Gaming Laptops and Prices

[Traak]

I have revised this thread, going back to remove Microsoft Office, no extras like lap coolers, warranties, etc. As a result, prices have dropped on some of them. This was preferable to posting an entire extra post to cover something already covered.

In my online researchings, I ran into Mtech laptops. Why? Because though I like the power of a tower computer, something about cramming a lot of performance into something that is still portable appeals to me greatly.

So I searched the Web for relative price and specs of some top-line laptops

http://www.discountpcsales.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=mtechD9FHD

First up:

Mtech laptops, boasting themselves as the world's fastest laptops.

$7384

This is to start things out with a laptop that is close to the most powerful laptop you can find anywhere

17.3" screen, glossy, no 3D capability touted or offered

2 Nvidia GTX 580M GPU's, which requires dual power supply bricks, which the price includes

1 Intel Core i7 six-core Extreme i7-990X 3.46 GHz, 12MB L3 cache

3 250GB SSD's in RAID 5. (fault-tolerant plus speed.)

IC Diamond Thermal Compound on CPU AND GPU

12GB (3X4GB) 1333MHz

6X Blu-Ray burner/reader 8X super multi combo

Bigfoot Networks wireless-N 1102

e-SATA

This is about the fastest laptop in the 17" class available from Mtech.

I also checked out Sager notebooks, also touted as being very powerful and configurable laptops:

Sager 2-VPU
Also boasting as having the world's fastest laptop. Rebranded Mtech?
$6,154.00 configured almost identically to the Mtech:

This is to start things out with a laptop that is close to the most powerful laptop you can find anywhere

17.3" screen, glossy, no 3D capability touted or offered

2 Nvidia GTX 580M GPU's, which requires dual power supply bricks, which the price includes

1 Intel Core i7 six-core Extreme i7-990X 3.46 GHz, 12MB L3 cache

3 250GB SSD's in RAID 5. (fault-tolerant plus speed.)

IC Diamond Thermal Compound on CPU AND GPU

12GB (3X4GB) 1333MHz

6X Blu-Ray burner/reader 8X super multi combo

Bigfoot Networks wireless-N 1103

This is about the fastest laptop in the 17" class available from Sager.

Dramatically lower prices with the Sager e-SATA not metioned, a bit better network card than the that which is available with the Mtech, $1230 cheaper.

In any case, evidently, those are the two most powerful laptops available on Earth. I will keep looking at other brands, but I doubt they will surpass these, especially for the price of the Sager. Sager's in Canada, so it's Canadian bux, I think, for price.

[Traak]

Alienware 1-VPU
Backlit keyboard

$1949

Intel i7 2670QM 2.2-3.1GHz processor, four-core, 6MB cache

1 Nvidia GTX 560M 1.5GB 3D

4GB RAM 2X2GB 1600MHz

1 HDD 500GB 7200 RPM SATA II

Intel Centrino wireless-N 1000

Alienware is found on Dell's website.

Low specs available at the bottom of Dell's 3D 17.3" lineup gets you in the door at an affordable price.

[Traak]

Alienware 1-VPU high-zoot
Backlit keyboard

$4279

Intel i7 2870QM 2.5-3.6GHz processor, four-core, 8MB cache

1 Nvidia GTX 580M 2GB 3D glasses

16GB RAM 4X4GB 1600MHz

2 SSD 256GB. No word on whether it's SATA II or SATA III

Bigfoot Killer wireless-N 1103

Alienware is found on Dell's website.

[Traak]

Falcon Northwest, also not allergic to profits

$7,950

1 990x i7 processor by intel
3X8 GB RAM for 24GB
1 GTX 580M VPU, 2GB RAM
same Office Professional by Microsoft
same Windows 64 bit Ultimate

Curious how they price this up almost to the level of the Mtech, and $1100 over the Sager, with half as many video cards; however, massive complement of RAM.e.

[Goku]

Are you going to buy one these? If so wow...lol

[Hamma]

Holy shit almost 9 grand? :lol:

[Traak]

No immediate plans, I just have kind of a hobby of combing the top of the food chain for prices and capabilities.

