Free the wire and experience the mobility: MSI MS-1719

This is not exactly a review but rather my personal experience. I'll just add more stuff/info from time to time and/or if requested.
Congrats to myself as this is my first notebook


MSI MS-1719 (GX700)
With a GeForce 8600GT the MSI MS-1719 notebook is probably targeted at the middle of the performance gaming market.
I'd say its pretty good for the money.

Specs
Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz
2 x 1GB Transcend Jetram pc5400
GeForce 8600GT
120GB Toshiba 5400rpm SATA150
WinXP Pro SP2


Alright, on to some pics:


17 inches of eye padding goodness



As you can see, the top is very glossy, like piano black or so. RKC, RK Computers, is the official reseller of this notebook. The logo lights up nicely.




Please dont pay too much attention to the wires in the background, as Im not done yet migrating to my desktop replacement


Consistent 3k in 3dmark06.
According to Riva Tuner the 8600GT has GDDR3 RAM that is running at 400MHz. I havent tried overclocking as this is my first notebook so I dont want to risk it for some synthetic points.



The driver is not on the cd I think. Maybe someone could spare me some time and help me with it.


Pros
- good design, suitable for any occasion from lan party to business meetings
- pretty thin and light for a 17" notebook
- overall a good quality notebook

Cons
- the top is a bit too glossy, gets a lot of fingerprints
- only 3 usb ports
- the audio is high quality, not hi-fi


Other thoughts
The max amount of RAM per bank according to the manual is 1GB. This might be a con to some people.
The right side of the touchpad gets pretty warm, but my righthand is on my mouse most of the time, so for me its no biggy.
Since this is my first notebook I cant compare it with former experiences, but Im very pleased with my purchase

Ok, if you have questions, suggestions, etc then fire away.

 

So would you say this notebook is relatively portable? Oh and also, does this notebook have a built-in TV tuner?

 

Up till now it is very portable for me (I dont use public transportation tho).
But the unplugging and bagging when going out and unpacking and replugging when coming back is a breeze.

Niope, I dont have a tv-tuner and I dont see it on the configuration list at the reseller.

 

Sweet. So when you got it were there any (off the bat) problems with the OS or with anything else? And also did yours come preloaded with an OS, and which?
And it would be awesome if you could tell me what OS's are compatible with it.

 

All was in perfect condition on arrival.
RKComputers even included a quick bios setting guide to a known error with sata hdisks when you are installing the harddrive and OS yourself.
I bought the hdisk separately and im running xp pro.

You can look at the configuration page at www.rkcomuters.com which OSes are supported.

I only need a guide how to install the wifi card as I totally forgot to include it in my order. Bummerrrr................

 

It's an error on rivaturner.

When it shows "DDR3" it's DDR2. GDDR3 would appear at GDDR3

It looks good though, too bad it's DDR2, the GX610 has a GDDR3 HD2600

 

The unknown device is the memory controller for the turbo memory which is not compatible with XP. It will cause no issues but if you want to remove it there is a bios available that will disable the controller under xp. It can be found here:

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/bios_result_nb.asp

The notebook originally supported 2gb max ram but with the current installed bios will fully support 4gb (64bit OS)

 

Ah, kk. Thanx for the info.

Bioshock demo runs with medium/high settings and lower resolution (1024) 20-30 fps.

Stalker is very playable with mid-low settings, 50-60fps outdoors.

 

Oh alright, thnx. Ill just leave it as it is then.

 

How much battery life do you get?

 

That's disapointing, all because of the DDR2. I have a deaktop 8600GT and a pretty slow CPU ( Sempron 3100, about a P4 3.2) and I run bioshock maxed @1280x1024 at 25+ FPS

 

How about some real world gameplay? I am anxious to see this thing run Bioshock, or Lost Planet.

 

When windows loaded the battery was at 98%.

Played wc3 dota for ~59 mins. Aprox 23% was left.

Then I fired up 3dm06 and right after the 'freeze' game test when it was doing a system scan the notebook went into suspend mode.

 

What about when just surfing the web and running power saving stuff?

 

M3lvn, I plan to order a GX600 or GX700 however I want to use it to play HDDVD (Xbox HD drive) and I need HDCP (otherwise PowerDVD wil not pay HDDVD titles

http://www.cyberlink.com/english/sup.../diagnosis.jsp

could you try BD/HD advisor free utilty to check if the MSI GX 8600GT is HDCP enabled?

Could be interesting info for many people.

 

I got the exact same result as madcityscott posted in the other thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=124886&page=4

 

While playing some music clips with Windows media player and spider sollitaire for 20 mins, there was aprox 83% battery left showing 1h 25min.

I didnt configure any power saving options. So its 1h and 45min for sure.

 

thanks for your help,
please check my answer in the other thread, in case you have a HDCP monitor or TV.

 

your palmrest does not appear to be glossy one thing i hate about the 1719 design.. am i wrong or it is more of a matte finish?? thanks

 

The palmrest is nog glossy. The top of the notebook is very glossy.

The palmrest gets a bit hot though, but a mouse does wonders

 

more gaming info please.. how well does this setup do overall..??? thanks

 

Does it have S/PDIF or other optical output? And have you tested it(gx700) with 5.1 home theater?

 

If eye candy is crucial for you, the 8600gt will probably not satisfy your needs. You'd best get at least a 7950gtx or maybe a 8700gt.

Up till now mobile gaming is not on par with desktop performance (you probably already know that).
And I dont understand why people say that fps games (bioshock) are very playable at 25fps with a rez of 1024x768 and maxed settings, bcoz it is not. 25 fps is horribly low for a fpshooter and is simply not playable imo.

If you still want the game to look good with playable frames, you'd best lower the resolution (800x600) and turn on a few quality settings. That looks better than high res with no shader/graphic effects.

 

You can check the specs on the net ....
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/spec_ms1719.asp

I tested the sound on my 6.1 speakerset and its quite good.

 

Fan noise
This notebook is very quiet. At about 30 degrees and playing stalker, u dont hear any fan noise.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/spec_ms1719.asp
I think cyberpower made a mistake there with 4 usb ports.

 

i am still prob going to order one from rob.. i had to wait for dell again since they screwed up my refund ill call rob back mon since im not sure if he's in over the weekend.. i had to wait to get my money back from dell to order one