Reviews - MSI GT725 notebook: gaming power to go?

[HEXUS]

Featuring ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 4850, we take a look at MSI's latest desktop-replacing notebook.

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[superscaper]

As said in the article the aesthetics are purely personal taste. I quite like them (in fact I have this laptop on order at the moment). Personally I quite like the black and red. Some may consider pure black to be smarter etc but IMHO that's the laptop equivalent of a beige box.

[Avatar76]

I think this review misses the point a little...

1) Aesthetics - It's a gaming machine. Bold styling is the norm here. I'm planning on spending more time looking at the display playing games rather than stressing over the styling. Sure I'd prefer something more discreet, but this not a deal-breaker by far.

2) Screen Res - Again, it's a gaming machine. I'm glad the display is "only" 1680x1050... means higher FPS with more eye candy at native res. I'd much prefer my games looking gorgeous over a small loss of res when watching a blu-ray film (which is likely never).

3) Weight - Please show me an equally powerful notebook that isn't heavy! On the flip side, it's awfully sturdy and the cooling solution used keeps the fan fairly quiet, even when gaming.

4) The keyboard - I'll admit, I'm still getting used to it. However the separate keypad will be much appreciated for all those key bindings. A justified compromise in my book.

5) The touch sensor - Sure it's not as responsive as I'd like, but it works. That turbo switch gets me to 3Ghz and I'll put up with the 1 sec delay to get it!

All in all, for the intended demographic the MSI GT725 ticks all the right boxes. It's a bargain, I'm glad I bought it.

[staffsMike]

Without having used it I would agree with most of those points.

Screen res should be lower, 1080p on a 17" screen is really not necessary imo.. as long as it has HDMI to get to a TV (which it seems to) then that is all you need.

[this_is_gav]

1) Aesthetics - It's a gaming machine. Bold styling is the norm here. I'm planning on spending more time looking at the display playing games rather than stressing over the styling. Sure I'd prefer something more discreet, but this not a deal-breaker by far.

People do use gaming laptops for things other than gaming you know.

Just because it's got a decent GPU in it, it doesn't mean all the other boxes need to be unticked. My desktop has decent GPU in it, but I plenty of other things on it before gaming.

This is the reason I got an XPS M1530 - it did 'tick all the boxes' (though of course the age of the GPU in that means it's not exactly stunning at the gaming side now) (though it could use HDMI and eSATA when it gets updated now).

2) Screen Res - Again, it's a gaming machine. I'm glad the display is "only" 1680x1050... means higher FPS with more eye candy at native res. I'd much prefer my games looking gorgeous over a small loss of res when watching a blu-ray film (which is likely never).

Hmm, if it's a half-decent display, it'll be able to game at anything below the native res without really affecting the visuals. My monitor would game at 1680x1050 perfectly fine. Even if it's not a decent display, you could just centre the picture instead of stretching it for the few games that won't cope at 1920x1200.

Not saying 1920x1200 is necessary, but gaming FPS isn't a valid reason for overlooking it in my opinion.



For the record, I think mock carbon fibre is almost as tacky as this red/black theme is garish, so I wouldn't go for that either Parm.

[Jay]

I was looking at getting a gaming laptop..... I really can't decide if this is the one or not!

is it Windows Vista Home Premium x64? It says x32 in the specs but with 4GB of ram what is the point in that?

[superscaper]

Having had time to play with mine now, I have to agree with most of everything Avatar76 said. I have a feeling the review was looking for things to dislike stemming from taking a first impression dislike to the aesthetics.

The 1680x1050 resolution is plenty good enough for a 17" screen (I mean that's the same resolution as my desktop's 21" screen).

I've no idea what the reviewers were doing to their touch keys as I've found even the lightest touch activates/deactivates them.

I've not found it overly cumbersome or heavy taking into consideration this is essentially a desktop killer. I don't regret getting this laptop at all.

Sure some of the specs could be higher but then I've yet to see another laptop with equivalent specs cheaper. As for other than gaming, by day I'm a software developer and intend to use this laptop for that kind of thing as well as "just games".

The only real downside for me is the use of 32 bit rather than 64 bit although it's not that much of a "problem", it would have been nice to have a choice or have a cheap upgrade path available.

The BD drive can be a bit noisy but then I've not really heard many drives that are quieter.

The keyboard does take a bit of getting used to.

All in all for the price I don't think I could have gotten a better laptop (and personally I absolutely love the aesthetics).

[Jay]

can it actually use all 4GB of ram?

[superscaper]

can it actually use all 4GB of ram?

No, it uses 3 as far as I can tell which is why the use of 32 bit is a bit disappointing. But not disastrous. I'll certainly be looking at upgrading to 64 bit at some point in the future.