And I figured it might help others make up their minds about ultimate gaming laptops.

The Mtech can be VERY capable, at a FAR lower price. Try optioning one out, and you will see. I wanted computing supremacy on my lap, without having to date an IT major.

Just a few of the options rapidly take the price up. But, if you control yourself, I think you can get some good value and capability, but still have portability. I will put up some posts later with some alternative configurations, from Absolutely Nothing Added except a second video card, to configurations without the high-snazz SSD's, relying on RAID 0 instead.

If you are going for only one video card, I would suggest finding a way to make it the GTX 580M, unless that knocks you out of the 3D game, which you might want.

Since I do this as kind of a hobby, I figured someone out there might like a pre-researched form of what the spectrum is, from the MSI standard gaming laptop up to the Sagers that can actually have Xeon processors, if processing power is your thrill.

And, some people actually can find it cost effective to go from click'n'snore to clickBAMdone.

And, well, some of us don't have a fixed address except "Within ten feet of my luggage." So, we like or have to have a laptop 'r nuthin'.

[Raka Maru]

Alienware... Tho the big screens are heavy to tote around. I like the smaller ones and max out graphic card, ram and hard disk. Then use tv for screen.

[Traak]

Alienware... Tho the big screens are heavy to tote around. I like the smaller ones and max out graphic card, ram and hard disk. Then use tv for screen.

Easier to "max out" the graphic card when you can have two of them, as on the Sager and Mtech.

[Traak]

ASUS G74

I didn't know anyone offered customized Asus G74's, but, I checked out another site: http://www.powernotebooks.com.

It has a variety of makes, including Sager, so I was pleased to find that you could get a top-line Asus, which is, at this writing, the G74, and customize it.

Price: $4611 backlit keyboard, unlike Sager and Mtech.

Only VPU offered: Nvidia GTX 560M with 3GB of RAM

One pair of extra 3D glasses to add to the existing ones included, in case I want to enjoy Laptop Theater with a very good friend.

$480 Processor upgrade Intel® Core™ i7-2860QM (2.5~3.6GHz) w/8M L3 Cache - 4 Cores
$990 upgrade: Intel® Core™ i7-2960XM Extreme (2.7~3.7GHz) w/8M L3 Cache - 4 Cores

I chose the 480 dollar upgrade for this configuration, beause the 2960XM seemed to offer so very little extra for over twice as much money.

The Sager and Mtech laptops include a SIX-core upgrade for $856, which is what I spec'd for them. The fastest six-core claims a 64GT/s, bus, compared to the next-six-core-down-from-fastest, with 48GT/s.

$599 each: dual Intel® 510 Series 120GB SATA III Solid-State Drive (Up to 400MB/s Read & 210MB/s Sequential Write - 8,000 IOPS)

On this laptop, these can be placed in RAID 0 for outstanding I/O speed. Not the RAID 5 available with the three HDD's of the Sager and Mtech machines.

The SSD's are a very large part of the price increase over stock. But they are responsible for a very large part of the speed increase one will experience, too.

Again as with all the other computers reviewed so far, Windows 7 Ultimate with disk, Microsoft Office Professional with disk, also included.

So, for FAR less money than the Alienware or Falcon Northwest, you get just a bit less CPU performance, a chunk lower on the VPU performance front, though it has 3GB of VRAM, and a bit less RAM.


Alternative configuration:

For those who have a bit less to "invest":

$2589

Unlike all computers configured so far in this thread, knock off the Bigfoot Networks gaming network card, replace with the upgraded Intel Centrino w/bluetooth.

