The beast inside just screams performance! You won't get any similar 15.6" gaming laptop with these specifications and price. You even have to pay almost double if you get another brand with the same specs!Screen: excellent Full HD matte-type (prevents glares)
CPU: one of the first laptops to carry the 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Core i7s great value right there!
GPU: another one of the first few laptops to have NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600M series (670M on this model) on this, you will be able to run most, if not, all current games on High settings, even the most demanding games to date.
RAM: 12GB with 1600MHz speed is more than enough to have, and on its current OS (Win7 HP), you can already max out its performance to 16GB (still expandable to 32GB but I don't see the point and the use for now)
HDD: 1 TB = 2 500GB in RAID 0 config is a great plus, boosting the performance and speed of your HDDs to almost double compared to a single setting config.
Sound: the sound system on this laptop is already the best out there, period. The clarity and the crispness of the sounds are very noticeable, and I am playing more music now than ever on this machine.
Keyboard: made by Steelseries, a renowned brand for high-quality keyboards the backlighting is a beaut, and fully-customizable lighting effects to boot!
Battery life: compared to a head-on competitor (one with an 8-cell only) the battery life of this machine lasts around double than the other the other averaging 1 hr 30mins vs 2 hrs 45mins on this thing... I couldn't be happier!
Overall, again with specs vs price, this laptop is currently the one with the best value out there across all 15"s. I heard they will release models of this and its bigger brother the GT70, with GTX675Ms and GTX680Ms soon, but that's a different story.
A very happy owner right here!
Personal/Gaming PC:
I am a dj, and have been extremely happy with this computer for a few reasons. The sound card is 7.1, it is fast enough to run any audio program i have thrown at it, and the speakers and subwoofer sound very good. I also am a gaming junkie, and have enjoyed BF3 and Civ5 perfectly on this (two of the more graphic intensive games i play). I had to manually switch the discrete card on after the first time i booted up Civ5 and watched it perform only on low settings, realizing that was just the IvyBridge doing work. Regardless, i am happy i waited for the IB. I play games like Torchlight on the plane and in between, and the 4000 does great for the lower end stuff. Even DOTA2, which has poor programming considered, will run just fine on the IB. When you do use discrete, there are really only a few games it cant handle. There is a nice turbo button located just above the keyboard if you want to squeeze an extra 4% computing out of the processors, but its really unnecessary unless you are playing something extremely intensive.
Work:
When i first went to Fry's electronics, i was debating between MSi and Asus. I have 3 friends who bought the last ROG laptops and they all had great experiences. I was inbetween; MSi had significantly better guts than Asus for about $100 less; 2 raided 500 gig HD's, a better discrete card, and more memory? I didnt understand why Asus was lacking so much. So, i took a chance on the brand name after doing a little poking around. Since i am disconnecting at least 2 or 3 USB ports every day, and the power charger probably 2 times a day, i did buy an extended warranty for 3 years for $200. I did this before even taking the computer home. Even after this past month, i am not sure if it was money well spent or not. The case is very sturdy, it is very thick (which i like), and it is made of metal and hard plastic. I am uncertain on the soldering of the ports, so if anything goes out i believe it will be that as i use them multiple times per day. I upgraded to windows 7 business, and am very happy. i have had no connectivity problems with my business network, and have had an easier time getting on our domain than the company supplied laptops! they were able to fit a very nice numerical pad on this keyboard and i am thankful for that.
Keyboard:
The keyboard is really the worst part about the computer, unfortunately. Actually, not the whole keyboard, just the space bar. You have to hit it in the middle of the bar, or at least where the color lights are on it. anything to the outside of the two bars will not register the stroke even if the button presses down. it is a very attractive looking keyboard and the color changing options are easy and quick to navigate. I typically have a wave rainbow when at home, filtering across the keyboard through 5 colors, and quickly switch to red or blue while at work. I have gotten a lot of comments about how great it looks, which makes me so angry that this space bar can upset me so much!
Network card:
The wireless card is top notch. It picks up signal better than my previous external wireless adapter for my desktop, and seems to have a stronger connectivity throughout. Only good things so far. It also worked flawlessly when i went to Germany and Italy.
Weight:
IT. IS. HEAVY. This is a desktop replacement, make no mistake. This is not something you take everywhere with you; it goes from my home desk to my work desk, and not many other places. Still, its better than the old lan party says of a monitor plus a tower, so it beats that. But i would not recommend this to a student who wants to take it to every class to take notes on. Your back will not be happy with you!
