MSI have recently sent us a working prototype for their upcoming GX700 Extreme Edition Laptop, the spec is the same as the finished product but the shell lacks the painted tattoo design and the LCD is the 17" WSXGA screen version, but you will get a solid idea of what the finished version will be like as the insides are the same.
To start with you get a good package for your money, as well as a 2500dpi laser mouse, there is a Jabra style headset and a rucksack style laptop bag, all of which have the same tattoo design as the main device.
The design is something we really liked, the images in the gallery will show off some of the touches. The tattoos on the laptop look great along side the black finish and it will definitely be a device to show off to your mates.
To get the ball rolling the spec below shows that the GX700 has some powerful features...
Main Spec
- 17” WUXGA / Non Glare (1920 x 1200)
- Nvidia NX8600M GT 512Mb (DX10)
- i965GM+ ICH8-M
- HDMI + Dolby Home Theatre HD Audio
- Intel Turbo Memory (Robson)
- 1.3mp Webcam
- Intel T7500 2.2G
- 2Gb DDR2 (667Mhz)
- 250Gb SATA
- SuperMulti ODD
- intel 4965 AGN
- Vista Home Premium
- 6 Cell battery
- Special Edition Gaming Headset/Mouse/Bag
- Gaming Tattoo on A side lid
- 2 Years (1st year C&R, 2nd year RTB)
SOFTWARE
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Works 8.5
- Cyberlink DVD Suite
The paint design is one thing, but MSI have also produced a laptop which is light weight and has solid build quality. More importantly it was fairly quite, only during a heavy games session or placing a DVD in the drive you got to hear the fans kick in. During a Windows session it was whisper quite.
The supplied mouse was really good and it also looks the part, but the only thing we would have liked to see would be an led on the mouse that would inform us of which dpi mode we were in - there is a button that you can press to switch between 800 to 2500dpi modes on the fly (the higher dpi is useful for precision work).
The headset was also finished in the same design as the laptop and was comfortable to wear for long periods of use - even if you wear glasses - but its build quality is questionable as it feels a bit flimsy and could easily break.
Its construction is joined by a series of USB ports (3), a RJ45/Modem port, TV-tuner (optional extra), SD card reader, front mounted audio inputs for your mic, headphone jack and a VGA analogue port.
VGA analogue port you gasp, well we thought the same, but its not a major concern as you can get adaptors to convert to DVI, but when you see what is included to the side of the port you will forget all about this, as the MSI features a HDMI port making it an ideal partner for linking up to HD compatible devices and is an excellent addition (it's just a pity that there was no HD-DVD as part of the package).
Though our review version came with the lower quality 1680 x 1050 display this was still a great screen so we would have high hopes that the higher res version will be even better. Playing games, using Windows or watching DVD's were fine, colours were vibrant and there seemed to be no visible ghosting of images when fast paced action was displayed.
We nearly forgot to add that the sound quality was also good and our games and DVD's sounded fine, though the volume needed to be set to full whack whilst watching films.
From a Vista performance point of view we ran the Windows index and the laptop achieved an average of 4.5/5 which means it can handle the advanced features of the operating system and the ones included in the Ultimate edition if you decide to upgrade.
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