MSI CX480 Notebook Reviews/Thoughts?

[RadioActive]

I'm thinking of getting a new laptop, and I kinda like the MSI CX-480, it offers nice specs and for a very competitive price.

Home page: http://www.msi.com/p...#/?div=Overview

The MSI CX480 notebook powered by Intel Core i5-2410M 2.30GHz Processor with based on “Sandy Bridge platform”, GeForce GT 520 1GB graphics card with 1GB DDR3 RAM, 1.3 megapixel webcam, a 14-inch LED-backlit display with resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, support ALS (ambient light system) to adjust the screen brightness of between 16 levels of brightness based on ambient light, 640GB/500GB/320GB SATA 5400rpm hard drive capacity and measures in 343 mm x 240 mm x 25.1~31.2 mm with weight at 2.2 kg.

With 14-inch screen display, it also comes with a touch pad with crystal diamond finish, thermal block structural, flat brush metal, all-new heat dissipation design by places heat generating parts in the upper left corner of the body within three color options like black, summer blue and white. Unfortunately, no information about release date and price at this moment.

Other features of the MSI CX480 includes a DVD burner, support directX 11, MSI’s GPU Boost technology, MSI Time Stamp software to back up automatically with one touch, two 2W speakers with SRS PC Sound, USB 3.0 port that offer up to 10 times faster than older version and a 6-Cell Li-Ion (4400mAH) battery with to 8.5 hours of battery life with a battery charge indicator located next to the power button.

For connectivity , MSI CX480 netbook is equipped with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet LAN, VGA output, two USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 3.0, runs on Windows 7 Home Premium for operating system and support ECO engine power saving technology for extend battery time with just one touch.

So, what do you think guys? It's price is VERY tempting, to get a SONY or an HP with similar specs will cost me almost 25~30% more (money) which is a lot.

Also, any thoughts about the GT520 in terms or gaming performance?

[majithia23]

MSI is an underdog when it comes to laptops and mobile computing .

its products are good in quality and specs and very competitively priced .

i own a MSI X340 notebook ( http://www.msi.com/product/nb/X340.html#/?div=Overview ) and its been around 1.5 years and its still running good .

and gives quite a decent performance for its specs .

nutshell , i m pretty satisfied with it .

the model you posted seems to be a good one . i5 and a decent graphics card . and some good added features .

the graphics card should suffice most of the daily needs and some basic gaming also . might not be sufficient for high end games or games run on full blast .

here the card specs --- http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GT+520M

in all seems to be a good buy . ;)

Advisory --

NEVER buy an HP . EVER . Piece of crap . Shitty quality components . it will fail . HP has the highest hardware failure rates in laptops across all manufacturers . Just Google HP laptops complaints and you shall know .

personal experience too . owned an HP and it was piece of garbage .

Sony laptops are good quality , but a little delicate or say a little Fragile to daily use .

Lenovo thinkpads . Not visually appealing but rock solid built .

thats my personal experience from what i own or owned .

[dcs18]

I like the config. The 14" might sound good for portability, but if it's going to be left in one place and used continuously for long hours (as I usually do) a larger 15.6" would be easier on the eyes. Another thing I'd prefer is; a matte screen over a glossy for the same reasons. Generally, laptops are readily available in these different options (and can often cost lower for the larger screen.)

[x3r0]

I recommend you to pick Asus instead, they are also offering 2 years limited warranty (1 year battery warranty). Asus build quality is fair enough, better than Acer, HP, or Toshiba. I don't know about MSI though.

And as for GT 520M, you'd better pick GT 540M instead, or AMD Radeon 6730M. They're more stronger, and (in my country) their price is not so much higher than GT 520M. GT 555M is also more preferable but they still cost higher than GT 520M (up to twice).

[RadioActive]

MSI is an underdog when it comes to laptops and mobile computing .

its products are good in quality and specs and very competitively priced .

i own a MSI X340 notebook ( http://www.msi.com/p...#/?div=Overview ) and its been around 1.5 years and its still running good .

and gives quite a decent performance for its specs .

nutshell , i m pretty satisfied with it .

the model you posted seems to be a good one . i5 and a decent graphics card . and some good added features .

the graphics card should suffice most of the daily needs and some basic gaming also . might not be sufficient for high end games or games run on full blast .

here the card specs --- http://www.videocard...GeForce+GT+520M

in all seems to be a good buy . ;)

Advisory --

NEVER buy an HP . EVER . Piece of crap . Shitty quality components . it will fail . HP has the highest hardware failure rates in laptops across all manufacturers . Just Google HP laptops complaints and you shall know .

personal experience too . owned an HP and it was piece of garbage .

Sony laptops are good quality , but a little delicate or say a little Fragile to daily use .

Lenovo thinkpads . Not visually appealing but rock solid built .

thats my personal experience from what i own or owned .

Thanks, I felt the same way about MSI but was a bit skeptical at first.

I like the config. The 14" might sound good for portability, but if it's going to be left in one place and used continuously for long hours (as I usually do) a larger 15.6" would be easier on the eyes. Another thing I'd prefer is; a matte screen over a glossy for the same reasons. Generally, laptops are readily available in these different options (and can often cost lower for the larger screen.)

I will use it mostly indoors but I hate 15.6 screens, I find 14.x are a perfect combination of portability and ease on the eyes.

As for matte vs glossy, I have no idea, I have to see for myself 'coz I don't know the difference.

I recommend you to pick Asus instead, they are also offering 2 years limited warranty (1 year battery warranty). Asus build quality is fair enough, better than Acer, HP, or Toshiba. I don't know about MSI though.

