MSI ships 17-inch GX740, complete with Core i7 and Radeon HD 5870
By Darren Murph 
posted June 12th 2010 5:41PM
posted June 12th 2010 5:41PM
MSI Announces U.S. Availability of Powerful GX740 Notebook
Intel i7 CPU and ATI HD5870 GPU Deliver Intense Experience for Gamers and Movie Buffs
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MSI Computer Corp., a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, today announced the availability of its new 17-inch GX740 gaming notebook. Armed with the Intel® Core™ i7 processor and rich multimedia features including 7.1 channel output with SRS qualification, a subwoofer, Cinema Pro technology, and HDMI output , the GX740 is ideal for those who need superior sound and graphics, including gamers, movie buffs and graphic designers.
"The GX740 features some of the most innovative components available, and at just over seven pounds and only an inch-and-a-half thick, it is one of the lightest and thinnest desktop replacements ever designed"
The GX740's powerful ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 graphics card supports DirectX® 11 graphics and teams with MSI's Turbo Boost Technology to ensure smooth game play without lags, while lowering power consumption. The GPU's 1GB of DDR5 memory performs 50 percent better than DDR3 memory.
"The GX740 features some of the most innovative components available, and at just over seven pounds and only an inch-and-a-half thick, it is one of the lightest and thinnest desktop replacements ever designed," said Andy Tung, vice president of sales, MSI North America.
Gamers and movie buffs can manage the GX740's 9-cell battery power to best meet their needs as a result of MSI's combination of the energy efficient Intel® Core™2 Quad plus Intel Turbo Boost Technology and MSI's ECO engine power management.
The GX740 is housed in MSI's stylish brushed aluminum gaming chassis with fire engine red accents. It features a raised chiclet keyboard designed for gamers with increased accuracy and comfort while typing, and clearly marked W, A, S and D keys for quick response while gaming.
The GX740 ships with a 17 inch LCD screen with 1680x1050 resolution, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive 7200 rpm, a 9-cell battery, Bluetooth connectivity and Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
The GX740 is priced at $1,399.99 and is available now at Amazon and Newegg.
For more information and full specifications, please visit http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=135&cat2_no=271&prod_no=1999.
It's Core i5, not i7. No USB 3.0. And.... it comes with a "big bag of hurt."
@aschettler there are multiple configurations with various cores. i7 available (in Russia) for $1.9-2k during 2 weeks already ($1.4k for i5 variant). However compared to i5 variant and ASUS G73Jh games output almost identical (6% difference): like 29.7 - 30.9 - 32.7 on highest (1920x1080) in Bad Company 2.
That's a better video card than my desktop. :(
The i7 is a kickass chip. Plus you have to factor in the massive turboboost that these have.
My MacBook has a 2.0 ghz CPU. It is much better
@yamman931 I'm just joking. This seems like a great computer
@yamman931: Bravo, sir. You have summed up the Mac fanboy argument and logic process in a finely crafted bit of sarcasm.
@yamman931
This is a high end quad core CPU. It is also Intel's current generation of processors. Yours is most certainly not.
@Dafrety Yea I know that my Mac only has 2 cores and this has 4 cores hyperthreded. It's just that a lot of my Mac owning friends act that way.
This is one of the laptop I have hard time choosing over. I've compare many of the other laptop but the only thing that doesn't stand out on this one is the keyboard. Th FN key is in an awkward position. It also has no lite up keyboard. Otherwise I'd bought this instead. If no-one really care for those missing feature. I would highly recommend it. Best bang for your buck if you game alot.
WHY CANT IT JUST BE BLACK?????
This is a very nice combo, you can underclock this stuff some and waft along like butter. I would take this over a Macbook any day of the week if this machine is decently solid quality.
Is it me, or is there nothing interesting happening in the gadget world today?
Nice specs
1 word, Crap.
There is nothing "gaming" about a 1.6ghz chip. Best of luck to anyone who buys this and expects to be playing BC2/Metro 2033/etc @ 1680 at any decent graphics settings.
@crawlgsx
wow... you don't know anything about processors, do you?
@crawlgsx
Oh and by the way, it runs COD: MW2 on ULTRA HIGH at 55 fps, with an Intel Core i7 1.6GHz processor.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5870.23073.0.html
@TareG Apparently you haven't done much real world testing. Good for it that it can play MW2 @ 55 FPS, did I mention MW2? No I did not.
An i7 @ 1.6ghz is not very good. Sure maybe compared to AMD or older CPU's, but any Core 2 DUO @ ~2.6-3.0ghz would do a better job at gaming, let alone a Core 2 Quad at a decent clock speed.
