5820tg

Hi,

I'm trying to decide between two laptops:

MSI FX620DX:

15.4" LED Backlit
i5-2410M (Sandy), 2.3-2.9Ghz (Turbo 2.0)
GT 540M
4 Speaker THX Certified
4GB Ram (DDR3-1333)
500GB Hard Drive
2 x USB 3.0
Card Reader
DVD Writer
6-Cell 4400Mah (5 Hours EST)
Price: $760

This laptop looks to the same chassis as the FX600 reviewed by NotebookCheck.net so the built quality should be solid. The keyboard and touchpad also looks to be the same (maybe slightly upgraded) as the FX600 which is good overall. The battery life is also probably good on this laptop since it uses the same 4400Mah 6-Cell battery as the FX600 but has a i5-2410M Sandy and GT 540M as oppose to the FX600 which has i5-450M and GT 325M which scored 3 hours battery life with WiFi on NotebookCheck.net Review, so I'm guessing this laptop should do 5 hours with WiFi since it got a i5 Sandy.

Acer TimelineX 5820TG:

15.4" LED Backlit
i5-480M, 2.66-2.93Ghz (Turbo)
HD 6550M
2 Speaker Dolby Home Theater 2.0
6GB (DDR3-1066)
640GB Hard Drive
3 x USB 2.0
Card Reader
DVD Writer
6-Cell 6600Mah (6-7 Hours EST)
Price: $750

The built quality for the 13" and 14" versions of this laptop is highly praised on NoteBookReview Forums, so I'm guessing the 15" version should be the same; the chassis is made of brushed aluminum (except of the bottom) and the built quality top notch. The keyboard and touchpad are very good on this laptop as reviewed by NoteBookCheck.net however I prefer MSI's true chicklet keyboard but at the same time prefer Acer's touchpad as oppose to MSI's which is slightly textured. The battery life on this laptop is outstanding despite the fact it's not a Sandy i5 and due to the fact the 6-cell battery is 6600Mah as oppose to MSI's 6-cell 4400Mah, most users on this forum have reported 6-7 hours use with WiFi on.

Pros and Cons:

FX620DX:

+ i5-2401M Sandy is about 20% faster than i5-480M and uses less power so battery life should be anywhere from 50-75% using the same battery.
+ GT 540M is about 15-20% faster than HD 6550M, has Optimus Auto Switch Technology
+ DDR3-1333 Support with i5 Sandy
+ 4 Speaker THX Certified Surround Sound
+ 2 x USB 3.0 is about 2x faster than USB 2.0 with real world file transfers
+ True chicklet style keyboard
+ One touch buttons panel

- 4GB Ram (This is enough for me and most users out there, not really a con but it's less than 6GB on Acer's however 4GB is true Dual Channel as oppose to 6GB Async Dual Channel plus it's DDR3-1333)
- 500GB (I'll be upgrading to a WD Black 500GB regardless if which laptop I get, so not really a con but again it's smaller than Acer's 640GB)
- 6-Cell 4400Mah (This is really sufficient for me if it gets my estimated 5 hours with WiFi on however I prefer Acer's 6-Cell 6600Mah 6-7 hours with WiFi on as proven by users already).
- Plastic Chassis (It's less quality then brushed aluminum as found on the Acer but I prefer plastic because I usually rest my wireless mouse on the lid on my laptop and I'm afraid the metal lid on Acer's could damage the Teflon feet on my mouse)

5820TG:

+ i5-480M (Sufficient for most tasks plus gaming, it's not Sandy but that's not a con)
+ HD 6550M (Very good gaming card, ATI manual switchable graphics that I personally prefer as oppose to Optimus Automatic)
+ 6GB Ram (It's more than MSI's 4GB but also slower DDR3-1066 but could easily upgrade to 8GB)
+ 640GB (Worth more than MSI's 500GB either to be sold or used in external enclosure)
+ 2 Speaker Dolby Home Theater (Sufficient for most uses: gaming, movies and music but MSI's 4 speaker THX Certified is definitely better)
+ 6-Cell 6600Mah Battery (6-7 hours with WiFi on proven with with members on this forum as oppose to 5 hours estimated by myself on MSI's)

- USB 2.0 (Old technology and cannot be upgraded to USB 3.0 by user, good but not good enough as external hard drives and files get bigger)
- Non true chicklet style keyboard (The keyboard is not spaced as well as MSI's true chicklet and most users are only just satisfied with the keyboard)


My thoughts:

I'm really leaning towards MSI's offering on this one but I've no experience with MSI laptop built quality and functional however MSI's offering has all the latest hardware and was just released 1 week ago in Canada.

At the same time Acer's offering had enough power for all my uses plus gaming and is a proven top quality laptop with excellent battery life but the USB 2.0 is really making me think twice on this one (planning on getting a 750GB-1TB external).


All thoughts are welcome.

 

My only comment is that I seriously doubt the MSI will get to 5 hours. if the old one was 3, the new one might hit 4 hours on a 6 cell 4400mAH battery because of sandybridge. The 6600mAh battery in the Acer will likely still beat it easily. I get 5.5 or so hours with wifi on and brightness at half with a 4820TG.

But this is really a conversation for the "what notebook should I buy" board.

 

Thanks for quick reply,

I really don't mind the battery life as long as it's 4 hours and over with WiFi on but 1080P resolution on the MSI is now making me think twice cause that would make the text a lot smaller on 15.4" and put the GT 540M under the HD 6550M in gaming at native resolution.

My ideal laptop is the Acer 5750G 15.4" with i5-2410M, GT 540M and USB 3.0 but it's not available in Canada yet and I need a laptop soon.

 

I would go with the MSI eye folded ... as long as it has a robust cooling since some MSI chassis are frying pans (according to Notebookcheck even though everyone I see on the gaming forum are happy with their MSIs)

try to make sure that the cooling is good & it is the winner by a huge margin

 

I went with the 5820TG, despite the fact the MSI is faster with a newer processor/videocard, has USB 3.0 for the same price but I the MSI comes with a 1080P screen standard. For me the 1080P is too high and beats the point of having a GT 540M (lower frames due to resolution) and the text would be too small to read for me.

Thanks everyone for all your input.