New gaming laptop from MSI for $799

This looks like a good deal, How are those MSI laptops?

www.tomsguide.com/us/msi-gaming-notebook-gx630,news-2947.html


Learux

 

i'd advise against purchasing that particular model. the screen res is only 1280x800, which is, imho, nothing short of ghastly for a 15.4" gaming notebook. moving on, RAM sounds good, the HDD is reasonably spacious (though i'd be willing to put money down it's a 5400rpm model, increasing load times etc). webcam, bluetooth are standard nowadays. as for the CPU, it's a dual-core AMD, and while i don't know much about AMD processors, i don't think you'll get an especially powerful one for 800$. as for the grande finale, the GPU is a 9600m-gt w/ 512mb, which barely passes as a gaming GPU.

of course, if you want to, by all means buy it, but i personally would stay away, especially seeing how you can get such nice deals on Clevos and Gateways nowadays.

 

Looks good I'd take it over an Alienware laptop any day

 

The CPU will be more then sufficient for everyday tasks, I think the resolution is perfect for that screen size.

That will also help with gaming, nothing more effective then lowering resolution to get better fps.

$800 is a good price.

Learux

 

oh stop kidding yourself.

 

That's a good price for what you're getting. Sure it has an AMD processor and a low resolution screen, but it's also $800. The 9600M GT in it uses DDR3, so gaming performance would be better than anything in its price segment. The M-6864FX/6862 that was priced at $749 doesn't even have bluetooth and its HD2600 doesn't even compare to the 9600M GT. It's not a gaming machine, but it will play most games out there at a respectable setting.

 

You can get the MSI GX630 at newegg.com for $799. I paid $749 for my below average Acer Extensa 5620Z which has a crappy intel graphics accelerator card which basically can't play anything. Oh I wish I could trade this in for the GX630. For $799 it's an absolute steal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152073&Tpk=msi

 

Was just about to do the post of the newegg deal. I was wondering about the upgradability of this machine. It uses MXM right? Although the processor doesn't look upgradable..so don't know if this machine in terms of gaming, can last 6 years...

 

I have yet to see a gaming machine, laptop or desktop, that can last 6 years (meaning, where it would not be both cheaper and better to buy one that only lasts 3 years and then 3 years later buy another one for the remaining time).

That said, this is a good price for what you're getting. The RAM (and probably hard drive) are of the slower variety, but that doesn't make much difference. The screen matches the GPU (there's no point in getting a high-res screen for a 9600M GT) and the GPU is decent. Note also that it's only 5.6lb (2.5 kg) which is pretty light for a 15-inch notebook.

Its one serious weakness (and probably why it is so cheap) is the 2.0 GHz AMD processor. Still, it's adequate for everyday tasks and most games don't rely on the processor that much anyway so it's no big deal.

 

Would the processor be upgradable? Or is this the final peak for the AMD older motherboard series? (2.0Ghz)

 

I kinda think the recent HP, and Asus $200 off deals would top this laptop. The HP and Asus are Intel to boot, so the cost to performance ratio is up there. HP is also 17incher.

I also think they all have GeForce 9600M GT?

 

i am just worry about the heat on this thing.. they didn't show picture on bottom of the laptop, while i can see it lift up high because of 4 stand in each conner that made out of plastic. The price and GPU makes me jump in.. but i wait for after thanksgiving

 

The GPU's actually not that strong..it's similar to Asus' G50 lower end series right?

 

it has ddr3 9600gt, as the webpage of msi says so

what im concerned is weather the ram is 677 or 800, because it says it can have either. :/

Nevermind, its 800mhz 4gb ram

im gonna buy it for sure!



edit: (should prolly change the title so it says GX630 and people know what the topic is about )

 

Well the traffic density of the MSI subforum is so low, that I'm sure everyone reads most of the threads here anyway =p. MSI needs more love!

BTW how much battery life can I expect, out of this? I kinda wish it was an ATI card, so it can have switchable graphics....Deciding between this deal, and a Lenovo T500 now...

 

I'm surprised at how people are complaining about its features. Come on guys, it's just $800. For a laptop, it's durt cheap. You'd have to settle with an integrated GMA X4500HD (or something low-end like a 9300GS for discrete graphics) if you went with another brand.

