MSI Megabook S271: a Look at AMD's Turion X2
by Jarred Walton on October 16, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
General Use
So we got everything hammered out in terms of stability problems, we finally got a chance to sit down and used a laptop without having to worry about it crashing randomly. How does the laptop perform, but aspects do we like or dislike, and what should potential buyers know before making a purchase decision? Our biggest complaint is one that is very personal, so where is we didn't like this aspect of the system other people might not have any problems. We're talking about the keyboard.
There's really not much you can do with an ultraportable laptop to address the situation, but many of us still find to keyboards to be too small and cramped. Long periods of typing became extremely tedious, and it was very easy to accidentally bump the trackpad. Other than the size, though, we really don't have too many complaints about the keyboard layout. All of the most useful keys are readily available, while the function key in the bottom left provides access to some additional keys. The trackpad is pretty typical as far as such items go, with all of the standard features like edge dragging, scrollbar support, corner functions, etc. available for configuration with the utility application. A lot of people dislike trackpads, and again the inclusion of a small mouse was definitely a nice bonus.
The only other feature that we really need to discuss is the display. At maximum brightness, it was fine for use indoors or for watching movies on an airplane. It does however feature a glossy coating that is supposed to enhance the color saturation and make the image look more vivid, and it seems to produce nice colors in typical lighting. However, the glossy coating tends to reflect surroundings in brighter environments, and using the laptop outdoors was difficult -- though we would say the same of nearly every laptop we have used. Response time of the display was never an issue whether we were watching movies or running other applications. Perhaps it might be an issue with some faster paced games, but you're not going to be playing those on the system anyway.
Warranty
With all of the problems we described relating to memory compatibility, one of the questions that is certain to come up is what sort of warranty you get with the MSI S271 laptop. MSI sells the laptop in two versions, the S271 and the MS-1058. The S271 is a complete system and it's supported directly by MSI. It comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty, including technical support, with prices starting at around $1000. You can also purchase the chassis as a barebones whitebook system (sometimes with a manufacturer other than MSI listed) and add your own components, and you can also locate resellers that allow you to custom configure your own laptop. The whitebook is model MS-1058, and it carries no warranty other than from the reseller. Prices start at around $700 for the barebones model.
So which would be better, the S271 or the MS-1058? The answer depends on a few factors, with price certainly being one of them. The standard configuration of the S271 really isn't very impressive, particularly in the memory department. As you can already tell from reading the previous page, purchasing the system with the intent to add your own memory later also has drawbacks, but you should be able to avoid memory issues with the advice we've provided. Those who are interested in getting a higher spec version of the notebook will probably be best off getting the bare-bones MS-1058 and adding their own parts, or going through another system integrator. Before you decide whether or not you want one of these notebooks, however, perhaps we ought to get to the testing and see what sort of performance you get.
Test Setup
For comparison, we have an ASUS A8JS that includes a Core 2 Duo T7200 processor (2.0GHz with 4MB of shared L2 cache). We were hoping to have something more directly comparable to the MSI S271, but unfortunately this was the best we could do for this article. In most areas, the ASUS laptop has better specifications, and it also has a higher base price of roughly $1600 compared to $1000. To provide a more fair comparison, we equipped the S271 with 2GB of memory and a TL-60 Turion X2 processor (2.0 GHz, 2x512K cache), and given the similarity in clock speeds between the AMD Turion X2 lineup and Intel's Core 2 Duo mobile offerings, looking at the two systems with equivalent clock speeds should provide a good point of reference. With the upgraded processor and memory, the MSI MS-1058 should cost close to $1400 (or you could simply get a Compaq laptop with similar performance and a 15" display for $1400).
We will be providing a full review of the ASUS A8JS later this week, so we're only including the comparative results in this article. Here are the test configurations.
We ran our typical battery of benchmarks, including office, multimedia, 3D, and video rendering applications. One area that we didn't test very much is the gaming performance of the S271. We did run several gaming benchmarks, but after the first several tests we quickly came to the conclusion that the integrated graphics are so slow that there wasn't much point in continuing. 3D games from five or more years ago should run pretty well, but modern titles will struggle at best and fail to run at worst. If you're looking for a very small portable gaming solution, you will definitely want to look elsewhere.
