14 DAY TRIAL // Since new laptops are finally coming out one after another, Micro-Star International decided not to lag behind, so it issued a press release of its own, in which it details the GX680 gaming mobile personal computer.
One thing about this first quarter of 2011 is that it was remarkably barren in terms of new IT product releases.
The PC market was most notably poor in new additions, mostly because the notebook segment was practically shut down.
The reason behind this was how Intel discovered the now infamous design flaw in its 6-Series Cougar Point chipset, the one that affected functionality by causing SATA 3.0 Gbps ports to degrade.
Now that the flow of fixed platforms is restored, companies are again releasing notebooks, like the Acer Aspire 5750 and 7750.
Coming to leave a mark on the gaming segment, Micro-Star International formally presented (again) the GX680.
It is based on an Intel Core i7 2530QM quad-core central processing unit, while up to 16 GB of RAM can back that chip up, for optimum performance.
Meanwhile, the graphics prowess is provided by an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M, which features 1 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.
With this to allow any game to run at its best, MSI threw in a hard disk drive with a capacity of 500 GB or 750 GB, plus the possibility of setting up dual 320 GB HDD RAID setups (dual 500 GB and 750 GB options exist as well).
Basically, the company made sure to give the newcomer not just enough might to handle anything thrown at it, but also a suitably massive storage capacity, to allow one to have as many games at hand as possible.
As for connectivity and I/O, there is mention of USB 3.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, Gigabit Ethernet and an HD webcam, among other things.
All the above, along with a Blu-ray or DVD drive, are kept running by a 9-cell battery and packed inside a frame measuring 395 x 267 x 55 mm (and weighing 3.5 kg). Unfortunately, pricing plans were kept under wraps.