 

Considering the Athlon X2 isn't power efficient as the Turion X2, I'm guessing something along the lines of two hours with 1/2 brightness.

edit: Dope! Looks like I was wrong on that one..
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=200528

So is the CPU more power efficient? Sounds like it to me, but after seeing that thread, I really don't know. Judge for yourself.

 

$800 sounds good ... but I'll take one with Intel CPU and ATI card.

G!

 

you meant Intel Nehalem 965 Extreme Mobile + ATI HD 5899 right?
Money is not an issue, right?

 

9600mgt ddr3

also sold at amazon (still not available, plus free shipping in Super Saver!)

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GX630-028...f=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1227043712&sr=1-10

 

Can't complain for the price. 9600M GT DDR3 will run most newer games at medium-high settings. A better CPU would help too. A higher res screen would also be nice... but again, the price is great for a gamer on a budget. So what's not to like if that's you?

LOL the difference between 667 and 800 is so puny it's pretty much insignificant.

 

Should the build quality of this model equal to the one with the Turion X2? You know, the only other model that costs $300 more? I don't know, but something tells me MSI's going to cut corners to compensate for the price difference.

 

its cutting corners via the processor, its the same freaking laptop but the other one has turion x2.

 

So besides the lower screen resolution and worse CPU, what differentiates this from the MSI-1651? feeling a bit like I might have overpaid for the MSI-1651, plus only have 2 gb of ram and a 160gb hdd in mine....

 

Hi Gaara,

What was your cost before Taxes (if any) and S&H!?!?

G!

 

gonwk,

PowerPro P 15:3 (with spec listed in sig): $1534
S&H: $31.00
No taxes

Getting Vista Ultimate upped the price a bit, probably could have done with just Business or Home, but have used features from both, so not sure if I could have eliminated that...(had to much invested in Windows to switch to Ubuntu or other OS).

 

I bought it today, this morning from Newegg, 799.99, it ended up to 1,006 with accesories, taxes and ordinary 3day shipping

I hope it does great, and I have no problems, cuz if there are, I have no time to ship it back to newegg, cuz I leave USA in about 1 week from today :/ and come back to USA in like 5 years or so

>.<

 

Where are you going Maniatiko?

 

Colombia and maybe argentina

 

Hey Maniatiko!

When you get it, can you give us a quick review? I'm looking into buying it as an inexpensive gaming notebook. I'd love to know how you like it

 

yes, I will, in 1 week and 2 days Ill put FULL review, pictures of the laptop, the box, the unwrapping, benchmarks, everything! Just let me get to Colombia, to download the pics from my camera, and be comfy on my computer to do the review as full as I can.

Not a quick review my friend, I'll try to do my best!

Also, im doing this review, cuz on the largest Colombian online community many people are going to buy the laptop and want me to also make a review before they buy it, so Ill prolly do it on Spanish and English versions if I have time, so dont worry, Ill do it!

 

Muchisimas gracias amigo!!! Que te valla bien en colombia!

 

I put both on my MS-1651. (Well XP and Ubuntu 8.10 32b. Also note, if you use Ubuntu search for the laptop harddrive killer bug, as you will need to enable laptop mode in acpi.conf AND likely adjust a parameter in laptop-mode.conf o.w. your hdd is gonna die REAL fast. I had forgotten about this little bug until I heard my hdd clicking on battery, and had to go track down the info. The bug causes the r/w heads to park/unpark (load cycles) almost continuously and most drives are onyl rated at 600k load cycles.)

As to this: I've NEVER EVER like AMD mobile CPUs, as they've never been all that energy efficient especially compared to their processing power which tended to be anemic, which is why I didn't even bother looking at them this time around. Seems like their better notebook processors ATM are the TL-68 and higher, which when I did a price comparison of a similar system to the 1651 made the AMD nb about $50 more expensive for an IIRC c. 2.2GHz CPU v. the 2.4GHz P8600 that I ordered.

(Mine was. c. $1123 + $24 S/H. Supplier was so close that I went for el cheapo UPS ground and actually got it the next day anyways... I still dislike pokey UPS though... would rather have USPS as max delivery time for about the same cost is 2d(48 contiguous states unless it's from BFE, but no one has stores in BFE) for me, plus they deliver on Saturday by default, but I guess that's maximize profits v. maximize customer service...)

 

$800 is a good deal no matter how many ways you slice it isnt it unbelievable just to other day $1400 notebooks with great GPU's were considered "bargains" now the price has dipped even further, unbelievable!

