Official MSI GE60 & GE70 2012 Owners' Lounge

w/aa i get a solid 40-45

 

Because I just like to be able to be totally mobile

FORCE 16GA (based on GE60 barebones)
15.6 inch 1920x1080 matte display
i7-3610QM 2.3-3.3 Ghz (6mb cache, 45w TDP)
GT650M GDDR5 2GB
4gb RAM 1600 Mhz
750gb HDD 5,200 RPM
Ordered from Xoticpc.com

 

I saw the GE60 (650m model) on B&H on 999usd. Two questions though:
1- How many RAM slots does GE60 have?
2- How many hdd bays does it have? Are they sata3 ?

Thanks !

 

It has two RAM slots. It was 2 SATA bays, one for the ODD (which is SATA II) and one HDD, which is SATA III). There is also an mSATA III interface.

 

My GE60 barebones is finally here and it does have a turbo button

FORCE 16GA (based on GE60 barebones)
15.6 inch 1920x1080 matte display
i7-3610QM 2.3-3.3 Ghz (6mb cache, 45w TDP)
GT650M GDDR5 2GB
4gb RAM 1600 Mhz
750gb HDD 5,200 RPM
Ordered from Xoticpc.com

 

What's the maxx amount of RAM supported? And at what speeds?

Thanks.

 

Questions like this can be answered by looking at the official product page. Google.

 

Using the Intel Rapid Storage app, it says that my SSD (which is in my ODD slot) runs at SATA III. Should't it say SATA II?

 

is the turbo fan button working?

 

Hello all. I apologize if this has been addressed before, I have not visited this thread since maybe page 80-90's or so.

I have the MS-16GA which is a whitebrand/whitebook/bareones version of the GE-60. As far as I can tell the systems are nearly identical. There might be some minor differences in the keyboard, maybe software, and chassis styling but the insides appear to be identical. My question is regarding virtualization. I have never done virtualization and this is my first attempt but so far VMware and VirtualBox complain that VT-x is disabled even though the 3610QM processor equipped supports it. I was told by users in another forum to check my BIOS settings to make sure it is enabled and from what I gather virtualization is usually disabled by default on consumer laptops. Unfortunately there is no option for enabling virtualization in BIOS.

Naturally I looked for a BIOS update. There is none on my vendor's support page, and checking out other vendor's that sell the same laptop they direct their download pages to MSI's GE-60 website. I have used MSI's drivers page for my drivers when I first set up this system because, like I mentioned, they use the same components. However, there is a nice warning in red letters saying that the MSI BIOS is not compatible with whitebook versions of the laptop. There is a newer version of the BIOS, though there is no mention of adding virtualization.

The BIOS I have installed: E16GAIK1.105 (3/28/2012)
The BIOS available for download for the GE-60: E16GAIMS.10E (7/12/2012)

The version naming scheme is somewhat similar but obviously I am afraid to try it out on my system. Part of me is skeptical though, whether MSI has that warning on the page just because they don't want to offer support for their whitebrand and instead want to offload the responsibility to the vendors. And because there is a possibility of something going wrong with a BIOS update, they'd rather not deal with it if they don't have to. I'm sure many of you realize this is a common tactic in the PC components world.

Anyway, my question for GE60 owners is, what version of BIOS do you have and do you have virtualization options? Is the BIOS brand American Megatrends? Has anyone tried any virtualization software with success?
The same question applies to any MS-16GA owners out there. Thanks for your time and help.

 

Yes, and it even has the S-Bar, all features of the regular GE60 work!!

FORCE 16GA (based on GE60 barebones)
15.6 inch 1920x1080 matte display
i7-3610QM 2.3-3.3 Ghz (6mb cache, 45w TDP)
GT650M GDDR5 2GB
4gb RAM 1600 Mhz
750gb HDD 5,200 RPM
Ordered from Xoticpc.com

 

No, If you look on the whitebooks website, it shows that the BIOS is not compatible, sorry

FORCE 16GA (based on GE60 barebones)
15.6 inch 1920x1080 matte display
i7-3610QM 2.3-3.3 Ghz (6mb cache, 45w TDP)
GT650M GDDR5 2GB
4gb RAM 1600 Mhz
750gb HDD 5,200 RPM
Ordered from Xoticpc.com

 

Hi guys i was planning on downloading torrents on my laptop and its kinda big like 20gig and i plan on leaving my laptop on for days so basically it will be/act like a desktop until it is done downloading, should i leave the battery on or take it off?

 

Thanks for reiterating what I already said..

May I ask what BIOS version you have?

