Power Pro 11:36 (MSI 16F2 barebone) review

Review of Power Pro 11:36​

It doesn't have orange lights, it's just several hundred dollars cheaper
Donald Stratton(Power Notebooks)​

Hello,
We(Me and my friend) have oredred custom built laptop from Power Notebooks. it's called Power Pro 11:36. So, I wanted to share my experience with you. (NOTE:I am sorry for any mistyping or mistakes being made, English is not my native language.)
So, let's start.
Overview
Build quality of this laptop is good. it looks better than GT68X in my opinion. It doesn't have any orange lights and touch panel. Speaker system is the same DynAudio as MSI GT68X use. So, you can expect very nice sound quality. Here are the specs that our unit has:
Built-in Bluetooth Wireless 2.1+EDR
Built-in 802.11a/g/n WiFi Card
External USB Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDRW/CDRW Drive (Getting HDD for ODD Bay)
750GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200RPM Hard Drive in ODD Bay
500GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive - Seagate XT NCQ Hybrid w/4GB SSD
120GB Team Group Xtreem SSD
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM (2.0~2.9GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads
15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) LED backlit Widescreen LCD
12GB (3x2GB) DDR3/1333 Memory
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 192bit w/1.5GB GDDR5

Now let's go to details
Chasis and buid quality
As I said before buid quality is very good. It's better that my current GX660 has. In my opinion it looks better than GX660 also. I like this matte black plastic. It looks actually as brushed aluminum.



You will find no touch buttons on front panel as GT68X have. Actually you will find only 3 buttons Power button, Web camera button and win key enable/disable button. All other fetures are available thriugh Fn+Fx key combinations.



Display and battery life

Display is FullHD Galre type AUO optronics B156HW01 V5, with very good viewing angles and image quality. What more can I say....
Battery life is awesome with new generation of intel CPU



Keyboard and touchpad

Touchpad is way better that my GX660 has. It's very responsive. Keyboard is the same with GT/GX series. Typing is very comfortable. No missed keystrokes.

Sound quality

As I said before this laptop is equipped with same DynAudio speakers as GT/GX series do. So, sound quality is the same. I compared it with my GX660 and found no difference. For me it's the best available sound system on laptops nowadays.

Perforamnce and temps





This laptop have no turbo cooler function as MSI GT/GX series do. But actually you will benefit 2-4C if you have it.
I have run some benchmarks. Here are the results:

3D mark06 at default settings. Ambient temp 27C. GPU has stock thermal compound. Maybe it will be changed to ICD 24 in future



3D mark 11 performance preset.



Furmark 1.9



As you can see 85C is the max temps I have achieved with Furmark. So, it means you will never see higher temps during you gaming. it cools down also very quick. It cooled my GPU from 85C to 56C in 3 mins.

Game tests

Dirt 3 benchmark
I have run dirt 3 benchmark 2 times




Fifa 11
All settings on high vsync on 1920*1080. FPS never droped below 60



Heroes 6 beta
Settings






The Whitcher 2
Settings medium 1280*720





The highest temps were detected at Whitcher 2. All other games haven't reached this point. I think, that even 80C is pretty acceptable for high-end GPU. My ambient temp during testing 27C.



Shootout between MSI GT683R & PowerPro R 11:36 from PowerNotebooks.com.

Video


Conclusion
I am very pleased with this laptop. It's truly affordable gaming notebook.
It has everything you need. Powerful GPU and CPU, impressive sound system, effective cooling system and it looks cool

 

Hey Tim,

Nice review!

can you post some frame rates for a few games on this machine??

 

Sure I will test couple of games tomorrow. it's 12:59 AM here now. So, I'll go to sleep now

 

Thanks Tim4 i'm willing to buy this laptop but was ANY about it, just thoughts
I'm ordering this now, the price is unbelieveble. I was concerned about the quality of the laptop, Donald told me its really good but i wanted some review of an actual user...
Thanks a lot, i hope you to make a video review so we can all see that baby almost in person

 

It comes with a stock 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3/1333 Memory, right? You got the 12GB (3x2GB) DDR3/1333, is it the ideal one for game purposes? Why not a 8GB 1600 instead of 1333? Will I note any improvement in fps with 1600?

