MSI GT 640 Laptop

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I need a 15" screen laptop, which is not too heavy, and yet has a good graphics card. I had read on various American forums that the MSI GT 628 was the laptop to get. But it did not seem to be available in the UK. OC and their competitors here in the UK all sell the MSI GT 627, but not the more powerfull 628.

Now however MSI uk's website lists the GT 640 as their most powerful 15" machine, with an even better graphics card than the 628. So questions are;

a) Any idea when the 640 will be on sale by OC?
b) How heavy is the power supply (the laptop is quoted as weighing 2.7kg)?
c) how much will a 640 cost?
 
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Depending on your budget, check out Kobalt's G860.

Budget is anything under £2k.

I did check out the Kobalt. The advantage of the Kobalt is a more powerful graphics card. The disadvantage of the Kobalt is it weighs 3.3 kg.

I tend to travel by train to different cities for work, and stay in city centre hotels, so I lug my laptop around, a lot! My present machine is 1.9kg and a 13.3" screen. I have decided I need a larger screen, and so the compromise is more weight.

To me the difference between 2.7kg and 3.3kg seems quite a lot to justify.

BUT, and it might be a large but, how heavy are the respective power bricks? As I have to carry those as well. If the Kobalts is substantially lighter than that of the MSI that might change the equation.
 
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If you go ask on the kobalt forums they can probably tell you, my initial experiences with them are very positive so will likely be ordering a larger machine from them soon myself. The kobalt is also a lot more customisable at order than the MSI, but all depends on the GT640s cost.

Oh another machine that might interest is the HP Envy 15, similar spec but is thinner, uses an ATI 4830, and is meant to be only 2.4Kg, tis very apple looking.
 
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Thanks for the heads up on the HP Envy, not much information on it at the moment, looks like due to go on sale 18th October. Your right it's very good on the weight.

But Ive generally stuck with Nvidia cards in my desktops, so not sure about the Radion 4830. Dosn't seem to say how much ram it has.

The Kobalt is GTX 280M Nvidia 2gb (and only £27 to upgrade it to 4gb)
the MSI is GTS 250M Nvidia 1 gb

I have now read up on the video cards and seen a comparision website (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-radeon,2151-6.html)
and it seems the order of abilty with best first is;

GTX 280 (equivalent to a 4870)
GTS 250 (equivalent to a 4850)
4830

On the sound front;

HP Envy = no information
Kobalt = 7.1 & an HDMI
MSI = an HDMI no information on 7.1 although given the HDMI surely must follow.

Clearly I may have to wait a few days more before making my purchase.
 
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Soldato
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Hi there mate, if the Envy has HDMI then it will have full PCM audio via the ATI card.
The mobility 4850 will be about the same speed as a 9800GT, or a little slower. Your other comparisons are off too, as these are the mobile chips, and unfortunately Nvidia has been a bit dishonest on that state as of recently

The GTX280M is actually based on the G92 (again, the 8800 refresh and 9800 series chip) about the same speed as a desktop 9800GTX/GTX+, the 4850 is about 5-10% slower dependant on how the card is clocked at stock (the clocks make a major difference on those), the laptop GTS250 as I remember is meant to be weaker again, sitting under the mobile GTX260 which is the closest competitor to the 4850 being within 5% on average (with lead to the ATI card where it exists)

The 4830 will likely be about 10-15% slower than the 4850, but should still be more than capable, hell the mobile 46 cards are for most games at moderate settings and res. I would presume it will be 512mb RAM, which compares to an Nvidia card with about 640MB of texture memory (ATI texture compression is a little more efficient in general)

Dont bother with Toms as thier results tend to be a little random, and more importantly, they're desktop cards.
Notebookcheck is the closest there is to a decent site for laptops, and even that tends to be off (as I remember it lists the cards by 3dmark score rather than games, and IIRC the GTX260M shows as faster than the 4850m, which from testing, and seeing people doing direct benchmarks, it's NOT)
 
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I'd quite like to see each of them in the flesh. Feel the build and keyboard for myself, and also see and feel the power supply for each of them. I live in London, so I'm hoping that one of the shops on Tottenham Court road will have the MSI, and I'm guessing the HP Envy will get into shops as well, maybe somewhere like John Lewis. But I wonder if the Kobalt will get to a retail outlet?
 
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Kobalt are a direct seller so you wont see them in other shops.

That said they're actually based in London. Drop them an email and they may be able to sort out for you to drop down and see the machine.
 
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OK now I'm getting fussy I know. I waited for the envy to be in MicroAnvika in Tottenham Court Road, except it wasn't only at their Harrods shop (an exclusive I was told). The USA HP website permits you to upgrade the screen to 1920 x 1080. The UK website does not allow this upgrade. The UK spec Envy in the shops appears to come with a lesser screen. When I telephoned HP UK they said maybe in the next stock round in 2-3 months they would have the higher specification screen available as an option, but not yet.

This has become a dilemma since I am now the proud owner of a Samsung 47" very flat TV, with 1920 x 1080 resolution, which would make a great monitor for the laptop, with an HDMI.

Considering screen resolutions;

Envy 15" = Display resolution: 1366 x 768

MSI GT 640 = 1680x1050 WSXGA

Kobalt = 15.6" 16:9 LED Backlit 1600 x 900 X-Glass Screen

Optional upgrade to:

15.6" 16:9 LED Backlit 1920 x 1080 X-Glass Screen ( costs £37)

OC don't yet list the MSI GT 640, so I'm not sure if it will be possible to upgrade it.

I'm now torn between the instant gratification of the Kobalt, or waiting however long it takes for HP to ship to the UK the better screen, unless of course I find someone going to the USA who can purchase an Envy over there for me, as the USA website for HP will not ship abroad.
 
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