Nice to see two drive bays, a must-have feature for me now. But 2 RAM slots? What?
You guys really need to take a look at the MSI GT780 for a review. I got one a month ago and am (mostly) in love, it was an easy decision to skip past the ASUS for this baby. My only complaint is about the keyboard but I suspect it may be particular to me and I have I'll be sending it back to them to check it out when I have time.
Apart from the excellent specs on the MSI compared to the competition, I love the look of it because I'm not much of a gamer, more of a power user and I don't need awkward looks when I take it with me on business trips.
About the keyboard on your MSI laptop: it's NOT just you, their build quality just sucks... Fortunately humans are adaptable creatures and I've somehow gotten used to the keyboards ridiculous unresponsiveness after a few months with the laptop I have that was made by them.
The GT780 has a custom keyboard made and branded by Steelseries, they're using it as one of their major selling points. I am slowly getting used to it but shifting from the *beautiful* das keyboard on my desktop is quite an adjustment!
What is up with the off-center touch pad? I used a couple laptops with the touch pad centered around the space bar (with a number pad) and found it very difficult to find my way to and from the keyboard and touch pad.
Maybe I'm old fashioned and like my touch pads aligned center of the screen, but I kept fingers kept falling to the left (or off) of the touch pad. Perhaps my movements were strictly keyboard-to-touch pad and back; I was just using the notebook as a normal user, browsing the web and such.
Either way, I was able accommodate, though throughout the process it felt somewhat unnatural. I almost felt as if I should shift my body slightly left for the keyboard/mouse -- which I did.
The idea is that if you're typing, you'd have your palms resting to the left and right of the space bar, and you wouldn't want them on the touchpad. It looks a little odd, by my personal experience is that if the touchpad isn't directly below the space bar, I repeatedly brush it while typing -- that can suddenly move the cursor so I'm typing somewhere else, which is very annoying.
They can contain castrated Nvidia cards, 128bit mem buses (instead of 192bit) and the associated ROPs are gone too.
I am now running a 16F2 barebone (GT683R based) and IMO offers the best value proposal. It comes with an attractive list of features:
15.6" form factor. 2 HDD bays (plus optical) 4 mem slots. 1920x1080 screen Good speakers Good cooling (that does not draw air from below so you can use it on your lap)
No SSD option, plus an extra pound to get a decent resolution display. 2 hard drives? What a waste. My question is are the hard drives user replaceable? So I could pull out the dead wait and install an SSD?
Yes, you can swap the HDD out. Also, since the HM65 doesn't support RAID, that at least means you don't need to worry about doing a RAID0 to non-RAID downgrade first (a problem I've encountered on some MSI models).
Although it's not a gaming laptop, is there any chance of you guys doing a review of the new Dell Precision notebooks? Especially with the option of the IPS panel on the 15" M4600.
Heck, I've got the TN panel version and its black levels are at least as good as the E-IPS monitor I use for my desktop. I figure it's a perfect way for you to get over all these disappointing screens Dustin, by reviewing a laptop with a good one ;)
I can't even start to consider this with that screen. I kind of understand skimping on lower end laptops, under 700 bucks. Even under 1000 to a certain degree. But this is among the worste 900p screen I've ever seen. Most of the time I consider 900p to be "good enough". On a 1300+ 17" laptop though... Whatever screen Clevo is using, is the minimum I expect.
GTX560M is fine for a 15.6" laptop, I get it, heat constraints. But I expect more in a 17" laptop. From my perspective 17" is too big to be something you carry around everywhere anyway. So it's probably acting as a desktop replacement. Which means it needs to be able to play every current game at 1080p at max settings at over 60fps. Idk, maybe that can't be done for 1500 or less yet on laptops; but I'd never consider getting a desktop replacement if it can't be.
The other thing I consider required is 2+ hdd bays and 4 RAM slots. Again, it can be done in 15" models, 17" should be a piece of cake.
