Any news on the x460?

I just did the screen calibration and everything seemed good. I was able to discern the wrinkles in that white shirt and black background picture used for contrast.

As for the monitor. I went into hardware Ids and it says Monitor\CPT17A9.

 

Wow! I really hope your interpretation is correct because I would be extremely satisfied with a laptop like that.

Can someone with the laptop shed some light on this? School is starting really soon and I need a laptop for university!

 

There's a nifty app called 'speccy' that shows a great deal of device info in just one app, but it was almost useless as far as display maker information.

Darn. I really can't find much on this, except that the following models also report the exact same Monitor Hardware Id:

• 
  Sony Corporation - VPCCA17EC
  Sony Corporation - VPCCA15FA
  Sony Corporation - VPCCA15FG
  Sony Corporation - VPCCA1S1E

And I found two listings showing the new Lenovo Y470 using it too (but then I was translating from Chinese using Google and a totally different translator app, so I could be wrong.

I did find a Taiwanese company that makes TFTs and CRTs, in a reference titled "Chunghwa Picture Tubes (Taiwan) CPT17A9 (13.6 inches)". That might make sense, as MSI is a Taiwanese company too.

On their website, there's two close models:


Size/Model............Resolution.........Contrast..Response (ms)..Brightness(cd/m2)..Interface

13.3" CLAA133WA01....1366*768............500..........8...............200...............LVDS

14" CLAA140WB01......1366*768............600..........8...............200...............LVDS

Unfortunately, neither of the above is a 13.6"! And who knows - these displays could have been built four years ago, and what is listed on CPT's web page might only be for current/future production runs.

I hope I have beeen able to help and add a little to what you have found! You're info may have helped me too, once mine arrives. I will be more likely to get my hands on a calibration file and support info, plus it tells us what type of connector is used, in case you ever want or need to swap out this display. Maybe the above info we've gathered will be just what someone else needs to get even more info.

Many thanks again for all the helpful work!!!!

 

I haven't really done to many battery tests but I do know that I streamed silence of the lambs from netflix (a 2 hr movie) and the indicator said I still had 3.5 hrs left. I did this with a clean install of windows 7 ultimate on a crucial m4 with out any changes to the power settings (so whatever windows defaults to)

 

Was the movie sufficiently creepy on the laptop?

 

So it looks like about 5 hours of use. Not the advertised 8 hours but that's expected. I think 5 hours is enough for my needs though.

Thanks for your input!

 

I found out that there's two variations on the 14" size, and it's starting to sound like our model. It's a 40-pin connector, and we are using the "CLAA140WB01-A" variant, which is glossy (the one without the "-A" is identical specs, but matte finish). I'm still not certain about all of this, but I'm seeing more corroborating info pointing me that way. Lots of companies sell these too, so it wouldn't be hard to get the identical display in a matte version, if someone wanted it.

 

5 hours of streaming netflix flash video is heckuva a lot more taxing than just refreshing web pages (IMHO), so I think that's tending to support the 7.5-8 hours use for basic web pages with WiFi and more reasonable brightness settings (not dimmed down to silliness). I agree - this is great news.

EDIT: Sorry - was too hasty. Just notticed that only two of the 5.5 hours were streaming flash video. Still not bad, just not as amazing...

 

From Test MSI X460DX - Forum Notebookcheck.pl

That's iffy... a touch brighter than the competing Lenovo IdeaPad y470:

RETERA.RU - ????? ??????????????? ???????? Lenovo IdeaPad Y470

But dimmer than Sony's offerings in the CA, much dimmer than the Dell Latitude e6420, and even dimmer than HP's Elitebook 8460p, which is pretty miserable... ... at those brightness ratings, I wouldn't expect good contrast or color reproduction :-( Not surprising though... it's that kind of a market right now.

 

Ouch. If it's the CPT model, they claim 200 cd/m2 and a contrast of 600:1. 165 is pretty dark, isn't it? I saw the Sony in person last week, and it was quite bright, but incapable of a smooth, linear gradient.

