buying MSI GT60 - wait or order issue

[Aaditya Aiyer]

Hi,
I am thinking of buying the MSI gt60 0ne model with 680m graphics card in june-july and intend to use it for 3-3.5years therefore want it to be future proof for my gaming & graphic related coding purposes. However as Intel has announced Haswell & will probably provide new laptop ranges from june-july onwards, i was thinking whether it will be a wise decision to wait & watch or just pre-order one, also can anyone recommend a good laptop besides alienware & MSI with 680m graphic card.thanx.tc

PS - can anyone recommend good specs for the MSI gt60 to build while ordering from gentech or xoticpc

 

[wiggbot]

There's no such thing as future proof, especially with laptops. Haswell is dropping soon as you mentioned, but it won't be a huge step up on ivy bridge from what early reports have said. In the end buy for the now, not the future.

 

[Aaditya Aiyer]

There's no such thing as future proof, especially with laptops. Haswell is dropping soon as you mentioned, but it won't be a huge step up on ivy bridge from what early reports have said. In the end buy for the now, not the future.

But i guess as the Haswell models will be released, the Ivy models could see a price drop as well right

 

[sanilmahambre]

If you wait now, you may never make a better choice in future. There is no big difference between IVY and HASWELL regarding performance.
Don't think there will be a price drop since INTEL has a history of rock solid pricing.

Just place the order right now!

 

[Prostar Computer]

CPU performance gains aren't astronomical, according to news leaks. The biggest gains will be in energy efficiency and and iGPU performance. But if you're going with a MSI gaming notebook, you're probably not concerned with the Intel graphics.

That being said, if you want to hold off until Haswell simply for the price reduction on IB systems, then that's not a bad decision. You can use some of that savings towards an upgrade, even. But I don't recommend holding off to purchase a Haswell system to "better future proof" yourself. A lot of people are asking that question, and it's moot; an Ivy Bridge system - especially with a 680M - will be capable years down the road (as long as you take care of it).

 

[whyso]

a 680m is unlikely to have a problem with a quad core i7. igp is worthless.
The only thing that i would say to wait for is new mobile gpus, but considering that there won't be a significant refresh for a while you shouldn't wait (780m/8970m is only going to be 10-20%).

 

[Aaditya Aiyer]

Yesterday, i went on Gentech & Xoticpc websites, to build a msi gt60 customised build but found that the 249 model seem to be having limited availability & ended up building up a 403 model as well. Gentech seem to be cheaper than Xoticpc. here are the specs

Core - 3rd Gen Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3630QM, 2.4~3.4GHz, 22nm, 6MB, 45W
[genetech offering free IC diamond thermal paste to both CPU/GPU]

RAM - 16-20gb ddr3 ram
[Gentech offers 24gb on price of 2300 & above]

HDD -
1>primary drive = 250G Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive 2.5" 7mm SATA III 6Gb/s
2>secondary drive = 750GB Seagate Momentus XT 7200RPM 32MB, 8GB SSD Hybrid Drive, SATA III 6Gb/s


Graphic card - nVidia GeForce GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5 DX11 w/Optimus Technology
rest of config in both seem to be similar


Gentech quotes XoticPC
1. 249 - $2419.99 249 - $2,525.00
2. 403 - $2420.00 403 - $2,525.00

Xoticpc offers copper heatsinks but some say IC diamond is more than sufficient if on budget plus have heard that Haswell systems will be costlier as it brings new architecture thus the slight power boost(3-5%) but the new architecture allows for some incredible power saving & Graphics processing due to CPU been given slight resource control over the GPU though was secretly hoping that if haswell was in same range, would have brought it as OEMs like MSI would start building new systems now[ the suspicious availability of 249] as would ultimately be ordering the system in june as my exams are going on.tc

 

[wiggbot]

Yesterday, i went on Gentech & Xoticpc websites, to build a msi gt60 customised build but found that the 249 model seem to be having limited availability & ended up building up a 403 model as well. Gentech seem to be cheaper than Xoticpc. here are the specs

Core - 3rd Gen Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3630QM, 2.4~3.4GHz, 22nm, 6MB, 45W
[genetech offering free IC diamond thermal paste to both CPU/GPU]

RAM - 16-20gb ddr3 ram
[Gentech offers 24gb on price of 2300 & above]

HDD -
1>primary drive = 250G Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive 2.5" 7mm SATA III 6Gb/s
2>secondary drive = 750GB Seagate Momentus XT 7200RPM 32MB, 8GB SSD Hybrid Drive, SATA III 6Gb/s


Graphic card - nVidia GeForce GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5 DX11 w/Optimus Technology
rest of config in both seem to be similar


Gentech quotes XoticPC
1. 249 - $2419.99 249 - $2,525.00
2. 403 - $2420.00 403 - $2,525.00

Xoticpc offers copper heatsinks but some say IC diamond is more than sufficient if on budget plus have heard that Haswell systems will be costlier as it brings new architecture thus the slight power boost(3-5%) but the new architecture allows for some incredible power saving & Graphics processing due to CPU been given slight resource control over the GPU though was secretly hoping that if haswell was in same range, would have brought it as OEMs like MSI would start building new systems now[ the suspicious availability of 249] as would ultimately be ordering the system in june as my exams are going on.tc

You don't need nearly that much RAM, especially for a laptop. Try to get a requote with only 8 gigs. As a gaming computer, you have no use for any more than that. No point in paying extra.

 

[Aaditya Aiyer]

Yesterday, i went on Gentech & Xoticpc websites, to build a msi gt60 customised build but found that the 249 model seem to be having limited availability & ended up building up a 403 model as well. Gentech seem to be cheaper than Xoticpc. here are the specs

Core - 3rd Gen Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3630QM, 2.4~3.4GHz, 22nm, 6MB, 45W
[genetech offering free IC diamond thermal paste to both CPU/GPU]

RAM - 16-20gb ddr3 ram
[Gentech offers 24gb on price of 2300 & above]

HDD -
1>primary drive = 250G Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive 2.5" 7mm SATA III 6Gb/s
2>secondary drive = 750GB Seagate Momentus XT 7200RPM 32MB, 8GB SSD Hybrid Drive, SATA III 6Gb/s


Graphic card - nVidia GeForce GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5 DX11 w/Optimus Technology
rest of config in both seem to be similar


Gentech quotes XoticPC
1. 249 - $2419.99 249 - $2,525.00
2. 403 - $2420.00 403 - $2,525.00

Xoticpc offers copper heatsinks but some say IC diamond is more than sufficient if on budget plus have heard that Haswell systems will be costlier as it brings new architecture thus the slight power boost(3-5%) but the new architecture allows for some incredible power saving & Graphics processing due to CPU been given slight resource control over the GPU though was secretly hoping that if haswell was in same range, would have brought it as OEMs like MSI would start building new systems now[ the suspicious availability of 249] as would ultimately be ordering the system in june as my exams are going on.tc

You don't need nearly that much RAM, especially for a laptop. Try to get a requote with only 8 gigs. As a gaming computer, you have no use for any more than that. No point in paying extra.

By default, both gentech & xotic provide base ram as 12gb(3x4gb)

gentech quoted model 249 with 12gb at $2219.99[option to free upgrade to 16gb[4gbx4]/20gb[8gbx2+4gb]/24gb (holiday offer)] & model 403 with 12gb at $2220.00, with free option of 16gb ram upgrade with free IC diamond thermal paste application free in both models . Xotic on other hand, provides no such offers & quoted both model at same rate of 2265.00 with discount price 2197.05