Review: Unleaded's MS-1022

MSI MS-1022 Complete Review:

Introduction:

One would think that in the laptop manufacturing world a 14" system with a gaming capable GPU was simply taboo. The offerings in this class are limited at best and, in most cases, do not offer the flexibility to configure the system to exact specifications. Thankfully, with the release of the MSI MS-1022, the options available have broadened. Apparently, someone at MSI was listening to the plaintive cries of laptop users who craved a smaller form factor laptop that didn't suffer from an acute case of GPU anemia.

The MS-1022 arrived on US shores about 2 weeks ago and did so amidst a great deal of speculation. Conflicting reports of the system's specifications were posited by various sources but now, with system in hand, I am able to report on the final release version of this highly anticipated laptop.

Fully configured, the MS-1022 comes in at a hair under 5lbs (4.95lbs) which is impressive for a system with the following credentials:

• Support for Pentium M Processors (Dothan/Sonoma)
• Support for up to 2GB DDR2 (400/533) using 2 SODIMM slots
• 14" Widescreen WXGA Glossy LCD
• Integrated Bluetooth
• Nvidia GeForce Go 6200 w/128MB Turbo Cache
• 5-in-1 Media Card Reader

Now that we know what's under the hood, the question remains, "does the MS-1022 represent a powerful new entrant in the thin and light class which is worthy of serious consideration?"

System Specifications:

14" WXGA+ Glossy LCD (1280 x 768)
Pentium M 760 (2.0GHz 533MHz FSB)
1GB DDR2 533 (2 x 512MB Supertalent)
100GB 5400RPM Hitachi Hard Drive
8X Dual Layer/Format DVDRW
Intel Pro Wireless 2915 (802.11a/b/g)
Integrated Bluetooth
6 Cell Li-Ion Battery

Chassis Design and Build Quality:

I have been suitably impressed with the build quality of MSI’s entire line of laptops and the MS-1022 is no exception. Much like the MS-1029 and MS-1032 (among a few others), the MS-1022 is constructed from a combination of aluminum alloy and ABS plastic. The underside of the system uses an aluminum alloy which provides a good deal of structural rigidity, virtually eliminating chassis flex. The LCD, though mounted in a plastic housing, is surprisingly flex free. Perhaps it is a product of the smaller screen but closing the lid with one hand from either corner does not result in any bending. Pressing on the plastic on the back of the LCD will result in screen “rippling” if enough pressure is applied, however, I felt the protection was more than adequate.

The MS-1022’s keyboard is a pleasure to type on and a significant improvement over the vagueness exhibited by the keyboard in the MS-1029. The keyboard is also much quieter than the MS-1029’s. The unit tested did exhibit a modest (and I do mean modest) amount of flex on the right-hand side of the keyboard though other units did not demonstrate the same flex.

From a design perspective I would consider the MS-1022 to be “stylishly understated”. The now familiar charcoal (near black) color is used liberally with silver accents used sparingly. The system is impressively thin and feels deceptively lighter than its actual weight making it an ideal system for those on the go.










Performance:

Let’s make no mistake, the Nvidia GeForce Go 6200 used in the MS-1022 is not a graphics powerhouse, but it’s no slouch either, especially for a laptop of this size. For those folks looking to have a lightweight laptop that will handle last generation games at medium settings and newer ones with the “eye candy” turned way down, the MS-1022 is equal to the task. The GPU comes stock clocked at 300 core and 600 memory and there was significant headroom for overclocking. Using Coolbits a stable overclock (w/ no artifacts or tearing) of 385 core and 755 memory was achieved. All benchmarks were run using the drivers provided on MSI’s driver/utility disc and results are provided below.

Sisoft Sandra benchmarks were performed for the CPU, memory and file system to ensure that there were no unusual bottlenecks or degraded performance. No such deviations were found from what could be expected from the same components in a system with similar chipset.

Stock Core & Clock





Overclocked





SisoftSandra Results






LCD Screen:

The MSI MS-1022’s glossy type 14” WXGA LCD is spectacular in all regards. Colors are vivid, contrast is good if not excellent and brightness is astonishing. In fact, default brightness might be considered to be too bright by some so adjusting the settings might be advisable (colors will look a bit more washed out at the highest brightness). Viewing angles were quite good with glare in a well lit rooming affecting visibility before the screen actually began to wash out. That being said, we found that the MS-1022’s glossy screen was not nearly as reflective as that of the MS-1029.




Battery Life:

With MSI’s System Control Manager (SCM) set to “High Battery Performance”, screen brightness set to 30% (1 tick below the default for the SCM profile) and WiFi on, Windows XP reported 3 hours and 15 minutes remaining. A rundown test was also performed while viewing a DVD with the same SCM and brightness settings but WiFi off and the system lasted for 2 hours and 15 minutes before Windows forced standy. All in all, these results are not exemplary nor disappointing for a system with these specifications and a 6 cell battery.