When I first saw the New Qosmio, I thought "at last, a notebook for me!" But, I thought i was looking at aluminum, not plastic, and no 1080p is a sinker in a high price notebook. I would love to be able to self configure these with a 1080p screen, a proc. upgrade and SSD\hardrive combo. But, I want aluminum-that would be cool.
What is it with larger laptops with 2 drive bays always going for a 2x HDD configuration?! (also Alienware are guilty of this). Surely people want an SSD for boot & speed and a traditional HDD for storage, even, or especially, on a laptop.
I don't know why laptop manufacturers are so dumb and slow to coming round to implementing this configuration and making it mainstream, especially now that the new mSATA standard is out.
well lets see, the G73 w the 460m pulls down a 3dmark11 of 1800 something? the Qosimo with the gtx560m pulls down a 2005? what do they cost? 1500-1700 US?
well my fully equipped (including blu-ray) overclocked AND undervolted $750.00 HP Dv6z with amd's LLano chip, pulls a 3dmark11 of p2110 with a graphics score of just under 2200...at much cooler temps. Maybe I should buy another to even things up...LOL. .Time for the 'i' series boxxes to start coming down in price.
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arvee - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Nice to see two drive bays, a must-have feature for me now. But 2 RAM slots? What?You guys really need to take a look at the MSI GT780 for a review. I got one a month ago and am (mostly) in love, it was an easy decision to skip past the ASUS for this baby. My only complaint is about the keyboard but I suspect it may be particular to me and I have I'll be sending it back to them to check it out when I have time.
Apart from the excellent specs on the MSI compared to the competition, I love the look of it because I'm not much of a gamer, more of a power user and I don't need awkward looks when I take it with me on business trips.
-- Rod
randinspace - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
About the keyboard on your MSI laptop: it's NOT just you, their build quality just sucks... Fortunately humans are adaptable creatures and I've somehow gotten used to the keyboards ridiculous unresponsiveness after a few months with the laptop I have that was made by them.arvee - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
The GT780 has a custom keyboard made and branded by Steelseries, they're using it as one of their major selling points. I am slowly getting used to it but shifting from the *beautiful* das keyboard on my desktop is quite an adjustment!fgmg1 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
What is up with the off-center touch pad? I used a couple laptops with the touch pad centered around the space bar (with a number pad) and found it very difficult to find my way to and from the keyboard and touch pad.Maybe I'm old fashioned and like my touch pads aligned center of the screen, but I kept fingers kept falling to the left (or off) of the touch pad. Perhaps my movements were strictly keyboard-to-touch pad and back; I was just using the notebook as a normal user, browsing the web and such.
Either way, I was able accommodate, though throughout the process it felt somewhat unnatural. I almost felt as if I should shift my body slightly left for the keyboard/mouse -- which I did.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
The idea is that if you're typing, you'd have your palms resting to the left and right of the space bar, and you wouldn't want them on the touchpad. It looks a little odd, by my personal experience is that if the touchpad isn't directly below the space bar, I repeatedly brush it while typing -- that can suddenly move the cursor so I'm typing somewhere else, which is very annoying.Paedric - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Would it be possible to have the GPU temperatures?Meaker10 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
They can contain castrated Nvidia cards, 128bit mem buses (instead of 192bit) and the associated ROPs are gone too.I am now running a 16F2 barebone (GT683R based) and IMO offers the best value proposal. It comes with an attractive list of features:
15.6" form factor.
2 HDD bays (plus optical)
4 mem slots.
1920x1080 screen
Good speakers
Good cooling (that does not draw air from below so you can use it on your lap)
Darkstone - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
That is not true. All asus models i can find have 1.5GB or 3GB of memory. This means a memory bus with a multiple of 3. Thus, 192 bit.Meaker10 - Friday, August 19, 2011 - link
http://event.asus.com/my/2011/productguide/PG_Aug-...Oh look, all 15" models come with 2GB of ram.
jabber - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Sorry but was it a 16yr old that designed the styling for that?If I pay that much money for a laptop then I want it to look a little grown up at least.
