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Taken from the Notebookcheck review of the DT14 variant of the GE40 - further proof that the 90w adapter supplied with the GE40 is grossly insufficient for heavy use.

So fellow and future GE40 users, please note that taking your battery out while going full load is generally a VERY BAD IDEA - unless you wanna hear the wonderful sound of an AC adapter popping to its death.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Jul 28 2013, 04:07 AM

Breaking the seal for RAM and Storage (HDD/SSD) upgrades is fine and WILL NOT VOID WARRANTY, but when in doubt check with the MSI Careline.

@Zakov: FSP tips should be fine. MSI usually shares tips with the one for Acer/Gateway/Toshiba. But the adapter's HUGEEEEEEE. The FSP thin 120 is much smaller, but problem is it has a veeeeeeery short adapter to laptop cable.

Sigh. Why is the USNA 120 not being sold locally any more.

@dannykhoo17: The GE60 is ok, but with that size and only a GF765, I'd say the Illegear RE15 is a better bet as it's thinner. Battery life is also horrible with the GE60 - smaller battery capacity + bigger screen vs the GE40. If you get a good deal and don't care about the thickness/battery life, why not though?

@AiSheep: That's the "feature" I was talking about lol.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Jul 28 2013, 08:46 PM

So the eco mode thing actually does something. I'm honestly surprised.

Anyway, with the GE40 or GE60, if you plan to leave your battery in, THIS (the bolded stuff above) is not so crucial.

If you plan to take your battery out (because you wanna prolong its life or something) than it becomes ESSENTIAL, unless you want your adapter to pop.

But really, if battery life is important to you (and you can stand the possible heat issues if you game heavily) than the GE40 pisses over everything else in it's class. The GE60 and the RE15 (and even the RE13) included.

Unfortunately, it's hot, the screen is kinda shit and build is very much like the Compaq V3000s of a few years back (that is to say, pretty absymal) - but what else can you get that packs an upper class GC + 5-6 hour battery life + 900p screen in a body that's about 1-inch thick + 2kgs.

Okay, there' the Razer Blade but that's 8k at least and STILL runs hot + has a shitty screen as well. Plus the battery is built in, and considering the heat will kill it in about a year...

If a 15inch, full HD screen is that important to you, GET the RE15 but be warned, the 765 isn't THAT much faster, the full HD screen will slow things down and the battery life under light use isn't gonna come even close to the GE40.

On the flipside, the RE15 will also give you Illegear's on site warranty options VS MSI's "okay-your-adapter-exchange-will-take-a-bloody-week-probably" service, if that matters to you.

There's also the Alienware M14xR4, but that thing's so thick I wonder why Dell bothers to sell it as a 14 incher. Making it a 15 incher makes a whole lot more sense IMHO. It's not that cheap either.

I know for a fact that both the stock ADATA 1600 1.35v and the Kingmax Value 1600 1.35v SODIMMs work fine, even when mixed together. I'm running both and they're dual channeling happily.

As for speedier RAMs, not so sure.

I'm actually quite pissed now that the YES 4G Go dongle DOES NOT PLAY NICE WITH WIN 8. Thankfully I have a spare Win 7 Starter netbook lying around, running Connectify on that and things are working out quite well. I even bought a darned TP-Link MR3040 after hearing that OpenWRT works with WIMAX, no such luck with the Yes Dongle. If only them damn Huddles aren't so effing expensive.

Oh, and if you're wondering why the eff am I so keen on using Yes (when it's so troublesome)? Well, I'm in the neck of the woods 90% of the time (I work in Kuala Lipis), BUT I have a Yes base station about 200m away from where I live. It's like the best option I have for decent Internet over here.

Plus, I have a "free" Gomen account. I wonder if I can play MWO on the Gomen line.

Plus after being used to the smoothness of Win8, it's hard to go back. Sure, I can't run Sins of a Solar Empire, but everything else I throw at it (my extensive library of Japanese "light entertainment" games included) runs without a hitch. Damn Yes has GOT to get their act together woi.

EDIT: Nop. All my online games are blocked lololol. No surprise there.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Jul 30 2013, 12:27 AM

Coming from the M1210, the GE40's maintenance access is so easy it's almost laughable. I've already repasted my lappy twice (not happy with how I did the first time) + changed my WIFI card to something better than the stock Azurewave. It was really a simple affair to finish up both.

Later, after my warranty, if they have a better 900p (or even HD) LCD that would fit I'd do that too.

Now, if ONLY the bottom was made out of good solid metal.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Jul 30 2013, 10:28 AM

The big ass GE40 sticker on the left palmrest actually shields your from the hot palmrest that is heated up by the GC underneath it IMHO. Pealing it off might expose you directly to hot metal.

Also, as MSI support seem to be fond of you (they don't bother with me), try asking them about prices for:

1) Extra GE40 battery.
2) 120w adapter from the GT laptops.
3) M-SATA daughterboard.
4) ODD caddy.

