DailyTech - MSI's New 12.1" Turion 64 X2 Based MS-1058

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Gadgets MSI's New 12.1" Turion 64 X2 Based MS-1058
Brandon Hill (Blog) - May 19, 2006 1:23 AM

20 comment(s) - last by Trippytiger.. on May 20 at 8:21 PM

MSI announces its first Turion 64 X2 notebook offering

MSI is wasting no time in releasing new products based on AMD's new Turion 64 X2 processors. The company's new MS-1058 is based on the ATI RS485M/SB460 chipset. The notebook features a 12.1" WXGA glossy screen that seems to be all the rage these days. Apple just recently jumped on the glossy finish bandwagon with its new MacBook and upgraded MacBook Pro notebooks.

The barebones notebook supports up to 2GB of DDR2 533/667MHz memory, up to a 160GB hard drive, features a Super-Multi DVD burner, GbE, MSI MS-6855B Bluetooth + 802.11a/b/g mini-PCI Combo card, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire port and a 4-in-1 card reader. The 4.5 pound notebook has dimensions of 11.93" x 8.86" x 1.18" and comes standard with an 8-cell battery.

Pricing and availability is MIA at this moment, but a number of online retailer will likely begin stocking the MS-1058 in the coming weeks.

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sweet

By iamright on 5/19/2006 1:33:55 AM , Rating: 2

I wish I could get a macbook with the same proc. Does anyone know what kinda vc is in it?

RE: sweet

By MDE on 5/19/2006 2:03:10 AM , Rating: 2

Probably Radeon Xpress 200 like 90%+ of the Athlon 64 notebooks you'll see now.

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RE: sweet

By Pino on 5/19/2006 7:44:38 AM , Rating: 2

The 485 north bridge is supposed to have an 33% faster integrated GPU than 482 and 480.

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RE: sweet

By slashbinslashbash on 5/19/2006 3:27:11 AM , Rating: 2

Why? 2GHz Core Duo isn't good enough?

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RE: sweet

By Viditor on 5/19/2006 5:22:18 AM , Rating: 2

Not for me...I use laptops for mobile editing suites in the field, and my edit software is 64 bit.

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RE: sweet

By mpeny on 5/19/2006 9:34:48 AM , Rating: 1

Unless you are editin HD on the field - your 64 bit app is a non factor. I doubt you are pushing more than 1.5 GB of memeory at any given time.

Anyways, you can turn on /3GB switch to get a bit more.

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RE: sweet

By Xenoterranos on 5/19/2006 11:23:48 AM , Rating: 2

Unless of course...wait for it...you want to run a 64bit OS.
I run 64bit linux so that I have native 64bit compiler support. Add to that a littel VM ware a and BAM!, kick ass mobile programing platform. And you can get Turions in the 2.2 Ghz range for almost 30% less than an equivalent Core whatever.

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RE: sweet

By mpeny on 5/19/2006 11:53:22 AM , Rating: 1

You missed my point. Having a 64 bit OS is moot. If your tasks does not require 4GB of RAM (or 2GB in Windows case) - 64 bit system is moot.
I highly doubt the mobile editing system is eating anything pass 1.5 GB. Anyways, there are so much more bottlenecks with laptop editing. You are more than likely to hit these (drive speed, GPU, chipset, expandability) than requiring more than 2GB of RAM on your Windows.

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RE: sweet

By jkresh on 5/19/2006 12:40:25 PM , Rating: 2

Mpeny I think you missed his point, 64bit is not just for extra memory, certain apps can get a 10-20% boost in speed from 64bit (even with 2gigs of ram or less). If he is running Linux and compiling everything himself or using 64bit optimized software then he would likely see an advantage with a mobile turion over a core duo. Though if he is doing serious enough editing to benefit from that I doubt a 12inch notebook makes sense.

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RE: sweet

By BaronMatrix on 5/19/2006 4:13:28 PM , Rating: 2

@mpeny

That's not true. Everything I ran was snappier on X64. I'd have stuck with it if had more software support. People doing ANY graphics will want 64 bit code/OS.

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RE: sweet

By saratoga on 5/19/2006 3:57:50 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Anyways, you can turn on /3GB switch to get a bit more.

That adjusts the virtual memory allocation in Windows. It doesn't change the physical addressing problem, so I don't think it will really help. You'll still be limited to 3.5 to 4GB of RAM regardless of how that switch is set.

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RE: sweet

By Samus on 5/20/2006 4:04:50 AM , Rating: 2

well, core duo is more expensive and generally comes with complete shit for integrated video.

that's why i own an AMD laptop in the first place. $600 bucks for a compaq with a dvd-rw, 512mb ram, 80gb 5400rpm disk and ati video that can actually play games (after i upgraded the system ram and shared out some more to the video)

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RE: sweet

By fbrdphreak on 5/19/2006 8:49:51 AM , Rating: 2

When Merom comes out you can get an Apple notebook with that in it.

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Resolution?

By Spoonbender on 5/19/2006 8:42:15 AM , Rating: 2

Anyone found some info on the screen resolution? Or battery life, for that matter?

RE: Resolution?

By fbrdphreak on 5/19/2006 8:50:43 AM , Rating: 2

12" WXGA is 1280x800. Battery life will depend largely on the capacity battery MSI includes, which will likely be around 4000-5000mAh. As far as Turion 64 X2's power consumption, that remains to be seen ;)

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RE: Resolution?

By collegeguypat on 5/19/2006 10:51:27 AM , Rating: 2

Seeing as it's a 35 watt processor, I'm gonna guess battery life is similar to the other 35 watt Turion processors.

So battery life is about 1.5 hours for the 4-cell battery and about 4-4.5 hours with the 8-cell battery.

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Dam MSI

By NagoyaX on 5/19/2006 11:02:23 AM , Rating: 2

I was looking @ the specs of the laptop on msi's site, and low and behold i can get it up here in Canada >.<
I gonna have to see if my dam work and speical order it doubt i doubt that too fak man its annoying when u can get stuff in Canada...

RE: Dam MSI

By littlebitstrouds on 5/19/2006 11:16:02 AM , Rating: 2

How do Canadians spell Damn? Cause I think we spell it differantly. Not bustin on yah, it's a real question.

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RE: Dam MSI

By Trippytiger on 5/20/2006 8:21:54 PM , Rating: 2

I wouldn't look for regional spelling trends in the post of a person who types like that. NagoyaX is simply too lazy to hit the 'N' key; I've never seen anyone here in Canada spell 'damn' in any other way.

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card reader

By BikeDude on 5/20/2006 7:33:39 AM , Rating: 2

One of the things that worries me is card readers. My Fujitsu Lifebook P7010 has an insanely slow card reader (never peaks above 2MB/s).

So I bought a Delkin cardbus adapter, and speed averages about 10MB/s, while using half the CPU time... It even beats my Lexar firewire based reader (which used to be considered fast) connected to my desktop system!

This makes the MSI a gamble, seeing as there is no cardbus support. I suspect the x-in-1 card readers are all of the slow variety (while eating CPU like there's no tomorrow).

And of course, no reviewer bothers to check this. "It has a card reader? Check" and their review is done.