PowerPro 7:15 (MSI 1656) Review

The PowerPro 7:15 is built on the MSI 1656 gaming notebook. It features a high-resolution 15.4-inch display, Intel Core i7 processor, and Nvidia GTS 250M graphics. Read on to see how it fared in our testing.

A special thanks goes to Donald Stratton of PowerNotebooks.com for sending us this review unit.

Our PowerPro 7:15 (MSI 1656) has the following specifications:

• 15.4-inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) glossy-type display
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz/2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB L3 cache) processor
• Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M 1GB graphics card
• 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM (2x 2GB)
• 320GB 7200RPM hard drive (Seagate Momentus 7200.4/ST9320423AS)
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5300AGN
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• 8X DVD burner
• 1 Year Parts w/2nd Day Ship & 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Support +Lifetime Labor
• 6-cell 4800mAh battery
• Weight: 6.2 lbs.
• Dimensions: 14.11” (W) x 9.7” (D) x 1.0~1.4” (H)
• MSRP: $1,634

The 7:15 starts at $1,347. The options on our test unit consist of 4GB of RAM ($65), the faster 7200RPM hard drive ($25), and Windows 7 Home Premium license ($115). PowerPro notebooks do not come standard with an operating system, which can be an advantage for those that already own a copy or have access to discounted prices.

Build and Design
The 7:15 has a classic, nondescript look with no odd curves or shapes. It is rather slim for a 15.4-inch notebook at only 1.0~1.4 inches, especially one packing this kind of power. The notebook is constructed of mostly plastic; the palm rest and back of the lid are brushed aluminum. Fortunately, none of the plastics used have a glossy coating. While glossy plastic might make the notebook look more attractive, we greatly prefer matte plastics because they are more durable and easier to clean. The plastic used is reasonably thick, on par or better when compared to mainstream notebooks from Dell or HP. It makes no cheap sounds when tapped. The aluminum palm rest and lid back have a very solid feeling and are a welcome addition.

The notebook chassis has small amounts of flex, though nothing out of the ordinary. This again is on par or better than most mainstream notebooks though not as good as a business class machine. There is no flex in the palm rest thanks to the aluminum, and the lid has some of the least flex we have seen thanks to the aluminum backing. Pushing in on the back of the lid still yields ripples on the screen, however. The hinges holding the display to the chassis are strong. The 7:15's fit and finish is good; all parts fit together with even spacing and nothing seems out of place or mismatched. Quality is consistent; overall the build quality is satisfactory.

Screen and Speakers
The PowerPro 7:15 has a 15.4-inch display available in one resolution: 1680x1050. It has a glossy surface and CCFL backlighting. The display quality is good; it has plenty of brightness but is a bit shallow on contrast. The picture is impressively clear. Viewing angles are about average, washing out from above and below and showing some color inversion at extreme horizontal angles. The high resolution of this display (1680x1050) is excellent for multitasking and Internet browsing. It is rare to see a notebook with more than 1,000 pixels of vertical space and it is certainly appreciated.

The 7:15 has typical notebook speakers – they sound tinny and essentially have no bass. Fortunately the notebook offers many audio-out options including HDMI, S/PDIF, and analog.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The PowerPro 7:15 has a full-size keyboard with separate numeric keypad. The typing experience is satisfactory – keys are communicative with adequate tactile feedback. This keyboard is quiet enough to be used around others without disturbing them. It does suffer from some flex though only under more than normal pressure. The keyboard does not have as solid of a feel as we would like.

Typing on this keyboard takes a day or so to get used to; the 15.4-inch screen means that some of the keys had to be shrunk in order to fit with the numeric keypad. For example, the right Shift and Backspace keys are about 2/3 their normal size. Additionally, there are some layout discrepancies: the [Fn] and [Ctrl] keys at the bottom left corner are switched, and the Home and End keys are not dedicated but integrated as secondary functions into the [PgUp] and [PgDn] keys, respectively. An interesting aspect of the keyboard is its color coding. The W, A, S, and D keys, commonly used for gaming, are highlighted in red. The Function keys (F1 – F12) and the arrow keys are a dark orange. The color coding is a nice touch.