I'll call them myself, but last time they told me that "they'll get back", and it's been a week since. Sigh.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Jul 30 2013, 03:40 PM

One thing's stopping me from using an ODD caddy from outside - the OD drive door. If you get a generic caddy, what happens to the drive door area? The MSI stock caddy seems to come with a plastic insert that closes the hole there. For a generic caddy, we'll have a gaping hole - unless you plan to pry out the plastic OD drive door and stick it back onto the caddy.

Oh and looking at XoticPC it seems our caddy is of the 12.5mm variety.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Jul 30 2013, 03:53 PM

Cover comes together issit? I didn't know that. Well, I'll be buying one myself once I have enough to upgrade to a decently sized SSD.

Anyway, I just got back from MSI SC. 5 days, not bad. Anddddddd, the weirdest thing just happened.

My dead adapter, the one I sent to them, was ACTUALLY not dead...

Yeah, it was working fine and dandy, and they even tested it on a battery less laptop for a few days (or so they tell me). Before I sent it in I checked thoroughly and it was totally dead... go figure.

It's a Blade Pro. By MSI. With dual-cooling.



Well, as long as it comes over and doesn't cost a bomb, I guess people will be happy. Plus I'm actually glad they're giving Razer some competition (psst, MSI, clone the Blade next please! Aluminium Unibody and all...). But looking at how thin that thing is, not sure if any amount of dual-cooling can help it.

Actually, I'm lamenting the fact that Gigabyte does not have a notebook distributor here in Malaysia. For that matter, I'm wondering why the P34G Ultrablade is not even out yet.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 1 2013, 02:18 AM

I'm enjoying the stickers lolol. When it gets all gooey it gets easier to take off anyway, although the mess it leaves behind is not really fun to clean up.

Oh BTW, turning Google Trends visualization into a screensaver is absolutely amazing - although a lot of searches are done in Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Hebrew so I have no idea what they're looking for at least 30% of the time.

Folks at NBR are complaining about the CPU whine on the GE40, which makes me wonder: JUST HOW QUIET are these people's houses? I only hear the bloody whine when I put my ear really close to the keyboard (sounds like a low volume cicada).

Maybe they're running out of things to complain about lol.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 2 2013, 05:47 PM

I know exactly what you mean... I kept on pressing on the flexy bit on the keyboard when I first got the GE40, now I barely notice it. I'm now obsessed on a creaky bit on the upper left side of the display frame, and how the lid is not snap tight when closed.

Just finding stuff to fret about so I can guilt trip myself into buyer's remorse. I went through the same thing when I first got my M1210 lol. Sad innit?

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 2 2013, 08:18 PM

Thus the Apple "way" of "it's not a issue, it's a feature" lol.

Anyhow, seems that the whole 90w is not enough if probably true. My bro just forced the original AC adapter to shut down again with a 4-hour Star Wars: Old Republic marathon - even with the battery installed. Annnnnd, after a while, it's working again.

Really funny stuff this.

It's hilarious that both the HuntKeys are working fine under the same circumstances though lol - both being "inferior" universal units after all. Maybe I DID receive a lemon adapter, but getting a replacement will be an entirely useless endeavour if it only keeps on dying in my hands while working fine at the service center.

Let's see if it dies again now lol.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 3 2013, 03:24 AM

I've been trying, but locating an MSI spec 120w brick locally is proving to be harder than expected, especially finding a slim one like the USNA 120. Even eBay has the larger normal ones.

I'm gonna try buying one from MSI again when I contact them about the extra battery again.

Lol, no idea bro. Them adapters just keep on dying on me lol. I don't even play graphics intensive games THAT often - I only play FO3: New Vegas regularly (with ENB shaders, or course, but it's a 2010 game lol) and my bro only does Star Wars: The Old Republic (which isn't THAT graphics intensive to begin in with lol).

And torrenting/downloading has been delegated to another laptop so I don't even keep it awake 24/7. So, I'm in the WTF camp now myself.

But, the adapter has been well and alive for quite some time now (since it's last brush with the grim reaper) so it's prolly just my bad luck with unstable home currents. Not that I'm worried much lol, I already have 2 other spare adapters now due to it "dying" the last time.

Anyhow, now using my lappy for it's main purpose outside of gaming - doing my online writing work while on the move. Thankfully, besides the two rather discreet "eyes", the laptop feels rather low profile, especially when compared to say, a MBP. Power consumption on battery is quite okay too, averaging around 10-14Ws, with Windows estimating runtime to be around 4H50M. System heat is also low, and I don't even have to lift the lappy for better circulation.

Hell I know I've said this multiple times before, but a 14-inch sub-2kg, sub-4k lappy that that can run Crysis 3 on high everything when needed, and last 5 hours when I want it to? Viva le Haswell! Again, I'd LOVE to have MUCH less plastic on it but well, beggars can't be choosers now can we?

