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The laptop ships with a soft felt protective strip between keyboard and screen. It is a plain design from the outside with only the name of the company seen in the middle of the lid.
The 15.6 inch laptop measures 383 x 249.5 x 37.6~32.3mm and weighs 2.4KG. It isn't a super portable, but it won't break your back either.
Immediately we noticed that the W,A,S,D keys were coloured red, an indication of the ‘gaming laptop' status. The four main keys used for first person shooters. The design of the laptop is rather traditional, and a little boring if we are being honest. The screen resolution is 1366×768 and it is glossy, making it rather difficult to view with a backlight behind the user. We don't mind a glossy screen, but this is more reflective than most. The onboard sound is acceptable, but it lacks bass response, therefore external speakers or headphones would be advised.
We weren't overly impressed with the screen, it was perfectly usable but the colours were a little muted and overall definition seemed a little lacking when compared against the best screens on the market.
The touchpad has a textured surface which is pleasant to use, and it offers a modicum of resistance to enhance the tracking. There is a button underneath the trackpad area to allow for left and right clicking (it is quite stiff). A row of status buttons are underneath this area. Above the trackpad is a small button, which can be used to disable the trackpad – ideal for people who might accidentally trigger the touchpad when typing and using a mouse.
The laptop is quite slim, although it won't be challenging the Macbook Air in the portability stakes. Overall it is rather ‘businesslike' by design and we would feel that executives would feel happy working on this machine in public locations.
The keyboard is comfortable to use and a good physical size, with a full number pad at the right. I frequently pressed the # key however as it resides above a single height return key. I always use boards with a double height return key. There is minimal flex with the board, even with a reasonable amount of pressure applied.
The left side of the laptop is home to a security lock, the power socket, and a large vent which is positioned for horizontal air flow. There are two USB 3.0 ports next to an HDMI connector, and at the front a headphone and microphone jack. The right side of the laptop contains a single USB 2.0 port, VGA connector and GB lan connector. At the front is a dual layer DVD R/W optical drive.
To access the internals, simply remove the battery first, then 3 screws. A heatpipe cooler transfers heat from the GPU and CPU cores, then airflow forces this heat outside the chassis. There is a 500GB Western Digital Drive bottom right of the machine, this is a ‘WD50 00BEKT-22kA9 01.0' – 7,200 rpm drive. MSI are using 2x2GB of Elixir memory which is rated DDR3-10600 (1333mhz).
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