 

What are the specs for your MSI-1651?

 

mine is arriving tomorrow


EDIT at Monday 9:23:

I just saw and the GX630 on Newegg is now 849.99
D4MN NEWEGG!
Well, atleast mine arrived today, but I wasnt home for the delivery X_x

 

MSI MS-1651 WSXGA+ screen (1680 x 1050) 512MB GDDR3 9600M GT
Intel P8600
Kingston 2 x 2GB ValueRAM CL5
WD 320GB BEVT
Multi-DVD option (no need for blu-ray here)
Intel Wifi Link 5300
Arctic Silver on the heatsinks (they even sent me the tube, which I own't ever likely use as I'm too lazy to clean off the factory gunk, plus factory has been good enough for my desktops so far...)
No OS (installed Ubuntu 8.10 32b and had a spare XP pro license AND I'd've needed to re-partition and re-install anyways...)

The only drawback so far is that under ubuntu it's failing to read the EDID from the monitor so I'm stuck with only 1680 x 1050 res ATM. Need to find the synch and refresh timings to get working manual modelines going for other resolutions, or a fix for EDID parsing... XP OTOH is letting me pick all available resolutions...

 

Amazon still has it for 800 but it looks like due to pre-orders they are out of stock. If someone is willing to wait to get it after Christmas, they can get it for that price with amazon w/ free shipping

 

mine arrives today too!! i hope its a good laptop and last long.. my hp dv6000 just died a week ago.. i only owned it for a year and half... and paid $1200 for it.. god what a rip off and piece of crap of machine....

 

How many years in your warranty? You have better specs (2 more gb of RAM and 160gb more HDD) and come in around $200 under me (excluding Vista Ultimate from the price). Grrr

 

Mine arrived on monday (Super fast weekend shipping via UPS 3 day regular service) so it said it was supposed to by arriving on tuesday and it arrived monday night, I wasnt home since I wasnt expecting it, and it wasnt delivered, just tomorrow night the UPS guy came

About the Laptop:

Suuuuuuuuuuuuper cool, plenty of holes for the cooling process.
Extremely silent, my uncle's Macbook is even noisier, even my desktop is noisier, I still cant hear no noise, just the keyboard press key sound which is kind of oldstyle nice sound
No physical manual, so I didnt know how to use WLAN and other things, when I realized it came on the CD's
Startup for first time took quite a long time, like half an hour or so.
Metal airbrushed is Awsome!
Touch buttons are excellent, no need to press, just pass finger through it!
Several keys are reduced in size, such as the Arrow keys, and these also: "," "." "/" ";" "'" Basically the none gaming keys on the right side of the keyboard just before the Numpad starts, which is kind of easy to adjust except on the Arrows which I find way too small, and NOT a laptop for chubby handers.

FULL review and Pics of the Unboxing, laptop and more will come next week prolly on wednesday as I arrive home!

 

I got the GX630 a few days ago. I put Vista x64 on it, and haven't had a problem with it yet. It runs smooth and quiet. Screen could be a little more crisp, but it plays games and HD video fine. Initial setup does take a long time. Mine was more close to 45min. I believe it has more to do with the 5400rpm hard drive. I'm replacing that soon. WiFi works great. Battery life:
If it's in ECO, battery saver mode, you might get a little over 2 hours out of it. That's being on it the whole time. Gaming, maybe an hour, but turbo only works on AC power. All in all, it's a great laptop for the money. Read all the reviews on it over on Newegg. MSI has a lot of happy customers on their hands.

 

more info on the screen please muthaflaco?? thanks

 

It's a 1280x800. It's bright and nice. It just looks to me that it has a 'soft' look. It could be in the settings, I haven't messed with them. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, as my desktop has a CRT.

 

boo for me i will not buy less than wsxga on a 15" i didnt realize it was wxga... thanks for the answer though

 

does MSI have a laptop with a 9800 in it?

 

50average FPS on COD5 1280*800 4xAA High Settings.

 

MSI GT627: http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?news_no=688&func=newsdesc

No release date, and yes, I'm still bugging MSI to spit out one.

 

it comes out at end December, early January at the same time as the GT725 and is probably going to cost the same around 1350 dollars for one model and 1599 for the higher end model

 

hey guys sorry for sounding stupid, but does anyone know how i could check if my graphics card is a ddr2 or ddr3 on vista?