 

Well, the color reproduction on all these laptops I mentioned are quite narrow, so gradients will be dithered and choppy... the Sony VPC-CA series should be fairly similar with an average of: 186.2nit. The average on the DX would be ~177.37nit if those figures are correct. But the CA is considered fairly low contrast as are the rest - the darker the screen, the difference in brightness between whites and blacks go down unless it's a really good panel.

Both these screens will *appear* brighter (especially in stores) because of their gloss screens (the Sony less, assuming their using the anti-reflective coating which I love so much...). However, the external brightness further decreases contrast.

But if someone begins selling the x460dx with an i7quad option, I can overlook these details The 14" market (and 13.3" to some degree) is quite miserable as screens go (indeed, I can't think of a single 'good' 14" screen), so this isn't surprising.

 

Yes. Yes it was haha. I can't believe I hadnt seen it before

 

After playing Deus Ex for an hour or so, this thing gets pretty warmed up. My CPU temps peaked at 82 C and 79 C. The GPU peaked around 85 C.

The game ran pretty smooth, I was surprised. The handrest where your left hand rests does get very warm though.

 

Awesome! Where did you bought it? NewEgg Canada?

 

Yeah. I ordered it last week, it arrived this morning and I've been playing around with it all day.

I originally bought a Acer 4830TG, I returned that and ordered this and I don't regret it at all.

 

I read all the posts in this thread and it convinced me of buying this laptop since throttling doesn't seem to be an issue and battery life seems to be good also. I just ordered my x460dx from newegg.ca. Can't wait to get it!

 

I see you live in Ontario, what's your estimated time of delivery? And which delivery option did you choose?

 

Since I ordered the laptop less than an hour ago it still didn't ship. I selected the cheapest "Purolator Ground (International)" option. As soon as I will have the tracking number I will update you with the estimated delivery time.

 

Thanks for the reply. I actually just pulled the trigger myself a few minutes ago because I couldn't wait any longer for a laptop.

 

Haha I guess we're on the same boat! I almost ordered the laptop yesterday but I resisted since I wanted to hear more about if the cpu throttled or not. As soon as I heard that LinS123 ran Deus Ex for an hour without throttling the cpu I ordered the laptop within minutes!

 

Been playing for the last couple hours. My CPU temps are pretty stable around 82-83 C. The GPU temps seem to hover around the 85 C mark.

The game itself runs without much problems, it hiccups every now and then but it doesn't all of a sudden lose performance and slows down for a long period of time.

I should probably run furmark with Aida64 to see at what point the CPU actually throttles, but so far gameplay it seems won't set it off.

Temps cool down pretty quickly too.

Purolator ground will take approximately 2-3 business days. My x460dx was shipped from the New Jersey depot. I placed my order last Wednesday night and it shipped Thursday night. You'll probably receive it Thursday, if it ships from NJ.

 

That's the exact same as me! The post about Deus Ex was the deciding factor.

Much thanks LinS123! Looks like this laptop is well suited for my needs.

 

MSI X460DX-006 unboxing - YouTube

just made a quick unboxing video cuz I was anxious to get this. lol

 

All that's remaining for me before purchase:
Someone needs to hurry up and offer that elusive combination of the DX version with the i7 quad processors (I don't particularly care if it drops battery life a few hours, just so long as it lasts like 2 or three in class). Also, information on the screen would be nice - the low brightness values are not encouraging, but the former option would overcome that for me

 

Nice video, can't wait for mine! One thing I completely forgot to check for is if it has a bilingual keyboard with the stupid left shift key, but looks like it doesn't!

Guess that's expected since this is shipping from the States.

 

This is some interesting information. Thanks! I agree that it would be nice to know at what point the cpu actually throttles. Please share the results if you get to test this!

Thanks for the video! I am now more impatient of getting my laptop lol

 

I'm glad we ordered ours yesterday since they're out of stock today! Just an observation..

 

WooHoo!

