MSI GT627 Notebook

first review of MSI GT627 from frosty on you tube

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

 

His "review" is "awful". (as usual) Why does he bother? Plus he once again got the specs wrong (high end model CPU is the P8600)...

(Kind of like with the GX620 he apparently didn't know the difference between GDDR2 and GDDR3, since he said that it had a 9600M GT GDDR2 GPU... sigh... he also seems to think that the low end model has a 1680x1050 screen and not the crappier WXGA 1280x800 screen that every other vendor lists, AND which makes more sense in MSI's model layouts...)

 

Nice notebook, dumb review..... I'm still laughing my a$$ off from the specs he messed up..
Great job Frosty!

 

That answers my question about buying from Frosty's.

"1 GB VIDEO MEMORY, I MEAN COME ONE, THAT'S UNHEARD OF!!!"

Asus m50 series and n80/n50 series right off the top of my head, neither being branded a gaming laptop.

 

Sadly, mine too...

At least his shipping info was correct though... I'd've also cut him some slack IF he had cheaper prices than Amazon, but his you gotta pay to play comment if nothing else would've made me walk...

[EDIT]
Bah! Amazon still says pre-order... Wonder what's taking their shipment so long, as if I were MSI I'd've given my biggest customer 1st access as it's the closes thing that they have to a mainstream retailer, plus the volume that they must go through...

Might even jump on one of these anyways as I'm tired of waiting, and putting a Radeon on my desktop would make is MUCH easier to get rid of if it turned out to have annoyingly bad linux drivers still (and in the near future).
[/EDIT]

 

I thought this fit better here....

Odd though that Xoticpc offers Vista Home Premium 32bit with the base cost but basically robs you if you want 64 (+124!!!).

 

Uh, that's the cost of Vista? It's only multimillion laptop sellers that get ms to subsidize windows installs. In fact, this market (home+enthusiast) along with business installs is probably the target in creating a landscape where windows is ubiquitous.

 

So so far Xotic, Amazon & Frosty's are confirmed to carry the GT627

Any others we're missing? ^^

 

RK Computer have both GT627's.

 

first of all if the MSI comes with the 9 cell battery... will it be popping out??

and... which one is better to choose from this 627 or G50vt-a1

 

yes it sticks out the back.

 

=/ still haven't seen any sites post a picture of the internal components. I want to see a picture of the gpu and heatsink.

 

Amazon still says pre-order!! (MSI must not like their only closest thing to a mainstream retailer that they have in the US...)

The 9cell battery does stick out a little, looked like about .25" (maybe less) in a photo that I saw before. (I think that the photo was in one of the GX620/1651 threads... could be wrong... just search for 9cell batteries although with the 100 post limit returned by search you'll probably have to hand search, or slightly easier search for thread results, then wade through the threads...)

 

Wasn't the MSRP dropped $100 to $1300 on the higher end model? I saw this in Anandtech's review. I wonder if it might be worth waiting.

 

Is this the review you were talking about?

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=548

I think $1099 and $1299 sounds a lot better considering the G50Vt-X1 is only $1049 ($949 with the currently deal) which would make it certainly more competitive as well as the current state of the US economy.

 

1300 is a much better price

 

Yes, that is the one. If the G50Vt-X1 has either a higher 16:9 resolution or 1680x1050 like the higher end GT627 I would be all over it. The other Asus G50 laptop has nice specs, but the orange trim is ugly as sin, is heavy, and has poor battery life. At least the MSI laptop has a 9 cell option, is under 6 lbs, and is more stylish (in my opinion, anyway).

One thing I might want to know more about is the impact of the brushed aluminum finish on WiFi performance. The aluminum sheets are like giant reflectors that might distort the radiation pattern of the antennas, especially if the antenna(s) are placed behind the screen (i.e. patch antennas).

 

Yeah I think the G50Vt-X1 is ugly also. Plus I don't care to have a laptop that big. I think everything I've read about the GT627 is perfect for me that is. *sigh* I just wish I could have an integrated lit keyboard + fingerprint reader, but that is fine.

About the price.. from the looks of things I really doubt the GT627 will sink to $1299. It's already being sold for $1399 thus I could not see businesses lowering the price if it's already making sales, unless it isn't.

 

untrue you've must have never been on newegg, or amazon, or best buy

 

First 15-incher I've seen in a while that makes me look at my Sager NP8660 and say "Hmmmm"...

Don't get me wrong, I love my machine, but that MSI is just pure . Of course, I'd be taking 2 steps back on the GPU(maybe more like 1 and a half because of the gig of memory), and slower RAM, but other than that...

I'm gonna wait for some reviews to drop, and if they're positive I'll consider pulling the trigger on this baby.