Like I mentioned before, any Semi-abusive newer game (such as BC2, Metro 2033, Mass Effect 2, etc) will not play very well at any decent setting with the chip clocked at 1.6ghz.
If you load up BC2 @ 1680 on "ultra" with that laptop I would guarantee you do not see a Playable FPS.
@crawlgsx
Can you simply google the benchmarks on these "shie77y i7 1.6ghz cores" and just see how aggressive they really are. I got one they rip a hole in time for just a 1.6ghz stock clock before they power boost. And they could in theory beat chuck norris with power boost. But let's see round two with bruce lee..... though my video isn't quite as nice as this one. I'm sad. I do have raid ssd in my lappy. :)
@TareG Even your own link provided shows BC2 on Ultra it barely achieved 30FPS on the 1.7GHZ Variation. I would bet you could get a playable frame rate on Medium settings with no AA/AF. Yeah that sounds nice....
@crawlgsx
You're not too bright are you?
Compare a 1.6ghz i7 to almost any quadcore from last Gen, regardless of the gigahertz and the i7 will almost always win.
@ciloteille I'm not saying they are a BAD chip, They are great for a lot of things and some casual gaming. What I am saying is that IMO they are not worthy of a "Gaming laptop" specification.
The clock rate is just simply not enough for most games of 2010.
@crawlgsx
Clock rate does not mean shit idiot
This has four cores and each one of these cores compared clock to clock to older core 2 quad has almost 3 times the performance.
@ciloteille Dude, this thing also has turbo boost and, if I remember correctly, 6mb of L3 cache.... dang what's wrong with you?
@crawlgsx
if you care for clock speed that much, you do know they turbo boost to 2.8GHz right?...
@crawlgsx
Are you still talking??? You should thank us for the free lesson.
Awesome specs, bad non-chiclet keyboard.
@TareG ?? o.0
Chicklet keyboard is claimed in spec. Are they wrong?
@TareG
Oh wait it's a chiclet keyboard after all :) I hope it comes in an all-black variety.
The GX740 (and it's little brother, the GX640) are ooooooold news. For them to be shipping now with the 720QM is going to limit their sales, with the 740QM coming out in more up-to-date gaming laptops pretty soon.
And it still doesn't quite shape up to the G73 =P
@Freakie yeah. The US just isn't getting the front line hardware releases anymore. The new release goes where the most profit is, but with the recession that has been either Europe or Asia lately depending on who is doing most poorly atm.
@Freakie cheaper than g73 @newegg by 150$. All other specs the same. Sounds like you're getting ugly bezels, and a smaller monitor for a 150$ savings. Not sure it's worth it, especially if you want to watch hd video on the thing..
@bombastinator
The one on Newegg isn't the standard G73. The A1/A2 are the main ones while the X1 is a cheaper version that ASUS puts out so that buyers can get the same main specs, sometimes with a different processor, but skimp on things like RAM and hard drive.
The A2 has the same processor and videocard as the GX740, but has 8GB of RAM and a second hard drive (the X1 only has one drive) as well as the slightly higher resolution and better cooling/noise reduction (not to mention a pretty nice warranty and a couple of goodies) for $1,650 at xoticpc. So for $250 more, you get 4GB more RAM, another 500GB drive, Razor gaming mouse, Targus backpack, and a much better warranty. Seems good to me :P
I thought they would refresh the design. Same lame design with bad heat management. :(
@sabby bad heat management? could you expand on that? Bad in what way?
I guess I'm the only one one that likes the red highlights...?
I currently have a compal and I can say for CERTAIN that I am sick of the "four different textures of black plastic" look - anything is better!
@tumbledry
By the by do the aesthetics of the G73 remind anyone else of Battlezone (activision) tanks? And by battlesone tanks I mean 1998... and by 1998 I mean at the absolute latest Janes USAF in 1999, the last time the F-117 was cool. And by that I mean dated.
Oh, snap. :p
....do people NOT know this thing can autoclock itself to 2.8Ghz in gaming or processor intensive situations?
Now thats a sexy laptop.
According to this page: http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=135&cat2_no=271&prod_no=1999
the GX740 comes with a core i5 not a core i7.
@Cold Dead Fingers This thing also has a "nice looking aluminum enclosure".
The ASUS G51Jx is a much better value for money deal.
Check out the owners lounge at:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/487236-asus-g51jx-owners-lounge.html#post6295017
@janvandongen
from your link:
"Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M with 1GB GDDR5 VRAM"
How much slower is a 360m than a 5870m? does it even do direcgtx 11? i forget.
suck it, mbp!
According to the website MSI only ships the GX740 with the i5 processor. Where can you find it with the i7? The i7 does come in the GT740 though.
Looks sexy to me
but does it run crysis 2?