MSI Laptop GT725-074US Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40 GHz) 4 GB Memory 320 GB HDD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 17.0" Windows Vista Home Premium

Pros: For this price you won't find a better performing laptop. At its native resolution this laptop can run Crysis Warhead at full graphics. The screen is beautiful also; the combination of the high resolution on the 17" makes for a very sharp image; the pixels are still so small that you really don't even need anti-aliasing. The full-size keyboard is a very welcomed feature but it wasn't executed perfectly (see cons). I like the easy access touch buttons at the top, but much like the keyboard they have their flaws. The laptop itself is pretty sleek; the brushed aluminum, the red/orange frame, and the chrome accents really give this laptop the "performance machine" appearance. This laptop definitely turns heads. The battery life is amazing for a laptop of these components; I get a 3:15 battery life on "Battery saver mode" and a 2:00 battery life on average. The amazing part is getting 1:10 life while playing Crysis. The built in media center remote receiver was a plus also.

Cons: This laptop doesn't have an deal-breaking cons really; there's just a whole ton of fine issues: -The keyboard layout is very convoluted. Not only is the function key and Ctrl key switched, but the whole right side of the main keyboard is squashed to make way for the numpad. They could've made the keyboard larger if the power button didn't take up the space to the left. -They used touch buttons to control the wifi. I have already accidentally touched the wifi switch several times, messing up internet related processes. Furthermore the media controls are not labeled, you can only see where they are transparent for the lighting. -The hard drive and windows setup were done somewhat backwards. Not only did they install 32-bit Windows on a machine with 4GB, but they also installed window on a small partition of the 320GB HDD, leaving very little space for programs to be installed in the default location. (See other)

Overall Review: First thing I did was install Windows 7 RC x64 after clearing the two partitions. It worked perfectly fine with all of the drivers included on their disc. The only problem I had was that Catalyst Control Center would not install in 7, so I do not have access to the overclocking and powerplay features. Windows 7 runs and looks amazing on this laptop, I would highly recommend trying that out, even if you just install it on the original blank partition. As I said above the pricing on this laptop is amazing considering the performance, if you can put up with the quirks then I highly recommend this laptop.

Pros: Everything is very fast for how much it costs. This is a very quick notebook here. Everything on it functions either at normal rating or exceeds it. Speakers, processor, video, keyboard, build... it's all there or above.

Cons: Although this thing can game VERY GPU intensive games, other games such as Prototype and GTA rely a lot on its CPU. The CPU is not as fast as it could have been on this particular model. I understand that things can be swapped out and blah blah into a quad core, but for this model, the processor will lag on the above games. Turning turbo on does seem to help quite a bit. The processor itself is not weak by any means, but it is one of the slower parts of the computer.

Overall Review: Call of Duty 4 and 5 both run great. I can max out the graphics with Anti-Alias and native resolution. Prototype runs on highest settings with turbo button. Without turbo I seem to lose a few FPS when my character is running by a busy intersection. The heat cooling on this thing has been great so far. I have no heat issues other than the upper right part of the keyboard. Although if you buy this, you probably intend to by a cooler anyways, which has done wonders for me. I actually just use a small usb fan that blows air under and on top of the notebook keyboard plane. Just a heads up though, I don't yet have the latest drivers installed, which of course means my notebook is not running at its prime. Perhaps after installing all the needed drivers, the notebook will perform better on certain games. Still... this thing should be able to play all the latest games on high or near-high settings. I'm sure this will last me a few more years also.

Pros: This is a great laptop and it's performance is top notch for the price. The screen is bright and vibrant with decent color saturation. There is little audible noise from the machine the majority of the time. The keyboard is quiet and has good resistance to typing. Feels very durable and the weight is just right for what is offered inside.

Cons: You will probably graze the mouse touch pad while typing which will cause some headaches until you get used to the sensitivity and avoid it. The FN key is in a stupid position. It should be switched with the CTRL key. The shift key is made smaller, and it will take some getting used to, which I have done after approximately 1 month of use. The arrow keys are small as well, but I don't make much use of them, so it's not really a con for me.

Overall Review: All software seems to work for me despite the stories on here. I also have not had a problem with it not powering up while attached to the wall outlet and vice versa. Exhaust on the right side doesn't bother me as much as some people had me believe. It doesn't blow that hard or hot all the times I have used this to play WoW and Crysis. BTW, with the new CAT 9.4 drivers I can play Crysis Warhead everything on enthusiast settings and stay above 30fps about 95% of the time. :D This is one powerful laptop that will make you weep tears of joy.

Pros: For the price, this computer is a excellent desktop replacement for gamers on a medium budget. It's been running every thing I throw at it on max settings including Empire Total War with Darthmod (Which is extremely resource taxing). I was a little worried about this purchase at first but if after a day with it, I have completely fell in love with it. Oh, another thing that makes this computer totally awesome is that it's SILENT, even when running some hardware stressful games.

