MSI GT640 Series
Processor: Intel Core i7 720QMGraphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M
Display: 15.4 inch
Weight: 2.7kg, 2.72kg, 2.8kg
Price: 1400, 1500 euro
Average of 8 scores (from 14 reviews)
mobility: 52%, workmanship: 77%, ergonomy: 68%, emissions: 53%
MSI GT640
Specifications
Notebook: MSI GT640Processor: Intel Core i7 720QM
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M 1024 MB
Display: 15.4 inch, 16:10, 1680x1050 pixels
Weight: 2.72kg
Price: 1400 euro
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Average Score:
Average of 4 scores (from 10 reviews)
New Horizons. MSI provides for a wind of change with its 15.4 inch GT640 and integrates Intel's Core i7 and Nvidia's GeForce GTS 250M into their own gaming range. If the components are able to take a lead on the forerunners, like the GX623, the GT628 or the GT725, in terms of performance will be clarified in our comprehensive review.
Source: IT Reviews
Despite its reasonably compact size (360 x 260 x 36mm), MSI's GT640-30UK packs quite a punch. While the GT640 may not be the fastest notebook around when it comes to gaming performance, it does cost a lot less than some of its competitors that are better equipped for gaming and it does make a very good desktop replacement machine, especially if you want overall performance rather than a killer gaming system.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 04/01/2010
Source: CNet
MSI isn't a company that shies away from high-end, gaming-orientated computing devices.
MSI claims the GT640 is the fastest quad-core laptop in the world. This isn't true, but it's certainly fast enough to satisfy even the most demanding user. If you can tolerate its questionable looks and build quality, it could prove a worthwhile desktop-replacement or gaming PC
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 02/02/2010
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: c't - 4/10
Comparison, , Very Long, Date: 02/01/2010
Rating: performance: 85% features: 70% display: 55% mobility: 40% ergonomy: 70% emissions: 30%
Source: PC Games Hardware - 2/10
Comparison, , Length Unknown, Date: 01/01/2010
Rating: Total score: 89% price: 70%
Source: Netzwelt
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 12/15/2009
Rating: performance: 80% features: 80%
Source: TV Movie Multimedia - 26/09
Comparison, , Length Unknown, Date: 12/01/2009
Rating: Total score: 89% price: 75%
Source: Notebookcheck
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/25/2009
Rating: Total score: 81% performance: 89% display: 74% mobility: 70% workmanship: 85% ergonomy: 75% emissions: 75%
Source: HardwareLuxx
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 11/22/2009
Rating: performance: 80% display: 50% mobility: 40% workmanship: 80%
Source: Pc Tuner
IT→ENSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 01/08/2010
Rating: price: 50% performance: 90%
Source: Notebook.cz
CZ→ENSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 01/26/2010
Rating: performance: 80% mobility: 40%
MSI GT640-i7247W7P
Specifications
Notebook: MSI GT640-i7247W7PProcessor: Intel Core i7 720QM
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M
Display: 15.4 inch, 16:10, 1680x1050 pixels
Weight: 2.8kg
Price: 1400 euro
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Average Score:
Average of 2 scores (from 3 reviews)
Source: PC Action - 4/10
Comparison, , Length Unknown, Date: 03/01/2010
Rating: Total score: 89% price: 70% performance: 88% features: 88%
Source: Notebookjournal
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/18/2009
Rating: Total score: 90% price: 70% performance: 80% features: 70% display: 60% mobility: 50% workmanship: 60% ergonomy: 50%
Source: ZDNet
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/17/2009
Rating: performance: 80% display: 50% emissions: 40%
MSI GT640-030UK
Specifications
Notebook: MSI GT640-030UKProcessor: Intel Core i7 720QM
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M
Display: 15.4 inch, 16:10, 1680x1050 pixels
Weight: 2.7kg
Price: 1500 euro
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Average Score:
Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Source: Techradar
A powerful laptop, but the 32-bit version of Windows 7 doesn't do it justice. MSI is a Taiwanese company best known for manufacturing components, laptops and netbooks. The GT640-030UK is from its latest line of gaming systems and is a smart-looking machine, but there's better performance to be found at a similar price. Ultimately, the GT640-030UK left us with contrasting opinions. It looks great, is surprisingly portable and has, potentially, a lot of power – but that's where the problem lies.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/20/2010
Rating: Total score: 60%
Comment
MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI), is a Taiwan based computer hardware manufacturer since 1986 best known for desktop computer motherboards. MSI also designs and manufactures graphics cards, barebone PCs, notebook computers, networking products, servers, multimedia, consumer electronics, and storage devices. MSI, as most Taiwanese computer manufacturers, sells products on OEM/ODM basis. It also sells products worldwide based on its own brand name "MSI". The market share of laptops with the MSI brand is rather low.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M: The GPU has 96 shader cores but only a 128 bit memory bus that supports GDDR5 memory. With DDR3 memory, the GTS 250M performs clearly worse. Because of the 40nm process (and a selection process) the 250M offers a relatively low power consumption (the 260M needs 10W more).
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
720QM: The Core i7-720QM is the slowes Core i7 Quad Core in 2009 and clocks between 1.6 and 2.8 GHz (due to the Turbo Mode). Therefore, it combines the advantages of a slow quad core CPU with a fast single core one. Compared to the faster Core i7 mobile CPUs, the 720QM only features 6MB L3 Cache.
15.4: 15 inch display-variants are the standard and are used for more than the half of all notebooks. 15.4 inch display with 16:10 are the standard for notebook displays. Nowadays, more and more 16:9 displays with 15.6 inch appear. The reason why so many people like displays with medium size is, that this size is not exhausting for the eyes, does not need too much energy and the laptops can be kept quite compact.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
2.7 kg:
This notebook is lighter than the average of all notebooks. It is too heavy for sub-notebooks. 14 inch displays are normal for this class of weight.
2.8 kg:
This weight is average for notebooks. Therefore the numerous mass of laptops with 15 inch display fits in this class of weight.
80.63%: This rating should be considered to be average. This is because the proportion of notebooks which have a higher rating is approximately equal to the proportion which have a lower rating.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