So we got everything hammered out in terms of stability problems, we finally got a chance to sit down and used a laptop without having to worry about it crashing randomly. How does the laptop perform, but aspects do we like or dislike, and what should potential buyers know before making a purchase decision? Our biggest complaint is one that is very personal, so where is we didn't like this aspect of the system other people might not have any problems. We're talking about the keyboard.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
There's really not much you can do with an ultraportable laptop to address the situation, but many of us still find to keyboards to be too small and cramped. Long periods of typing became extremely tedious, and it was very easy to accidentally bump the trackpad. Other than the size, though, we really don't have too many complaints about the keyboard layout. All of the most useful keys are readily available, while the function key in the bottom left provides access to some additional keys. The trackpad is pretty typical as far as such items go, with all of the standard features like edge dragging, scrollbar support, corner functions, etc. available for configuration with the utility application. A lot of people dislike trackpads, and again the inclusion of a small mouse was definitely a nice bonus.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The only other feature that we really need to discuss is the display. At maximum brightness, it was fine for use indoors or for watching movies on an airplane. It does however feature a glossy coating that is supposed to enhance the color saturation and make the image look more vivid, and it seems to produce nice colors in typical lighting. However, the glossy coating tends to reflect surroundings in brighter environments, and using the laptop outdoors was difficult -- though we would say the same of nearly every laptop we have used. Response time of the display was never an issue whether we were watching movies or running other applications. Perhaps it might be an issue with some faster paced games, but you're not going to be playing those on the system anyway.
Warranty
With all of the problems we described relating to memory compatibility, one of the questions that is certain to come up is what sort of warranty you get with the MSI S271 laptop. MSI sells the laptop in two versions, the S271 and the MS-1058. The S271 is a complete system and it's supported directly by MSI. It comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty, including technical support, with prices starting at around $1000. You can also purchase the chassis as a barebones whitebook system (sometimes with a manufacturer other than MSI listed) and add your own components, and you can also locate resellers that allow you to custom configure your own laptop. The whitebook is model MS-1058, and it carries no warranty other than from the reseller. Prices start at around $700 for the barebones model.
So which would be better, the S271 or the MS-1058? The answer depends on a few factors, with price certainly being one of them. The standard configuration of the S271 really isn't very impressive, particularly in the memory department. As you can already tell from reading the previous page, purchasing the system with the intent to add your own memory later also has drawbacks, but you should be able to avoid memory issues with the advice we've provided. Those who are interested in getting a higher spec version of the notebook will probably be best off getting the bare-bones MS-1058 and adding their own parts, or going through another system integrator. Before you decide whether or not you want one of these notebooks, however, perhaps we ought to get to the testing and see what sort of performance you get.
Test Setup
For comparison, we have an ASUS A8JS that includes a Core 2 Duo T7200 processor (2.0GHz with 4MB of shared L2 cache). We were hoping to have something more directly comparable to the MSI S271, but unfortunately this was the best we could do for this article. In most areas, the ASUS laptop has better specifications, and it also has a higher base price of roughly $1600 compared to $1000. To provide a more fair comparison, we equipped the S271 with 2GB of memory and a TL-60 Turion X2 processor (2.0 GHz, 2x512K cache), and given the similarity in clock speeds between the AMD Turion X2 lineup and Intel's Core 2 Duo mobile offerings, looking at the two systems with equivalent clock speeds should provide a good point of reference. With the upgraded processor and memory, the MSI MS-1058 should cost close to $1400 (or you could simply get a Compaq laptop with similar performance and a 15" display for $1400).
We will be providing a full review of the ASUS A8JS later this week, so we're only including the comparative results in this article. Here are the test configurations.
| MSI S271/MS-1058 Tested Configuration | |
| Processor | AMD Turion 64 X2 processor TL-50 (1.60 GHz 2x256K L2) AMD Turion 64 X2 processor TL-60 (2.00 GHz 2x512K L2) |
| Chipset | ATi RS485M + SB460 chipset |
| Graphics | UMA ATI RS485M, 128MB VRAM (ATI Xpress 1100 chipset) |
| Memory | 2x512MB Corsair DDR2-667 SO-DIMM 2x1024MB Corsair DDR2-667 SO-DIMM Note: RAM tested at DDR2-533 5-4-4-15 for compatibility reasons. |
| Display | 12.1" WXGA (1280x800) widescreen TFT display |
| Hard Disk Drive | Toshiba 60GB 5400RPM IDE Hard Drive (MK60340GAX) |
| Audio | Realtek ALC 882D |
| Battery | Li-ion 8 cells battery (4400mAHr) |
| Operation System | Windows XP Professions SP2 |
| BIOS | AMIBIOS v1.17 and beta v1.18 |
| ASUS A8JS Tested Configuration | |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.00 GHz 4MB shared L2) |
| Chipset | Intel 945PM Express Chipset |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce Go 7700 512MB |
| Memory | 2x1024MB Infineon DDR2-667 5-5-5-15 SO-DIMM |
| Display | 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900) widescreen display |
| Hard Disk Drive | Hitachi 100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive (HTS721010G9SA00) |
| Audio | Realtek ALC 882D |
| Battery | Li-ion 8 cells battery (4400mAHr) |
| Operation System | Windows XP Professions SP2 |
| BIOS | AMIBIOS v1.17 and beta v1.18 |
We ran our typical battery of benchmarks, including office, multimedia, 3D, and video rendering applications. One area that we didn't test very much is the gaming performance of the S271. We did run several gaming benchmarks, but after the first several tests we quickly came to the conclusion that the integrated graphics are so slow that there wasn't much point in continuing. 3D games from five or more years ago should run pretty well, but modern titles will struggle at best and fail to run at worst. If you're looking for a very small portable gaming solution, you will definitely want to look elsewhere.
