The Official MSI GE40-2OC Owner's Lounge

I would be concerned about how much getting the FHD screen will affect the battery life of the system. If we can get the reported 8 hours on battery with a 1600x900 screen, what will it be if a higher resolution screen is used? 6 hours? 4? I would really like to hear other's experience with this.

 

I've owned the full HD version for a week, and I'm getting 6 hrs of light use (webdev work, so editing text files, uploading and running in a browser). Battery life was important to me, was tossing up between this and the gigabyte P34G, but I'm happy with my choice.

The screen itself seems good, I'm no expert, but colours don't wash out badly when viewed off centre. 1920px is a lot to cram into 14", if you have the chance it would be worth checking it out before buying, which was the hardest part- lappies like these are such niche products that finding one to have a look at before buying is near impossible. And there were no reviews of this version, that I could see. So it was a bit of a punt...

 

How are the blacks? Could you try posting pictures, if you have a decent camera? An 8MP smartphone camera should suffice to get an idea.

 

Hey, I've also been really torn between this laptop and the p34g. The main downside to the p34g is the battery life is pretty bad from reports. I like the backlit keyboard though, but after seeing one in person the ge40 is pretty nicely made. Can you comment on any of the overheating issues?

I was also contemplating getting the higher resolution version if it doesn't impact the battery much. What level brightness do you typically have the screen on when you were getting the 6 hours? Thanks!

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

 

I wouldn't call my GE40 well made, but it would be ok for a pure gaming notebook. The selling point of a light 14 inch device is most likely it's portability, but I can't imagine the G40 holding up well when lugged around a lot. Unless you are gaming in very hot weather it shouldn't overheat, unless MSI screwed up the pastejob or didn't properly fit the heatsink, which actually isn't unlikely. The 900p screen is pretty bad and so dark you have to turn the brightness all the way up, which kills the battery life, but the worst part of the notebook for me is an annoying whine. MSI simply claims it isn't there and it isn't loud enough to record or something along those lines, so I can't prove that the notebook is faulty. My theory is that the whine stems from something vibrating when the CPU enters deep C states, which actually might not even count as a fault but rather as terrible engineering.
Long story short, it sounds like a nice device, but it isn't and I personally wouldn't recommend it anymore.

 

Hey, I have a GE40 with this configuration

- i7 4702MQ
- 8GB
- 750GB HDD

Can I replace the DVD bay to add a SSD?

 

Hello all, a GE40 owner with a Q: for other owners re: the card reader.

For some reason, SD cards don't lock into place with the card reader. If I place the the card in the slot and hold it in, the computer can read it without issue.

How is the card reader supposed to work? I would assume that you press it in, the card locks, and to eject you press it once more and the card pops out. Has anyone had a problem like this?

 

Hi, folks. My GPU card just committed smelly thermal suicide, so I'm in the throes of trying to decide between an MSI GE40-2OC, or a Lenovo Y410p 59369916

Any thoughts? Things I'm pondering:

Lenovo has a DVD burner that can be replaced with another GPU, weighs more, higher rez screen (in that 59... config) (a negative), and for me is a known quantity; I've got a predecessor now.

The MSI seems to have slightly better graphics performance (with 1 GPU), bigger SSD, faster HDD, significantly lighter, cool dragon eye case. And it's an unknown brand for me; I know of nobody with one.

All opinions, experience, and facts appreciated!

 

Anyone considered changing the display?

 

Someone in the Gigabyte P34G thread mentioned disabling SATA link power management rid them of an annoying buzz. Think I saw an option for it in the bios. Worth a shot if you've tried everything else.

 

Thanks a lot, that actually solved the issue for me.

 

Has anyone replaced the ODD with another drive? There are eBay sellers with generic drive bay caddies, which although they mention the GE40 by name don't inspire confidence, and then there's a photo like this:

AnandTech | Gallery - MSI GE40 Internals and Accessories - 7 Photos

That looks anything but generic. This, I suspect, is that caddy:

TECS

Unless the ODD is a generic unit, in a propriety frame, from which it can be swapped for a generic caddy, there's little option to pony up the extra I guess.

Given that you've got to crack the case to swap them, including the "void if removed sticker" visit hen a user replaceable part?
cheers
Hugh

 

I'm going to get GE40 next week. Is it good ? That one has DVD Drive but no SSD :/ Will it be a bottleneck ? Is it possible to remove DVD Drive and install SSD later ?

 

So.. I'm looking at a MSI GE40 barebone, but I fear the problems with the heat, haven't found a single review that had positive results. I've read a few comentaries saying it might be quality check of the thermal paste. Anyone tried ordering a barebone with custom thermal paste? Is it 'really' just a quality check problem or the cooling system is just insuficient?

 

I just received my custom HIDevolution msi ge40 barebone. I was worry of the heat also but this unit have custom thermal paste from HIDevolution. I have been playing total war rome II for 2 days without any issue. I ordered the laptop with the i7 4700m so it is 47w not 37w like the one come stock from MSI. I also did furmark burn in test for like an hour before I said to myself the laptop is good. This is all personal opinion.