As for the GS70, all I worry about is: a) Battery Life and b) Heat. I mean, I'm all for ultra thin "gaming" laptops (although 17 inches + 765GTX is HARDLY gaming in my book), but being so thin when even the much thicker Clevo W230T has heat issues... errrrr. ALTHOUGH I dare MSI to CONTINUE kicking Razer's ass, especially with a GS40 though, and make it have an aluminum unibody while they're at it. Any competition is good competition really.

BTW, I've stopped SCM from running at startup now. The "cute" popups and Eco Profiles are of course nifty (also the ability to turn the radios on and off at will), but I use Alt-Tab a LOT and the "phantom window" SCM is generating is annoying the heck out of me - and I can change power profiles on my own thank you, even if I'm generally just running my tweaked "Balanced" profile all the time now and am satisfied with the 4h+ battery life it's giving me off plug.

So I stopped it from running at startup and now that annoying "SCMIII" ghost window is gone.

Tested all the FN shortcuts without it running and everything besides the ECO button combo is working fine. If need be I'll just whip up a AutoHotKey combo for it later. If anyone can help me run the program without it generating the "ghost window" your help will be very much appreciated, but for now I'll just run the app when I NEED to turn the radios off or something.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 7 2013, 05:49 AM

Well, both can't, at least not 100%. The GX60 has a slow AMD processor, and the Y500 IS faster, but has stuttering problems with SLI + Skyrim. Your best bet is something like the GT60 (Intel + 770) or the GT70 (Intel + 780) for a flawless experience in Skyrim Ultra + ENB.

For around that price, the Y500 is probably a better bet - it's MORE POWERFUL for sure, but the stuttering MIGHT (or might not) piss you off. But drivers WILL improve, while the GX60's slow processor WILL NOT. Why not stretch a LITTLE bit more and get the Y510P? At least it's running a faster Haswell processor.

Myself I'm already pushing my GE40's 760 to the limit with New Vegas + ENB - now running around 30FPS max, 20FPS avg with modded Bloom, motion blur, DOF, SMAO, SMAA AND a (slightly) higher def texture pack running. Considering it's a 2010 game, the fact that I've modded it to run as heavy as Crysis 3 on high (or the fact it CAN be modded to this point) is just LOL.

Which reminds me, we're well overdue for a NEW Fallout game now. Skyrim really ain't cutting it for me really, I prefer guns to swords and bows.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 8 2013, 09:46 AM

GT60 = 15inch + i7 Haswell + 770 -> RM5k+?
GT70 = 17inch + i7 Haswell + 780 -> RM6k+?

For Skyrim + Visual Novels even my GE40 (14inch + i7 + 760 - > RM3.7k) is enough (Skyrim on high + mods). But looking at your requirements you need a desktop replacement and that's something the GE40 is NOT.

If you HAVE cash to spare and NEED to play Skyrim on ultra + mods (and the latest/last year games on highest settings) = it's either the GT60 or the GT70 for you, depending on how BIG you want your laptop to be (and how much extra cash you have).

If you don't have the extra cash, the Y510P SLI will do very nicely with 750 SLI.

The Y500 SLI is also fine if you don't NEED the latest and fastest processor. It's also cheaper than the Y510P by quite a bit.

The GX60's processor is simply not fast enough IMHO for the very capable Radeon graphics chip it has. Like highwind85 said, it's going to underperform noticeably compared to an i7 setup.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 8 2013, 06:53 PM

Holy flying fark, MSI seem to have QUIETLY refreshed the GE40 along with the release of the GS70.

Not much difference though so far EXCEPT:

1) 8GB in 2x4GB configuration (vs 1x8GB before) - good for instant dual-channel. BAD for people who wanna go straight to 16GB (you have to get 2x8GB now lol).

2) Intel Wireless-N combo 2230 (vs the old Azurewave combo) - The 2230 is undoubtedly better vs the crappy Azurewave. Personally I'm already running an Intel Advanced-N combo 3635 so... mmmkay.

3) STEEL SERIES KEYBOARD!!! REALLY????

4) KILLER LAN (vs the old Realtek)!!!! REALLY?????

I'm kinda thinking that 3 and 4 might be typos - BUUUUUT it's being written across a couple of vendors' descriptions already so uuuuuuhhhhh. Plus GENTECH already offers the GE40 with Killer Ethernet as stock - but I'm really skeptical that they managed to cram in a proper STEEL SERIES keyboard into the GE40 THIS TIME.

What I'm REALLY INTERESTED in (if they REALLY have refreshed the GE40) is:

1) IF they're STILL shipping it with the (completely inadequate) 90w AC adapter.
2) IF they've improved the cooling inside somehow.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 9 2013, 04:12 AM

Not sure if a 765 is a good enough match for a 17 incher, but it's CRAZY SLIM and not as hard to get as the Blade Pro which is good... But what I'm really interested in knowing about is the HEAT and BATTERY life. BUUUUUT, it's so new that even publications and sites most probably HAS JUST received their review samples so reviews will take a while.

I'll be the first to drool in jealousy if MSI decides to do a GS40 though, especially if it comes in black brushed aluminum.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Aug 9 2013, 07:09 PM