 

Just leave it in. If the power trips....

 

What HDD caddy would you recommend to replace it with my ODD??

Thanks!

Enviado desde mi GT-I9100

 

wont that destroy the batterys life span/battery life?

 

AFAIK MSI designs the power circuitry correctly.

 

what do you mean by correctly? and overall?

 

In other words, you are stressing about something that does not need to be stressed about. Do you ever unplug a UPS? No, you just leave it on.

 

ok thanks. hope my battery wont get damaged/spoiled easily :thumbsup:

 

If you live in a place where the possibility of power outages is high I would leave the battery in to work as a UPS. If you don't, and you really want to extend the life of the battery it's better that you don't leave it in to be constantly trickle charging. My power is pretty stable and I don't take my laptop around with me, instead using it as a desktop replacement, so I haven't even plugged in the battery since I received it. If I intend to travel with my notebook I will just charge it before I leave and use it then. But I don't really know how much it will extend the life, if any. Batteries just go bad over time so a few years down the road you will likely need to look for a replacement regardless of how well you take care of it.

 

Just received my GE60, bought SSD and RAM and found out that the warranty sticker is covering one of the screws, so I cant upgrade my laptop without voiding the warranty. May be somebody had the same problem before?

Update: it's ok, local msi service told that it is fine to remove the sticker as long as there is no mechanical damage

 

I'm still waiting to hear back from MSI customer support but does anyone here have any experience with the removal of the user-service panel on the bottom to replace the RAM / WiFi or HDD?
I just bought a GE60 with the intention of adding 16gb of RAM and there's a label marked 'warranty void if removed'!!

 

The answer I received from MSI: "Dear Customer, You might open notebook without losing warranty, the only condition which is there is not to broke anything during that operation - any mechanical damages is not covered by warranty. " The local service center told me the same thing

 

Has anyone heard or experienced anything about faulty power connectors on the GE60? My girlfriend has had one for a bit under 3 months, but it is essentially bricked because the power jack no longer actually provides power to the machine. Hoping xotic/MSI will take care of it, but looks like we might run in to problems because I think the registration process crapped out when we first got it. Post-purchase registration systems for products bought online are such a scam...

 

Then i guess i have to keep it in. I live in the Philippines and we have power outages/interruption like once a week esp. now/lately due to bad weather. With me keeping it in, how long should i expect my battery to be good(still be able to have 2 hours of battery life at least)?

oh btw, can someone recommend a good laptop bag for the ge60? I want a bag that i can take with me to school and at the same time something that people wont suspect that in the bag is a laptop.

 

I just realized it, the 306.23 whql drivers removed my hdmi lag completely. And they appear to allow me to overclock a little more. Awesome!

 

I got my msi ge60 back after sending it in for repair. It was a mobo failure. Can someone verify if the battery light indicator near the trackpad is suppose to be lit when the adapter is plugged in and also when it is unplugged? Mine are off. Thanks

 

the battery indicator(4th from the left) should be on/lit when its plugged in.

 

Mine is also off(when plugged in)

 

Mine is blue when charging and I think orange at low battery level if unplugged. Otherwise it is of.

 

Thanks for the confirmation guys. I unplugged it and let the battery drain. When I plugged it back in, the light came on

 

Anyone have a optical disc drive caddy that fits the MSI G70 optical drive face plate? I bought a generate caddy and although it fits, the face place doesn't fit.

 

Just Ordered mine on NewEgg yesterday, should be here tomorrow. Kinda bummed, it is in the state but UPS won't let me pick it up, they need to try and deliver it once first.

I just recently got an Alienware M14xR2 but the screen is too small and the resolution (1368X768) blows. The MSi was 200 cheaper and better screen/specs

 

do you guys know if the cpu is bga or pga in ge60?

 

I made an account specifically to make this post.

As a disclaimer, I review PC hardware as a job and hobby. I've reviewed $2,000 SSD's, some of the most expensive graphics cards on the market, and more. I love this industry, and hardware gives me a bit of a nerd "boner".

The GE-70 is a good notebook. The keyboard is a heap of . There's no way to say it other than that. The keyboard is poorly built, even more poorly executed, and feels like a flimsy heap of crap. Touch typing on this is nigh impossible (I type at 80-90 WPM, game at about 190-200 APM... usually). I often have to backtrack to actually hit a letter, because the keyboard requires so much suppression to actually actuate (hurr durr) the cap.

I just spent $15.00 to buy two new keys that have already worn out. I got this notebook a month ago. The D, and Num Pad / have both become completely inoperable. As I write this I have moved the Numpad Delete key to D, and vice versa. The D fails to actuate when pressed anywhere but in the center, because of the poorly designed hinge. All of the others work fine, but this one failed only yesterday.