One 120GB SSD from Intel.
One 750GB 7200 RPM disk drive

Eliminated extra pair of 3D glasses

Eliminated top-line global three-year warranty with standard warranty

Eliminated any Microsoft Office software

[Traak]

http://www.powernotebooks.com

MSI GT780DX-215

Maxed out, has some interesting features/options not available on the Asus G74, which is its direct competition. Nonetheless, it sends the price way up

$6014
Core™ i7-2960XM Extreme (2.7~3.7GHz) w/8M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads

VPU: higher-grade, but with half the VRAM of the Asus' 560, 3/4 of the 2GB on other GTX570M offerings above;
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 570M 192bit w/1.5GB GDDR5

$1299 Huge RAM option, with big price to match
32GB (4x8GB SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 Dual Channel Memory

SSD's"
2 Intel® 510 Series 250GB SATA III Solid-State Drive, RAID 0 selected

Like all in this thread so far, Blu-ray optical reader/writer

Bigfoot Networks gaming network card

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. No original Windows disk, as far as I know.
Microsoft Office Professional

If you need 20GB extra of RAM more than you need a six-core processor and dual video cards, then you might want this instead of Sager's offering. I can't think of any other reason to spec this thing up to this level.

[Traak]

Mobile Nvidia VPU solutions relative performance

More results of my research online into the notebook computing scene.

The performance jump from the third-in-line GTX560M and the top-line ATM GTX580M is a whopping 62.5 percent, according to this graph.

So, if you are considering a notebook gaming solution, pay very careful attention to the VPU. This jump in performance is on par with having dual 560M's in SLI, as SLI does not yield a 2X jump in performance.

Just a little patience can land you a drastic leap in capabilities.

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/shared/images/products/shared/mobile-lineup.png

[Sirisian]

Look at the other Clevo retailers. There are tons of them. I bought my laptop (http://pastebin.com/fMDX8hGN) from Malibal (http://www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idProduct=283) (full system specs in that link). The i7-2920XM (was the best mobile processor) is unnecessarily powerful. The 2960XM is not worth it. Nothing uses that much processing power or even comes close. I'd suggest the one below it (i7-2820QM). You want a 485m if you need power.

You can buy my identical laptop for much cheaper now. It runs BF3, Crysis 2, Rage all at max settings.

[Traak]

http://www.avadirect.com

Clevo SLI 17.3" laptop

$7726.37

1 Intel Core i7 990x 3.46GHz six-core processor

1 Coollaboratory liquid metal conduction pad in lieu of thermal paste

2 NVidia GTX 580M 2GB cards in SLI

24GB RAM (3X8GB)

And a similar complement of other goodies, including Office Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate.

[Traak]

As usual, the things that run up the price the most are the dual video cards, the 24GB of RAM, and the SSD's.

Placing the trembling mouse-finger of excitement on some slightly lower-priced components can cause the price to plummet.



I will use the same computer, configured with some lower-cost options, as an example

$2925

Intel 4-core i7-950

Arctic Silver thermal compound

1 NVidia GTX 560M video card

12GB RAM

1 Bigfoot Networks 1102 network card, one step down from the 1103 spec'd above

2 120GB SSD's in RAID 0

1 750GB storage/backup drive

No Microsoft Office.

Drastic difference.

[Traak]

I think I will possibly do a comparo of a bunch of gaming laptops specs:

The highest-spec SLI/Crossfires, with every option from whatever site added, that does not include software other than the OS.
The minimum-you-can-spend-and-still-get SLI/Crossfire
Highest-spec non-SLI/Crossfire-capable, but with the highest-end single VPU solutions from AMD and Nvidia
Minimum-you-can-spend and still get the highest-end VPU solutions from AMD and Nvidia.

All 17" class.

Planned makers: Sager, Falcon, Alienware, Asus, MSI, and Mtech. It looks like it will consiste of four each from Sager, Falcon, Alienware, and Mtech, and two each from Asus and Mtech.

If I add "has future space for another VPU for future, user-upgradeable (or return-to-dealer upgradeable)" then I will have to see who amongst them will do that, and for how much.

If anyone has a brand that produces a gaming laptop that has the latest video card, whether the 6990 from ATI, or the GTX 580M from Nvidia, and want that brand included, let me know. Helpful if you give me a link to a site that deals in that brand.

I will go to work on this later, as it

[Traak]

I think I will possibly do a comparo of a bunch of gaming laptops specs:

The highest-spec SLI/Crossfires, with every option from whatever site added, that does not include software other than the OS.
The minimum-you-can-spend-and-still-get SLI/Crossfire
Highest-spec non-SLI/Crossfire-capable, but with the highest-end single VPU solutions from AMD and Nvidia
Minimum-you-can-spend and still get the highest-end VPU solutions from AMD and Nvidia.

