MSI gaming laptops SA pricing: GX70 3BE and GX60 3AE compared

29 May 2013
MSI GX70 AMD

MSI’s GX70 laptop is the first out with AMD’s new Richland APU, promising 20% more performance for the same price and at the same thermal design power (TDP).

Alongside it is the slightly revised HD7970M, rebranded as the HD8970M with higher clock speeds, 2GB of GDDR5 RAM, and AMD’s Enduro switchable graphics technology.

MyGaming approached several retailers for comment and Corex was the first to respond, confirming the retail prices and confirming that stock will be available in the first week of June 2013 at the same time that Computex Taipei opens its doors to geeks and journalists from around the world. Reviews should be going up at around the same time as well.

Below is a table comparing the GX70 3BE to the GX60 3AE, which will continue to be sold alongside it and features the same processor upgrade. Its possible that current GX60 owners may be able to source the new APU separately and upgrade their BIOS to recognise the processor and enjoy the same speed improvements.

Components
MSI GX60
MSI GX70
Retail price (RRP) R14,999 R19,999
 Keyboard  Backlit Steelseries, 16k colours  Backlit Steelseries, 176k colours,separate  colour zones
 Screen  15.6-inch anti-glare TN Full HD (1080p) panel  17.3-inch anti-glare TN Full HD (1080p)  panel
 Processor  AMD Richland A10-5750M quad-core, 2.5GHz stock, 3.5GHz Turbo  AMD Richland A10-5750M quad-core, 2.5GHz stock, 3.5GHz Turbo
 Built-in GPU  AMD Radeon HD8650G, 384 shader cores, 533MHz stock, 720MHz Boost  AMD Radeon HD8650G, 384 shader cores, 533MHz stock, 720MHz Boost
 Discrete GPU  AMD Radeon HD7970M 2GB GDDR5, 1280 shader cores, 850MHz stock, 4.8GHz memory  AMD Radeon HD8790M 2GB GDDR5, 1280 shader cores, 850MHz stock, 900MHz boost, 4.8GHz memory
 System RAM  8GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel 16GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel
 Hard drive  750GB SATA 2.5-inch 7200RPM 1TB SATA 2.5-inch 5400RPM
 Solid State drive  None (optional) 128GB mSATA 2.5-inch
 Optical drive  Super-Multi DVD-Rewriter dual-layer  Blu-Ray reader, DVD-Rewriter dual-layer
 Wireless connectivity  All-In-One 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0  All-In-One 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0
 Operating system  Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit single language  Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit single language
 Battery size  9-cell 87Wh removable  9-cell 87Wh removablec
 Warranty terms  2-year International warranty  2-year International warranty
 Bundled free game  Hitman: Absolution  Crysis 3 Hunter Edition

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  1. Andrew Shaw
    29.05.2013 at 14:55

    My dell xps 17z cost about the same as the GX70 a year ago. And even tho the specs are better now, I could never bring myself to buy these blinged out laptops. Guess I’m not the market. p.s. can’t wait for haswell.

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