The Purolator people I reached must have been informationally challenged, because it didn't take 8-12 days via the basic Purolator shipping from Jersey to Toronto (like they said). It arrived at my home today at 12:16 PM! Yeeha! Unfortunately, I'm at work right now, but I'll check out the display quality tonight if I have time. So I can confirm that a NewEgg.ca order placed Thursday night before their California offices closed, arrived to Toronto Tuesday noon.

Purolator is a viable option then, and the shipping URL on the NewEgg order confirmation page worked once the box cleared customs (it won't work at all before then though). I wasn't even checking, however ( because they saidn it would take 8-12 days at Purolator US and Purolator Canada) - it would have been nice to be able to arrange for the delivery, but I lucked out, and no one stole the box. Thanks everyone for posting the recent delivery updates, as otherwise I wouldn't have even re-checked the delivery status!

 

Damn! They had like 3 in stock or what?

 

Last week (from Friday two weeks ago through Thursday just past) they went out of stock 3 times. I'm guessing that once they see some steadier orders, the stock will grow per order slightly.

Its probably a risky thing for them with a very new laptop, as they have probably been burned in the past having loads of inventory when someone posts that the model in question has serious issues (like the new xx30 series of Timelines). The longest they were out of stock (historically, for this model) was two days, if that's any help.

Also, I think it was a US keyboard, except that it had the 'Right Alt' key (Alt Gr). No accented characters from any of the photos I have seen. It does have the Function/Numlock key variations though, which is critical for me.

Note that there are occasional discrepancies between the NewEgg.com inventory and the NewEgg.ca inventory. I ordered from NewEgg.ca but the shipment came from Jersey (?!), even though they have Canadian warehouses. If you are looking for extended warranty, it is 20% higher through NewEgg.ca, so you might want to see if you can order from NewEgg.com in that scenario.

 

Thanks.

Where is the Fn key? I hope that Right CTRL is the last key on the left...

I don't mind if there is no accented characters. I know where's my é, à, ç...

 

The keyboard looks like this:

http://www.xoticpc.com/laptop/X460/five_pictures5_2431_20110701115421.jpg

(thanks to XoticPC for hosting the pic).

The only oddities I see are the pipe key next to the spacebar where the left alt usually is. Right alt labelled Alt Gr, and the shift key is half the normal size shifted left to make room for the arrow keys. The crtl and fn keys are in the "proper" position in my opinion.

 

-- Double Post --

 

Did you mean that the Right Alt (AltGr) is the leftmost key before the center space bar (in other words, the key immediately to the right of the spacebar)?

I just wanted to point out that the Vostro 3450 had the Alt, then the Ctrl, then the Context/Page thing button, then finally the Left cursor, all to the right side of the space bar. The X460DX has the RightAlt, the Context/Page thing button, and then the Ctrl, and finally the Left cursor (so the Right Ctrl and the Context/Page things are switched). With the Context/page thing immediately beside the Left cursor, I am frequently launching the pop-up dialog at least twice a day. Drives me nuts. If you accidentally hit 'Ctrl', it usually does less damage than not being aware you have opened a dialog where the next keypress can wreak all sorts of havoc quite easily.

I do hope the smaller right shift won't be a hassle: for me, the bigger issue is when you have a half-size left shift, like on the Timelines. The X460DX looks to me to be at least usable.

 

Mine hasn't been shipped out yet, still in the processing stage.

It'd be great if I could get it by Friday since I move into my residence on Sunday, but doesn't seem likely anymore.

Any updates on your order?

EDIT:

Looks like there's another unboxing video up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8yvifpmbLw

 

Mine shipped today at 10 am from California If I would've known I would've taken the Purolator Express option since I want it before University starts. Looks like it will barely make it here before I start. Since I have still no update from the Purolator tracking number I am guessing it will arrive around Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

 

Also, I just found out that ncix.com is selling a very similar model for $789.99. The only difference is that it has 4GB of ram instead of 6GB. Here's the link: NCIX.com - Buy MSI X460DX-007US Intel Core I5-2410M 4GB 500GB 14IN GT540M 1GB DVDRW USB3.0 HDMI W7HP64 Notebook - Others - 9S7-149111-007 - in Canada

 

Another brief unboxing video/preview:

MSI X460DX Thin & Light Notebook Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips - YouTube

 

So, like many of you, this thread made me pull the trigger on this laptop as well.

