The graphics card choice for the Maingear ex-L 17 3D is a GeForce GTX 485m with 2GB of RAM on it and the amount of RAM varies from 4GB to 16GB. As for the hard drive options, the basic version gets a 500GB model, but you can upgrade either with regular hard drives, hybrid hard drives or an SSD of up to 480GB from OCZ (though this one will set you back $2,000). The laptop has two hard drive bays, so you can combine an SSD with a regular hard drive.

It also has a DVD Burner, with an option for a Blu-ray reader, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, DVI-I, HDMI, eSATA port, Firewire and a card reader 7 in 1. The battery which comes with it has 8 cells. The price of the basic option is $2,659 and you can configure it further from Maingear’s site.

You also have the option to put up to 32GB of RAM on it, but the price tag will go up by $2,000 if you want all this RAM installed on it.

If you have at least $1,999 for the base model, or if you just want to have some fun, head over to its page to configure a version that you like.

The MSI GT680 is a gaming laptop that, as most MSI laptops do, offers quite a bit of value for money, but the design and build quality could use a little more work. Still, the MSI GT680 gaming laptop is a step up from in terms of design, when you compare it with previous models from this company.

According to MSI, the GT680 is the fastest notebook ever, and the specs which run on it might just prove them right. This extreme gaming laptop comes with an Intel Core i7 quad core processor with speeds of up to 2.9GHz, 8GB of RAM, two 7200 RPM hard drives set up in RAID and a GTX 460M graphics card from NVIDIA. The resolution is either at 1366×768 or Full HD 1920×1080, depending on the model. The price is $2500, but the title of world’s fastest notebook might just make it a good deal.

Continue reading for the full review of the MSI GT680 gaming laptop.

Design & Build Quality

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The design of the MSI GT680 is certainly an improvement over other gaming laptops from this manufacturer, but it does have its drawbacks, since it uses black plastic instead of the brushed metal used before. This means that dust and fingerprints are more of a problem. The inside of the laptop is glossy with the outer edge being matt and the palm rest uses glossy plastic as well.

All in all, it’s not a bad looking laptop and the color scheme used on it looks quite good. It has angular lines and a combo of black, red and silver that I find attractive.

The screen is a 15.6 inch display with a Full HD resolution (1920×1080). The colors are vibrant and the contrast is good. The viewing angle is excellent horizontally, but it remains weak when viewed at different angles vertically, so you just need to be careful at what angle you view the display. Overall, it’s certainly better than most other laptop screens out there.

Specs & Performance

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The most interesting part about the MSI GT680 are its specs and performance. The laptop comes with the 32nm Sandy Bridge platform from Intel which comes with a huge processing power without increasing your power consumption, a huge bonus for a laptop. The processor installed on it is the Core i7 2630QM which runs at 2.0GHz usually but it can go up to 2.9GHz when you’re using all eight cores in turbo mode.

Tests where MSI GT680 was placed against an Asus G73Jh showed that the processing power of the MSI gaming laptop was considerably higher, with up to 30% higher scores in tests.

The MSI GT680 comes standard with 8GB of DDR3 RAM, though you can upgrade it to 16GB, since there are four memory slots on the laptop. Still, the combination of the quick CPU and 8GB of RAM should prove sufficient to anyone, so most likely upgrading this beast of a machine isn’t needed right now.

The hard drive arrangement of this model allows for two hard drive to be installed, and the standard is two models of 7200 RPM and 500GB each, installed in RAID 0. The GT680 can be even faster when it uses a combination of two SSDs in RAID, but these are not part of the retail version. You can also go for a combination of an SSD of 120GB and a 500GB HDD, as well as a Blu-ray drive, if you’re willing to pay a couple of hundred extra dollars for it.

The life of the battery is truly impressive, as it comes with 9 cells and 7800mAh. When you combine that with the Sandy Bridge efficiency, you get over 3 and a half hours of battery life in light tests, something that few gaming laptops can achieve. The fact that it’s done by a model with these kinds of specs is even more impressive. If you’re watching a DVD, expect around two and a half hours of playback time out of the battery, plenty for any movie.

As for the graphics, they manage to support the performances brought by the other components and they do a nice job in gaming tests. Even though the 1.5GB GeForce GTX460M isn’t the most powerful graphics card out there (there are about three others better from NVIDIA right now), it’s still one of the better ones and it shows.

Playing Stalker in 1080p and Ultra detail should work at about 43 frames per second, while Crysis does about 35 fps in 1280×720 resolution.

Connectivity & Usability Options

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

This is a next generation laptop, so the connectivity options are all there. You can use the HDMI 1.4 connection but the VGA one as well. One of the features that are a bit unusual for laptop is the existence of four different audio jacks, allowing for 7.1 surround sound even if you’re using a cheaper speaker system.

As far as data goes, you have access to USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, a card reader and eSATA II. Your networking needs will be met by the Wi-Fi N, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth.

The webcam installed on it is capable of filming at 720p quality and at 30 frames per second.

Unfortunately, the basic version doesn’t come with a Blu-ray player, but you can get a more expensive model which comes with it plus an SSD drive, or you can simply add an external and slim Blu-ray drive which isn’t that expensive.

The keys on the keyboard are spaced well and while not excellent, typing is not a problem and it’s got an OK feeling (not great, but OK). Even though it doesn’t come with multitouch, the touchpad is decent and large enough.

Verdict

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The MSI GT680 offers you some of the best features and specs for the money you’re paying for it, but it lacks a bit in the build quality and style. There are certainly better looking gaming laptops out there, but few of them offer this kind of power for the same amount of money. At $2500 this laptop isn’t cheap, but then again, which good gaming laptop is? Well worth the money, especially when on top of its performances you also add very good speakers, great battery life and a screen that is above average as far as laptops are concerned. Highly recommended!

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