Thermal Properties:

During times of continuous and heavy disk access some warming could be detected on the right palmrest over the hard drive. “Detected” is the most appropriate word as the warming was nominal at best. The underside of the system stays quite cool making it perfectly comfortable for use on one’s lap for an extended period (being careful not to block the intake vent which is locked on the bottom of the unit). Warm air from the CPU and GPU exhausts out the back of the system so there should be no discomfort for either left or right-handed mouse users.

Sound:

The MSI MS-1022’s sound was surprisingly crisp and clear which is most likely owing to the Azalia compliant audio solution. Volume was also more than adequate. Midrange and bass are, however, nearly non-existent which is to be expected in most laptops of this form factor, if not larger.

Conclusion:

For those laptop users who are in search of a lightweight system which will feed their video game addiction when they must be away from their beloved desktop gaming rig, the MSI MS-1022 might well fit the bill (albeit with significantly reduced settings and FPS). Overall I found little to complain about in this system as the build quality was up to the standards MSI has quickly become known for, the keyboard was responsive, comfortable and quiet, the system ran cool even under load and the LCD was sharp and vivid. I feel no compunction whatsoever highly recommending this thin and light laptop system.

Pros:

Build quality
LCD
Graphics performance (relative to form factor)
Runs cool and quiet (though fan is on at all times)
Low system weight (relative to form factor)

Cons:

USB ports located on the left and right at the very front of the system (not ideal for connecting various peripherals)
Trackpad mouse click buttons are a tad on the small side

 

looks good, can you post battery life results on min/max settings. Does it run hot and how frequently does the fan turn on? Is it loud?

 

how's battery life? this seems to be an awfully close competitor to the Compal EFL30! decisions decisions!

 

Sorry guys, I have not yet done battery rundown tests. Those are forthcoming along with all the rest of my usual "fluff" .

The system runs nice and cool, no hotspots top or bottom even under load. I believe the fan is on all the time but not loud or obtrusive in the least. I will get you more on this when I can sit with it in a room without the ambient noise of many other laptops/desktops

 

wow, when i heard it was gunna use the 6200 instead of the 6400 i was dissapointed.....but these scores are very very close to the compal's with the 6400.

this reminds me, isn't the 6400 just an overclocked 6200?

 

you are correct! I think its the same case with the x300 and x600 too!~

 

Yes, it would be a very interesting debate between the Compal EFL-30 and this...

Nice job unleaded - benchmarks are wonderful.

For a Go6200, 3k in 3DMark03 seems very good. And yes, the Go6400 is merely a Go6200 with higher clocks.

 

3K in 3Dmark2003 is with the GPU OC'ed to 385/755

 

One quick thing to throw in here b4 I forget to incorporate it in the review. I tested the internal BT using my Samsung SCH-i730 Smartphone and found the range to be 30 feet before connectivity/transfers dropped off. Not too shabby as this is the max range for the standard.

 

Nice review! I guess many have been waiting for this one.!! It would be nice if you add the configuration of the laptop and howmuch/where you bought it?

 

definetely seems like a great notebook, the only thing I am still concerned should I get it now or wait until yonah notebooks start to show up

can you take a smiliar picture like this one for Compal

 

Klas:

I will take a picture with quarters as a scale reference and post this evening.

 

Klas, as requested:

 

ohhhhh, this is SMOKING! i like that it's even on both sides unlike EFL30 & W3V. Thanks for pic!


This is what's stopping me from ordering this awesome notebook right now...

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2648&p=14

 

They are launching the Duo Core in January but laptops using it won't hit the market for sometime after that and I would think that you won't be seeing it in smaller form factors initially.

 

I see that the Z63a and 1022 are the same price with similar configurations. The difference being the dedicated video vs integrated. Unleaded, have you had the chance to compare the units yet?

Thanks!

 

any word on battery life yet?

 

Taylormade,

I do not have a Z63a on hand to do a comparison test.

Dragonesse,

I will try to perform battery rundown tests tonight.


If anyone has any other specific requests, please let me know and I will try to address them prior to publishing my cumulative review

 

hmm battery test and comparison with Compal EFL 30 will be fine and probably the thing most want to see as they are directly competing with each other. Benchmarks and battery life for the latter can be found elsewhere (there's good benchmarks some one else did in this forum for the Compal).. but you're the only one who can do a comparison on build quality such as screen and viewing angles, keyboard flex, palm rest and lid flex..and distance between bottom of keyboard to end of palm rest (sorry that last one is a factor for me..don't like em too deep in)

 

i primarily care about build design and looks and so far MSI is a winner.

 

^geez man, just saw your sig.. you've owned ALOT of laptops. do you get two per year?

 

what can I say... I am a laptop junkie

I only have 2 on hand right now. I recently married an my wife occupied my beloved Fujitsu, so I had to get another one and I bought Compaq which I am about to return to the store...