Just a mess.
And all those horrible stickers all over it. Horrid! Yes I know they can be peeled off but they make windows laptops look a mess in the showroom.
SlyNine1 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
"...the clock has gone up 100MHz to 775MHz..."You mean 675 to 775.
Just trying to help out my favorit review site. Thanks for the great reviews and keep up the good work!
SlyNine1 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Never mind. My bad lol.danjw - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
No SSD option, plus an extra pound to get a decent resolution display. 2 hard drives? What a waste. My question is are the hard drives user replaceable? So I could pull out the dead wait and install an SSD?danjw - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
err, dead weight.JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Yes, you can swap the HDD out. Also, since the HM65 doesn't support RAID, that at least means you don't need to worry about doing a RAID0 to non-RAID downgrade first (a problem I've encountered on some MSI models).rallstarz - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Any word when your review of the Mythlogic laptops is coming out? Thanks!JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Writing as we speak... hope to be up by Friday.rallstarz - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Great! Thanks! Looking forward to it.Solidstate89 - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Although it's not a gaming laptop, is there any chance of you guys doing a review of the new Dell Precision notebooks? Especially with the option of the IPS panel on the 15" M4600.Heck, I've got the TN panel version and its black levels are at least as good as the E-IPS monitor I use for my desktop. I figure it's a perfect way for you to get over all these disappointing screens Dustin, by reviewing a laptop with a good one ;)
Hrel - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
I can't even start to consider this with that screen. I kind of understand skimping on lower end laptops, under 700 bucks. Even under 1000 to a certain degree. But this is among the worste 900p screen I've ever seen. Most of the time I consider 900p to be "good enough". On a 1300+ 17" laptop though... Whatever screen Clevo is using, is the minimum I expect.GTX560M is fine for a 15.6" laptop, I get it, heat constraints. But I expect more in a 17" laptop. From my perspective 17" is too big to be something you carry around everywhere anyway. So it's probably acting as a desktop replacement. Which means it needs to be able to play every current game at 1080p at max settings at over 60fps. Idk, maybe that can't be done for 1500 or less yet on laptops; but I'd never consider getting a desktop replacement if it can't be.
The other thing I consider required is 2+ hdd bays and 4 RAM slots. Again, it can be done in 15" models, 17" should be a piece of cake.
Fuck Blu Ray; that is all.
Jonahkirk - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
When I first saw the New Qosmio, I thought "at last, a notebook for me!" But, I thought i was looking at aluminum, not plastic, and no 1080p is a sinker in a high price notebook. I would love to be able to self configure these with a 1080p screen, a proc. upgrade and SSD\hardrive combo. But, I want aluminum-that would be cool.qstechwriter - Friday, August 19, 2011 - link
You can adjust backlight setting to: OFF, 1 sec, and ON. Press the Fn key, press Z, and make your selection.The0ne - Friday, August 19, 2011 - link
17.3" LED Glossy 16:9 1600x900I don't think the laptop will ever be a consideration for either gaming or office work.
JNo - Friday, August 19, 2011 - link
What is it with larger laptops with 2 drive bays always going for a 2x HDD configuration?! (also Alienware are guilty of this). Surely people want an SSD for boot & speed and a traditional HDD for storage, even, or especially, on a laptop.I don't know why laptop manufacturers are so dumb and slow to coming round to implementing this configuration and making it mainstream, especially now that the new mSATA standard is out.
oraclelaw - Saturday, August 20, 2011 - link
well lets see, the G73 w the 460m pulls down a 3dmark11 of 1800 something?the Qosimo with the gtx560m pulls down a 2005?
what do they cost? 1500-1700 US?
well my fully equipped (including blu-ray) overclocked AND undervolted $750.00 HP Dv6z with amd's LLano chip, pulls a 3dmark11 of p2110 with a graphics score of just under 2200...at much cooler temps.
Maybe I should buy another to even things up...LOL. .Time for the 'i' series boxxes to start coming down in price.
Seer