Someone hit me with a hammer...

[rickss69]

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. :taunt:

Dammit! Goofing on the 'net I ran across this site... http://www.avadirect.com/

I can get exactly what I have been wanting without all the other bullshit tacked on. Anyone here familiar with this business? Here is what I put in the cart... http://www.avadirect.com/shopping_cart.asp This would make a killer laptop to last many years to come don't you think? If I pull the trigger on it I will put the Toshiba on ebay...no sense in keeping it around with that beast in hand.

[Witchdoctor]

I never heard of them, link goes to a common page not a specific product.

May want to check out these guys for a high power laptop

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=category_browse&selected_cat=11

[rickss69]

The specific product is in the second link WD. ;)

The Sager and others have less options and come in at least $200 higher in similar configuration.

[DOM]

2nd link is giving me empty cart ...

[rickss69]

It didnt hold it for some reason. Here it is... http://www.avadirect.com/gaming-laptop-configurator.asp?PRID=24428

Same price with 750GB 7200 hdd, 16GB memory and no OS installed.

[Witchdoctor]

me too

Never hurts to call and see if they will cut you a deal .......... :thumbsup:

got $ 150.00 off a Lenovo after I explained to them in detail that I could be talking to Dell

[rickss69]

If it pans out I would take the Samsung ssd coming and install it in the MSI.

[Witchdoctor]

Still nothing on the link bro ?

What is it the Dragon? notebook ?

[DOM]

Link worked for me but can click on wut I want in it from my cell :P

[Witchdoctor]

Looks nice Rick, did you go with the 670 or the 675 ? couldn't tell. I am not sure where MSI stands as far as quality and reliability go, it is a good price for what you are getting though.

As you stated a few hundred below the rest of the pack, personally I think some research into how they are saving the money would be wise

[Splave]

get it and be happy :P

[rickss69]

Looks nice Rick, did you go with the 670 or the 675 ? couldn't tell. I am not sure where MSI stands as far as quality and reliability go, it is a good price for what you are getting though.

As you stated a few hundred below the rest of the pack, personally I think some research into how they are saving the money would be wise

I know a good chunk of the savings is coming from the ability to opt for no OS installed...hardly any of the other outfits offer that option. I'll do some more checking including talking with them soon. :)

[Witchdoctor]

yea that is a sweet option for sure .....

[rickss69]

Oh yeah, in the original configuration I selected the 670 graphics...an upgrade over the 470M in the Toshiba atm for sure. This one will not be a gamer and I selected the 3610 cpu over the 3630 to save a bit...didnt see an extra $115 worth in the other cpu for my purposes.

[Witchdoctor]

why not go with HD4000 and save a ton if it is not for gaming ???

[rickss69]

why not go with HD4000 and save a ton if it is not for gaming ???

I think it will make a difference overall and will add to the value if/when I should decide to upgrade again and sell it.

[Witchdoctor]

Sort of like putting a 327 in a Vega..................... :blink:

HD4000 would offer at least pretend to have some kind of a battery life as well ........... :laughing:

[rickss69]

Sort of like putting a 327 in a Vega..................... :blink:

HD4000 would offer at least pretend to have some kind of a battery life as well ........... :laughing:

WD - This is a replacement for the Toshiba and will serve the same duties as before. It is a desktop replacement laptop which stays plugged in and is never moved around or transported. The Qosmio has a 18.3" screen and is not something one throws in a backpack and heads to class with lol. If battery life were high on the list I would just use the Acer netbook I have already. You consider the MSI platform a Vega??? http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html

And just what do you find odd about a 327 in a Vega? :taunt:

[Witchdoctor]

:rofl

No the MSI platform I am sure is as good as any other, just when you mentioned resale value my buddies Vega came to mind for one reson or another, but meant the resale value reguardless of the motor AKA GPU is shit on laptops and Vegas alike ............... :blink:


And when you said you were not gaming on it the only thing that even makes sense would be if you do 3D modeling or plan to fold on it


I am not altogether sure that this makes any sense, just trying to hit you with a hammer as asked ....... :hammered2:

[Mr.Scott]

Sort of like putting a 327 in a Vega..................... :blink:



Totally off topic but you reminded me that I 327'ed a Chevette in my wayward youth days. Thanks for the flashback. :blink:

[Witchdoctor]

:laughing:

[rickss69]

After much bouncing around and research I still could not pin down exactly what I would be giving up on a custom laptop vs a branded version so I went with the branded... http://www.walmart.com/ip/MSI-Black-17.3-GT70-0NC-494US-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i7-3630QM-Processor-and-Windows-8/21978028

Of all places, WalMart had the best deal with $100 off...evidently I got the last one lol! I will make recovery discs of Win 8, throw in my own ssd, install Win 7 and be good to go. ;)

[Witchdoctor]

Nice, I have never been in a Wallmart, didn't know they had stuff like this :thumbsup:

They just built a brand new one down in the city, I will have to check it out

[rickss69]

They did not have it available in-store...online only. There were stores further away that did tho.

