Twinhead N15RB and MSI 510C

Not a direct comparison or review, just some pics and notes. The twinhead has a great SXGA screen while the MSI has the XGA (it is the best XGA screen I've seen so far).
The Twinhead has the 9700 128mb while the MSI has the 9600 64mb (although you'll see the benchmarks are very close).

[img]THvsMSIclosed.jpg[/img]

First appearance - the Twinhead is a little boxier, due to the semi-rugged exterior. The MSI does have an alloy exterior, with the lid reinforced by a clear hard plastic insert. A little odd, but it works as intended.

[img]THvsMSILeft.jpg[/img]

The left side of each - note the MSI has the circular DVD bezel and it's on the left side, which is preferred by me because I like using an external mouse on the right side. The MSI also shows the memory card reader and pcmcia. The Twinhead shows the audio, VGA, Lan/Modem, 1x USB and the pcmcia.

[img]THvsMSIRight.jpg[/img]

The right side shows the cpu fan output on the MSI and a single USB port for the mouse, also the indicator lights and the lid release catch. The Twinhead has 2x USB ports, S-video out and the DVD.
Note: The MSI is easily the quietest laptop I've ever had. You don't even hear the fan, even when the room is quiet.

[img]ThvsMSIBack.jpg[/img]
Back of the units - Nothing on the Twinhead except a nice solid backbone. The MSI shows another cpu fan vent, the power input, S-video out, VGA, printer, 2x USB ports, firewire, LAN/modem, and headphone/mic jacks. Nice and full of ports.

[img]THvsMSIopen.jpg[/img]

Opened up, the Twinhead is sleek and smooth exterior, great security and no flex to the lid. The MSI reflects everything off the plastic insert, but the insert does make the lid very sturdy.

[img]MSIopen1.jpg[/img]

Closer up on the MSI, very cool look with the reflective black panel (indicator lights shine through it), perfect keyboard (getting used to that Fn key placement) and the alloy palm rest. Even better looking in person.

[img]MSIkb.jpg[/img]
MSI keyboard is excellent, great feel, no flex at all. Nice cool palmrest, the entire unit barely heats up at all, only a very slight warmth under the arrow keys (hard drive). Chromed mouse key bezel is a nice look.

[img]THkb.jpg[/img]
Twinhead keyboard is solid, similar to the MSI's but a little bit different finish on the keys. Stickers on the Twinhead kb seem a little thicker than the ones on the MSI. Good typing and feedback. Space bar is smaller.

[img]MSIpad.jpg[/img]

Hard to get a good picture with the flash, obviously. Scroll bar is built into the right side of the touchpad, but you wouldn't know from looking at it. Integrated mouse buttons are a cool touch.

[img]THpad.jpg[/img]
Twinhead's touchpad is very responsive, with separate buttons and scrolling.
Feels like it will last forever.

[img]MSIbuttons.jpg[/img]
MSI buttons are good looking and easy to use. Power button lights up when pushed, although you don't really know how hard to press down on it. Wifi actually stays on once you turn it on, so if you hibernate or shut down, when you come back on it automatically gets back on the network without having to hit that button again.

[img]THbuttons.jpg[/img]
Twinhead power button, and Wifi button lights up green. Indicator lights along the top. Wifi does shut down when hibernating and has to be pushed again.

[img]MSIindicators.jpg[/img]
If you look very closely above the F12 key, you can see the hard drive indicator light (there are others next to it), a cool look, sorry the pic sucks.

[img]msiclosed.jpg[/img]
From the front, closed MSI, you can see the battery that is underneath the palmrest. The battery is slim and long and doesn't generate any heat through the palmrest.

[img]MSIsideclose.jpg[/img]
Two side shots, one with the indicator lights on.

[img]MSIsidecloselights.jpg[/img]

Benchmarks:

Stock settings, the MSI ran 2530 on 3dMark03 (Windows XP SP2), while the Twinhead ran at 2563. Since the MSI only carries the 64mb 9600 gpu, I thought this was pretty odd, but after running the test a few times, it varied little. I didn't have time to check clocks, but I will. I know the Twinhead has a lower clock than most 9700 gpus. I did OC the Twinhead a bit before and got over 2750 stable, so it does have some room for that.

The SXGA screen on the Twinhead is excellent, no dead pixels, great display, and I have now converted from XGA-only person to really liking the SXGA. But for work, I still prefer XGA.

Oh, the MSI is about a half pound lighter than the Twinhead, around 6.2 pounds vs 6.8 pounds on the Twinhead.