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31 Comments
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Cehtna - Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - link
You take one Acer Ferrari 5000 and a TravelMate 8210, and you benchmark them!These are both made by Acer and the battery and chassis are exactly the same and other features should also be the same..
They both come in variants with:
ATIX1600 - 256MB/512MB HyperMemory GRAPHICS
15,4" TFT WSXGA+ (1680x1050) MONITR
1024MB DDR2 MEMORY
120GB SATA HDD
Lithium 9 cells BATTERY
This way its;
LX.TEH06.017 TravelMate 8215WLMi with
Intel Centrino 2 Duo T7200 CPU
Mobile Intel® 945PM Express CHIPSET
versus;
LX.FR50J.016 Ferrari 5002WLMi with
Turion64 2X TL50 CPU
ATI Xpress 1150 CHIPSET
JarredWalton - Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - link
Thanks... now just get Acer to send me both for review! Oh, wait... that's not as easy to accomplish, is it? I would love to review more laptops, with more variation among configurations. However, the simple fact of the matter is that we have to review what we are sent in most cases.I certainly don't make enough money to go out and buy laptops that I want to review, and a lot of companies don't necessarily want to have us do a head-to-head among their computing laptops. What happens if laptop X seriously trounces laptop Y and they both cost about the same amount?
In the end, most people purchase laptops within their price range, so if AMD offers cheaper laptops, some people will buy those laptops whether or not they are faster. Those who want better performance are generally going to pay for more expensive laptops, and in that market that AMD laptops really don't compete very well right now.
etee - Friday, November 24, 2006 - link
AMEN to that. I bet HP, MSI (or any other company that makes value notebooks) doesn't want to see a performance review between their $550 and $1000 notebooks whose only difference is +200Mhz CPU, +40GB HDD, +1GB RAM.... If the public saw the lack of perf. improvement for the money, they'd never buy the $1000 notebook. Too bad discrete graphics hasn't become standard on the mainstream midrange $1000 notebooks yet. That might actually would justify the price.I also found that this review was all over the place and really didn't do a good job of isolating the variables that led to various performance indicators.
How do we quantify the value of the discrete GFX of the ASUS notebook? Certainly system perf. would be significantly improved just because we don't have UMA graphics hogging up the system memory bandwidth. I think the intel notebook should have featured UMA graphics for comparison.
I understand that the notebook makers won't hook you up with samples of all of their offerings. That doesn't mean that the only option is to cover the ASUS and MSI side by side. It would be better to compare a single system with various components upgraded. You can't get every model of notebook from MSI, but you can make your own "models" with upgraded CPUs, RAM, HDDs, batteries and try to generate an approximate price for such a model. If we did this separately for the MSI and ASUS, then the reader can be left to decide what suites them better for a given price. At the very least we wouldn't be trying to compare apples to oranges.
abakshi - Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - link
Honestly, I found this review pretty useless. Forgoing the fact that other sites have actually done comparisons of the 271 with its Core Duo couterpart (the S270, if I recall), it still doesn't offer much.Obviously an IGP solution will be much slower than a Geforce Go 7700. I think most people who are going to read and interpret your graphs know that. But why must everyone have a a GF7700? Integrated graphics at the level of the current ATI chipsets are a good step up from what the vast majority of Intel-powered laptops come with, which is Intel's GMA junk.
The article constantly refers to the ATI IGP as a huge drawback to the machine, implying that the competition has something better. Which other 12" portable has discrete graphics, besides the (heavier, not quite ultraportable) Dell XPS M1210? In fact, I'd argue the widespread use of ATI IGPs is a strength of the AMD platform - the Radeon Xpress chips are far better for everyday usage (from multimedia playback to general performance) than the Intel GMA950 chips. And unlike the GMA chips, R-X200/1150 will run Win Vista's Aero Glass interface and most modern 3D apps very comfortably.