Final thoughts:
One last reason i picked this MSi over the Asus was future-proofing: a maximum of 32 gigs of RAM can be installed as well as the ability to have both harddrive bays replaced and upgraded. The asus was maxed out at 12, and had one HD. A SSD will significantly improve the speed of your applications, so eventually i will take that plunge. But that it my point; i anticipate having this computer and improving it for the next 4 years. I can see the ASUS getting tired after about 2 years or so.
When i started this review, i had originally put 4 stars. After writing, it became clear to me that my only REAL complaint is about the space bar. At the conclusion, i bumped it up to a five. If you can get over the space bar issue, you will love the dollar for value of this computer. Just remember, this thing is meant for 2 places; it is not as a buddy you take everywhere! I am reservedly optimistic about the quality of hardware; it seems like it will last a long time but who really knows? Ive never had an MSi before, but i feel good about it since i got the extended warranty. Ive heard some horror stories about their customer service, so if you get a lemon i would just take it back to the retail store. If i ever do have a customer service experience, i will come back and update.
If you are a gamer on a budget, looking for a solid upgrade, you can feel confident in this guy. The screen looks pretty good, the webcam is good, and graphics are outstanding. I personally HDMI out to a 27" samsung LED when i game, and everything looks PHENOMENAL on it. For work, the screen does more than the trick. I am very happy with my purchase so far, and think others with the same mindset will feel the same.
Buy MSI Computer Corp. Notebook GT60 0NC-004US;9S7-16F311-004 15.6-Inch Laptop Now
This thing just arrived the other day, and I gotta say I am impressed.I was able to play Skyrim on "Ultra" with several graphics enhancement mods, at a good framerate.
Pros:
Very powerful (especially for the price!)
Nice keyboard (pretty lights and no flex anywhere, even space bar)
HD matte screen
OUTSTANDING speakers can get loud, and very decent quality for a laptop.
overall nice design, performance, and pricing.
Cons:
Don't like the way the power button "feels"
The mouse-pad and clicker are "meh"...
It is very heavy
Some bloatware (though it does ship with the Win 7 disc but I didn't want to do a clean install, just b/c I didn't want to mess with the RAID configuration).
The fan can be a bit noisy (I hesitate to put this here, because it really isn't tragic or that noticeable, it just is a very little bit louder than one might hope).
Overall so glad I got this awesome laptop!!!
Read Best Reviews of MSI Computer Corp. Notebook GT60 0NC-004US;9S7-16F311-004 15.6-Inch Laptop Here
Maybe I just got unlucky. I've never had a laptop with this many problems.Out of the box I couldn't use any Windows Live clients because the network card blocked access. A few weeks later, a driver update fixed that. Ok. Driver problems happen.
Then trying to get many games to work properly with the Optimus graphics setup is just a giant pain the ass. And anything DX10 has serious problems no matter what I try.
So then RAID array started failing. And then the USB ports. And now the GPU has started hitting 95C.
I contacted MSI through the warranty website. They told me I had to take the laptop apart and replace the thermal compound under the heatsinks before they would consider warranty service. Of course doing that voids the warranty.
Not the quality or the customer service I expect after buying a $1600 laptop. Will never buy another MSI product.
Want MSI Computer Corp. Notebook GT60 0NC-004US;9S7-16F311-004 15.6-Inch Laptop Discount?
This computer is a great buy, but beware the chassis is somewhat flimsy. Every time I open my laptop I have to press the plastic piece down at the top (controls volume, wireless, etc) because it pops out. It is quite annoying. The plastic piece at the top is also very prone to scratching. I was cleaning it with a microfiber towel and it left minor scratches. I was able to scratch it very easily with my finger nail. Other than that the computer is very fast and equipped to run most of today's common programs. I would recommend it if the first two problems don't bother you. I also recommend backing up your data because the computer ships in RAID 0 (if you bought the model with two hard drives, not SSD). That means if you lose one of the two hard drives due to some malfunction, then your data is pretty much gone. I am able to run very graphic-intensive programs as well as virtual machines with no issues. You will need to update the BIOS (usually by flashing from DOS since MSI doesn't have a GUI installer for Windows 7 64 Bit) if you plan on virtualizing. All-in-all it is a great computer for the price.
