MSI GT725 now with Intel Centrino & ATI Radeon Mobility 4850

Does anyone have experience with amazon? I'm trying to decide whether to purchase there for the free shipping, or go with the frosty. I don't know when amazon will get their shipment, either.

 

Amazon is awesome i buy almost all my stuff from them they have excellent customer service as well

 

Amazon has top notch return policies for the products they sell. You will find mixed reviews for products sold from other shops that use amazon.

 

Amazon is amazing. I've ordered several times from Argentina. This will be my first time in the States.

Does anyone know if I can send this computer to a PO Box or if I need to send it home?

 

I suppose going with Amazon is the safer route. Not sure about Frosty's reliability though and warranty services, although I suppose the warranty will be covered by MSI...

 

Amazon is like newegg, one the best online retailers, and example of how customer service SHOULD be handled. They also tend to have decent prices on SOME items, but not all. In this case the have the best price + shipping combo.

The only real problem with Amazon (for me) are the screwy shipping options and charges, although the free 2d with the trial of their "premium" service looks decent, I don't know if you have to wait until the product ships and then cancel to still get the free 2d or what.

As to 725 availablity, I'd say that they're likely to get them at the same time as Frosty does or even before as they're likely to have a MUCH larger order than Frosty does. So back to twiddling your thumbs for a while, but my guess is that they'll probably be in next week or the week after. As if they're not already shipping yet, 1/26 is Chinese New Year, which shuts down the whole freaking country for a couple of weeks.

[EDIT]
While looking at a 15.4" Sager 8660 IIRC from xoticpc, I decided to check out what they had in the way of nb w/ATI cards and saw that they too have the Gt725s available for pre-order. They have the cheaper model listed @ ~$1338 pre-order(cash discounted price).

Also they apparently have the battery runtime listed as 2+h which IS a good sign, and the weight @ 7.05lbs. w/battery.

Their dimensions match the MSI spec page. Fairly decent size for a 17" unit IMO. Good thing thet they opted to not have 2 drive bays or I'd imagine that it'd be HUGE. (Probably accounts for the gross size of the G50VT.)
[/EDIT]

 

The wait is going to be the death of me. Don't they know that the majority of people that buy this stuff suffer from....."patience no gotta"?

Its going to be either the GT725 or an i7 machine with 6gRAM and GTX295. The issue is either sacrifice mobility for power, not to mention I can order the desktop today!

The baddest thing Im looking to push on either would be MMOs' like WOW and Warhammer Online although having the power to run another type of game is a bonus....HELP!

 

If you don't have a fairly decent notebook ATM, I'd go for the nb then. (My case, but I'm still not sold completely on any of these yet and would just get another 1651/GX620 if the prices dropped more.)

The desktop cost will drop more quickly anyways, so maybe in 6m or so you'll be able to buy the desktop as well. (Be slightly cheaper plus you can fully spec the components yourself if you just order parts or worst case for about the same price you got the machine with the parts that you wanted rather than what was forced on you.)

 

Got myself a T43p whilst I wait for 4870 mobility.

 

so, has anyone bought the laptop yet and have video or pictures to show?????

 

im sure if anyone got one, this thread would be the first to know haha

 

As to the case and the carbon fiber ... er... debate the xoticpc site has what looks to be official MS product material, which mention aluminum frame, so I suppose it'll be the like 1651/GX620s. Their photos also look just like any other G series notebook, black plus that hideous orange. (I want a notebook, not a halloween decoration, but at least they forego those ostentatiously useless LEDs. The photos look like more marketing stuff from MSI.)

As photos of an actual unit, I don't think that they've arrived in the US yet as every single site still says pre-order, OR have an out-of-stock with a notify me button. Since they're made in china, they'd better get them shipped PDQ if they haven't already as 1/26 is chinese new year -> whole country shuts down for a few weeks. (I got to experience that last year trying to get a replacement product shipped out...)

 

Perfectly understandable... I guess we will look forward to the GT725's release in feb then

 

Also, I noticed on xoticpc's webbie that the ETA for the GT725 is early Feb...

 

I am like itching waiting for this to come out :wub:

Im keeping my p-7801u and if the reviews for this thing are positive then im selling my Gateway on here and buying me an MSI.