All 17" class.

Planned makers: Sager, Falcon, Alienware, Asus, MSI, and Mtech. It looks like it will consiste of four each from Sager, Falcon, Alienware, and Mtech, and two each from Asus and Mtech.

If I add "has future space for another VPU for future, user-upgradeable (or return-to-dealer upgradeable)" then I will have to see who amongst them will do that, and for how much.

If anyone has a brand that produces a gaming laptop that has the latest video card, whether the 6990 from ATI, or the GTX 580M from Nvidia, and want that brand included, let me know. Helpful if you give me a link to a site that deals in that brand.

I will go to work on this later, as it will be quite a good project.

[Sirisian]

:lol: For anyone skimming this without hardware experience don't just select the most expensive parts. This is a good tutorial for how not to build a laptop. I mean realistically the best gaming laptop is going to be one with:

i7-2820QM
485m 2 GB
16 GB 1600 MHz (Also wtf... Malibal sells 32 GB of RAM for my laptop now...)
120 GB SSD

Those are like the only important parts to make a laptop run any game at max settings. I find it hilarious how you can find a laptop with a non-sandy bridge chip like the i7-950 and stuff. Such a scam.

Also the 485m is faster than the 580m. The key difference though is Optimus support if you need that.

[Traak]

I find it hilarious how you can find a laptop with a non-sandy bridge chip like the i7-950 and stuff. Such a scam.

So from looking at Wikipedia, the Sandy Bridge ones have four-digit names.

Seems that the non-Sandy Bridge ones are quite prevalent in the dual-VPU laptop segment. Could this be because the product cycle for dual-VPU mobo's is a lot longer, thus usually less current?

Also the 485m is faster than the 580m. The key difference though is Optimus support if you need that.

What is Optimus support? Educate this price-surfer that all may profit.

[Traak]

And, as a follow-on to your informing me that Malibal exists, I have spec'd a close-to-bottom-dollar laptop, but with the Nvidia GTX 580M, 16GB of 1333MHz RAM, Blu-Ray, and 3D capability.

This has the Sandy Bridge processor architecture.

Malibal Satori
www.malibal.com
$2,278.53

Glossy 17.3" screen 3D capable.

1 Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.0-2.9GHz

16GB PC3-12800/1600MHz DDR3 - 4 SO-DIMM

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M 2GB GDDR5

Everything else as offered

500GB 7200 RPM drive.

6X Blu-Ray reader

No upgrades to storage.

$125 discount for computers over 1500 bux.

[Sirisian]

Optimus support turns off your dedicated GPU when you aren't using it and uses the built in CPU integrated chip. On a fun sidenote the sandy bridge chips are DX 10.1 capable with enough processing power to run starcraft 2. Anyway Optimus is just a power saving feature if both the motherboard and GPU support it.

[Traak]

Thanks. I heard of something like that, didn't know the official name. Optimus, power saving switching capability between the on-board chipset and the video card.

Okay, next up is our high-zoot offering in the single-VPU Sandy-Bridge 17.3" class from Malibal Satori
www.malibal.com
No SSD's offered in this line from Malibal, but perhaps if you called them, you could work something out. Next-best hybrid 500GB+4GB flash RAM drives, however, in RAID 0 should make for reasonable boot times.

