MSI Intros 14" GX403 Gaming Notebook

MSI Intros 14" GX403 Gaming Notebook

The MSI GX403 is the latest gaming notebook from MSI; its most notable feature is its 14-inch display, which is smaller than a typical gaming notebook's display. The GX403 is based on the Intel Centrino 2 platform and features an Nvidia GeForce 130M graphics card with 512MB of DDR3 video memory. The notebook supports up to 4GB of DDR2-800 RAM. The GX403 weighs 4.9 lbs (2.2 kg), and measures 13 in/330 mm (W) x 9.5 in/240 mm (D) x 1-1.5 in/25-37 mm (H). There is no word on pricing or availability.

MSI Press Release
Via (Laptoping.com)

 

Looks like a fair competitor to the N80/N81 series from Asus.

 

Seems pretty hot. I'm tending to like msi from its designs lately.

 

I am guessing that this one too just like the GX400 and GX420 before it; will not be making it the USA

 

What's the 130M a rebadge of?

 

9650 GT, maybe higher clocks

 

Looks very promising, I hope RED is not the only color offered.

 

I feel it will generate enough heat or less performance.

 

YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!!!!!!!!

Heard It ALL Before!!!

MSI PROMISED the GX 400 back in August 2008 but it never hit the market... can't find ANY for sale on the web or in the UK...

Now, 9 months later... in May 2009, we have been waiting nearly a month since the "announcement" of the GX 403.....

I am beginning to think that MSI stands for
"Misleading Sales Information"

Anyone else smell a rat?

Come on MSI, STOP MAKING PROMISES THAT YOU DON'T KEEP!

WHEN IS THE RELEASE DATE FOR THE GX 403???

PUT UP OR SHUT UP!

Are there any IT journalists out there who would like to put the heat on them and start asking them to put their products
where their mouth is?

Or perhaps they may consider sticking those fake product releases in a place where the sun doth not shine...

Cheers,

Harlow.

 

I adore 14" gaming notebooks. Is the 130M pretty good? I need to look up some benchmarks.

 

It gets ~5200 3dmark06 score. Compared to it, the 9600m gt gets ~5800 marks.

 

How do you get 5,800 out of a 9600M GT? My laptop barely breaks 4,000, and even the DDR3 ones I have seen do not break 5,000.

Note that my benchmarks were done at the proper resolution of 1280x1024 . . . results from other resolutions are worthless in my book.

 

A 9600M GT DDR3 should be hitting at least 5,000 points in 3DMark06 at 1280x1024, unless there is a problem with the system or the video card is mated to a really slow processor. No overclocking or OS hacks/tweaks.



The DDR2 version is a bit crippled, my HDX 16 never could get more than 4300 points.

 

My Benq (256MB, GDDR3) breaks 5K @ 1280x1024.

 

actually the GT130M scores about 6200...saw it in a chinese review of the Y450

 

All are 128-bit and 32 SP, core clock/shader clock/GDDR3 memory speed:

9600M GT: 500/1250/800
9650M GT: 550/1375/800
GT 130M: 600/1500/800
9700M GT: 625/1550/800

The DDR2 are a lot slower than GDDR3 versions and memory size doesn't affect performance above 256MB.

 

Are you saying a card being 512 instead of 256 doesn't matter?

 

Yeah I too have been waiting for the GX400, GX420, and or GX403. They did come out to the market though, just not in the USA. They are available in other parts of the world.

 

Yes, for the most part. An example of this is here:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14230/5

The 8800 GT is 256-bit, tested w/ 256MB/512MB/1GB. The 256MB isn't enough, while 1GB has no benefit over 512MB. Since pretty much all current nVidia cards are still based off of the same core as the 8 series, we can compare them with their 128-bit cards. 256MB (double the bus width) will yield good results and generally anything above has no benefit. Really, more memory is just a marketing gimmick. The most important thing is memory type (DDR2 is the cheaper and slower version compared w/ GDDR3).

 

Hmmm, but WHERE in the world?

I too have "heard" of one person in Taiwan (an MSI employee perhaps?) getting a gx400 last year BUT there are NO ONLINE SHOPS ANYWHERE in the world who list either gx400 (released August 2008) OR the new gx403 announced April 2009...

I think MSI are guilty of trying to "talk up" the existence of a killer machine, the same way Intel and Asus talked up the eeepc, 6 months before it existed... trouble is, INTEL and Asus are big enough to put their MUSCLES where their mouth is and MSI is not.

The world of "air traveling 3d app developers" is desperate for a 2.5kg machine that will only eat up 3kg of precious hand luggage allowance with it's power brick... ever tried porting a 17 inch laptop through an airport? Sucks!

The gx403 may just be spin... no reviews are available on it's heat/noise issues and the only competition it had in Europe, the Zepto A14 NOX was grossly overpriced at about £1400 and has since dropped off the radar at their UK website anyway.

I, for my part, shall continue the upon the sacred quest for the holy grail of a decent 3d development (and gaming) laptop for frequent flyers.

I suspect that when GPU cores come down to 45nm, we shall see these mythical beasts hit the marketplace in number but until then, I think there is something about heat and noise (and marketing spin...) that MSI are not telling us...

Cheers,

Harlow.

 

The HD 4830/60 are manufactured on 40nm processes. Don't see them hitting the marketplace in number

 

It is now June and this has not made it to the USA. I do not know what is wrong with MSI, if they offered these in the USA they would sell, but I guess they do not see it that way. Oh well they lost my sale, as I ended up purchasing something better for my portable needs and that is my new MacBook Pro 15 inch that weighs just as much as this MSI 14 inch. God Bless

 

I'm really surprised that the 4830 isn't taking over the midrange market. It's 128-bit w/ GDDR3, but it has an amazing number of shaders. I mean, it has as many as the GTX 280M!

I wonder if the yields from the 40nm production are still too low.

 

hm but isnt 4830 not ready yet for production?

 

Production of the 40-nm GPU is having issues (poor yields like Kevin said) and I think most of them are heading into the HD 4770 desktop cards.

 

Looks like MSI failed again as I have not seen this notebook out in the USA or anywhere else in the market around the world.

 

Its very good for a 14 incher.

The Asus N81 with an ATI 4650 is currently the best you can get inside 14 inches that I know about.

Problem is the battery life is terribad and its 5.5 lbs.

This GT 130m won't be quite as powerful, but its over a half pound lighter and might be good enough for 4-5 hours of battery life.

 

It's about time. Though I think it won't last long with all the new technology just on the horizon with 2010.