 

From looking at XoticPC's website it looks like you cant install Windows XP on it... Is this true? If anyone knows anything about how to install or if it is possible would appreciate it. (I know a little bit about changing the bios to allow installation of XP and have looked at the tutorial here, but I will admit I am a noob when it comes to installing Os's so any advice helps)

 

I sent MSI an email last week which as of yet has gone unresponded to. All calls have likewise gone unanswered.

Unfortunately most of us suffer from "patience no gotta", so we don't sit and wait well.

MSI throw us a bone here, are we talking a week, weeks or months.....

 

You can. The easiest way would be to set the SATA drive as IDE instead of AHCI. If you don't want to do that, you can use nLite to slipstream the latest Intel chipset drivers and create a revised installation disc.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the MSI GT725 in-stock as soon as possible^^!
Hope in this Q1/09

 

I've been have some second thoughts about this unit, which is why I've declined to pre-order or order anything ATM. A few days ago, I went back to look over the thread with the other MSI nb with a similar GPU, the GT735 w/a 3850 and wasn't at all impressed by the reported benchmarks. They were slightly higher than those of the 9600M GT in the GX620/1651, and significantly lower than that of the Asus G50VT (512M 9800M GS).

I didn't have time then to do much more looking around, but using my oldest pokiest nb this morning I've been looking through desktop Radeon reviews (4850 and 3850 primarily) trying to find one that contains both and, preferably on an AMD platform as that's what the 735 has. So far, I've only found benchs made on Core 2 duo and quad system where the desktop 3850 was scoring (in the one bench that I could find where they didn't decide to turn on AA and anisotropic filtering to max), the 3850 had a raw score of ~10000 @ 1280x1024 on 3DMark06, or ~4000 points higher than the reports in the 735 thread.
Here is the link for that particular review and the 3DMark 06 page.

That said I'm still trying to track down some benched reviews containing BOTH a 3850 and a 4850 AND one where they don't max AA & AF(Why do they do this? I almost never enable either myself, and even if they DO do it, why do they then not also supply baseline scores with both off?).

I'll update if I find anything relevant, but I've still decided to wait and see until some nb with a 4850 Mobility Radeon shows up and is benched, as to me, it's not going to be worth the hassle of dealing with an ATI GPU if it does not provide a significant performance advantage over say a 9800M part of any type, especially also given the power requirements.

Anyways, as to 725 availablity, it looks like all the vendors think that they'll be getting shipments very soon, or w/in the next 3w as I read it since they all say late Jan - early Feb, giving them slack to mid-Feb or 3w window. But like I mentioned before, if those units haven't shipped already Chinese New Year is going to throw a monkey wrench into their delivery schedule, likely pushing them out to late Feb/early March.

 

Preliminary benchmarks of the Mobility 4850 put it in line with the 9800m GTX.
The mobility 4850 should be a great performing card, from what I've seen they are keeping the 800 stream processors as well as 40 texture units.
The end result will be quite a bit faster than a 9800m GS, ~2000 higher in 3dmark06.
The 9800m has the potential to be bottlenecked by the stripped down shader pipeline where as AMD has kept the shader pipeline intact relative to their desktop counterparts.

 

Well, I just jumped on the pre-order bandwagon! I had almost gone with the Studio XPS 16 until I read the reviews about the heat and the lack of ATI's new video cards. I decided I could not wait for the GT727, since I am using my old Acer Ferrari 4005wlmi with the x700 graphix ATM. I sure hope these get released soon. I am excited to have a 17" lappy that is thinner than my 15".

 

The "benchmarks" that you're referring to was an underclocked 4850 HD (desktop) in this very thread. That is insufficient to call a mobility radeon 4850 benchmark, unless we can find someone with a 3850 desktop to downclock and then compare to the 735 results.

I'm still looking for a review of the 4850 which also incorporates 3850 benchmarks as well, preferably on AMD equipment. Failing anything else IIRC tomshardware should have benchmarks for both although I suspect that the mb/CPUs may vary, but I'll look later when I have time.

 

Hi,

I just got a reply from MSI Germany on my question, when the GT725 and GT727 will be available in Europe:

[translated from german]



I think microanvika in UK was just kidding faisalhero when they told him the GT725 would be in stock late january...

 

Well then .... f#ck MSI and let's wait for some other manufacturer featuring a real HD4850M with 1Gig VRAM.