 

I suggest either 8GB, or if you must, 16GB, so you have dual-channel...

 

Also, how is the stock screen...the 95% gamut is a $95 upgrade, and the matte another $95 on top...

But I hope I don't have to...

 

Hi Tim,

very nice and timely review. thanks a lot!

I'm quite interested in this one also. The only concern I have now is the screen. I don't like glossy ones as I mostly use laptop in well illuminated environment so the reflection is a headache. Do you think the screen is bright enough so that if I put an anti-glare screen film (for protection as well as getting rid of the reflections) it won't get too dark?

another question is: I saw windows7 sticker on palmrest. Did your friend order it with OS? if yes, is the disc come together a installation disc or a recovery disc?

thanks in advance!

 

Screen is bright enought for me. Actually I haven't tried anti glare film myself, so I can't recommend you anything. Only thing I can say that I am using screen on 3/4 of it's brightness.(hope it helps). regarding Win7 sticker. We have put it ourselves as we have copy of Win 7 here. You can ask Donald at Powernotebooks about Win 7 disk.

 

Yes, when you order Windows 7 the Microsoft disk comes with it, as well as the drivers disk.

 

Hi again Tim4 Can you talk a litlle more about the build quality, i mean, it is flimsy or something like that (note that i actually dont know what flimsy means my english is not good at all ^.^) I just want it to be sturdy

 

Hi. All I can say about buid quality it's very solid! I like the way it looks better than my GX660. It has matte plastic, which looks like brushed aluminum + it's fingerprint resistant. Hope it helped

 

I have updated review with some gaming tests. Please look first post.

 

How long does it usually takes, after order it, to delivery?

Thanks for this nice review. If you could post some fps of battlefield bad company and cod would be great!

How would this GPU handle the upcoming Battlefield 3 and COD4?? High-Hes?

 

We can usually ship within 4 to 5 business days, faster if you really need it.

 

Thanks a lot Tim4, I thought that it could handle witcher 2 a litlle better as there is some test on the gt683r that states that it should work at high on 1080p, actually i dont play that game ^.^ but I must say that looks awesome!

 

You are welcome. Battlefield 3 and COD 4 are console oriented titles, so be sure that laptop will handle these games with no issues on high. Since mainly all games(except PC exclusives) are limited with current console generation hardware.

I have tested Whicher 2 with no patches installed, so I guess new patches improved performance for GPU in game. So, high on 1080p will run smooth.

 

Ohh I see, so... I asume that the review was telling the true

 

Very nice machine.

I almost decided on this one over Sager NP8130 until I noticed the 29lb shipping weight vs. 15lb of the later. For delivering the extra 15lb or so to where I live could cost me another 70-80 bucks. Now I'm struggling in mind again...

 

The MS-16F2 is max 12lbs shipping weight for the complete box, notebook and included accessories (battery, a/c, etc).

 

thanks for the review bro. considering buying one of these myself.

 

After speaking with MSI tech support, and dealing with them on a few issues, i would not purchase any laptop from them. and they wont back their products if you upgrade their memory to 8 gigs.
Seems like they offer upgrade packages through their barebone type laptops they offer.

 

You are not buying an MSI laptop, nor would you have to deal with MSI tech support when you buy the PowerPro R 11:36. Instead you get lifetime support from PowerNotebooks.com.

 

Is the adapter head angled or strait?

 

Paladin or Justin from Xotic, if you had the option between buying this notebook, or a similarly configured 8130 with the 95% gamut screen, which would you choose?

The 8130 would have a higher cost by several hundred dollars. The MSI would have a second hard drive. What this comes down to is do you guys see the 8130 being a longer lasting, higher quality notebook by a fair margin?

 

Build quality and long lasting would not be much, if any, different between the two models.

