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The MSI GE620 is a heck of a good value for money gaming laptop. For £800 you get a high performance Core i7 2630QM quad core processor with hyperthreading and the very capable Nvidia GT540M discrete solution.
In regards to overall system performance, this is one of the best value for money systems we have reviewed in recent months. It is capable of a variety of uses, such as general office duties, high definition movie playback and more intensive tasks such as gaming, rendering and video encoding.
Battery life is also a plus point, averaging between 3 and 4 hours for media playback and general work related demands. Gaming reduces this to just over 2 hours, but for a 6 cell battery this is good. We are glad to report that MSI are using a 7,200 rpm hard drive which delivers decent all round performance with high storage capabilities.
The build quality is decent, although we were disappointed with the quality of the panel. It is extremely glossy, causing noticeable and distracting reflections and the colour rendition is distinctly average. It isn't bad, but we have seen much better, especially on other MSI laptops.
Onboard sound is fine, but there is very little bass reponse. The keyboard and mouse are also acceptable, but nothing exceptional or even noteworthy.
This laptop is slightly ‘unbalanced'. We have no complaints with system performance – it is extremely responsive and capable of a huge variety of tasks. When the excitement has passed however, we can't help but feel disappointed with the appearance, screen, keyboard and trackpad.
Additionally, we think MSI could have approached the cooling system from a better angle. The Core i7 processor can heat up to almost 85c under load and the undersides of the machine get hot. The internal system fan has to cope with a lot of heat and will become clearly audible under load. We could always hear it and it did irritate a little. That said, performance freaks and gamers will probably not care.
You can currently buy the GE620 from Amazon for under £800, inc vat (look at panel on the right, its £788 direct from Amazon.co.uk).
Pros:
- Powerful system, thanks to Core i7 2630QM.
- fast 7,200 rpm hard drive.
- Nvidia graphics are excellent.
- price point is fantastic.
- good battery life.
Cons:
- bland design for a ‘gaming' laptop.
- screen quality is average.
- gets hot.
- is noisy under load.
- keyboard and trackpad are average.
Kitguru says: It offers a lot of performance for the money, but you need to be able to live with an average screen and considerable noise and heat.
Great Buy for a gaming laptop
That is a fantastic price. I bought an ACER a few months ago with a core i5 for not much less than that. im gutted 🙁
I saw this in a local store and was impressed. the most annoying thing I found was the reflections. its very very reflective. in the store, the lights made it hard to even see the screen it was that bad.
The keyboard is ok, its some great bits shoved into a mid range chassis. I like the price however. amazon are selling it for £100 less than our local store.
I actually like the appearance, but it is rather ‘samey’. the hardware inside is impressive, must be one of the lowest prices online for those specs.
Its worth it for the processor and graphics alone.
It looks fine to me, and I like the USB ports on both sides. do they offer one at more money with 1080p screen?
Just ordered one for myself. excited !
I already have this product and i think the review is fair. I dont really rate the screen either, but I think you can buy a better 1080p version for a little extra. dont see it listed anywhere however.
Its very fast though and I do some rendering on it in 3dstudio max. its very good value for money. recommended from a happy customer
Good price indeed. I bought the new Asus high end 17 inch which cost me £1700. It has 1.5tb of storage and 560 m onboard, but the CPU is the same.
I think MSI have managed to release a good laptop fro the price. some aspects will suffer a little, but I doubt most people would even notice some of the poiints raised in the review
Dude, 3D Mark score without comparison figure blows! What would a GTX460m score in this set up? around 1,500?
I’ve always used this site http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
Can’t be certain the results will match every other mag, but it looks fairly complete.
We allowed to post links to other sites here, or will the thought police shoot us?
This seams like a good deal at best buy with the i7 and 1920 x 1080 display and 555 gpx
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/MSI+-+GE620DX-278US+15.6%22+LED+Notebook+-+Intel+Core+i7+i7-2630QM+2+GHz+-+Gray/3820771.p?id=1218434736557&skuId=3820771&ci_src=11138&AID=10474050&PID=4176827&SID=bp02m7odm8pf&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestbuy.com%2Fsite%2FMSI%2B-%2BGE620DX-278US%2B15.6%2522%2BLED%2BNotebook%2B-%2BIntel%2BCore%2Bi7%2Bi7-2630QM%2B2%2BGHz%2B-%2BGray%2F3820771.p%3Fid%3D1218434736557%26skuId%3D3820771%26ci_src%3D11138&ref=39&CJPID=4176827&loc=01