MSI GT627-218US

[GoatMonkey]

I've been thinking of picking up this laptop:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834152099

as a big upgrade to my old Dell D600.

I will use it primarily to write code in Visual Studio/SQL Server etc. web apps. Most of the time I will be using an external keyboard and mouse, because I hate the little keyboards on most laptops.

Secondary use would be playing movies on Blu-ray. And third, I might play a few games on it, but usually use my desktop for that.

Any other recommendations or reviews of this laptop? I've gone through the Newegg reviews and they sound reasonably good to me. MSI is fairly new to the laptop scene though.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Newegg reviews are nearly worthless. But overall its a good laptop. Just google around for a real review of the unit. It certaily has more then enough power to do the things you'll need it to do.

 

[IlllI]

should look here http://forum.notebookreview.co...20c61458e8e7708&f=1015

 

[GoatMonkey]

It sounds like there is a GT628 coming around the middle of May according to that message board. I can wait for that. It should either be better and I'll get that one, or at least push the price of this one down a bit.

 

[GoatMonkey]

I changed my mind entirely. I ordered a Dell Studio 16 yesterday afternoon. It has a 2.66Ghz CPU, BluRay combo drive, 1080p display, ATi 4670 1GB GPU (this is a new feature on the studio 16), 500GB hard drive, and 4GB of RAM. It should be perfect to connect to my LCD TV. $1673 + tax. A little more expensive than the MSI, but if Anand's review is right, this display should be worth it.

 

[bigsnyder]

Has that GT628 been released yet?

 

[GoatMonkey]

No, it was pushed back to the middle of August last I heard. It's supposed to be basically the same computer but with a die shrunk GPU.

 

[WildHorse]

MSI GT628 with Nvidia GeForce GTS 160M is supposed to be out soon.

Unless you're in a rush, wait for this.

 

[GoatMonkey]

Dell delayed my order that they were already taking 3 weeks to ship originally, I got annoyed with them and canceled. Now I'm back to either waiting for this GT628, or getting something else.

The Sony FW490 can be configured with some nice options. I like the idea of a 1080p display, so that I can directly mirror my desktop to my HDTV.

 

[GoatMonkey]

I may be thinking about this the wrong way. When I connect to my HDTV, there really isn't a reason to have my laptop's resolution match it exactly. I should be adding it as a second display instead of just mirroring what's on the laptop display.

With that in mind, I really don't need the 1080p resolution, and can go for a much cheaper laptop. Also, getting blu-ray is kind of overkill because I will have my PS3 sitting right there, and I already have an external blu-ray drive. The TV connection would really only be for watching streaming video like Hulu and Netflix.

I could really go for one of the cheaper MSIs. Maybe something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834152116

I think a Radeon 3470 should playback HD video reasonably well, probably fairly high CPU usage, but it should work.

 

[GoatMonkey]

I finally decided on an Asus G50-Vt-X5 refurb from TigerDirect for $720. Plus there is a discount for going through Bing currently, that I forgot to apply. It's here and it looks great. I would prefer a higher resolution display, but I will plug it into an external display most of the time, and the price is right.

Thanks for the suggestions.