What I don't like about the laptop is the speakers. I think I would just remove the speaker to save on weight rather than listen to it. Mine also came with 1920x1080 panel and the model is AUO B140HAN01.1

The laptop is really light that I wish it come with 9 cells battery.

 

Could you tell me what temperatures you got?

Are you sure? that is an AHVA (IPS), the same from P34G?

 

That's what my GE40 shows, as best as I can tell:



If there's a better tool to get the details of it, then I'm happy to run it and publish the results.

 

That panel costs like $125 from hidevolution. Shame on you MSI for saving $10 and sticking the early adopters with such crappy screens. For those that got the 1080p, how are the viewing angles and contrast, as well as the matte grain? I can't imagine it can get much worse than the hd+ panel.

 

You can do it with core temps or intel XTU (also for undervolting). Also if you could stress it with prime or XTU, that'd be great.

edit: they just told me you can do this to confirm the panel:

You can get HWinfo here.

edit2: HIDevolution just confirmed that's the panel. That's great news! that solves one major problem for this laptop. Does anyone know if it is easy to get the whole screen cover+AHVA panel display spare part for the barebone? Can't find a reseller in europe with the ahva option.

Now I just need to confirm temperatures are not going to be a problem. If someone could do a 3dmark 2011+furmark when you get the chance I'd appreciate it very much! According to this review, it is the most thermally demanding task. It got 97`c with the 4702 so I'm guessing it's going to be difficult for a 4700. If the laptop can manage to stay below 95`c, it means it doesn't throttle. Even if you achieve it undervolting (usually values of -110mV to -80mV), it makes it more or less the best gaming laptop in the range. Do you notice the temperature raise on the wasd keys zone? does it bother?

 

Is there anything I need to be careful about before ordering the FHD panel?
Here in China it's even cheaper than the $125. ( B140HAN01.1_). Is there any proper manufacturer I should buy it from?

Is there a chance to find a good explanation how to change the laptop screen? I don't want to damage my nice laptop.

To answer hughc's and chaminga's question:
I originally had the GE40 with DVD drive and 750GB HDD because that is the only option I could buy here.
I ordered a generic 9.5mm caddy. It's ugly but it works. The original HDD is now in the caddy, and I bought a Samsung 840 SSD for the main slot. Also I installed Win 7.
Works fine.

And yes, there is a huge difference and it's worth the investment. I never want a computer without SSD anymore.

 

Hi all,

i'm having an unusual problem. I have GE40 and have replaced the ODD with a generic caddy which is supposed to get an ssd device.

When i have the caddy in the laptop it is constantly using 8% or more of the cpu which is eating the battery life etc.. I've found with Process Explorer that the hungry process is the ACPI.sys. You can see in the screenshot that the cause for it are a lot of Interrupts.

BIOS updated, firmware updated, EC reset made.

If i remove the caddy then it all goes to normal 0% activity.
This happens whether the ssd is in the caddy or not. Even empty caddy in the machine is enough.

Anyone encountered this before? It looks like a caddy fault and i am consider buying another caddy but if it can be resolved without that it would be nice and i'm wondering if the next one would work the same and money down the drain..

View image: cpu acpi

best regards!

 

Have you tried disabling intel rapid storage? (or something like that)

 

yes, also tried disabling all ther drivers i dared to. Safe mode also the same. Probably busted caddy..

 

I have! I just dont know how the DPI would be with a 1080p screen with 14 inches. But man, i cant help but feel like I should have waited for that bigger screen...

 

Trust me, I did it just a couple of hours ago and it is BEAUTIFUL, I have no words to describe the effect in the screen. I haven't tested battery life (was getting ~8 hours 20 mins on light usage) but this screen is just downright a must have, I don't know why MSI did the stupid thing of sticking early adopters with that ty 900p.

Also, for disassembly some tips (I forgot to take photos)

1. DO NOT try to remove the keyboard, I have no idea how it comes out and you can disconnect the LCD panel without removing the keyboard
2. No screws on the LCD panel (its a bit hard to remove the covers but do it gently)
3. The bottom cover of the laptop also comes out after some coaxing so do it gently

 

I know that others will probably ask this too, but can you please play some games and let us know whether the new screen refreshes well/has no ghosting issues - it is just that I understand the 900p screen had an 8ms refresh rate, whereas the 1080p screen is 25ms.

If all is good then I guess it is time to upgrade the screen

 

Well I honestly have never seen ghosting before so I probably do not know where or when or how to recognize it but I did play Dota 2 / Crysis 3 / Diablo III and did not notice anything out of the ordinary except for the HUGE difference in contrast and color gamut, if there is anything specific I should look for, please let me know, I'll be on the lookout for them when I play

 

Also to answer your DPI question, the 125% medium scaling in Windows 8.1 for 1080p 14" is perfect, icons and text and boxes appear the same as a 900p screen but with the depth of an FHD panel

This is how it looks on mine,

Spoiler

 

I have it on my P34G.
To be honest, I didn't expect much, but this test throws much better results than my last monitor. Which explains why I haven't noticed anything.
I'd say it's surprisingly good.