The touchpad has a matte surface that is easy to track on with moist or dry fingers. The touchpad buttons are aluminum and part of the palm rest. They are noisier than we prefer and not as easy to find by feel as they should be.

Ports and Features
This notebook features an impressive array of ports including HDMI (for connection to HDTVs) and eSATA (a fast connection for external hard drives). A small issue we have with the port layout is that two of the notebook’s three USB ports are located on the right side close to the user; this can get annoying for right handers since cords can get in the way. The status lights are along the bottom of the right palm rest and are clearly labeled. The power button is overly bright.

All picture descriptions are left to right.

Left Side: Kensington lock slot, 56k modem jack, optical drive, USB, S/PDIF, microphone, line in, headphone jack.

Right Side: ExpressCard/54 slot (top), memory card reader (xD, SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro - bottom), IEEE 1394 mini-Firewire, USB, eSATA/USB combo port, exhaust vent, Gigabit Ethernet

Back: HDMI, VGA, power jack, battery

Front: Status lights

<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitleowerPro 7:15 (MSI 1656) Performance, Benchmarks and Conclusion-->

Performance and Benchmarks
The 7:15 produces some impressive numbers in our benchmark tests thanks to its Core i7 quad-core processor, fast 7200RPM hard drive, and 1GB Nvidia graphics card. The graphics performance is impressive by itself however competitors at this price point offer slightly faster graphics cards. The Nvidia GTS 250M graphics card likely has headroom for overclocking, however that is beyond the scope of this review.

Wprime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):


PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):


3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):


Crysis gaming benchmark (1280x800 and high settings):


Need for Speed: SHIFT benchmark (1680x1050 and high settings)


HDTune storage drive performance test:


Heat and Noise
The PowerPro 7:15 has a single exhaust vent on the right side of the notebook. Right handers may find this placement annoying. The fan draws air in through various perforations on the bottom of the chassis, not through a dedicated fan grate below the fan; we prefer this setup since it is harder to block the intake.

At idle the fan is audible but is easy to ignore since it sounds like a rush of air. This sound increases when the notebook is stressed but there is no motor noise, only the sound of rushing air. The sound levels even at full tilt are very reasonable and can be used near others without disturbing them. The chassis at idle is barely lukewarm; under full load for extended periods the right side around the fan can get hot, mostly on the bottom. HWMonitor results after a few benchmark runs are shown below:

Battery Life
While surfing the Internet with minimum screen brightness, our test unit yielded two hours and fifteen minutes of battery life. For a six-cell, 4800mAh battery, this is a reasonable time given the unit has a powerful graphics card and quad-core processor. A nine-cell battery is also offered, which should boost battery life to between three and four hours.

Operating System and Software
By default the PowerPro 7:15 does not come with an operating system; ours came configured with Windows 7. We like how PowerNotebooks.com makes the operating system optional; it can save customers money if they already have a copy (or can get one for less than retail). No unwanted software came pre-installed, which is greatly appreciated. Most consumer notebooks come loaded to the gills with trial software and other gimmicks.

Warranty and Service
The PowerPro 7:15 comes standard with a one-year warranty, which includes second day shipping (both ways) for service, 24/7 domestic telephone support, and lifetime labor. A three-year warranty with next business day shipping for service (both ways) is optional. This warranty is superior to warranties offered by most large notebook companies.

Conclusion
The PowerPro 7:15 is a well-rounded if unremarkable 15.4-inch gaming notebook. It has the latest technology including an Intel i7 processor and reasonably powerful Nvidia GTS 250M graphics card. The build quality is good; the brushed aluminum is a nice touch. We like the high resolution screen and input/output port selection. The cooling system is impressively quiet. Overall we found a lot to like but not love and little to complain about. We recommend this notebook to gamers looking for a solid mobile companion.