Cons: There is a few little annoyances with the placement and size of the keys on the keyboard, but then again I have giant fingers. Also, It comes installed with Windows Vista 32bit, so it doesn't take full advantage of the 4gigs of ram installed on the computer.

Overall Review: Overall I am extremely happy with my purchase, so far. For any gamer looking for a desktop replacement for home, or going away to college, this is an excellent choice. The games I have run beautifully with high FPS: Oblivion(With mods), Empire Total War, Left 4 Dead, Half-Life 2, Call of Duty 4, Counter-Strike Source.

Pros: Nice glossy screen and speakers that produce good sound for a laptop. Nice finish on the case and seems to dissipate heat very well without much noise. Great performance for its price.

Cons: Vista 32bit makes no sense. Why include 4GB of ram and then handicap it with a 32bit OS. No offer of a WinXP "downgrade" and no support on official site for XP drivers. Red lettering for F keys and arrow keys, making it harder not easier to see. White key lettering would have been just fine instead of the red style. Bad placement of the power button, just left of Esc. Battery sticks out beyond the back of the laptop. Really just minor quibbles that could have been better choices in design. Doesn't detract from the laptop overall.

Overall Review: Nice laptop to serve as a 2nd computer or even a primary if you only have an older desktop. Works nice and aside from the minor Cons mentioned above it's a rather nice product. Even most of the Cons can be fixed later if MSI wises up and offers 64bit licenses and at least support for Win Xp if not a downgrade option. The lower resolution on this version over the -075US one seems like a bonus instead of a detraction. The screen size is about as small as I’d want for 1680X1050 and couldn’t imagine 1920X1200 on it. Also I don’t have any wish to own blu-ray so the faster DVD drive is also a bonus for me. Newest versions of Kubuntu and Debian have both installed and operated without any issues, with support for wireless out of the box. Laptop is a good buy for gaming and also works nicely for playing video with an HDMI out and a rather quiet cooling solution.

Pros: Out of the box it's truely amazing. 3 hours 25 minutes with webcam, bluetooth, and wireless LAN off and specs throttled down using the given software. The HD 4850 is beautiful. It can be set to perform as a monster running games and with the touch of the Eco button it throttles down to do its job with the least bit of power possible. Perfect both for games and work. Runs Crysis fluently on highest settings in turbo mode. Does well with multithreaded apps. The reviews I see on other sites rate the screen brightness as sub-par. I can't agree with that. Even on turbo-battery mode [lowest brightness] I can easily see everything while sitting in the park. The sound is amazing.. both the internal speakers and the output jacks. I haven't used the HDMI out for my system yet, i just hooked up 4 separate stereo systems to the side ports. Very customizable through the software.

Cons: 32-bit. Why? Nobody knows. Fn and Ctrl keys switched. A bit awkward in games, but you get used to it. Norton protection software very annoying.

Overall Review: Wireless is very powerful, but draws a lot of power. You can set it to save power in the device settings if you know you'll be near the access point without obstructions. Upgraded the Harddrive immidiately after copying everything off the original. Theres quite a bit of room in the compartment.. I had no trouble. Arrived in 3 business days.

Pros: Good value vs performance Good sound from speakers great versatility

Cons: As mentioned before the keyboard is a little strange and some keys are to small.

Overall Review: I love the SATA connection it makes transferring from my 500GB stand alone hard drive much faster. Im using laptop in China and the big box on the power cable gets rather hot, could be the 220 power here.

Pros: Powerful but, not huge and heavy like the competition! Everything inside is well chosen and operates smooth, cool and quite! In the end this is a gaming machine on the GO - to me silent and cool is important. Just 9.6 lb is awesome for 17" gaming star. I love 4850 and P8600 - runs Crysis on MAX. Turbo mode is great and works just fine. Few bloatware, easy to remove. Overall configuration time out of box is less than 30 min! Well made - looks good too.

Cons: Just a few that worth mentioning: 1.Vista 32bit - 64bit would be better to some... 2.Power button is positioned right next to ESC and is pretty small too... 3. Keyboard could be designed better, but can get use to. More important is the red colored F keys - very hard to see. 4. You have to install Symantec Anti Virus before be able to remove it. Fast and painless operation.

Overall Review: Great machine for the money! I made recovery disks and went straight for Vista Home Premium 64bit. Painless installation - all drivers from MSI worked great even though it said Vista 32bit when downloading. Serial key from the bottom of your machine will work with Vista Home Premium 64bit. In my experience most people would not need 64bit OS, so 32bit will do just fine. There are some draw backs on the 64bit OS and some advantages. If you don't wanna spend the time - your PC will not suffer anything if you stay with 32bit for now.