ASUS G74SX-A1 vs. MSI GT780R

[Storm Shark]

I've been researching some gaming laptops to buy for college as a general purpose PC and of course, for gaming. I've narrowed down my search to two products in particular.

These models are:

ASUS G74SX-A1
http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?p…

And

MSI GT780R
http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?p…


Both of these have 17.3" screen, but one is glossy and one is matte (anti-glare). Personally, I don't know if I prefer one over the other, but people can give me pros/cons of each.

The laptops both utilize nVIDIA GTX 560m cards, which are the newest cards from the manufacturer. However, the ASUS has 3GB of VRAM while the MSI has 1.5GB.

The CPU's are the same (Intel i7-2630QM) but the ASUS has Intel HM55 Express chipset and the MSI has the Intel HM67 Express chipset (both are 2nd gen. Sandy Bridges).

In terms of other features, the MSI features a customizable LED lighting for the keyboard and features a 720p HD webcam. Ergonomically, it sets up the "golden triangle" known to PC gamers by removing the MS key and it also features a touchpad lock key.

The ASUS is ergonomically in the angling of the keyboard and the rubberized coating applied to it. As an additional perk, it comes with a backpack and a gaming mouse, which is something very desirable for a college-bound student like myself.

Please, visit each products' page and review the specs. I would very much appreciate an in-depth comparison of these two products before I purchase. Which ever one will be lasting me for an anticipated 4-5 years, but that includes a lot of traveling between Atlanta, where I will be attending college, and CT.

Any suggestions are welcome, and any recommendations for external/internal upgrades are very much welcomed, as well as recommendations for gaming peripherals (aka mice, controllers, etc.)

Thank you very much for your inputs.


By the way, the ASUS has 14gb of DDR3 RAM while the MSI has 16gb of DDR3 RAM (both dual channel, 1333 Hz)

 

[Storm Shark]

Ok, so I was also looking around GenTech's site a bit more and I found this: http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?pid=1079

From what I've seen for the specs, it looks like a very good system. The only drawback I could foreseeably see was the lack of a preinstalled OS, meaning I have to shell out some money to get one.

However, I would definitely consider this one because it's a bit more portable than my other two previous choices.

Please, I would like to order one of these in the next few coming days/week. I need to get it before I leave for college and I definitely want a high-powered machine to bring down to school. Transportation isn't really a problem since I'll be getting a bag anyways.

 

[fomu]

I'm in the same situation as you are. I can't tell which of both is the best choice. By the way you made a mistake regarding the ASUS ram memory. It only has 12 gigs (not 14).

I've watched the video reviews of that page GENTECH and they seem more optimistic about the MSI GT780R than the ASUS G74Sx-A1. Probably because of the keyboard. The reviewer really seemed to dig it.

Something that seemed pretty strange was that during the 3d performance tests the ASUS got a score of 2017 and the MSI got 2019 which is higher that the ASUS's ( which is supposed so have better graphics as is has 3 gigs instead of 1.5 )

The ASUS has 1.5 terabytes of hdd while the MSI has 1 tera.
The ASUS has 3 gigs of video ram and the MSI has 1.5 (although i don't know how much does that affect the performance)
The ASUS has a Blue ray player while the MSI does not.
The ASUS comes with a backpack and mouse while the MSI does not.
The MSI has 4 gigs more of ram.
The MSI has the commands panel which is pretty cool
The MSI has better speakers and keyboard (from what i understood)
The MSI has a better monitor (thrust me non-glare is waay better)
The MSI is a bit cheaper

 

[jamesd1981]

i would certainly say asus, i don`t rate msi all that highly