CES 2007: MSI Notebooks with Crystals and New ATI X2600 Graphics Card

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While at CES 2007 we were able to check out the MSI booth in the Sands Convention Center on the Las Vegas strip. We found some rather bling looking crystal studded laptops that will have the new Intel Crestline chipset. To add to that, MSI revealed the name of some upcoming graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia.

MSI ER710 Notebook with ATI X2600 Graphics

(view large image)

Well, well, well. Look at the specs of this wood paneled crystal studded ER710 MS-171B laptop from MSI and you see &quot;Incredible 3D graphics with ATI X2600 graphic solution&quot;. There's no public information out there on this graphic card, but we can only guess it's an upgrade of the current X1600 that probably supports DirectX 10 graphics. Notice this is powered by an AMD Turion X2 processor, AMD bought out ATI and are providing the processor and graphics soution in this 17&quot; WXGA gaming notebook.

A zoom in on the specs (view large image)

MSI GX710 Notebook with ATI X2600 Graphics Card

MSI GX710 ATI X2600 graphics powered notebook (view large image)

Yet another ATI X2600 graphics card powered laptop from MSI. This time we're looking at the GX710 MS-171A. Check out that painted lid finish! The MSI logo has crystal studs too. Aside from the bling factor, this laptop offers a 17&quot; widescreen glossy display with AMD Turion X2 graphics. Again an AMD processor being paired with an ATI graphics card.

 

MSI S310 13.3&quot; AMD Turion X2 Notebook

MSI S310 13.3&quot; screen notebook (view large image)

The MSI S310 is a 13.3&quot; notebook with an AMD Turion X2 processor and ATI Express 1150 graphics (integrated). It's a smart looking little laptop that's currently available and even smarter with a wood panel area touchpad or crystal as you can see in these pictures!

MSI S310 13.3&quot; screen notebook (view large image)

Here's a picture of some of the crystal studded and painted laptops from MSI they had in a case (view large image)

 

Wow...DX10 graphics potentially around the corner? Looks like I need to go put my foot in my mouth; I figured we wouldn't see DX10 notebooks until summer at best.

 

i find it odd that msi is the first brand (sans rumors of the asus notebook with the dx10 gpu) to have models with the dx10 gpu.....

 

LOL, Andrew said bling. Hah.

Those things are pretty cool looking. Can't say that I would want wood paneling or "bling" )) crystals on my laptop, but cool idea that may appeal to some.
I'm with night on the DX10 GPUs, I didn't expect to see them so soon, granted these ones aren't very powerful, but it seems like they are figuring out power options faster than anticipated.

 

There's no word on the release of these notebooks though. For instance, that GX700 can't possibly be released until April/May when Intel starts shipping Santa Rosa. I think we're seeing laptops here that are a long way off from landing on shelves.

 

asus has the a8jr for sale in europe right now with the ati x2300

the notebook with the santa rosa chipset wont be for sale but the gpu probably will be.

it is called the g84 or, 8400 mobile. Its a low range gpu but its only in 17 inch notebooks so far....

The one i definitely hadnt seen before it the ati x2600. thats very exciting.
as far as msi introducing it, whats happening is the part manufacturer is starting to work the market introduction into its own laptop line.
So I 'guess' that msi manufactures the ati x2600

 

My favorite part of those little spec sheets is the screen specs. Did anyone else find it funny a manufacturer would promote "Super Glare Type" screens? To me glare is normally a bad thing....

Btw, what's up with the holographic Windows stickers? Did the Windows sticker just get "genuine" too?

 

Still waiting for leather-bound editions of the 17" laptops. They've officially done everything else. Are those functional prototypes?

 

Yes, they had Vista running on them, sorry I didn't get pictures of the actual screen to show that.

 

That is funny. How much glare would a person want?

 

great news andrew, thanx

 

Hope ASUS V2 will come in this spec as well

 

I am pleasantly surprised to see that DX 10 has made its way into notebooks (seemingly at this point) faster than expected.

That wood and crystal design scheme is so gaudy though. Don't think I would ever go for that kind of look myself. I'd choose cheap-looking plastic over that LOL.

Thanks for the report Andrew! This is encouraging news for notebook gamers indeed.

 

the wood design is probably the worst one. from the pics, it looks like they couldn't find enough materials and used wood as a substitute

great pics though, I wonder when MSI will reveal their 15.4" and 14" models

 

That wood look is terribly tacky... But the X2600 puts a smile on my face!