 

I definately won't wait till July. My Samsung 64gb SSD is itchin' for a new lappy. At least since I ordered it thru Amazon it won't be hard to cancel. Looks like I may have to settle for the Studio XPS after all

 

well MSI has stated themselves that the 4850 GPU in there notebook can hit 10,000 stock i dont know how anyone could need more proof then that i highly doubt a notebook company would make those statements and then go back on it.

 

Lol, you've got to be kidding me. 5 months after US/Asian release ? .....?! By then the technology would have been antique. Does MSI still live in the stone-age ?

Fck MSI, Fck Notebooks. Desktop it is for me then.

 

well i am not sure about germany but i have a few email exchange with msi my self and i was told it will be relase till feb and i dont think a shop like microanvika will advertise a product for pre order 7 month in advance does nt make sense.

amazon, RKcomputer, zipzoomfly. frosty, many other website got this product for pre order now.

and all these companies stock msi products and must have a estimated relese time for this product other wise why would the allow people to pre order the product when they will end up giving refunds and that will give them bad rating for the future. as far as my opnion i think GT725 will be out by end of feb.

 

The point I'm trying to make about the mobility 4850 is that is it just downclocked from it's desktop counterpart. (still has 800 stream processors, 40 texture units, and 16 ROPS) Thus, prior benchmarks are indicative of the GT725.

 

email i had from MSI

 

If I had to guess the july date reflects the release of the GT727 that is just my take though

 

that july release maybe it a crossfire version? I think thats possible

 

What's the difference between the GT725 and the GT727 is it only the class 5 audio and DDR2 RAM vs class 4 audio and DDR3 RAM?? According to MSI's site they sound basically identical except for those two (probably very minimal) differences.

 

Actually, I did end up going to look at the desktop GPU benchmarks on tomshardware this morning, and they're showing VASTLY different numbers for 3DMark06 @ 1280x1024 than what I saw yesterday, although it does state "default quality" whatever that means.

Still have yet to check out anandtech and some of the more graphic centric sites and overclocking sites(which for some reason also seem to have alot of GPU reviews/benchmarks and non-OCed CPU reviews...)

JULY?! Are they NUTS?! Time to go back and look at the G50VT again then, I guess.

CF: I doubt it, isn't it usually MSI's practice to slap a new number of a nb with a change of that sort of magnitude? Even Asus seems to change the model number a bit for differences of that magnitude, e.g. G50 w/9700M GT went to G50VT when they put in the 9800M GS... and with MSI, the GX620 w/9600M GT went to GT627 when they put in the 9800M GS, etc.

OTOH they could've maybe have either been confused or maybe meant the same machine, but with an AMD CPU, but I dunno what they're going to number that as they've already screwed it up since they have the 735 already, but with the 3850, and I'd expect the 737 to be the 9800M GS plus AMD CPU... (unless they drop AMD CPU models...)

 

In late december I got such a positive reply from MSI, too. The told me it would be available in January. Maybe they recognized that ATI can't deliver the 4850 until May/June and so they changed the scheduled delivery date for the GT725/GT727.

ASUS also can't deliver the W90 with ATI's 4870 until April. So ATI is the one to fck off here, I think.

 

Just noticed that the GT725 is now listed on the MSI US site, but the GT627 is NOT... hmmm...

OTOH in the 627 thread, one guy posted there stating that I guess that the owner of Frosty's is a former MSI employee and said that he expected 627s today? So the 725s must be due in any day now...

[EDIT]
Dug up this thread from when the mobility 48XXs were announced, apparently,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=340115
Looking at one of the charts on there, it appears that only the 4870 will really match and beat a little, an old 8800M GTX, so I'm guessing that the comments that somehow the 4850 is going to smoke a 9800M GTX are plain false, more likely it'll sort of match the 9800M GS, and beat it in a few cases.
http://hothardware.com/image_popup....formance-comparison_hh.jpg&articleid=8432&t=n

Also note, that in both cases their SLI/XF. (Also noted that for such a high 3DMark score that it didn't really carry over into the games... something fishy about that synthetic bench score... maybe just that the AMD was a quad and the Intel/nVidia a dual core?)