[Avatar76]

It is a shame that it's bundled with Vista 32 bit, but I'm intending to upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit whenever possible. I can see why MSI chose to go with a 32 bit OS (compatibility) and the loss of 1GB of usable RAM is not a major issue for me at the moment (more like a bonus when I do go 64 bit).

Prior to buying this notebook I was looking at a custom-built notebook from overclockers (clevo-based 15") but would have had to pay £1600 for a similar spec as the GT725. At the same weight as the clevo 15", the MSI no longer seems that heavy does it?

In regards to Gav's points, sure the GT725 makes some compromises but there's the GT727 for the full HD experience (plus DDR3 RAM). The GT725 is not for everybody, but then you'd not catch me dead with a MacBook Pro. I prefer function over form and the GT725 functions extremely well for the money. And I'm sure I'll find it useful for things other than gaming... for instance Windows Media Centre + Blu-ray + HDMI + built-in IR makes for a lovely media PC!

Superscaper: if you need any help installing the latest catalyst drivers (9.2) let me know!

[Blakers]

Avatar76
Have you found a way to get a 4850 running on 9.2 drivers?
If you have, you might just be some sort of god... could you let me know how you did it?
Ive got an advent 6555, (basically the same laptop only with a q9000) and can't find MR 4*** drivers anywhere!
.... bloody ati
Cheers

[ScubaSteveO]

Im thinking about getting the GT725, but I agree I am disappointed by the 32bit OS. Stupid question, would upgrading to the 64bit OS disable the turbo feature?

[Avatar76]

Avatar76
Have you found a way to get a 4850 running on 9.2 drivers?
If you have, you might just be some sort of god... could you let me know how you did it?
Ive got an advent 6555, (basically the same laptop only with a q9000) and can't find MR 4*** drivers anywhere!
.... bloody ati
Cheers

I sure did! Took me more hours than i care to admit but I got there in the end.

There's four parts to it: 1) extract the 9.2 drivers, 2) edit the 9.2 driver INF file to recognise the Mobility 4850, 3) disable the oem files that prevent the driver update, and 4) perform the driver update via device manager (the catalyst setup may work but i didn't try)

Part 2 was the trickiest, as there were many edits to make to the driver INF (found at C:\ATI\SUPPORT\9-2_vista32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_75976\Driver\Packages\Drivers\Display\LH_INF\CL_75976.inf). However you're welcome to grab a copy of mine from hxxp://rapidshare.com/files/204978231/CL_75976.rar.

Part 3 was easy. In my c:\windows\inf there was a oem6.inf file that detailed the MSI branded catalyst driver, along with a oem6.pnf file... I simply moved them out of the inf folder. Hopefully they are the same on your Advent.

Part 4 was all clear sailing!

Good luck

[Avatar76]

Im thinking about getting the GT725, but I agree I am disappointed by the 32bit OS. Stupid question, would upgrading to the 64bit OS disable the turbo feature?

I don't believe so. People have been able to get the turbo function working on other MSI notebooks running vista 64bit, you just have to update the CIR driver and reinstall SCM (you can find this on MSI's website). Have yet to confirm this for the GT725 but the turbo function is pretty much identical across all MSI notebooks (even my little 10" Wind).

[Blakers]

Avatar 76

Thanks for the update guide.... having a few problems getting it working at the moment though... wonder if you could help:

I followed your guide and used your modded inf. from rapidshare, removed the oem files from windows/inf.... (mine were oem22.inf/pnf). then extracted the 9.2 drivers and replaced the inf with your modded one. then I uninstalled current drivers (8.56) and cleaned with driversweeper. then i restarted my laptop...

here are where the problems begin

.. i tried to install through device manager, but vista comes up with a message:
"The best driver software for your device is already installed, Windows has determined that the driver software for your device is up to date"

which sucks, as it seems to have installed some windows signed basic driver.. (which if i uninstall that, it cant see the hardware, so i assume thats just windows' way of recognising the card).

when you updated yours, you mentioned you installed through device manager.. did you do anything different to me?

p.s. i tried using the catalyst installer with no joy.... also, i have the driver update seting on 'never' so not sure why windows is still interfering.

cheers in advance for any help or ideas

Blakers

[Avatar76]

I did go about it a little differently... I simply updated the original driver via device manager and did not start from a clean slate.

In the course of getting the 9.2 cats installed I did uninstall the cats altogether and was left with the default vga drivers, similiar to where you found yourself. From there I reinstalled the oem display drivers (from MSI in my case) and then had my little breakthrough. So I can only recommend that you try updating ontop of the original drivers. For what it's worth, my machine has been trouble-free since the update so the use of driversweeper my be unwarranted in this case.

That message you're getting ("The best driver software for your device is already installed...") was the same message I ws getting with my modded inf before I thought of removing the oem.inf/pnf, so perhaps there's another oem inf/pnf pair that is forcing the standard vga drivers to stay put?