MSI Turion X2 ETA 5/22/2006

S271 model

release date: ETA (that's ETA, people, estimated only!) week of 5/22/2006

color options: Copper Orange Lid or white (orange only on prebuilt model S271)


Barebones:

White model on 1058B (whitebook version)
Same ETA
super-multi DVD
8-cell battery
built-in wireless/BT (according to MSI)

 

S271 specs (prebuild)

12" WXGA
Turion 64 x2 TL-50 (35w)
80gb 5400rpm
512mb DDR2/533
super-multi DVD
802.11b/g and Bluetooth
XP home
8 cell battery

approximately $1149.00

 

I still don't see a huge supply of X2 processors coming down the pipe in the next week, so you may have to buy the S271 prebuild until those come around.

 

CoffeeShark, do we know when msi will do a 15.4 64 X2 ?
(whith a good GC ? )

 

No, it looks like they are keeping the releases of the new notebooks pretty quiet until they are about ready to ship, so anything I said would be a guess.

 

i prefer that .... I am tired to wait ;o)

so Ill buy a simple 64 then !

 

i think maybe MSI will come with a killer machine by the end of october/november.

I think as the 15.4" is a very common size they will try to put a x2 with a ultimate gpu. The X1800 and maybe the X1900.

And they will do only then cause is too clouse to the release of the 1039.

 

Ahh, a 15.4" laptop 1680 x 1050 with Turion 64 X2 2.4G with an X1900 or 7800Go... hehe I just wet my bed dreaming about it.

It'll be horribly expensive, but worth it on a certain psychological level.

 

I'll be surprised if MSI comes out with a 15.4 anytime soon considering they *just* released their long awaited, and much anticipated 1039...

 

I know roadmaps don't mean much, but if you look at their old (march) roadmap it shows the S271//MS-1058 due out in Q2, while all the other Turion64 X2's (17" and 15.4") weren't due out until Q3. Of course that could be the difference between a late May and early July shipment.

But my guess is that MSI is going to focus on their new 12.1" for now and won't have a new 15.4" or 17" for a little bit. After all the MS-1039 was just released.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm wrong on this (and if you ask my wife, I'm wrong pretty often). But I think you'll have to wait for another month or two. Hopefully then MSI will upgrade the GPU again. =)

*Now we just need someone to leak some info on AMD's Tyler core (65nm), so we can all start waiting, and bugging the resellers, for that!

** Just noticed: Welcome to the forum Crimson02!!!

 

Coffee, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to put in a link over to the other S271//MS-1058 thread (and vice versa) so I don't double post.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=53468&page=1

Also interesting to note is that this review's (pre-release) S271 had a TL-52 instead of TL-50 and DDR2 667MHz instead of 553MHz. I hope the S271's have these upgrades when they ship. http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=2&id=1904&pg=1

i may just buy the S271 and upgrade components later. I'm not sure I can wait.

 

jak,

agreed on the tl-52 chip - definitely the one to get at the 1.6 level.

and I'd jump up to 1gb over the 512mb RAM that MSI is shipping in the S271.

good idea to upgrade later - esp if you really want the orange lid. otherwise, wait for the barebone and the TL cpus to hit the market.

 

Thanks Jak,

Been a long-time lurker and avid reader. Also, much thanks on the X2 reviews. I've been on the fence of buying a laptop for sometime now, and I'm still formulating pros and cons between Turion and Turion X2's.

CrimsonO2

 

Crimson02, I think you gotta go with the X2. If Coffee is right on the price (and Coffe usually is), there's no reason not to. X2 pricing is the same as X1. The current X1's have reached the end of their upgradeability. There will not be any new chips to upgrade to later. The DDR1 memory is already maxed out for speed and low CAS timings too.

Don't get me wrong, I've always been a fan of the Turion X1, but its a long time between when I buy new laptops. I like to get something that I know I can upgrade in a year or two, and keep it for three to four years.

For the same reason, you won't see me buying a TL-60 processor any time soon. I'll tough it out with only a TL-52 or 56 until new chips are realeased over the next several months. When they announce that they are dropping support for a particular socket of processor, buy the fastest processor available for your system then. I think that's the cheapest/best way to upgrade. I'm afraid if you buy a X1 now, you'll have to replace the entire system in less than 2 years, as you won't be able to upgrade any part of it. I guess if you buy a new laptop every year or two this isn't much of an issue though.

 

*Sigh* I wish MSI released the 17" first so we could have good graphics... Now I have to wait until Q3 (according to the roadmap anyway). The MS-1058 might hange my mind. I'll consider it if it has ExpressCard/54.

 

i'm not sure that is possible. the best gpu that can be found in 15.4" notebooks seems to be the x1600. it seems that the cooling systems are so extensive that they would not be able to fit into a 15.4" frame. do you have information otherwise?

 

I don't think so. The pre-production reviews have had PCMCIA. Of course this could change when they go to production.

