MSI's GT780DX Gaming Notebook Arrives in Time for Xmas

On Wednesday MSI unveiled its latest generation GT780DX gaming notebook, packed with Intel's second-generation Core i7 quad-core CPU, and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570M discrete graphics with 3 GB of GDDR5 display memory. It also features a cool SteelSeries backlit keyboard, mimicking the "controls of a starship" with a metal brush finish, five LED backlighting modes, and a matte black aluminum-magnesium alloy chassis surrounding the keys.

"Responding to cries from gamers, MSI got together with gaming equipment manufacturer SteelSeries to create a keyboard for the GT780DX," the company said on Wednesday. "Not only is the keyboard more rugged, the Windows function key has been repositioned to the right side to reduce the possibility of accidentally striking it when you’re surrounded by bad guys. Larger Ctrl and Alt keys: Most keyboards employ relatively small Ctrl and Alt keys, making it easy to punch a nearby key by accident when you’re playing FPS games. The GT780DX’ Ctrl and Alt keys were enlarged to reduce that possibility."

According to the specs, the laptop offers up to 32 GB of DDR3 memory spread across four slots. It also comes with RAID 0 accelerated dual hard disk architecture which doubles hard disk storage capacity, while increasing read-write speed by some 70-percent. It also uses MSI's own Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) and Cooler Boost technologies for cranking up the performance while cutting down the overall generated heat with just the touch of a button.

The laptop display itself measures 17.3-inches and sports a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. In the storage department, customers have several choices including a 750 GB SATA 7200rpm + Intel 120 GB SSD combo, a 500 GB SATA 7200rpm + Intel 120 GB SSD combo, and three other configurations containing two drives each. Interfaces include 2 USB 3.0 ports, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 eSATA port, an SD card reader, HDMI output and VGA output. Connectivity includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0+HS and Gigabit LAN. An HD webcam and high-end Dynaudio/THX TruStudio Pro smart wrap around sound complete this likely expensive notebook.

"World-class leaders in sound technology from the Danish firm Dynaudio carried out countless precision calculations and studies to measure the best location and distance between user and laptop speakers to determine the ideal location for speakers on the GT780DX," MSI reports. "The result: ideal line of transmission for sound waves for pure, crisp, faithful stereo reproduction to give you the perfect, obstruction-free multimedia experience. THX TruStudio Pro smart wrap around sound offers performance heretofore available only in cinemas and works in tandem with the cutting-edge speakers, so that the GT780DX reproduces each and every sound faithfully, regardless of music or sound type."

So far pricing and availability is unknown, so stay tuned.