More pictures available if you want them, installation pics for both notebooks, etc.

Very nice. I think that I am going to get an MSI barebones. I would love to see the installation pics!

I'll size down the install pics and post them soon.

Thanks for the pics.

here are the install pics

First, the basic diagram of the underside


The bare cpu socket, (heatsink on it's back to the right)
the cpu only fits one way, make sure the flat-tip screw is a quarter turn out
then drop in the cpu, and tighten the screw (quarter turn). When tight, the cpu won't come out.


then put the heatsink in, (fins first) and line up the 4 screws
screw down opposite screws


throw in the wireless card, goes in just like the memory - then
connect the long gray wire to the main, and the short black wire to the auxiliary (simply plug it, like snapping a button)


two slots for memory, easy to pop in, just a 45 degree angle, slide in and snap down. I like that they aren't stacked and that there's a vent on the chassis.


The hard drive is the trickiest - sorry I don't have pics of the hard drive cage - make sure you get the cage set up right, with the adapter on the hard drive pins.
This is the part that will get you, because if you don't have the hard drive in just right, you won't get any screen display - it will sound like it's running, but nothing will come up. Just mess with the hard drive a bit and make sure it's in tight. The cage should butt up against the chassis, just under two small tabs (you'll see them).

Screw the covers back on and start it up. fini

another note: The MSI notebook, like the desktop motherboard products, also comes with LiveUpdate, the automatic updater for the BIOS, Utilities, and Drivers.

It's a really nice touch for those who don't want to mess with flashing their BIOS manually. Runs basically like Windows Update, gives you the option if you want to install certain things or not. The only thing I noticed was that it didn't always recognize that I had the current drivers installed, and I had to check manually to see what my revision number was so I would know whether to install or not.

Other than that, it was very fast, very smooth, no problems after BIOS update.

Nice stuff!

Thanks for the posts!

Any word as to whether MSI will be upgrading these specs in a new system?

CofeeShark might I ask what type of digital camera you used to take these pictures? They're stunning. I have a FujiFilm S3000, doesn't even compare.

My guess would be Fujifilm FinePix 3800.

Hey CoffeeShark...great comparison/minireiew. The MSI is a great notebook but i must admit i prefer my white one over the grey (but i guess i havent seen the grey in person)

Just a question tho if u dont mind...i was thinkin of replacing the original thermal tape with some AS3 thermal compound so i would have to take out the cpu. I was just wondering how tight you have to screw the heat sink on cos im a little worried that i may screw it on too tightly and crush the core.

Thanx again Coffee.

pb.

pungbish,
you don't have to screw them down too tight, they're spring loaded so as long as they are screwed down, don't get too crazy on it.

digital camera is the finepix 3800, the closeups using the macro setting.

so far, no news on the upgrades from MSI, they're still feeling out the US market.

thanx again CoffeeShark...ill give it a go and hopefully ill be runnin at least a couple degrees cooler

pb.

howdy Coffee Shark. Do you know of where to get exact 510c specs (or do you know them)?. Not the general ones, but things like the speed of the ram and max cpu, type of soundchip (noise levels) etc.
Specifically I ordered a 510c and need to know is the ram 2700/333 140pin? If it if I assume laptops are like pcs in that if you stick 3200/400 ram in it'll work fine but at 2700.
Good pics, it's SO HARD to find close ups of laptops! It's been driving me nuts only having 200*150 gifs from manufactures and dealers Imagine if car dealers only had little gifs and you had to decide from a webpage

MSI ships with 333mhz RAM. Yes, if you stick in 400mhz RAM it will run at 333. (200-pin)
Here's their specs:http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...M510C&class=nb

Do a search on the forums here, you'll find some more pics in my other review.

After living with this unit for awhile and going through it's assembly I have to say that the design and layout of the notebook for servicing and upgrading is really great.

Some laptop units require keyboard removal and some disassembly for things as simple as a memory upgrade or internal wireless installation. The 510c makes this as easy as opening a door and doing a simple procedure as shown in Coffee Shark's pics.

The online MSI LiveUpdate was a bonus. It also provides a couple of downloadable cool utilities for this notebook. This is from the MSI International website. That online support and update service is really nice..But, unfortunately it does not look like MSI is really marketing this unit in the U.S. with any vigor. I think that they should appoint Coffee Shark as their PR person!

It seems that Xmeld and maybe a few others are building on this platform. Maybe more to come if the word gets out.

It looks like this unit is now being sold overseas with the 9700 video and 128 of ram, but they need to get things rolling here in the U.S. if those versions are going to get over here.