[Witchdoctor]

Do they have a lot of PC stuff ?

[rickss69]

Do they have a lot of PC stuff ?

Like you, I seldom go there, but it looks as tho they have a pretty decent electronics dept.

[Witchdoctor]

Cool,

Good luck with the new lappy, looks like a hot rod for sure ............ :thumbsup:

[punx223]

I bought a P170EM from them...

fucking amazing quality dude...

cool as hell people I met from there as well.

[rickss69]

I bought a P170EM from them...

fucking amazing quality dude...

cool as hell people I met from there as well.

WalMart???

[Witchdoctor]

Bench it before you load it up FTW ............. :thumbsup:

[rickss69]

Bench it before you load it up FTW ............. :thumbsup:

You know I will, hehe. :blush:

[rickss69]

Just thinking out loud here...Is there any way I could leave the hdd in the incoming MSI intact with Win 8 and add the ssd with Win 7 for a dual boot scenario? Maybe use the hdd for storage as well?

[Witchdoctor]

Will it accomidate 2x drives ? if so I could not see why it would not work, does MSI give you any controll in the BIOS or is it locked down pretty tight ?

You always could use diskpart and split the drive as well having the 2 OS's on one drive for SSD lovin in Both OS's and partition the second drive in two so each OS has it's respective storage

Never partitioned an SSD though so I am not sure if it works the same as a magnetic or will even work at all, but I can not think of any reason it would not work

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012070/how-to-dual-boot-windows-8-and-windows-7.html

[rickss69]

I've never seen a MSI bios, but I'm betting there are a lot more options than available in this Toshiba. I had not thought of your second option...laptop will be here next week and I will give it a try.

[Witchdoctor]

http://dipanmpatel.wordpress.com/tag/diskpart/

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/dual-boot-windows-7-and-windows-8-using-a-vhd/6537?tag=mantle_skin;content

[rickss69]

Thinking about it some more, my original way would not be a true dual boot, but I could select ssd or hdd in bios boot order, correct? From your previous link it sounds like some experienced some errors doing it the traditional fashion. Oh yeah, it does have dual drive bays just as the Toshiba...I would move the hdd to the secondary bay and add the ssd to the primary.

[Witchdoctor]

if you put the OS on two seperate drive you will have to prompt the boot menu to select where you are booting from instead of it automatically coming up as it would using the discpart method and having them on a singel drive, I used to dual boot 7 and XP in all my build and diskpart had a 100% success rate for me and was all that and a big bag of chips, but it does look like 7 & 8 may have some querks, I would read up on it as having them both on an SSD would be way cool if you can partition SSD's with out permenant damage

[rickss69]

Yeah, I have never done it before in the fashion I'm considering, but I believe it would be the easiest and safest method. The 256GB Samsung with Win 7 will most likely be all I ever use. The 7200 hdd would be there unmolested and I might be able to use it for storage. It's a little strange and un-nerving opening up these laptops lol :ohcrap:

[rickss69]

Woop! Alas, no time to mess with it as I must leave for work shortly.


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70001.jpg

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70002.jpg

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70003.jpg

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70004.jpg

[Witchdoctor]

Hello !!!

Teh MSI power book in DA House .......... :thumbsup:

[Splave]

wow beastin

[Kal-EL]

Woop! Alas, no time to mess with it as I must leave for work shortly.


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70001.jpg

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70002.jpg

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70003.jpg

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI%20GT70%20ONC-494US/MSIGT70004.jpg
Holy crap! NOICE :)

[kikicoco1334]

wow! looking great there!

[DOM]

Nice

[rickss69]

So far the worst product I have ever purchased...


Out of the box performance with Win 8 is worse than my netbook. Can't even run benchmarks properly with out glitches...if they open at all. This laptop is so slow it is almost unbearable.