Ordered it from Newegg around midnight last night and it is in transit. Should get it by Friday. Perhaps Thursday.

Ordered the Corsair GT 120GB SSD as well. Figured I would go ahead and upgrade now before I get too comfortable and start installing a bunch of software I will have to reinstall later.

I will try to buy the ODD tray and put the stock 7200 rpm or another SSD in it.

Will sell off or discard stock DVD drive.

 

From what warehouse did your laptop ship from? Mine shipped from California unfortunately.

 

California warehouse but I am in the Bay Area so it is no problem. XD

 

Oh I see lol. Good for you! I guess you'll get it before me

 

So what is the warranty on the MSI notebook?

1 year? and 5 dead pixels? the site says that so i am curious

 

Yes that is it. It's too bad that you need at least 5 dead pixels in order to get help from them.

 

But NewEgg (thanks forum members for this info) allows exchange with just 1 defective pixel.

MSI's pixel policy is quite dated. So if you have the NewEgg extended warranty, the MSI warranty applies for the first year, then the NewEgg warranty takes over. So if (for example) you had 4 dead pixels, you could either exchange it within the first month at NewEgg, otherwise you would have to hold onto it for a year until the MSI warranty expires and then get it repaired under the NewEgg warranty. Hope that made sense.

And as far as the "MSI X460DX-007US" model, that topic has been covered in this thread recently. It definitely only has 5400 RPM HDD and 4 GB ram, and I was told verbally that it didn't have any Bluetooth or WiDi, but can't confirm those last two items.

 

Hi everyone. I was considering the x460dx to replace my now dead Asus UL30. I plan on using it for some light gaming and had a quick concern. From looking at some forum posts about other laptops that use the Optimus technology, it would seem that many of them have some peculiar issues with gaming performance, specifically issues with seemingly random games not working. Has anyone who has picked this laptop up run into issues with games not working due to incompatibilities of some sort? I understand that the gt 540m is a low to mid level card, and may not be able to run all games due to system requirements, but I'm specifically asking about games not working due to other problems. Thanks.

 

An update on the battery life, I've been able to watch about 4:45-5hrs of movies on Netflix on a single charge. It consisted on a 2hr movie, then an hour tv show the next day, then another hour tv show the next day then about 45 min of a movie the next day. So as you can see that time was not spent all in a row so there was some (little but still some) battery spent on other things, booting up and off, some casual browsing, and some time spent using the computer to control my desktop through vnc

 

Just a quick update: got my unit yesterday, spent some time with it.

The packaging from NewEgg was very scary: I think it was just the way the packer did it. There was 6 little air-packs on just one side of the laptop box, and nothing on the other side, and even while just carrying it, the inner laptop box repeatedly flopped hard against the outer shipping carton, with at least 4" of free movement. Opening up the inner laptop box, there is no padding whatsoever from the same side that had no padding to the thin carboard laptop case, and then the medium thickness outer cardboard NewEgg box. That means there was about a total of 4mm of corrugated cardboard and 4-6" of free moveement between the actual laptop's surface and the outside world.

I literally thought the laptop would be smashed before I even plugged it in, but it wasn't, so that speaks something to the laptop's durability, but also of the consistency of NewEgg's packers. Properly packed, it wouldn't have been any concern.

The unit feels really heavy. It feels heavier than laptop's that are supposed to be over a pound heavier. I think that must be psychological, because the unit is so thin and dense that it 'feels heavier' in hand, but I trust that when weighed it must actually be the proper weight (haven't weighed it though).

