MSI’s New Standard Bearer?
Value is defined by being the best at a given price, and MSI is constantly pushing its value message into motherboard, graphics card and even complete notebook markets. We all like a good value story, and a value saga is certain to get even more of our attention. You see, today’s GT60 2PC started its life as the previous generation GT60 2OC, and look at how far it’s come.
OK, maybe looking isn’t enough. The skinny on this one is that MSI took its $1400 mid-sized gaming notebook and upgraded the CPU from Intel’s Core i7-4700MQ to the current Core i7-4800MQ, and from Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 770M to its newer GeForce GTX 870M, without increasing the price. Its competitors occasionally make similar moves, so that’s par for the course. What really makes this notebook special is that buyers get MSI’s Dominator upgrade without the extra cost you would have paid previously. And that means that when you finally get the GT60 2PC Dominator home, you can connect three external monitors using Nvidia's Surround technology for a more desktop-like experience.
Other new features are part of the GeForce driver package, including Nvidia's Battery Boost frequency-based FPS limiter, ShadowPlay game video capature, a Twitch streaming port for ShadowPlay, and GameStream mode to allow your notebook’s more powerful hardware to serve an Nvidia Shield handheld console. While most of these features could also improve the previous GeForce GTX 770M, Battery Boost is available only with current hardware.
| MSI "Dominator-424" GT60-2PC-424US Component List | |
|---|---|
| Platform | MS-16F4: Intel FCPGA946, HM87 Express, MXM-3 Discrete Graphics |
| CPU | Core i7-4800MQ (Haswell), 2.7 - 3.7 GHz, 6 MB shared L3 cache, 47 W TDP |
| RAM | Kingston MSI16D3LS1KBG/8G (1 x 8 GB) DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM, CL11 |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M: 941-967 MHz, 3 GB GDDR5-5000 |
| Display | 15.6" FHD 16:9 anti-glare LED backlight LCD, 1920X1080 |
| Webcam | Bison NB Pro 720p webcam |
| Audio | Realtek ALC892 with Creative Sound Blaster Cinema |
| Security | Kensington Security Slot |
| Storage | |
| Hard Drive | HGST Travelstar 7K1000 HTS721010A9E630: 1 TB, SATA 6Gb/s, 32 MB cache |
| Optical Drive | HLDS 8x slim internal DVD Burner model GT90N |
| Media Drive | RTS5227 SD/SDHC/SDXC flash media interface |
| Networking | |
| Wireless LAN | Killer Wireless-N 1202 300 Mb/s (2x2) a/b/g/n Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo |
| Wireless PAN | Integrated Bluetooth 4.0 Transceiver on Wireless Combo Card |
| Gigabit Network | Killer E2200 10/100/1000 Mb/s Ethernet |
| IEEE-1394 | None |
| Telephony | None |
| Peripheral Interfaces | |
| USB | 1 x USB 2.0, 3 x USB 3.0 |
| Expansion Card | Not Available |
| HDD | 1x eSATA / USB 3.0 combo port |
| Audio | Headphone, Microphone, Digital Out, Analog In |
| Video | 2 x Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-I |
| Power & Weight | |
| AC Adapter | 180 W Power Brick, 100-240 V AC to 19.5 V DC |
| Battery | 11.1 V, 7800 mAh (87 Wh) Single |
| Weight | Notebook 6.9 lbs, AC Adapter 1.9 lbs, Total 8.8 pounds |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1, OEM |
| Service | |
| Warranty | Two years labor, Two years parts |
| Price | $1400 |
MSI offers its GT60 2PC Dominator in various flavors for different markets. Called the “Dominator-424” by some of MSI’s resellers, the GT60-2PC-424US we're testing includes a capacious 1 TB hard drive, but no SSD. And it only comes with one 8 GB memory module.