Getting warmer to something like real benchmarks now... I'm getting the feeling that this is going to be more of a tossup between the 4850 or 9800M GS than raw specs would indicate. It would appear that the 4870 is the only one that would really beat the 9800M GTX, and probably by not as much as it beat the 8800M GTXs as nVidia DID do some optimizations on the 9X chipsets which did increase performance a little.
[/EDIT2]

[EDIT3]
Also dug up this link in the same thread above on p.14
http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/01/08/asus-w90-hits-15-000-on-3dmark06/
Only 15k 3DMark06 for 2 4870s CF. No way is the 4850 going to hit 10k 3DMark06 then...
[/EDIT3]

 

haha i love living in the US of A and i was right about the email he sent me

 

Desktop 4870s in CF with a Q6600 running at 3ghz only got 16500 in 3dmark06.
Source:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1481/4/sapphire_radeon_hd_4870_in_crossfire/index.html

So I think that still points to a Mobility 4850 in the ballpark of 10k.(especially with slight overclock)

 

well first off you are wrong in so many level one ATI 3870 hits about 8,000 3dmark so tell me why is it so hard to acknowledge that the ATI 4850 can hit 10,000 ill bet anyone here that with an easy overlock an ati 4850(single) could hit over 11,000

 

well i agree with Red_dragon i have no doubt in my mind that 4850 will have any pro hiting 10.000 mark at all

 

see theres another person on my side faisal, im telling you

Also john, you had mentioned that how come two 4870's hit 15,000

When one 4850 can hit as high as 10,000

Well ill tell you its because first of all this notebook doesnt really come with superior processors consider this.........the highest processor is a T9600

The top of the line CPU's are the T9800, core 2 extreme X9100, and core 2 Quad. What happens you put one of these in and Bench it? it wouldnt be a stretch to say an overclocked GPU with the right driver AND CPU can probably hit about 20,000 im gonna hold on to this number until this thing comes out so when it happens i can show that i understood the capabilities of it. Think about it asus said 15,000 and that was stock with an unknown CPU for all we know that was with a p8600! so this is a wait and see thing it will be worth it though i can bet anyone that.

 

them 4850 can hit 10,000 ...

but what I would like to know is how well does it do in real world gaming performance ???

3d mark benchmarkings can be quite artificial ...

I trust results from real world gaming performance benchmarkings ...



A Falling Cat named Spangky

9 Lives only !!!

 

Dear All,



does them MSI GT725 from Amazon comes with MSI global warranty ?

Thanks


A Falling Cat named Spangky

9 Lives only !!!

 

CPU can have anywhere from a 2,000-3,000 point difference in 3dMark06, so if a 4850 hits 10k with a P8600, it could hit 12-13,000 with a quad.

 

only reason i am agreeing with you because you got a gun in your hand

 

i found this on amazon product page it might help

What's in the Box
This package contains the MSI GT725-075US notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions.

.

 

Faisal dont worry, i dont always use pikachu when i do though he's blastin anyone.

Bill, yes i think its possible for one to go so high. I also believe the 4870 hits about 12,000 stock

Fallingcat, that depends in many respects the mobile version of the 4000 series has the same pipelines(800)as the desktop version so they should perform similar the desktop will still be higher. Most games prefer nvidia cards because they are built around an nvidia interface like crysis. But the ATI is so powerful it should have more then enough power for everyday gaming

 

From notebookcheck

benchmarks

3DMark 06:
0% 100%
min: 9322, avg: 9777, max: 10232 Points ... More Details
Model CPU Memory Core / Memory GPU Memory Value
(Standard 1280x1024) P8600 3056 MB 9322
(Standard 1280x1024) X9100 3056 MB 10232
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
Based on 2 benchmarks

3DMark 06in comparison
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 (min)
57
...
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX
9194
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT
9416
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS
9683
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850
9777
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX
10374
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M
10715
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX SLI
12184
...
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT SLI (max)
14000

 

Well those 3Dmark scores for the 4850 were recieved on dual core CPUs, whereas the 9800m GTX scores are mainly with Quad core CPUs, as you can see in the benchmark-details on notebookcheck.net

So over all, these scores dont express or mean too mutch, neither they are really comparable.

EDIT:
As you can see on notebookcheck, the HD4850 gets 10232 3Dmarks on a X9100, whereas the 9800M GTX only makes about 9952 on the same CPU.