MSI's Core i7-equipped GT660R makes itself available to US consumers
By Darren Murph 
posted July 25th 2010 8:06AM
posted July 25th 2010 8:06AM
MSI's GT660 has been kicking around in various forms for a few months now, but the latest edition (dubbed GT660R) is just now splashing down on a few e-tailer websites. Boasting a 1.73GHz Core i7-740QM processor, 6GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive (7,200RPM), Blu-ray combo drive and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 285M, this 16-inch beast is more than capable of handling whatever HD media and first-person shooters you've got sitting around. 'Course, you'll need to be fully prepared to lug around 7.7 pounds of heft, and the 1,366 x 768 resolution is far from ideal, but at least you're given a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. It's up for order now at $1,699.99, but unless you've got a thing for atypically large pixels, we'd suggest springing for an alternative that'll display 1080p natively.
They lost me as soon as I saw the resolution, which is all the more incredulous given the physical screen size this thing has.
@tonicboy
Dude who cares about resolution, THE THING GLOWS!!!
@CJisohsocool
Eye sight vs bright glowing thing... Glowing thing win.
@tonicboy Exactly. Beautiful machine - crippled by display. No one wants a resolution that low. Why do it?
@cdf74dc9 Glowy thing for the win!
[That's what she said]
[You can probably swap the screen. I swapped the screen on my Gateway 78 FX Series from a 1400x900r to a 1900x1200r.]
@WilliamNighthawk
Why would you want to buy a $1700 laptop and then pay extra for a decent display (and void your warranty by replacing it)?
My 17" inch laptop is 2 years old, it cost 950€ when it was new and it has a 1920x1200 pixel display, so there is no real reason for this new expensive laptop to have so few pixels.
@GGG what model laptop is that? I know someone looking for a 1920x1200.
@tonicboy
I have 20/20 vision and run 1920x1200 on my 24 inch desktop monitor. I would never want to use a tiny 16 inch laptop screen at such a high resolution. That's a recipe for eyestrain and headaches. Especially given how poorly laptop screens perform in sunlight.
@tonicboy
The gamer in me prefers the lower native resolution so that I can keep graphical settings higher. Lowering the res to a non-native is always ugly by comparison.
@GGG Well, typically, being you asked why I would (though I assure you that I know you meant in general but I can't speak for everyone). I would probably end up breaking my warranty anyway. I like to hack, mod, and customize every item I buy to suit my personality. So in the long run the screen might be the cheapest thing I add to the laptop. My laptop was bought refurbished, absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I was going to mod it anyway so I got it extremely cheap. A laptop that can play anything out now and coming out in the near future for about 400 dollars. So a 100 dollar screen upgrade was nothing.
I do get what you mean though, spending that kind-of money should get you something better, but you have to look at all aspects. A gamer might, and probably does, have an external screen. Some (like the one above me) prefer having lower resolution to maximize graphics and frame rate.
@dkratter14
ASUS F7S
But it's 2 years old, most components other than the screen are obsolete by now. And the new ASUSes haven't got the same resolution anymore for some reason
@dicobalt It ships with Windows 7.
Right click the desktop, select screen resolution, scale from 100% to 125% or 150%.
High resolution does NOT mean tiny icons and text unless you want it to. It just means CRISPER icons, text, movies, and games.
@Ducman69
Not that simple. Scaling down is blurry compared to a monitor with lower native resolution. That also produces eyestrain and headaches. Also, when you choose larger fonts in windows not every application complies to those settings.
@dicobalt
Wrong, you are thinking of XP's old scaling. W7 scaling does NOT change the native resolution of the screen, it simply scales the entire UI.
The menu bar, buttons, text, and everything increases to 125% or 150% as you select, and thus does not become blurry like changing the resolution.
nvidia DX10 = Fail !
I'd never spent that kind of money on a soon to be obsolete technology...
@Stormstrike
lol yeah cut out 6 gigs of ram and the 500 gig hard drive. Put in a 480 or an Ati card and a higher res screem
@TehSilentWolf
1 tb hard drive*
Wow!! Smeagol likesss ittt!!! Smeagol wantsss ittt!!!
Why no GTX 330M on such a beast?
@Almo
330m is fine for light gaming, but this should use a 5870m or 480m
@Bearpowers
330M is hardly 'light gaming'...
@Almo
Yes it is. It's a mid-level card as far as mobile GPUs go.
Yeah $1,700.00 for this is pure fail. Asus, Compal and Sager have this thing totally beat already for less than that with FHD screens, though I'm still waiting for one of these said companies to actually make a FHD matte screen.
lol at these guys complaining about a laptop they can't even afford.
geez.
@xValentine Hahaha.
What an odd machine to drop 17 hundreds on. That's a 27 inch iMac, just like that.
@BlondeBuddhist
This isn't my cup of tea, but no one interested in a product similar to this would be looking at a iMac.
Thats like introducing a guy who likes redheaded girls to Clay Aiken. It doesn't matter if you think he's cute, he's for a different niche.
and *you* thought apple overcharges...
If you could run OSX on it, it would be a bargain.
I'm sorry, but the HP Envy 17 absolutely destroys this for the price...5850, 1080p display, backlit keyboard...
@Jules0 Where IS the review of the HP Envy engadget? PLEASE! I'll wash your car and feed your dog, and if you don't, I'll have big bird poop on your car and make your dog eat peanut butter off me.
The choice is yours.
Was able to play with this unit for several weeks. Got some photos and Windows Experience Index here: http://www.yugatech.com/blog/pc-gaming/msi-gt660-review/
Why is it that of so many PC companies out there None of them seem to be able to get all the right stuff into one gaming laptop. The closest so far is alienware, but its not the kind of laptop that has the looks you'd be proud to bring to work as well. Plus they are absurdly expensive. I'm so ready to replace my desktop with a powerful Laptop....Cmon guys... Someone has the majic combination don't they?
@Thor e
Asus G73JH...if you can live with a nasty glare screen..
@Stormstrike Not bad.... I wouldnt mind finding something with dual cards so it will handle crisis on full graphics with no slowdown. That's why the Alienware solution is so attractive but too expensive beyond what it should be. But I do like asus. But still I don't know why companies automatically think they need to put their gaming laptops in such a flashy chassis that makes it stick out when you take it a business metting.
msi's epic fail; read above for details....
There is no 1TB 2.5" HDD on the market yet. It has to have two 500GB drives.
@E30 Kid
*7200 RPM
@E30 Kid
Correct, the listing states:
Hard Drive
HDD
1TB
HDD RPM
7200rpm
HDD Spec
2 x 500GB
@E30 Kid
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/27/wd-ships-industrys-first-2-5-inch-1tb-hard-drive/
I have a MSI GT640,with 1650x1080 15.4' display,and I would not ever buy something with a 1366x768 resolution on a 16' screen.
$1700 for a 16-inch laptop that only offers 1366x768? Seriously, MSI?
This machines lid and design screams Asus G50/51 series..its funny when you think about it.