After a very favorable experience with the MSI Wind U100 at CES this year, I am excited to see what MSI has in store with the new GT627 laptop. The GT627 is an entry level gaming notebook designed with the traveler in mind. The unit weighs a reasonable 5.8 lbs with the standard 6-cell battery although it features a1680x1050 capable 15.4" display, GeForce 9800M GS graphics processor, 45nm Core 2 Duo processor, PM45 chipset, 320GB 7,200-RPM drive, 802.11n, Bluetooth, and optional Blu-ray optical drive.
The GT267 is based on Centrino 2-class hardware specs, but MSI utilizes DDR2 memory instead of DDR3 to control costs at this point. We mentioned this unit being an entry level gaming notebook. The reason being is the GeForce 9800M GS is typically a tad slower than the desktop GeForce 9600 GT. Both GPUs are equipped with 64 stream processors and a 256-bit memory interface, but the 9800M GS has slightly lower memory bandwidth and texture fill rates. We have used this GPU on a new HP notebook and found it fast enough to run titles like Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty:World at War at medium quality settings without much of a problem. More demanding titles like Crysis Warhead will have the user dialing down the resolution in a hurry. However, the 9800GM GS should be fast enough for upcoming titles like the Sims 3 and it handles World of WarCraft just fine for those into more casual gaming activities.
The GT627 features an elegant anodized brushed aluminum case, decent audio system with 2W internal speakers, and a weight cartridge laser mouse. MSI brings back its Turbo Drive Engine, which can overclock the notebook’s Intel Core 2 Duo Processor up to 15% at the touch of a button when in AC mode. For those who value time over speed, MSI includes their Eco Engine that lets the user switch between five power settings to extend battery life. Expected MSRP pricing is $1,149.99 with the standard DVD optical drive and $1,399.99 with the Blu-ray drive with product launching shortly.
MSI GT627 Gaming Notebook Specifications:
CPU- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (Penryn, FSB 1066)
Chipset- PM 45+ICH9-M
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS DDR III 1GB
Memory- DDR2 800 support up to 4GB
LCD- 15.4” WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LCD
HDD- 320 GB 7200RPM SATA
Optical - DVD Super Multi / Blu-ray Drive (Optional)
Card reader- 4 in 1 (support SD,MMC,MS, MS Pro)
I/O - D-subx1, USB 2.0x2 , IEEE1394, Mic-in, Headphone, RJ11, RJ45, E-SATA (USB Combo), HDMI
Battery- 6 cell, 9 cell (optional)
Wireless- 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth V2.0EDR
Communication- 10/100/1000 Mbps GbE LAN
Webcam- 2.0M
Sound- HD Audio, Stereo speakers
Expansion Slot- ExpressCard x1
Dimensions- 14.09"(L) x 10.24 "(D) x 1.06"~1.22"(H)
Weight- 5.8 lbs (6 cell)
Special Features- Touch Sensor, E-SATA, HDMI
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bashibashi1 - Sunday, February 8, 2009 - link
so would all you guys say that this is the way to go, MSI GT627, atleast concearning 15inch laptops?JNo - Sunday, February 1, 2009 - link
Any word on battery life? 6 cell vs 9 cell? Shame can't get 9 cell without Blu-ray...Not massively au-fait with the gaming laptop scene but this has got a lot of great features and I haven't seen one with a number pad before - that's excellent. It's almost perfect... but wait.. they've gone and put the Fn button at the outside of the Ctrl button - Noooooo..... (I need there that as my crouch action button!)
mobilecomputing - Monday, February 9, 2009 - link
Apparently the battery of the MSI GT627 is going to last 20% longer than the previous incarnation.source: http://news.idealo.co.uk/news/4859/msi-gt627-lapto...">http://news.idealo.co.uk/news/4859/msi-...r-gamers...
smyter - Thursday, January 29, 2009 - link
seems similar to a laptop Gateway already has on the market, except GW uses ddr3:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172...">http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...&typ...
erple2 - Sunday, February 1, 2009 - link
Except that's a 17" screen at WXGA resolutions ("crappy" in a 17" laptop, IMO - it's horrible for any non-gaming related endeavors). Then again, I place a very large premium on high resolution when I'm not gaming, YMMV.Bremen7000 - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - link
"The GT627 is an entry level gaming notebook designed with the traveler in mind." man that's the most contradictory statement I've ever read ;)Entry-level != gaming
gaming notebook != traveler notebook
I know what you were getting at, I'm just amused. :)
KikassAssassin - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - link
It's entry level for a gaming notebook (since you're not likely to find a gaming-capable notebook much cheaper), and it's small enough that it's easy to pick up and take with you (even if you have to plug it in at your destination).It would be nice if it used hybrid SLI to improve battery life while not gaming, though, so it could truly be a travel-friendly notebook that could be used for longer periods unplugged.
Hrel - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - link
I've said it before, no one should expect to game at a higher resolution than 1280x800 or 1360x768 on a laptop. At least not with any degree of tolerable battery life. 5 hours of battery life should be the industry MINIMUM! Any Laptop over 700 dollars should at least have a 9300m GS GPU instead of stupid Intel GPU's. Anything over $1000 should have at LEAST a 9600GT MGPU. And WHY THE HELL are people still selling T5000 series CPU's; or T7000 series CPU's at this point.Hrel - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - link
I wish they offered a version with a 1280x800 resolution screen and a faster processor in it's place. P8600 or P9500 would be good. Even better would be to switch to a 16:9 screen with 1360x768 resolution. Also, if it could be done without pushing the price over $1100, it'd be nice to have 4GB of DDR3 instead of DDR2, for the sake of battery life. Though, $1200 for a 16:9 computer with a P9500, 9800M GS, 4GB DDR3 and a 320GB 7200RPM HDD would be great. Of course blue-tooth and N networking are a given. It'd even me okay to switch to 9800GT for a small price premium. Oh, maybe I'm dreaming here, but an LED backlight screen is a MUST for me at this point; battery life is VERY important. I should be able to watch the extended edition of Return of the King on one battery. Whether it's 6 or 9 or 12 cell I don't care. Thanks for reading all my ramblings.Zap - Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - link
Pretty cool that there's a notebook that isn't too ginormous but with decent (for notebooks) graphics. Not everyone wants a 17"+ screen to go with a better GPU.