MSI TurboBook GX600 Gaming Notebook

 

There’s no denying that the MSI GX600 Turbobook is one fast notebook. Sure it might not have the unadulterated power of SLI found in some gaming notebooks, but with an Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 “Penryn” combined with 3GB RAM and a reasonably powerful 8600M GT 512mb GPU, the GX600 is more than capable of playing the latest games at its native resolution of 1280×800 with medium detail settings and filtering disabled.

 

The ability to overclock the GX600 adds some flexibility and a bit of excitement into owning a notebook, and with MSI’s “Turbo Drive Engine” technology, you can literally overclock the notebook at the touch of a button. Unsurprisingly the overclock is a tad conservative compared with the maximum overclock we managed to obtain while tweaking in the notebooks BIOS, but as the graphs over the previous pages show – even a small 200mhz overclock is more than enough to push out some very respectable desktop-like results.

 

Unfortunately there is a downside to this nippy little laptop, and it’s in the build quality. Both the Acer Aspire notebook used in this review and my own personal Sony Vaio NR10 surpass the quality of the GX600 by miles despite their lower retail price. The plastic used on the GX600 makes it feel flimsy and there is very little protection given to the screen by the casing. This is further compounded by the glossy black finish of the GX600 which can (and did) easily pick up hairline scratches simply by sliding it in and out of a laptop bag.

 

However, all said and done – the GX600 does have a great feature set and when you consider that it comes in at a respectable £850 over at Scan and CCL Computers, it really is good value. In fact, looking around the market it really is hard to find anything that can compete in specifications, and for this reason the GX600 is being awarded both our Recommended and Value For Money awards.

 

 

• Excellent CPU performance with some results comparable to overclocked desktops.

• Ability to overclock the notebook using either the turbo button or via BIOS.

• Great cooling system keeps base of the laptop cool with reasonable levels of silence.

• 8600M GT graphics card capable of playing most games at medium settings.

• Plenty of connectivity including HDMI output, Bluetooth and Firewire.

• Vibrant screen colours and excellent viewing angles.

 

• The included mouse and headphones are intended to add value, but end up just feeling cheap.

• Too much junky software pre-installed. Loosing the bloat will be appreciated by gamers.

• Flexible plastic used in construction makes the laptop feel slightly flimsy.

 

• None

 

 

 

Thanks to MSI for supplying the GX600 for review. Discuss this review in our forums.