However with the PowerPro R 11:36, in addition to the 2 hard drives that will support RAID 0 support if you want it, there are many more hard drive choices, it has WAY better audio with the Dynaudio speaker system, a full 720P HD Webcam, better battery life and a 9 cell battery, a better warranty package and is a little less money.

 

It is straight, but it plugs into the rear of the PowerPro R 11:36, not the side.

 

That's actually what I was afraid of. I don't like strait plugs in the rear because I tilt my laptop onto the rear a lot when I'm on my bed when I go afk.

 

Then you can get a right angle adapter for just a few dollars. laptop right angle power adapter - Google Search

Just make sure your bedding is not blocking the air intake vents.

 

Oh wow, I didn't know they made those.
Do you know if the 12.5mm hard drives fit in the bay?

Thanks for the helpful replies by the way.

 

One question, is the 560M upgradeable, or are we stuck with that card permanently if we order this laptop?

 

The GPU can be removed, so it maybe possible to upgrade, the only question would be BIOS support.

 

Most of the time the GPU heatsink is what causes a problem with the VGA upgrade. There is not usually a direct replacement for the new GPU heatsink. If MSI stays with this chassis design you could probably use a newer vga and get the heatsink from the branded chassis with the newer VGA.

 

one quick question to any of the resellers that have taken apart this laptop. does it has WWAN card mini-pci slot? what about sager 8130? I have a 3G USB stick but an internal one would be more convenient and save free USB port.

 

The 16F2 does not

 

Hey Rob, do you know if 12.5mm height hard drives fit in the bay?

 

Honestly I have not tried one.

 

I see. I had a horrible time cramming one into my Asus G53. Now I'm afraid if it will fit in the MSI at all.

 

My 9.5 mm drive is flush with the drive bay, the 12 mm drive would definitely be outside the bay, but the bottom cover may still go on.

only real way is to test it.

I have been considering a 1 TB drive anyways

 

Yes, a 12.5mm hard drive will fit perfectly in one of the PowerPro R 11:36 bays, but not both. We have built several with an SSD in the one bay as the boot drive, and a 12.5mm 1TB drive in the other bay for storage.

 

thats what I will be doing then

 

Hi dave, i can see that you used to have an alienware, besides the flashing lights? Do you like the laptop as it looks? Do you feel it sturdy, durable?

Thanks im buying one of these in a couple of days , BTW is the raid0 config worth the risk in any case of data loss?? Is an improvement??

 

Over all I like the look, feel, and quality of the laptop.

Still have not powered it up as I am out of Country on Buisness, and waiting for the CPU to arrive to finish off the build.

Raid 0 will give you a faster read/write time, but any serious drive fault will result in a total loss of data

If your going to use raid 0, then an external drive for backing up files is a must.

 

I have the impression reading from somewhere that most laptop raid are software based so the disk read/write improvement is somewhat crippled by the increase CPU usage. On top of that is the risk of losing all data. But it is worth a try I guess. Maybe have some benchmark posted after you get yours. that'd be nice.

 

I guess i wont try it, im just tired of backups in all places, i want to get a "stable" pc, cant migrate anymore a thousand times i guess that "us" windows users like that too

 

I think we all need a video review on this machine, not because of doubts about the machine itself but i think it would be nice look at it up and running and to se how well it performs, please OP you have it, i wont till end of august

 

We are currently filming a Shootout between the MSI GT683R and the PowerPro R 11:36 that will be up on YouTube by the end of this week. Just look for it at the PowerNotebooks Channel.

One of our customers that runs a gaming website is also working on his video review of the PowerPro R 11:36 that should be up within a few days as well.

We are also doing a Shootout between the MSI GT780R and ASUS G74SX-A1 that will be up by tomorrow.

 

Thats excellent news, i'm waiting for those videos

 

Here is the Shootout! http://www.youtube.com/user/powernotebooks#p/a/u/0/3UKHjmz_CeE

This is our new updated video where we fixed a few of the mistakes...and then put a couple in there. Can you find them?

 

Very nice video Donald! I can sign under each word in it. Overall very pleased with laptop!