Pros:

• Good build quality
• Stays quiet, even under load
• Excellent overall performance
• Reasonable battery life
• Good warranty/service

Cons:

• Some keyboard layout issues
• Screen could use a contrast boost
• Competitors offer slightly faster graphics cards
• Plain looks

 

again, awesome looking chasis. disapointing price and graphics performance.

 

Agreed, hope NBR gets the newer models review, because they aim to actually impress.

 

Thanks for the review! I'm actually interested in this nb. I'm a very light gamer and would love the power of the i7 for design and movie editing. The resolution is perfect because I like the size of a 15" lappy but didn't want to squint with 1920x1080 res. Are there other nb's coming along that's similar? (ie i7, 15-16", 1680x1050)

Kind regards

 

All right! A new 15.4" 16:10 notebook! Just trow in a 1920x1200 screen and we're all set!

 

I always liked the 165x chassis. Not sure about these "w,s,a,d" keys though... unless those glow in the dark?

 

Agreed, this is a nice chassis. The keys don't glow in the dark unfortunately. I thought the color coding was a nice touch.

This is one of the very last 16:10 notebooks you will see, so if you want one I would not wait much longer.

Even though the GTS 250M isn't top-end it is still better than what is found in the majority of notebooks (better than anything HP offers (GT230M)). It can play modern games just fine - I ran Need for Speed: Shift fluidly at 1680x1050. Additional benchmarks for the GTS 250M can be found here in the PowerPro 10:17 (MSI 1727) review, which has a nearly identical configuration as our test 7:15:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5422

As I noted I imagine the GTS 250M has quite a bit of overclocking headroom though that was not in the scope of the review.

 

Nice review Chaz
Here is another notebook I can look at.

Lynn

 

Good review Chaz!

The GDDR5 version of the same GPU (now called GTS 360M) would do the trick. Doubling memory bandwith is kind of a big deal...

On the plus side, it's a solid chassis equipped with the age-old 16:10 ratio display, which has remained popular but become difficult to find in currently manufactured notebooks. It's light, slim, has a sharp looking design, and the cooling system handles the i7 and GPU well. It's customizable, upgradeable, and packs premier components like Intel 5300 wireless. I'd dig it, if MSI gives the GPU that needed boost in the next iteration.

 

I like it alot! The only thing I would want is a WUXGA screen for more screen real estate, but 1680x1050 isnt too shabby.

 

Agreed - anything with more than 1000 pixels of vertical space is notable these days, considering there is only one 16:9 res on notebooks with that kind of space - 1920x1080.

My last two notebooks have been 1680x1050, it's nice to see it one last time on a review notebook. :cry:

 

Aw Chaz, don't cry.

 

I fell asleep halfway through reading this review.

 

Chaz as always you bring up good points. I can and have developed on my thinkpad, but I find the dell to be ALOT more enjoyable due to the 300 extra vertical pixels. While this notebook only has a WSXGA screen I still find it plenty usable for this size point and matching with a numpad makes it just that much better. The only issue other then the screen that I kinda worry about is the crunched keys and how that would effect feel typing.

 

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Yeah - when I started typing on this machine it felt cramped (I type on a full-size desktop keyboard 99% of the time) however I got used to it after an hour or so. I don't like how MSI integrates the home and end buttons as secondary keys, I use those keys all the time. Most of my work is text editing so . . .

 

Ahh. I primarily use laptop keyboards as I prefer the feel and nature of them over desktop ones. Personally I left the desktop keyboard world around the time the ps/2 non springy ones started becoming popular. My grandfather has an old DIN style mechanical spring loaded keyboard that I LOVE and I ask him for it all the time. Nothing makes me feel more at home (other then certain laptop boards) then a clickity clackity old style.