I'm hoping they use ATI's new x1100 series chipset, but I think I'm out of luck there too. According to ATI its 33% better than x200, and x200 was already multiple times better than Intel Intigrated GMA 9XX.
http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=857821&highlight=

 

The 1058/S271 has an ExpressCard slot, for those wondering. plus the rs485M/sb460 chipset. shared video ram is up to 128mb.

 

Good news on the ExpressCard. But I'm bummed at the chipset. Weren't the 1013's allowed to share up to 256MB?

 

no, the 1013 was 128mb. plus the fact that even going from 64mb shared to 128 didn't improve the performance significantly.

the 1013s did pretty well for integrated gaming, and i think the 1058s will be better, but they're not gamers in any sense of the word.

 

First: The x1600 was a natural evolution, they said that the manufactures didn´t even need to change the mother board, just configuration.

Second: I hope they can use better GPUs, it´s more a dream than anything else. BUt the X1600 is currently being used in a 14", so i think they may find a way to do it, even if they have to underclock a litle bit the cards.

Third: The first benchmark for turion x2, is pretty disapointing, 10% worst then the core duos 32-bit from intel. So i guess the 64 bits coreduos that are coming from intel will kick the ass of amd. I am considering buying an intel now....

Cool picture from a dual turion S271:


I just don´t link the pink around the logo, if it was black or grey would be better.

 

OK... i changed my mind, new benchmark is saying it has the same performance, and in terms of MSI, where you can upgrade later, the TYLER cores will feature a 65nm tec, wich should boost the performance.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=2&id=1904&pg=6

 

Wait, where did it say that Tyler would fit on the same X2 S1 socket? That's ultimately my big upgrade worry...If S1 is only good until Rev G (65nm) comes out, then buying X2 now would just be for the must-have-right-now crowd. I haven't seen much literature on Rev G, but will it go on the same S1 socket?

CrimsonO2

 

I would hold off a while before assigning a winner, in terms of performance, between the Core Duo and Turion X2. TX2 has just been released, let's give AMD and the mobo manufactureres some time to work out the kinks. I'm wondering if they'll try upping the clock frequency at all in later iterations of the TX2?

I'd really like to see a TX2-based 17" display configuration from MSI sooner rather than latter. Is it true that this won't be available until Fall?

-Skel

 

Well i thought that the TYler would fit in the S1 socket. If i am not worng the release date is q2 of 2007. This site says that the tyler is Socket S1 compatible, it is in italian:

http://www.dinoxpc.com/News/news.asp?ID_News=10543&What=news

Turion 64 Core Taylor:

90nm, Socket S1, Dual Core, Rev. F, 2 x 512KB L2, DDR2 (G) 667, EVP, DMX, AMD-v, 35W TDP

Core Tyler:

65nm, Socket S1, Dual Core, Rev. G, 512KB x 2, DDR2 800 , 100MHz Granularity, 35W TDP

 

Hmm, I was hoping 65nm would allow AMD to jump up to 1MB L2, or drop to 25W TDP. I suppose 65nm will at least allow them to contine increasing clock speeds without melting down.

Assuming the two differnt cores both fit in an S1 socket, I have to wonder if current mobo's will allow an upgrade to DDR2 800, or if we'll forever be stuck at 667. Can a BIOS flash do that, or is it hardware specific?

By the way, any news on ETA? I haven't found any X2 systems for sale yet. Hmmm, paper launch only?

Here's the link to the product spec on MSI's web page. Any of the resellers have it yet?

edit: I should point out that the italien web site says the keene (sempron) processors have 2x 512k L2, when in fact they only have 1x 512k L2 (because they only have 1 core)

 

"Any of the resellers have it yet?"

Is this it?
http://www.avadirect.com/plist.asp?keywords=turion+64+x2

 

Comes out to $1144.47 including shipping for me. Damn- that's cheap!
I wish it had a a better cache though.

 

Yes, price is nice - looks to be the first one available to order. I admit I haven't called to see if is actually in stock. Now I need to find the MS-1058 (whitebook) somewhere. I'm kinda put off that the S271 has only 512MB of DDR2 533, and only used the TL-50. I was really hoping for at least a TL-52.

Now I see that Acer is releasing their Ferrari 1000 (12.1" Turion X2 ATI x1150). If Acer comes with a better processor/RAM I might have to switch, they already have a better GPU (x1150 vs. x200).

Every week I tell myself that this will be the week I order a new lappy, and every week something else comes out. I'm getting stuck in a vicous cycle. Oh well, having choices for 12.1" AMD notebooks is good for everyone.

 

x1150 is nice!
well...for onboard it is

 

Any news about MSI's next iteration of Turion X2 laptops? Also, what selection of display sizes are they planning (14", 15.4", 17")?

Thanks,
-Skel

 

According to the RoadMap, 17" with MXM and Turion X2 is coming Q3 this year.

 

Thanks for the head's up, MGS. The upcoming MSI 17" model is at the top of my list.

-S