The specs for the V2 earlier were that it came with the X1450. I hope it comes with something like the X2400 or higher...

 

well its not even wood is it?

it looks like the stickers that go on the side of a ford pinto.

 

Heh. I was at CEBIT Hannover early next year. Some of the notebooks that were on display there didn`t make it to the market before novermber.

 

I think it's either wood-grain simulated plastic or worse, the decals like you said.

It looks a lot like the simulated wood from the 70's. Very cheesy in my opinion.

 

I cannot believe it? Are those ATI videocards DX 10? ATI R600 is not out yet, so how can they produce DX 10 videocards for notebooks?

Charlie

 

Wonderful! DX10 gpus in notebook so soon?
I didn't find ati x2300 gpus in stores, but i found this page that explains an issue resolved with the ati mobility radeon x2300...
Means that soon we will see a review of one of these gpus!

 

the asus a8jr is for sale with the x2300

probably not easily available but there are a few european websites selling them.

Becuase it ships with vista it probably wont be shipped until feb 1

 

I was wondering when dx10 gfx's cards where going to make the market in notebook. The MSI is a nice looking although not my style, now I can look forward to getting a pure gaming notebook in the future. Does anyone know what a notebook like this will be going for?

 

You know the rumour that laptops wouldnt have dx 10 gpus until july or december was started on this site by a dealer.

One user started repeating it and then a lot of users started repeating it and then suddenly it was several peoples opinion and they repeated it like it was happening....
I mean its just a lesson to me in the telephone game

And I couldnt spend the time to argue with everyone who kept posting that because I can just say, I think thats a really bad opinion I have a better opinion based on a better forum poster.
theres a lot of dedicated forum users or mods that repeat news here but that was definitely not news its a dealer telling a user "buy now dont wait".... which happens to be the opinion every dealer has always for whatever reason they can come up with at the time

Who cares about me lol but I saw a nvidia roadmap months ago that said the release was jan 15th and it really grated my teeth to see all the people asking when they could get a dx 10 card in their notebook and the regulars here telling them july.

If the notebooks arent for sale feb 1st they are behind schedule.

Cant have dx 10 out without notebooks that run it....

dx 10 was finalized in november, that means microsoft had notebooks running it then....
nothing else to work on the entire run from 8300 -8900 etc is all in product samples as of november.
they could wait til july if that generates more money, but it wont so they wont.

They do not invent the software and then work on the hardware. Ever...

 

True. I never once believed that they'd be coming out in july --> december (dx10 out for 8 months with out the support? thats a joke microsoft has been collaborating with ati/nvidia on this for years).

But then again I never told anyone that they were wrong when they said it, I guess I wasn't sure. Rumors always get started though I can't be sure whats true and whats not.

edit: And the funnier thing was people saying DX10 games won't be around for years...Crysis / Age of Conan / Alan Wake will be out in less than 2 months people...but i'm too busy in college so i don't care :0

 

@stamar--I'd love to see a link to that roadmap. That might have been very helpful information to see.

@link1313--I don't think anybody said that DX10 games wouldn't be around for years. More likely it was being said that DX10-exclusive games wouldn't be out for at least a year or two (depending on the market's reaction).

 

Does anyone else notice that the new intel chip has 802.11n but on the MSI list, only a,b,g are mentioned!

 

Pretty sneaky of ATI and Nvidia to release next to no info on DX10 notebook GPUs and here we suddenly see them?

 

I am actually so sorry I forgot to back up one of my statements with an example...my bad.

Refer to this thread for example (titled 'Direct X 10 and you'):
http://forums.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=92348&highlight=directx+10+games

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This was all i could find from that thread but I do remember a few other times I read it. Sorry for not giving an example the first time.
P.S. its nobodies fault really ATi/Nvidia really kept it quiet and it was kind of "safe" to assume since desktop ones weren't out why should notebook GPUs be out.
P.P.S: Im not trying to be rude guys. sorry if anybody gets offended.

 

link1313--are you talking about DX10 GPUs now? I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. Your first post mentioned that people were saying DX10 games would not be coming out for a couple of years. I've been following that thread and I don't recall anyone saying DX10 games were a long ways off-- DX10-exclusive games have been mentioned under that context though.

It still remains to be seen how soon the DX10 GPU notebooks actually reach the market here in US.

 

I'm tired. that must be it =/