 

Wow! That makes frosty(and all of those other guys) uber expensive as IIRC they've got them around $1449 for the high end model... Amazon still says $1399. Wonder if the GT725 will also get a price drop now... $1250 for the low end 725 would make it ubder attractive if it ever comes out...

 

It looks like the lower end model is available for order via Amazon now. The higher end model is still set for pre-order though. I'd imagine it won't be long before it is fully available, though.

Have any real reviews popped up yet? I'm curious about battery life, the keyboard quality, and overall build quality.

 

I'm not sure what you're talking about in regards to that, but personally I just want something the size of a normal 15'' laptop as well as something that looks slightly professional at least.

As for the selling of the GT627 I guess MSI sells them directly also (for those who may not have known)

http://www.msimobile.com/level2_productlist.aspx?id=6

Makes me really believe we will not be seeing the GT627-218US for anything much less than $1399 for awhile. Boo.

 

It looks like the $100 drop in MSRP is reflected on Amazon's website! Still on pre-order, though. Argh!

 

Ooo baby, how I wish that was a $1K price drop instead. I would be floating in GT627s over here. I believe you meant $100 price drop.

 

I just ordered the GT627, and I think BR is a nice plus. Thing has hdmi out you know, when cpu/.gpu are obsolete, you have a BR player with a 320 hdd rather than a hugely ugly and environmentally unsound paperweight.

 

You can't lose with a laptop that is colored "Metal Hair Brush".

(Check out the color under the specs tab here: http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=9&id=54 )

Looking at a red hairbrush must be where they got the idea for the hideous red accents.

I'm going to have to do some explaining to my boss when I use this year's company laptop allowance on a "gaming" laptop. I wish manufacturers of high-performance notebooks would offer their products with a toned-down color option for "business" users like me.

 

If it's still on preorder at Amazon, you can go to RK Computers and have it shipped tomorrow for $1349.99. I'm getting guaranteed delivery on Friday.

If they have the model, RKC and KN are the only shops I'd ever buy a pc from. Whatever problem you have, those guys will fix it for you, whatever question you have, those guys will answer it in 24 hours.

 

Btw check out this pic of GT627's left side.

http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/364/msinr.jpg

Either this is the biggest laptop on the planet or that is the smallest BR drive.

 

Hehe no. That is just a small insert on the drive door. You can notice the vertical lines that define the actual drive if you look closer.

 

Lol yeah. I just thought it looked funny, like Hagrid's laptop.

Btw for anyone here, is this thing gonna need a fan based cooler? It's a P8600 and the 9800m GT is supposed to run fairly cool, so I hope not.

 

It's a 9800m GS

If MSI does a good job of cooling, a cooler won't be needed. There's a great debate on whether or not they really help. Placing the back end of your notebook on something like a DVD case can get you the only extra cooling you need.

 

Speaking of cooling I wonder where this model vents most of its heat? There are two air ducts it looks like, one on the right, one in back. Does anyone know if the one on the right blows hot air on your mouse hand all day or not? Or could that be the intake, not the exhaust (hope hope)?

 

My asus have one vent, cooling sistem is very good, so don't worry

 

What's the best way to get rid of all the nvidia intel etc stickers? I don't want to be scratching at all those stickers on a brushed aluminum surface. I remember the first notebook I got with stickers, a Dell, it had 2 stickers on it, an "intel inside" and "designed for MS windows". I mean look at this pic, this thing practically has a manufacturer sticker skin. http://www.rkcomputer.net/rkcnotebooks/images/products/thumb_133_DSCF1761.JPG

Also, the same pic shows the keyboard. It's weird to me that 627 has a numpad; is it the international market that wants this feature? Or is it a cost saving measure? I'd rather have a bigger keyboard w/out numpad. I'm typing on a 17" 4:3 Dell right now, this thing is going to be about as wide, but the kb will be 75% the size.

It's got 3 vents on the bottom so I suppose it's a decent candidate for a cooler. Suppose it can't hurt.

 

Still not sure if going for this GT627-218US or GT725-074US, but as to the cooler I'm still looking for one that works fairly well but is comfortable to use on a lap or while generally being placed here and there outside or in vehicles as I will be out in the summer and temps will likely get high enough that I'm already thinking some sort of extra cooling will be needed or having to plan around shutting down every once in a while to allow the nb to cool off...

@tallan
Apparently like every other recent higher end MSI nb they all vent along the right side. There's a grill opening (well sort of perforated plastic) where hot air exhausts. You'll see people mentioning with almost every model when reviewing some comment about the warm air blowing out there. (It's almost directly opposite where the DVD drive door is and almost the same size but sits back a little further as the CPU/GPU are both in that corner, upper left as you look down at the nb.)

 

Someone turned me on to this thread ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=304671) and I found it hugely helpful. General thoughts, and a buttload of linked reviews.

I picked the cooler master notepal infinite, it does what you need and seems solid. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=162820