BTW, can someone confirm if wasd keys get hot while gaming? specially with the 4700MQ?

 

So I placed my order for that 1080p panel from hidevolution, and I will certainly get creative in exorcising the demon that is the stock panel.

 

Take a look at other msi laptops like this.

 

Can you pretty please take some photos as you upgrade your screen? Your bravery (and photos ) will make it much easier for those who follow in your footsteps (like me... )

 

Thanks for the heads up, I think I am going to order one around Christmas time!

 

So are you saying that the plastic bezel around the LCD screen has no screws? it looks like there are no screws to me when I look...

 

Yes, MSI only uses bezel screws on their 17 inch models.

 

Yea, MSI doesn't use bezel screws on this one

And you will need to remove the heatsink pipes / fan to access the screws holding the right side of the lcd panel

 

Anyone know the difference between the B140HAN01.2, B140HAN01.1 and the B140HAN01.0?
I know B140HAN01.1 is matte and kind of grainy.

 

hi all

had my GE40 a week now

when it worked it was great until last nite in
went to play bf4 and started getting all sorts of bluescreen thought out the evening grrrrrrrrrrrrrr where i had loads of hours of gaming nites before
have been reading on here about drivers and that,that was the 1st thing i done when i had lappy was update graph card drivers [i did have latest]
so today i unstalled them in safemode,rebooted and tryed to reinstall them.then it comes up with cant reckon hardware or something.
after lots of searching the net i find this site
so did not know that i needed msi graph card drivers ??????????????
is there a updated vers out as all i see is these MSI Global GE40 2OC Dragon Eyes

will try bf4 with the old drivers tonight see if i have any more bsod.
if it carrys on it will be sent back paid£1000 for this lappy not happy with the bsod already.

 

quick update

have now had to put back to factory settings as its not even showing my 760GTX

 

Have you checked it is not automatically overclocking like turbo stuff? (GPU or CPU?)
Otherwise I would inspect the ram for faulty modules. Unless of course it's just a consequence of a recent and unfixed BF4 bug...

 

na its not overclocked
it is very strange like i said night before on lappy spent 5+ hours straight no crashes nothing,then next night fired it up crashing loads of bsod i am gutted
just doing all of windows update then will test it.like said if that carries on the be going back.dont really want to as its a really fast lappy

 

Just saw this. Maybe it's worth looking into.

 

I am now getting bsod even just sat there in desktop not happy really
getting all kinds if diff ones think most is nvid driver related.
shame really normally msi products are great,have mobo and graph card in my big rig

 

Hi Garfo, did you update to Windows 8.1?

That caused me a lot of problems, including random BSODs. I looked at the MSI website after I upgraded. It recommended uninstalling Nvidia display drivers and the Intel Display Driver before the upgrade, then installing the latest drivers from the MSI site.

Because I had I already upgraded, I ended up uninstalling the Intel and Nvidia display drivers, then reinstalling those on the site - it seems to have fixed my problems - hopefully it will fix yours too

 

Will this Drive Caddy competible with GE40 ? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-2...4?pt=US_Drive_Bay_Caddies&hash=item53f8ac0632

It says 12.7mm tick.

 

Needs to be 9mm.

I paid waaaaaay too much for an official kit....

TECS

$130AUD for a plastic caddy and a bridge board. Embarrassing. A lot of money just to get a matching bezel, a $15 eBay caddy is better built.

 

Really interested in this machine due to the versatility that switchable graphics seem to offer.

I'm really only concerned about the heat issues at this point. I can deal with the machine getting hot, but I want this thing to last - if the heat destroys it in a couple of years, that's really going to suck. Any owners have thoughts/opinions on this? I don't really need to max everything out, so I don't mind underclocking the CPU or GPU if that's possible and would help with temps.

Here's my use case:

I'm a high school student, so I'll be typing up papers, doing homework, emails as well as putting this in my backpack to take with me and do homework on the go with.

At home, my friend's homes, and LAN parties, I'll be using the GTX 760M to play games, but I'll be near a power outlet.

 

Hi Quinnface.

This laptop will be more than fine for typing up papers and doing homework. It is very power efficient, and for this work the battery will easily last you more than 4 to 5 hours. I have used in on a couple of long haul flights (10+ hours across the Pacific Ocean) and got tired well before the battery died (watched movies at 720p for over 7 hours).

With undervolting/underclocking, you should also be fine for temps while gaming. I took the laptop on holiday in summer - my son was doing 5 hour straight sessions on Farcry 3 and while it got warm, it was not too uncomfortable. I would still suggest a pad to keep it cool though - I use a cheap one from Coolermaster (bought through Amazon).

Hope this helps.

 

Would be interesting to know if anyone tried undervolting to deal with temperatures.

 

That's my stable results with undervolting