The ssd install was another trip to hades...almost liked to have never got the bios to recognize it. The bios...what a joke. Two different Win 7 installs and still half the components don't work...hoop after hoop searches for drivers. Utility/driver disc is useless for Win 7. No compatible drivers available for Win 7...Win 8 video driver not recognized by Futuremark.

I'm just about to the point of boxing this pos up and putting it on ebay. Utter failure for a laptop.

[Kal-EL]

Damn, let down. So...is it running latest bios and having this troubles?

[rickss69]

At this point I would not even trust MSI with a bios update. Think I will just cut my losses and move on. :thumbdown:

[Witchdoctor]

Sending it back ? Did you contact MSI ?

Seems like it has the hardware to rock and roll if you can get them on point ....

I would at least try to talk to them nice of course until it is time to not talk to them nice

Best of luck bro, that really blows

[DOM]

Take 3 deep breaths and count to 10 ...... Jk :laughing:

[rickss69]

Tbh, I blame most of the problems on the pos OS installed, and the lack of MSI/vendor support. Seeing as how all I really wanted was a Win 7 OS I can see no reason for me to keep it. I can't very well ask MSI to take it back because it won't play nice with 7...don't think they would care what I think about 8.

[Witchdoctor]

I would send it back to Wallmart .............

No way would I eat that if at all possible ....

[DOM]

Can't you just return it in store ? You should be able to

Windows update doesn't give you the drivers ?

[rickss69]

Purchased online, not a stocked item in store...not sure what the return policy is atm.

Btw, the "Turbo" overclock function has never worked regardless of OS, Speedstep enabled or disabled. I agree that with the hardware in this laptop it should be a performer, but it is hamstrung by the buggy OS, inability to refresh drivers and poor software support.

If I consider another laptop in the future it will likely not be a stock model. I would like to see some bios screens of a Clevo model and personally talk to someone from a vendor such as Xotic PC before buying anything else. They offer all OS combinations including a "no OS" option, so they clearly have their units sorted out when it comes to driver compatibility.

EDIT: Just went online to find the return policy and found it conflicting. All info points to no problem by mail, but when I tried to submit a request it kept coming up "item not eligible for return" lol. I seriously doubt that...sent them an email for advice and awaiting reply. ;)

[rickss69]

Finally managed to get 3DMarkVantage to run in Win 8 without glitching. Still no Turbo cpu and MSI video card overclocking utility refuses to open. I have removed all data and this one is going back in the box...leaving my home one way or another. :blush:

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSI-670MXdefault.jpg

[Witchdoctor]

Good luck man ........ :thumbsup:

Hope it works out, too much cash to throw away for sure

[Splave]

damn shitty score too lame

[DOM]

damn shitty score too lame
from the 5 on vantage on the bot his 4th :laughing:

[Witchdoctor]

His was at stock clocks though, probably has more in the tank :thumbsup:

I typically start the bench and trow the lappy in the freezer while it runs ........... :laughing:

[rickss69]

Good news - Walmart.com replied to my email and said the reason for the return submission error was because the laptop is flagged as hazardous for shipping by mail (battery). Stated I could take it to a store and be processed there...only a fifteen day window so I'm hustling it to the store this morning. :thumbsup:

[DOM]

Rape it before taking it back LOL

I know most of the time the turbo only works at the highest clock at one thread apps

Have you tried running super pi ?

[rickss69]

Badabing, Badaboom!

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSIGT70001.jpg

Walmart and Paypal FTW - No questions asked and zero hassle...for some reason they could not credit back to Paypal so I had to accept $100 bills. Ratspit...:taunt: Even got tax back, maybe out $12 when all is said and done. ;)

[Kal-EL]

Badabing, Badaboom!

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/rickss69/MSIGT70001.jpg

Walmart and Paypal FTW - No questions asked and zero hassle...for some reason they could not credit back to Paypal so I had to accept $100 bills. Ratspit...:taunt: Even got tax back, maybe out $12 when all is said and done. ;)

Hmmm, once upon a time half of that would have been donated to http://clubfemmenu.com/ :laughing:

[Neuromancer]

LOL. Shame about the laptop.

If you ever do get turbo working let me know how to enable it on a laptop :)

Never seen a laptop that went up to advertised speed.

[rickss69]

MSI has a "Turbo" button above the keyboard that when activated is supposed to clock it up to something like 3.3GHz. All it did for me is light up the little red led when I pushed it lol. There is nothing usable in the bios. I will most likely put laptops out of my mind now since I have the Toshiba humming along nicely with the ssd.