The unit is very slim, but I don't know if the measurements actually account for the rear 'feet' on the battery, which raise the keyboard slightly, but do make it seem a tiny bit bigger than the quoted size. However, since the protrusions are just little feet, the overall depth taken up in a laptop bag or backpack would still be very thin, as the foam would accommodate the few bits sticking out more than the rest.

The build quality seems very high. There is some give on the keys to the right side of the keyboard above the ODD tray, but that is fairly typical, and its certainly not bad. Personally, I find the keyboard layout much more workable and practical than the TimelineX or Vostros. Although the lighting in the Vostro keyboards is sweet.

I haven't found the settings for WiDi 2.0 on this, but I'll need more time. The switchable graphics on this just work automagically, and are vastly superior to the current state of the ATI switchable graphics. The feedback it gives (changing the power-button LED from blue to orange when using the discrete graphics) is a really handy feature for confirmation.

It does get pretty warm when running the discrete graphics for a while, but I never felt uncomfortable with hands on the keyboard & rest. The intake vents are mostly situated along the 'front' underside, and so are different from many of the other laptops: this means you might want to exercise some extra care when choosing a laptop cooling wedge, to ensure the fan's outer perimeters are under the vents, for optimal airflow.

During the initial boot, it presents a list of bloatware with checkboxes and asks which you want to install, and has a 'Next' button at the bottom of the dialog. Hilariously, none of the checkboxes can be toggled, so you always get the full extent of extra software. Fortunately, there was only two or three 'trials' and everything else will continue to work, so its not all a total waste, but it depends on your usage as to how valuable those will be.

I had no defective pixels I have seen, but I do have some serious concerns about the display quality. It is on the dark side (not terrible, but somewhat dim), and the colour gradations initially look very challenged. I'll need to spend some time, and hopefully improve this.

Even if it turns out that I cannot improve the display settings and they are very bad, I think I would still keep this unit, and maybe purchase a display used in the Schenkers (40-pin 14" panel - less than $100) to get full sRGB gamut and better brightness. For single pixel lines (CAD & such), it's a bit soft, but generally usable. The numeric keypad functions do work properly.

Sounds is pretty clear, and not from the bottom (to try to achieve some kind of muffling/base effect), but is definitely lacking in the lows. There's a whack of THX options you can dial in, so perhaps I can improve that later. It seems loud enough, at least initially.

Battery life seemed impressive, from anecdotal observations. Will test more consistently later.

Will post more as I have more time to explore... Unavailable for a few hours...

 

If the numbers I found earlier are true, then you won't be able to improve brightness... the panel is on the low end (though I haven't found a 14" yet with reasonable brightness). Color gamut is expected to be low also in this range.... I think my biggest concern is: how's the viewing angles, and how's the contrast ratio? These two things can be reasonable even on dark screens, but unlikely. Unfortunately, the market has been conditioned to where laptops with low screen quality still sell fine, so I don't see this changing any time soon.

 

The viewing angles were fairly narrow: about 30 degrees horizontally, and extremely few degrees vertically (from recollection, around 10-15). Contrast looked strong (for the limited brightness, and partly due to the AR screen), and in fact, was a bit high unless you ran the brightness and gamma up a bit.

The weird thing was that as I was jumping into and out of the Nvidia and Intel graphics properties screens, and changing the general display brightness (Function+Arrows) like a fiend while I had test images open, sometimes the settings would 'jump' significantly. I might have an image open with very little shadow and highlight detail (but super punchy colours and contrast) and then BAM the display had changed to very bright and low contrast, but at least showing me all the previously lost details (at both brightness ends).

That's what gives me hope that there may be more quality "in there" that I can dig out, or if I get the ICC colour and curves profile from Notebookcheck.net, that would be a better starting point. It was getting late last night, and I wasn't being systematic anymore, so my observations are just that, at this point.

Maybe I should try the posted ICC profile for one of those other laptops with the same display... Hopefully it will be from the same vendor, as the displays get sourced by the manufacturers on an ongoing basis for many of the laptops.