 

I type on a mechanical keyboard - Das Keyboard II. 100% blank as well.

I'm usually very vocal about keyboards if I don't like them. This notebook has a decent if not great keyboard, there is nothing special about it other than the color coding. The MSI 1727 has a better feeling keyboard even though it is very similar to this one; it is seated more firmly.

 

Nice! I was worried when they first came out that it would be cramped. Now this DAS is it spring loaded? If so I may look into if for a future desktop build.

 

What a downgrade from the previous generation's 256-bit GDDR3 card to a 128-bit GDDR3 one (though the memory type wasn't explicitly mentioned in the review). If you don't mind Chaz, I would like a GPU-Z screenshot included in the review since nVidia and ATI tend to do a lot of rebadging and have variations among models, so that we know the memory speed, bus width, etc.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean that comment as a criticism of your writing, I meant to say that the product is very... mediocre.

 

I have to agree here. Maybe because it was plain looking...

 

Ah, understood.

If anything, it's a break from the mainstream.

 

It may be mediocre but it does give a developer a good platform to choose from if they are not high gpu gamer. I think this is a great laptop in the 15" category which gives you 16:10 and i7.

Hey which brings me to question... For $300 bucks more I could get the sager 8690 with 1600x900 screen... same everything else.. processor.. mem... hd.. would it be worth the extra $300 for the gpu even though I wouldn't use it to its capabilities? A note.. I'm staying away from 1920x1080 15" notebooks because of my vertigo.

Kind regards.

 

I tested the Sager NP8690 here:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5406

It's a solid machine. I like the keyboard on the MSI a bit more - it has a softer feel and the layout is better (dedicated pgup/pgdn keys) - and the MSI has a rather large advantage with the screen at 1680x1050 vs. the Sager's 1600x900. Having those extra 150 vertical pixels makes a difference. Some other things - the MSI is noticeably thinner and has far better battery life than the Sager, which gets less than one hour. Lastly, the MSI is quieter.

If you don't play games or have a specific use for a dedicated GPU then there isn't much of a point, so any extra money you would spend on one would be wasted. I have integrated graphics in my HP laptop and it has not given me any issues (no gaming). HDMI/DisplayPort out works flawlessly.

Please ask any additional questions.

 

Whoa!
Temps in this model are much cooler than the 1651 ID2, my 160M GTS ran much hotter.
I will say that when I added a QX9300 it performed much,much better than this model. I get about 3000 more in 3DMARK06.
Top out around 84C when gaming with the 160M GTS which is not that great but not really that bad.
I think BOG had it right.
It's a step going sideways and not forward with no big improvement in anything over the old model.( except the new i7 CPU's)
You get a cooler running system but sacrifice some performance.

 

For a casual gamer like myself the added CPU power, lower temps and better battery make for a really nice mobile workstation. Would serve me well for work related tasks, which makes me think they were marketing for a broader base then just gamers. I'm actually thinking of recommending it for MEP on the go for one of our cadd/engineering techs.

 

That's a sweet rig, thanks for the review!

 

Can you also comment on how the font looks with the native resolution? I just hoping that it isn't too small like I've seen on a Sager 8690 15.4" at 1920x1080. Thanks!

 

To me it was fine, but so was 1920x1080 on the NP8690. I found that Windows 7 does a good job of enlarging text to 120 DPI - that made the 1920x1080 15.6-inch screen like a 15.4" 1440x900 screen.

What size and resolution screen do you use now?

 

Hi Charles thanks again for the review and response. I currently use a 14" 1280x800 laptop and the screen res with native font is perfectly fine. I had tried a sager 8690 at 1920x1080 to include changing the font size, dpi etc and it did improve to some extent. The issue is that in some application the programmers will hard code the font so it can fit in say a small area thus combine that with a large resolution even when adjust still makes it small. Visual Studio is one... Norton Antivirus 10 is another.

