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Printed On: | July 7, 2008, 12:09 pm |
| Category: | Mobile Computing | |
| Type: | Reviews | |
| Posted By: | crimson- | |
| Date Posted: | September 24, 2007, 7:08 am |
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A flaming obsidian mobile desktop!
Today we have with us for the first time in a long time, an MSI laptop! Dubbed the TurboBook, the GX600 has it's work cut out for it - to impress and entice exisiting mobile gamers! Arriving in a box clad in red and black tones, the GX600 does radiate the feeling of a classy "Gamer" laptop from first impression.
Here are the specifications for this mobile powerhouse :
| Processor & Cache | Intel® Core® 2 Duo Processors |
| Operating System | Windows Vista® Home Premium |
| Chipset |
Intel® PM965 Express Chipset |
| System Memory |
1GB/2GB (DDR2 533/667) ,Max:2 GB |
| LCD Display |
15.4" TFT ACV(Amazing Crystal Vision) Display |
| Graphics & Video Module |
NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT, 512MB VRAM |
| Audio |
SoundBlaster compatible, 4+1 subwoofer |
| HDD |
80GB/100G/120GB/160GB/250GB SATA (5400RPM) |
| Optical Drive |
DVD Super Multi/ Combo / HD-DVD |
| Webcam | 1.3Megapixel |
| Card Reader | 4 in 1 card reader , SD/MMC/MS |
| Communication Port |
Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Modem Module |
| I/O Port |
Graphics Card Output (15-pin, D-Sub) X 1 |
| AC Adapter |
Output: 19V DC, 90W / Input: 100~ 240V AC, 50/60Hz universal |
| Battery Pack & Life |
Li-Ion 6/9 cells |
| Dimensions & Weight |
358(L)x259(D) x27-32(H)mm |
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Aesthetics!
The GX600 stands out among laptops with its sleek piano black finish and red flaming ascents.
It maintains a relatively low profile, despite having specifications that can rival most other competitor's desktop replacement models.
The large MSI logo accompanied by tribal flame-orange motifs. Definitely a head turner for those seeking attention!
Sparing no quarter in connectivity! Just look at the amount of outputs that the GX600 has. An impressive array - E-Sata, Digital TV-tuner, Firewire, USB ports, a HDMI port, composite S-video, and finally VGA output!
The hood is held together by a large , easily handled sliding lock mechanism. Audio ports and a memory card slot accepting SD/MMC/MS are also located just below the laptop latch.
Over on the other side of the laptop, we have the Gigabit lan port, modem port, additional USB ports, and an optical drive supporting HD-DVD playback capability! Excellent for movie buffs ! No more fuss about needing to get an external HD-DVD player!
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Taking a look inside...
Voila~! Once opened, users are greeted to a visual treat of Gamer proportions - full glossed interior , accompanied with the same empowering fiery accents that are seen on the hood. One look and users know that they are at the helm of a sleek behemoth!
Also worth mentioning is the GX600's offering of a full 104-keyed keyboard! Desktop users who are unused to small laptop layouts will be quite pleased.
Amidst the glossy keyboard rests , lies a large touchpad, providing enough space for movements spanning the entire screen. Two large buttons also ensure easy clicking. Again, we stress the slimness of the laptop despite its aggressive specifications.
MSI really markets its gamer-grade series of laptops aggressively with designs of the laptops done at prefabrication level. The tribal designs are etched into the plastic, giving a "burned in" feel when users actually touch the designs. They don't feel like cheap quality stick-ons at all!
One rather annoying disadvantage that potential owners would face - as with all glossed-surface products - would be the inevitable fate of seeing their precious laptops get smudged easily by fingerprints.
Specially marked W, S, A and D keys to provide easy identification, especially for First-Person Shooter types, a similar implementation we've seen in the Asus G1 and G2 laptops!
A look at the bottom of the GX600. Ventilation holes galore!
The cover unmasked! You have ram modules, and for the first time, we are seeing a laptop that has solid-state capacitors! No worries about quality!
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Taking the GX600 for a Gaming spin
We took the GX600 for a round of gaming!
Games tested were Bioshock (Demo) , Overlord , Medal of honor Airborne, & Company of Heroes. 3D Mark 06' was also thrown in for good measure.
All frame rates (FPS) are average scores of timed benchmarks.
Bioshock (Demo) - (1024x768 High Detail) - 20 FPS
Overlord (1440x900 , High Detail) - 17 FPS
Medal of Honor Airborne (1440x900 , Medium Detail) - 22 FPS
Company of Heroes (1440x900, High Detail) - 30.8 FPS
3D Mark 2006 (1280 x 1024)
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Popcorn @ Home , movie watching time!
We viewed episode 3 - "Carentan" from the highly publicised and critically acclaimed HBO miniseries 'Band of Brothers' .
Full 1080P content playback was smooth and fluid, with no visible slowdown or lags. The 15.4" widescreen of the GX600 comes with a native resolution of 1440x900 - the standard native resolution for desktop 19" widescreen LCDs. Non-too shabby, but a tad lower than the 1680x1050 of most high ended gaming laptop screens.
The GX600 also comes with a PCMCIA slot remote controller that is to be used in conjunction with the Media Centre function of the laptop, that comes preinstalled with Windows Vista Ultimate. Digital Entertainment enthusiasts will be pleased to see such a helpful device become intergrated with the laptop! With it, they can record TV programs via the Digital TV tuner that is buit into the laptop!
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Behold, the Turbo button!
The large Turbo button ! It offers an on-the-fly overclock, bumping the FSB up from a standard 200mhz to a whopping 240mhz ! This translates to 2.4 Ghz system speed! Excellent boost of speed, a 20% overclock! We ran the games again and compare the results!
Overall gaming framerates improved by a few FPS. Newer generation games are more dependent on the GPU, and even a 20% increase in clock speeds for the CPU did little to achieve fantastic framerates. The Geforce 8600M GT GPU on the GX600 is pretty decent for a DX10 card, and we'll have to wait and see if DX10 gets tuned up to better performance through patch releases and driver tuning.
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Conclusion
The MSI GX600 brings gaming on laptops to a whole new level. And the impressive amount of connectivity it has, along with the necessary tools to get enthusiasts geared up towards a total home entertainment solution, makes the GX600 a serious contender to some other laptop offerings by other competitors.
Perhaps the most deadly feature of all amongst the flurry advantages that come with the GX600, would be the Turbo button, whereby pressing it grants the user an instant 20% clock speed adjustment. We believe its an industry first and kudos to MSI for such an innovative idea! Solid state capcitors , a HD DVD drive, HDMI outputs, and a full 104-key keyboard are the major plus points of the GX600. Very minor quirks include easy smudging of the interior and exterior , due to the glossy paint finish - but that is a manageable problem. The review unit came equipped with a 250GB SATA 2.5" hard drive. Excellent amounts of storage space for a laptop i would say! Couple that with the Digital TV tuner onboard and you have a great recording device for all your TV shows that you won't wanna miss!
All in all, the MSI GX600 has managed to run through the gauntlet of tests successfully, and even after several hours the laptop still ran stable , despite being overclocked by 20%. Punching through 1080P HD content, this laptop proves to be an all-in-one entertainment device and still be able to provide decent gaming performance for the latest games.Sure, the aesthetic looks of the GX600 may not appeal to everyone, but for the market that it's specifically targeted at - the gamer section - the consumers in that category might just love its sleek black and red colour tones (ala Knight Rider) !
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