Compal & Acer I used for a month but returned it to the store after trying them out

Asus I owned for awhile, but sold it because I wanted something smaller in size

 

how bout buying the MSI and Compal and do a review for us
i think the compaq vs msi or compal would also be agreat review too

 

a few reasons why I dislike Compaq is because it feels/looks like a cheap laptop and Turion model has a short battery life even when running everything on low. Interesting how they removed from Windows ability to show how many minutes you have left, only shows the battery percentage. Oh, and it runs pretty hot.

 

I completed a battery rundown test playing a DVD with WiFi and BT off and power settings at High Battery Performance in MSI's System Control Manager. I found the brightness to be more than adequate so I actually knocked it down another tick. Forced standby occurred after 2 hours and 15 minutes which seems about right for a 6 cell battery with this laptop's specs.

 

this a good news, can you test it how much it will run if you turn the brightness down to minimum and wifi on and just browse internet. At least can you tell how many mins it reports you have left?

 

Klas:

I will do so once the battery is full again. WiFi on and BT off and surfing the web? I assume you want brightness at an acceptable level for the average user to be able to see what the heck they are doing, no?

 

yeah, wifi on, acceptable brightness level, general browsing internet.

 

i have two particular points of interest, if you wouldn't mind humoring me:

1. battery life minimum brightness, no cd/dvd usage, minimal wifi usage (i use my laptop for notetaking in college, i don't need it to run alot, but i need it to run long and let me online when im bored)
2. how painfully bright is the screen? glossy lcd's tend to be superbright and light hurts my eyes. (for example, i never run my toshiba matte screen laptop above half brightness -- it will give me a headache otherwise) -- if you could post some pictures of the running screen, that would be awesome.

 

Dragonesse, the pics you requested:

 

Klas:

With MSI's System Control Manager set to High Battery Performance with an additional tick down on screen brightness from those default settings and WiFi on (BT off), Windows reports 3:15 remaining on a full charge. Pic below of screen at the selected brightness.

 

woo, thanks for the pictures!

Battery life is sounding disappointing... my old as Toshiba A25-S307 (which runs a P4 non-mobile cpu) gets 3:15.

 

The MS-1022 only has a 6-cell battery which keeps the weight down. I would wager that your Toshiba probably had at least a 9 cell (if not a 12) and integrated graphics.

 

great, thanks for the test... I was hoping for at least 4 hours

 

I honestly don't know about my battery size. But I have a lovely integrated S3-Trident video chipset! It even lags on old games like Neverwinter Nights...

 

yeah sounds about average for a 6 cell battery life. It's also the similar battery life the Compal EFL 30 gets (it also uses a 6 cell).

To Unleaded:

Any word on a modular battery or extended battery? how glossy is the screen? it seems that MSI glossy screens tend to be much glossier than other comparable screens.

and i guess the only thing left to ask is a comparison with the Compal itself

 

Goren:

I am not aware of any extended life battery being offered and the optical drive is not modular (to my knowledge) to support a 2nd battery.

The glossy screen on the MS-1022 is not nearly as glossy as the MS-1029, imo.

 

You know if this model has a TV-out ???? S-video or however you want to call it ??? I'm very very very interested .... If it has it , well i'm waiting till it's there , since it is well within pricerange ( even comes with Dothan 750 core and 1gb DDR2 memory ) and fits all my needs . If it doesn't have tv-out , well basically speaking , i cannot do anything with it :-( . I want a 14 inch laptop with a decend GPU , enough speed and memory to act as desktop replacement , long battery life and last but not least tv-out since i will be using this laptop when i'm on holiday .

 

It should have S-Video if you carefully read its specifications.

 

The MS-1022 most definitely has an S-Video out port.

 

is full review coming out anytime soon

 

First post edited to reflect complete review.

 

Great review and great laptop.

USB placement is a downside, but wouldn't stop me from getting one. I am waiting to see what will happen next month with new chipset

 

so what kind of games this video card (Nvidia GeForce Go 6200 w/128MB Turbo Cache) could paly? would it play doom 3 on high settings?

 

Probably not. You could play it on lower settings, but all the way up on high? That warms up my x700.

 

I'm seriously thinking about building this bad boy out but I have a few questions:

1. Where's the modem? The specs list it but I have not see any pictures of it. I assume it's on the rear of the machine?

2. Has anybody else built one of these yet? This is a great review but I was hoping for some other owners to come forward with any acclaim / criticism for this unit.

Thanks,
-T

 

i was seriously thinking about building one myself, but because of the Duo thing... anyway, MSI already announced an updated version of 1022 that supports Duo

 

klas, did msi give any sort of time frame of release for the core duo version of the 1022?

i'm highly considering this laptop (msi-1022) or the asus w3v - release date is relatively soon, i'd wait. thanks.

 

is there a dual core version coming out? I read of a single core version with the same Go 6200 but has dolby sound system.

 

klas whered you read about a duo core 1022?