we didn't even touch yet on our benchmarks. So it can get even cooler when running the maximized fan setting.

EDIT: Here is a Vantage Run with the 940XM

 

Anyone know when we might see a full review of this thing? I'm trying to decide between this and a Sager NP8690, and I'm getting antsy. I've been without a computer of my own for a month after my laptop crapped out on me.

 

GX660R temperature with stock drivers (10.6) and stock thermal paste:

 

hmmmm .... i am now very interested

 

And now with IC Diamond:

 

Battery impressions thus far?

 

Nice Video but I was hoping to get some impressions of the Screen and Audio quality. Like playing a Blu-Ray or something. The Audio and more slightly smaller size is what makes me want this more than the G73.

 

The Screen is a AUO screen and we also list it in our Video Review that should be up later tonight on You Tube. As for Audio, the MSI Laptops that use the DYNAudio, have been the best we have seen on any laptop. It is loud, crisp and has very good highs and lows. We were very surprised on how loud it was and how good the sound was. By far the best Audio we have seen in a laptop.

I agree, and it is also running on stock Thermal Compound