This is a good notebook, I mean that, but this keyboard is enough to motivate me to return it for another product, it's that much of a deal breaker. Buyer beware, seriously.

 

Maybe there's something defective with your keyboard? Contact your reseller and request an RMA. I don't have those problems on my GE60.

 

does anybody know if there is a way to launch s-bar silently, without the icon on the top? or so that the icon was on the side?

 

This. While it takes some time to get used to it, I have no problem with the quality and usability of the keyboard so far.

 

I have bought replacements for the keys. If this doesn't rectify the issue I will be RMA'ing it, and asking for a refund for the keys, too.

 

Hello, I previously posted about missing virtualization in the MSI MS-16GA which is the whitebrand/whitebook/OEM version of the MSI GE-60. I apologize to actual GE60 owners because this information is not very pertinent to them, but as far as I know there isn't a 16GA forum because of the smaller userbase, and our systems are almost identical.

Anyway, after doing some research I found a way to get virtualization enabled on the 16GA systems. It is disabled by default on earlier BIOS revisions, and there is no option to enable it yourself. As a result, a pretty useful CPU function is disabled and not usable with virtualization software.

Here is the relevant forum post on the MSI user forums: Bios mod for 16GA to enable vt-x

There is a tool created by the users there which is a BIOS update prep tool which loads the appropriate BIOS files files and commands onto a USB drive and makes it bootable. And in that thread, a mod posts an official BIOS update file which can be used by the tool to update your BIOS to one where virtualization is enabled by default. Please note, you have to be registered (free forum registration) to download the tool as well as the attached BIOS file. If people would like me to post it on a public download site free of registration, please let me know.

I just recently flashed the file and virtualization is indeed enabled. I no longer get warnings from VirtualBox that my virtualization is disabled. I would recommend this to any 16GA users that wish to use virtualization.

Please note that flashing a BIOS is always a risky procedure and please make sure to read ALL the guidelines and warnings before flashing. The process is fairly simple but make sure to read them at least 2 times. After flashing there is a procedure that must be done in order to reset the EC firmware.

My system details regarding BIOS:

Mainboard: MS-16GA
PCB Version: REV:1.0
BIOS Version: E16GAIK1.105
BIOS Date: 3/28/2012

and after the update:

BIOS Version: E16GAIG6.10D
BIOS Date: 6/20/2012

After a quick look through the BIOS settings there doesn't appear to be any new settings or options, but it does enable virtualization to default.

 

My 16GA came with that bios. I am loving mine.

 

My Alienware m15x is finally due to become my Nephews computer for school work as it can no longer handle the newer 3d games and MMO's I like to play. I swore I would never buy a DELL or ALIENWARE laptop again due to their horrible support. (After one year, Nvidia and Dell stopped making video drivers for the card and we slowly were forgotten. The user forum was filled with thousands of complaints on build quality, and I had my unit replaced 2 times, as well as an ODD failure and a NIC failure.)

After reading 130 pages from you guys, I am really amazed at how few complaints there are. People have commented that the build is a bit cheap, but considering the price point this is amazing. Laptops really only have a 3 years life expectancy if you want to play games etc, before they are no longer upgradeable and useable, so paying $3000.00 for my Alienware and haivng no support vs paying $1000.00 for this machine seems to be a no brainer for me.

I get my new GE60 in two days and I cant wait to go form 8.3 pounds down to about 5.5 pounds. Also happy to have a dedicated num pad. The only thing I will really miss is the LED backlighting of the M15x.

Westcoast

 

Does anyone know MSI GE 60 Ci5-3210M comes with 1x8GB or 2x4GB? Thanks.

 

The RAM configuration depends on the reseller. You may want to check if the RAM is 1333 or 1600 MHz as well.

 

GE70 also has mSata, right??

 

Yes, it also has mSATA

 

Can GE70 0nd be overclocked using SetFSB or not? Did someone create any modded BIOS for it?

And is there any coating which will reduce all that glossy effect of case?

 

I am also looking for a coating. I think xoticpc can do a carbon fiber modification(not sure on what its called) but imo its kinda pricey 100-200$ is alot for just coating it... This is the only complaint that i have with this laptop. In the review it says it magically attracts dust and indeed it does. Very weird as i keep it in my desk and after wiping it down it takes around 5-10min and its back! its driving me crazy. So what i do is just wipe the touchpad area and leave the dirt around the sides and wipe it like every other day.