The reviewed laptop seems like it would be perfect for my needs but I'm worried about the 1680x1050 res and font sizes even after adjusting. I don't know if you still have the laptop on hand but if you do could you provide more screenshots of some applications running on it?

Kind regards.

 

Cool. 1920x1080 is a bit small on a 15.6-inch screen. The NP8690 is offered with a 1600x900 option, which would be more friendly to your eyes based on some calculations; these are the pixels per inch (PPI) for some screens:

14" 1280x800: 108 (base) --- (Your notebook)
15.6" 1600x900: 118 (+9.3% vs base) --- (Sager NP8690)
15.4" 1680x1050: 129 (+19.4% vs base) --- (MSI 1656)
15.6" 1920x1080: 143 (+32.4% vs base) --- (Sager NP8690)

The font size on 15.6" 1600x900 is going to be a shade smaller than it is on your 14" 1280x800 so that seems like it would be the ideal resolution for you.

One of my personal notebooks has a 15.4" 1680x1050 screen so I will post some screenshots shortly (HP Pavilion dv5t).
EDIT: I have attached some screenshots in various apps, let me know what you think.

 

Hey Charles... thank you so much for posting all that!!

The screenshots of the 1680x1050 doesn't look bad at all but I think its because on my 14" with the picture at 100% I have scrollbars.

Just a note.. I went on my wifes 22" 1920x1080 computer monitor to look at your screenshots. Obviously I don't have scrollbars now as it does look much larger than a 15.4" diag screen. So I'm not sure how to translate what I'm viewing.

According to your math it looks like 1600x900 should be good enough like you suggested. I'll go back to Bestbuy to see if they have any in this res to view. I really liked the reviewed laptop but wish Bestbuy had some 1680x1050 to view.

Again I appreciate all your help and the time/effort you've put in.

 

You are welcome. Make sure you are looking at the screenshots on a 15.4" screen, in fullscreen mode shrunk to fit your screen. That should give you some idea of text size @ 1680x1050 (I hope that makes sense).

I think 1600x900 is a safe bet for a 15.6". Most of the 15.6" notebooks at Best Buy will unfortunately be 1366x768 (yuck) but the 17.3" notebooks will have 1600x900 minimum. If you know anyone with a MacBook Pro 15.4", that is 1440x900 and text size on that will basically be the same as 15.6" 1600x900. It always pays to see something in person before you buy.

 

Ok gotcha! Ok thank you very much.

 

Is it possible to manually upgrade the screen to a WUXGA screen?

It's unfortunate that there are so few 16:10 notebooks now...

 

Hello,

I'm really thinking of getting this notebook, your review was great! On the other hand i don't know why is Alienware faster, and on what configuration did u test it?
Ill be buying the following:

MSI MS-1656-ID1
Intel Core i7-820QM 1.73-3.06GHZ 45w 8MB
4gb DDR3 1333MHZ (2x2gb) (kingston)
128gb Solid State Drive Sata2 (kingston)
DVD/RW Super Multi Combo Drive
Intel 5300 Wireless Card 450mb/s

This comes at $1618.It is far more expensive when buying an alienware with this configuration.... And could you point out some major differences between these two?

P.S. I don't play a lot of games, i need it for development, HD movies, everyday stuff...

 

The Alienware M15x will be faster for gaming since it has a GTX 260M graphics card; for everything other than gaming, assuming the graphics card is not involved, the MSI and the Alienware will have identical performance assuming identical configuration. So, the MSI 1651 sounds like a good choice for you since you don't do a whole lot of gaming.

I wrote a review of the Alienware M15x here:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5360

There are a lot of differences between them; to highlight a few:
-Case design
-Keyboard; MSI has numpad while Alienware does not but has backlighting
-Screen; Alienware has a better screen and is available with a higher resolution
-Weight; the MSI is smaller and lighter
-Battery life; MSI is superior

If you have any specific questions, let me know.