And as for GT 520M, you'd better pick GT 540M instead, or AMD Radeon 6730M. They're more stronger, and (in my country) their price is not so much higher than GT 520M. GT 555M is also more preferable but they still cost higher than GT 520M (up to twice).

Sadly, all what you said aren't an option for me. I'm limited by what I can find within my budget. Asus is pretty expensive, almost as expensive as SONY here.

Here's the only alternative I found that's offers similar specs and close price (slightly cheaper actually):

DELL Inspiron n4050

CPU Intel Core i5-2410M Processor (2.3GHz Turbo boots with up to 2.9GHz,4 threads), 3MB L3 Cache RAM 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6470 - 1GB Hard Drive 500GB Hard Drive Optical Drive DVD+/-RW Optical Drive Display 14.0" HD WLED True-Life Display (1366x768) Communication 10/100 LAN, Dell Wireless Card 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 +HS Webcam 1.3MP Integrated Webcam Other port VGA, HDMI, Headphone out, Microphone in, 3x USB 2.0, 3-in-1 media card reader OS DOS Battery 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery

I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards the MSI.

MSI CX480 costs 179 KWD (~$650)

DELL Inspiron n4050 costs 166 KWD (~$600)

[The Pope]

MSI is an underdog when it comes to laptops and mobile computing

Advisory --

NEVER buy an HP . EVER . Piece of crap . Shitty quality components . it will fail . HP has the highest hardware failure rates in laptops across all manufacturers . Just Google HP laptops complaints and you shall know .

personal experience too . owned an HP and it was piece of garbage .

Sony laptops are good quality , but a little delicate or say a little Fragile to daily use .

Lenovo thinkpads . Not visually appealing but rock solid built .

thats my personal experience from what i own or owned .

I have a MSI 163A shell "whitebook" I built 3yrs ago and it's still rock solid...

Other than replacing the HDD 2 times which had nothing to do with the laptop it's self I never had an issue.

I 2nd what majithia23 said... don't buy HP/Compaq garbage... I have fixed too many to count...

I have a 13month old DV7 sitting right infront of me with a bad mainboard it's ashame for the customer it's just outside warranty!!!

I work for a company who is a Lenovo repair center and I also couldn't agree more with majithia23... there build quality is top notch but there not the best looking things.

I would also reccomend looking into the new Lenovo edge series coming out in a couple weeks. There suppose to have a nvidia graphics card add on and up to a i7 in the cpu dept. Added bonus they have matte screens "I HATE GLOSSY SCREENS" however thats personal preferance.

The new Edge should be the 530 and 535 series or at least I think so :/

[RadioActive]

I bought the MSI CX480 today, and so far I like it, thanks guys.

[Tweety.Abd]

I bought the MSI CX480 today, and so far I like it, thanks guys.

If your HDD is 5,400 RPM, I'd strongly recommend upgrading it to 7,200 RPM as soon you can. I had 5,400 RPM HDD on my computer and had a horrible experience with it. Could be because I run lots of demanding apps at once, but you'll experience a lots faster speed once upgraded to 7,200 :)

[RadioActive]

If your HDD is 5,400 RPM, I'd strongly recommend upgrading it to 7,200 RPM as soon you can. I had 5,400 RPM HDD on my computer and had a horrible experience with it. Could be because I run lots of demanding apps at once, but you'll experience a lots faster speed once upgraded to 7,200 :)

Will keep that in mind, thanks.

@Pope, you were right about the glossy screen, I guess it'll take some time to get used to it, the silver lining is its colors are so vivid.

Other than that, the only thing disappointing me is the low volume of the internal speakers, I guess I'll go buy some external speakers for it tomorrow.

[Tweety.Abd]

...the only thing disappointing me is the low volume of the internal speakers, I guess I'll go buy some external speakers for it tomorrow.

You can try to increase the volume to some extent through enhancement feature that's located at speaker properties page. I did it for mine, and it gave a reasonable boost and the experienced no issues with it. I'm not sure if you've tried that, but give it a try :)

[DKT27]

I personally don't own a laptop, but from all the ones I've heard, their build-in speakers just suck, the level of quality is way different than normal external ones. :)

[majithia23]

I personally don't own a laptop, but from all the ones I've heard, their build-in speakers just suck, the level of quality is way different than normal external ones. :)

well , i wouldnt agree on this statement totally .

if you go for the regular budget laptops , yes they do have below par speakers . which are nothing more than a joke .

but if you go for a little better builds , say the Multimedia laptops of a Good make and little better priced ,

you wont be that disappointed with the sound they produce .

Remember , a speaker doesnt has to be loud to sound good !

it should give you a sharp , clear , rich , immersive sound pattern . One in which you can appreciate the beats , the vocals , the percussions , the instruments clearly and there are no muffled sounds in it or frequencies going out of sync with each other .. ;)

and this holds true for not just the Laptop speakers but for any speaker .!

even though my HP laptop is a crap , but it has a very good speaker configuration .

Altec Lansing speakers and they sound quite good .

again , they are not loud but they aint that feeble also .

gives a quite good sound experience in a room .

similarly there are some quite good laptops from Asus , Toshiba , HP ( with Beats Audio ) which have quite good speakers in them ... !

[RadioActive]

The sound is good but weak (not loud enough) and I did try enable the Loudness Equalization but the difference is unnoticeable.

I guess I'll go get external speakers in a bit. I watch a lot of shows/movies, so...