Price $5,023.63

$125 Off Configurations Over $1500

17.3" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit 120Hz 3D 72% NTSC Matte Display
Includes NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses Kit

1 Intel® Core™ i7-2960XM, Extreme 8MB L3 Cache, 2.7-3.7GHz

32GB, PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 4 SO-DIMM

1 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M 2GB GDDR5 (User Upgradeable)

2 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300 Hybrid w/ 4GB NAND Flash in RAID 0

6X Blu-ray Burner 8X DVD+/-R DL Super-Multi Drive

Includes original Windows Disc and Driver CD for Backups
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Ultimate; 64-bit, includes original Windows Disc and Driver CD for Backups

Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card

IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

[Traak]

Malibal's Dual-VPU laptop, with desktop-class processors

Model: Malibal Nine X 7200
www.malibal.com

Price $3,442.53

17.3" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit Glossy Display

Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5 (User upgradeable)

(6GB) 6144MB, PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 3 SO-DIMM

1 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300

1 6X Blu-ray Reader 8X DVD+/-R DL Super-Multi Drive

Includes original Windows Disc and Driver CD for Backups Microsoft® Windows® 7 Ultimate; 64-bit

Intel® 6300 Ultimate-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card
Stock OEM Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

Surprisingly low price for a dual VPU notebook. If budget graphics might is your thing, might want to look at this one. Since it uses desktop processors, you can probably more easily replace the CPU in the future, and the video cards state user-upgradeable, and of course, the RAM and storage are all upgradeable, as with most laptops in the higher end.

[Traak]

Malibal's Dual-VPU laptop, with desktop-class processors

Model: Malibal Nine X 7200
www.malibal.com

Dual Nvidia GTX 580M's in SLI
$8,354.00

With dual AMD Radeon HD 6990M's in Crossfire
$7684.00 ($670 cheaper)

With dual Nvidia as above, and one notch lower than fastest CPU and 12GB instead of 24GB RAM No longer requires dual power cords/bricks without the i7-990X CPU
Price: $5,939.00 (Yes, that is $2,265 less!)

With dual AMD VPU"s as above, but one notch lower than fastest CPU and 12GB instead of 24GB RAM. No longer requires dual power cords/bricks without the i7-990X CPU
$5419.00

Intel® Core™ i7-990X Extreme, 12MB L3 Cache, 3.46-3.73GHz (Desktop CPU)

24GB PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 3 SO-DIMM
Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M 2GB GDDR5, includes 2nd AC Adapter & Converter Box. Required for 990X CPU (user upgradeable)

3 250GB Intel® (510) SATA III 6Gb/s SSD2 Drive in RAID 0 High Performance (Three Hard Drive Configuration)

6X Blu-ray Burner 8X DVD+/-R DL Super-Multi Drive

Microsoft® Windows® 7 Ultimate; 64-bit includes original Windows Disc and Driver CD for Backups

Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card

IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

This is the highest-performance solution, does not offer 3D glasses or display. There are larger SSD's, but not faster ones offered. As usual, choosing just a bit slower CPU and less RAM could results in a giant drop in price, while leaving your video speed very high.

[Bags]

I'm confused, what is the point of this thread? Or do you seriously think someone here is going to drop eight grand on a gaming laptop?

[Traak]

Next up is the Mtech single-VPU offering

$2505 as spec'd
$2176 with Nvidia GTX 560M 1.5GB
$2171 with top-line AMD Radeon HD 6990 2GB, which enables the glossy screen, since it does not have 3D included, so the price falls below the base Nvidia.

http://www.mtechlaptops.com

17.3" FHD/3D/Matt (not glossy, not available on this model with 3D) w/Nvidia 3D glasses

1 Nvidia GTX 580M 2GB

1 Intel core i7 2630QM 4-core, 1333MHz RAM

Mtech thermal compound

8GB DDR3 1333MHz (2X4GB)

1 320GB SATA II HDD 7200 RPM

1 4X Blu-Ray reader, DVD R/RW burner (does not burn to Blu-Ray, but conventional DVD's)

1 Fingerprint reader

1 Basic wireless 802.11 B/G/N/bluetooth/ethernet card

Quite affordable with some basic specs and a top-of-the-line video card.

[Traak]

Mtech single-VPU, high-zoot

$5409 as spec'd
$5004 with top-line AMD Radeon HD 6990 2GB, which enables the glossy screen, since it does not have 3D included.

http://www.mtechlaptops.com

17.3" FHD/3D/Matt (not glossy, not available on this model with 3D) w/Nvidia 3D glasses

1 Nvidia GTX 580M 2GB

1 Intel core i7 2960XM 4-core, 8MB cache, 1333MHz RAM

IC Diamond thermal compound

16B DDR3 1333MHz (2X4GB) (It will clock to lower clock speed, but higher-clockable RAM can generally have its latency adjusted lower when it is run at lower clock speeds, so it is potentially faster than 1333MHz RAM)

2 250GB SATA III SSD in RAID 0

1 6X Blu-Ray burner, DVD R/RW burner

1 Fingerprint reader

1 Bigfoot Networks N-1102.

[Traak]

.

