Actually, there’s no mention of price in MSI’s press release, but considering that the specifications put it far behind the manufacturer’s “real” gaming laptops, the GT683R and the GT780R, this one will most likely come with a modest price tag (as far as gaming laptops go).
The 15.6-inch GE620DX nevertheless looks like a decent machine with above-average hardware: a quad-core Core i7 2630QM, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and last but not least a GeForce GT 555M from Nvidia with 2GB of video RAM. This appears to be a different version than the one in the Alienware M14x (there are at least two)–possibly the one with faster GDDR5 memory but a smaller memory bus. The press release doesn’t go into such details, unfortunately.
Other highlights in the GE620DX includes “THX TruStudio Pro wrap around sound”, whatever that is, USB 3.0 ports and MSI’s Cinema Pro technology, which involves a hotkey that lets you switch to movie mode by pressing the designated button. Unfortunately it only comes with a 1366×768 panel, which is a relatively low resolution for a 15-inch laptop. On the plus side it’s a lightweight gaming laptop–just 2.4kg / 5.3 pounds–or about the same weight as the comparatively slim MacBook Pro 15. Whether the overall design is on par with the 15-inch MacBook is debatable, but brushed metal finish is always a plus.
MSI also pushes for a feature called ‘GPU Boost’; this feature automatically switches between integrated and the dedicated graphics to provide high-end performance on demand. This sounds an awful lot like Nvidia’s Optimus feature that should be included in this laptop anyway. There is no mention of MSI’s proprietary feature TDE (Turbo Drive Engine), which overclocks the laptop CPU and GPU by up to 30%. It’s possible that this one is reserved for the company’s aforementioned premium gaming laptops. It could also be missing due to the laptop’s thin design and limited cooling capabilities.
Specifications:
If it comes in at a reasonable price point, the GE620DX will surely be a budget alternative worth considering. The GT 555M in combination with the low-resolution display should make any recent game playable at native resolution with relatively high detail settings.