The other problem, related to the point on IGPs, is the focus on gaming. Who plays 3D games on a 12", <5 lbs. laptop? Aren't things like battery life and heat output far more important in this setting than how many FPS it can get in Half-Life 2? Why is there any stress at all on gaming? The almost nonexistent ultraportable gaming market is clearly not the target audience for this machine.
The review even goes to the point of suggesting that mid-level discrete graphics chips like the ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 are inadequate. Something like an X1400 is more than adequate for the vast majority of users. It will run every common 3D function (like Aero Glass) and will even run relatively recent 3D games decently. Ever hear of battery life? Not everyone needs to get 60 FPS while playing Half-Life 2 on their miniscule screen in the train.
So for example, I play games -- but for that, I have my desktop rig at home, with a dual-core A64 X2 4400+ (ironically now probably outperformed by my laptop's Core 2 Duo @ 2.0) and an ATI Radeon X1800XT 512. I'm currently using a Dell E1705 as my primary laptop, with an ATI MR X1400 GPU, which is great - it's solid (with consistently updated and universally compatible ATI drivers, unlike Intel junk), currently running dual-boot Win XP MCE and Vista RC1, and gets far better battery life than versions with more powerful GPUs (NV 7900GS, GTX, etc.).
IntelUser2000 - Wednesday, October 18, 2006 - link
Exactly. Then who cares whether you have a slow integrated card or a SLOWER one. The point of most IGP reviews are to see whether any people who plays latest 3D games will bother with the IGP for their 3D games.
0.1 to 0.2. Nobody will care.
There are no direct comparisons of GMA and R1150 testings on Win Vista's Aero Glass. They are both certified, so they can both run it that's for sure.
Intel also has unified drivers and updated drivers for their IGP. 845G to G965. Of course the drivers aren't up to par as ATI based ones, but considering ATI's specialty, its expected.
I'd say then having GMA950 will be more important for battery life than R1150 then. Because R1150 is more fully featured, and will waste unnecessary battery life.
Final point is: the review isn't perfect, but there aren't many better Turion X2 laptops either. Anandtech happened to review the ones they got in hand.
That's the problem with laptop reviews, it isn't as vast as the desktop ones, but that's little out of scope.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - link
Did you get hung up on page 10? That was there merely to point out that the IGP solutions CAN'T play modern games. End of story. A couple quotes:The point of the article isn't comparing IGP performance; we took exactly one page to clearly show that IGP is inadequate for gaming, and if you don't play games it largely won't matter. A "focus on gaming" would be more what we had in the http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=274...">XPS M1710 review, where we did spend a lot of time on that subject as anyone buying a $3500 notebook with high-end graphics will probably want to make use of them! Oh yeah, I also talked about the advantages of an http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=276...">E1705 with X1400 in another article.
Most notebooks with GMA950 run everything they need to without problems. GMA950 will run Aero Glass I believed (slower than Xpress 1100 but again, that's probably not a concern of anyone looking at budget systems). To say that Xpress 1100 can "run Win Vista's Aero Glass interface and most modern 3D apps very comfortably" is simply not true. It can run them, and perhaps Aero Glass will be fine; modern 3D apps choke on X300SE type hardware. I will worry about fully benchmarking/testing Vista on laptops when it actually ships, but I've read that Aero Glass may kill battery life. :|
hondaman - Monday, October 16, 2006 - link
After upgrading to the new bios from MSI that made the laptop stable, did you try the generic ram again to see if it fixed it?JarredWalton - Monday, October 16, 2006 - link
Yup, still no POST. Should have known better than to buy Gigaram. Heh. Still, it will make for a nice "worst case" test of other notebooks. If a laptop can boot with the Gigaram, it can probably boot with just about anything! That or the SO-DIMM is just bad, which is always a possibility.Patrese - Monday, October 16, 2006 - link
Have you guys seen a huge ANATEL sticker inside the notebook? It is from the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações, the regulatory agency of telecomunications here in Brazil. Kinda funny to see that on a notebook meant to be sold in the US market, as I have never seen one of these in any PC or notebooks sold in Brazil... :)randomas - Monday, October 16, 2006 - link
I would really like to see a Linux test using 64bit distribution and a 32bit distribution on the same machine and then compare it to an Intel machine, which if I'm correct still doesn't support x86_64 instructions on its portable line of cpus.Seeing the results of the 64 vs 32 bit Linux tests already published here on Anandtech it would make for interesting reading, especially as IMHO this machine has a strong appeal for Linux users who can take advantage of its full potential.
Personally I own a MSI M635 (turion mt34 atix700) which I'm very happy with.