[Raka Maru]

I don't recommend those big 17 inch screens. They are monsters to tote around. Battery life sucks. I have two of them and they stay home all the time now. I bring my 11 inch with me, and for the money you save, you can get a flatscreen for home use with hdmi output and spend a little more on a decent tack ball.

[Traak]

Good points. However, not all of us have a home. So we have to be mobile. And we can still have fun on our computer as we travel.

Laptops spend very little of their time being moved, even for one such as I, and the vast majority of their time being used while plugged in, or just idle.

So, yeah, a tower computer with a vast-screen monitor is what I would prefer. I like to build tower computers. Try travelling around the Middle East with one, though, LOL.

Even if I had it well-enough cased to protect it from the luggage process, how suspicious would it look going through X-ray machines?

And the flat-screen. :D

There are already posts in the VPU and CPU thread, those are geared towards people who have the luxury of a fixed location. Given a certain set of parameters, I like to see what I can do with those restrictions, mine being travel. Even the heaviest luggage spends very little of its time being actually carried. It is usually on the plane, on the cart at the airport, on the cart at the hotel, on the floor or desk at the hotel, etc.

[Goku]

I could see a few guys on this forum going out and buying $8K worth of computer stuff for a sweet tri 30 inch setup, monster rig, and good desk setup. Though I cannot see many going for $8K on a laptop. I know it has its market, but that is even minimal among computer gamers. A ASUS 17 Inch that costs about $1.25K-1.5K would likely suffice for 95% of the people needing a gaming laptop as well.

[Traak]

One of the differences, as far as expensive options go, that I have noticed is that neither 32GB of RAM (!) or the "last step up" in processor speed is as likely to boost your performance as dual VPU's, and often it costs a lot more.

I have never found anywhere on the 'net where you can just pick up a mobile VPU to upgrade your own notebook.

So, "upgradeable" means "return it to us, and we will upgrade it."

How's this for portable gaming power, straight from Newegg: 750GB HDD AND a 160GB SSD:

ASUS G74SX-DH72 Notebook Intel Core i7 2670QM(2.20GHz) 17.3" 16GB Memory DDR3 750GB 7200 + 160GB SSD HDD 7200rpm Blu-ray-enabled DVD±RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230196)

$2099

[Traak]

This has the fastest GPU of any of the reasonably-priced laptops I've seen:

Nvidia GTX 570M: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152301

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/shared/images/products/shared/mobile-lineup.png

A reminder of the performance leap between the 560 and the 570: 30 percent greater performance from the 570.

The absolatest from MSI: Runs rings around the Asus offerings with a GTX 580M video card, which is on or about 62.5 percent faster than the GTX 560M. This is like two 560's in SLI, minus the huge power drain.

http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt783625us-p-3512.html?wconfigure=yes

2500 dollars for a laptop with a 128GB SATA III SSD, plus 750GBHDD, Blu-Ray 6X burner and GTX 580M video card? Such a deal! It even has an illuminated keyboard for those nighttime gaming sessions. You can even set your keyboard backlight colors to reflect your favorite empire!

This looks like the Planetside laptop of choice! Reasonable price, massive heaps of video power, all at a reasonable price.

An identically-spec'd Alienware costs over 400 dollars more.
http://www.powernotebooks.com/Alienware-M17X-gaming-laptops-notebooks-sys-4306.html

Sager doesn't have the backlit keyboard, but it is almost the same price as the MSI at 2514 dollars.
http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=928
That is with the faster Intel 510 series SATA III SSD at 120GB.
GTX 580M.
If you add 3D, the glasses, and the 120Hz screen, it adds 200 dollars to the price.