Hi guys, I'm looking at getting a new laptop, would like to fly X-Plane as smoothly as possible in the upper range of settings, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience with something similar to this MSI Laptop

 

A short set of specs;

 

I7 6700 HQ (2.6/3.5 GHz)

GTX 980 M 8GB

16GB RAM (will upgrade to 32GB immediately)

2 x 128GB M2 SSD (RAID)

1TB HDD (will upgrade to SSD a few months down the track)

 

 

I mainly concerned with the performance of the mobile version of the GTX 980, and how it stacks up against the real version:)

 

 

Thanks

 

Smokey

I run Xplane on two 2nd and 4th gen laptops , well not too great with the settings I use. Around 15 fps and 9 in certain areas without clouds.

 

I think you should still be k on that one, but remember it is the HEAT you will have to deal with.

 

The performance would not be as a desktop of a similar config. Would also depend on your settings / sceneries-addons - aircrafts used etc... clouds 

Hi guys, I'm looking at getting a new laptop, would like to fly X-Plane as smoothly as possible in the upper range of settings, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience with something similar to this MSI Laptop

 

A short set of specs;

 

I7 6700 HQ (2.6/3.5 GHz)

GTX 980 M 8GB

16GB RAM (will upgrade to 32GB immediately)

2 x 128GB M2 SSD (RAID)

1TB HDD (will upgrade to SSD a few months down the track)

 

 

I mainly concerned with the performance of the mobile version of the GTX 980, and how it stacks up against the real version:)

 

 

Thanks

 

Smokey

Hey Smokey,

 

Our group of laptop flyers is rather small here at AVSIM, but for those of us who do fly mobile, you gotta have a strong system.  I purchased an Origin EON-15X, this past Spring, and it is more than sufficient to run any of the simulators.  My specs are in my signature, but for what I got at the price I paid, it's a great system.  You should be fine with a Skylake processor and a 980 gpu will do you just fine.  I run Prepar3D, FSX and X-plane...all of them do just fine.  In fact, I can throw just about anything at it and it handles it's own rather well.

 

Btw, Origin is a company formed by ex-Alienware creators, if that gives you an idea to the quality, reliability and durability of their systems.  Customer Service is better than Dell too.

 

if you need more info or want to bounce specs off me, send me a PM.

 

-Jim

Sounds great Jim, just a couple of issues, 1. location, and 2 price.

 

On the web site they don't have a shipping option to Australia, and without shipping costs, a comparable system would cost and extra $700 AUD:(

 

edit - actually you can buy them in Aus, but a similar config with no HDD is about $1200 more than the one I linked to in the op.

Hey Smokey,

 

Our group of laptop flyers is rather small here at AVSIM, but for those of us who do fly mobile, you gotta have a strong system.  I purchased an Origin EON-15X, this past Spring, and it is more than sufficient to run any of the simulators.  My specs are in my signature, but for what I got at the price I paid, it's a great system.  You should be fine with a Skylake processor and a 980 gpu will do you just fine.  I run Prepar3D, FSX and X-plane...all of them do just fine.  In fact, I can throw just about anything at it and it handles it's own rather well.

 

Btw, Origin is a company formed by ex-Alienware creators, if that gives you an idea to the quality, reliability and durability of their systems.  Customer Service is better than Dell too.

 

if you need more info or want to bounce specs off me, send me a PM.

 

-Jim

 

 

How is the heat ?  

Yes, you may pay more, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.  I too could have gotten away with saving some cash at the time, but I didn't trust the business practices of some manufacturers.  Here's a question for you, that system you are looking at right now, how is the graphics chip seated on the mobo?  Is it soldered, or is it a MXM card?  The nvidia 980 I have is a physical card that can be replaced, which helps future-proof the laptop.  This laptop of mine also has a desktop chip, with a modified desktop mobo, as opposed to others who use pure laptop designated hardware, which leads to thermal issues later.

 

The Eon-15X has dual fans (like I am sure the MSI has as well), but the cooling vents are plentiful beneath, and I have yet to have overheating or throttling.

 

Just more food for thought.

 

-Jim

How is the heat ?  

What heat? lol

 

Seriously though, no heat issues at all.  I game on this laptop as well as use flight sims, do graphic design work and nothing gets these fans up to full blast yet.  The only extra cooling solution is a cheap foam riser underneath my laptop, which provides about an inch of clearance for better air flow.

 

-Jim

24gb, 980m 4gb, 256GB SSD here.......runs fastttttttt

Yes, you may pay more, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.  I too could have gotten away with saving some cash at the time, but I didn't trust the business practices of some manufacturers.  Here's a question for you, that system you are looking at right now, how is the graphics chip seated on the mobo?  Is it soldered, or is it a MXM card?  The nvidia 980 I have is a physical card that can be replaced, which helps future-proof the laptop.  This laptop of mine also has a desktop chip, with a modified desktop mobo, as opposed to others who use pure laptop designated hardware, which leads to thermal issues later.

 

The Eon-15X has dual fans (like I am sure the MSI has as well), but the cooling vents are plentiful beneath, and I have yet to have overheating or throttling.

 

Just more food for thought.

 

-Jim

What heat? lol

 

Seriously though, no heat issues at all.  I game on this laptop as well as use flight sims, do graphic design work and nothing gets these fans up to full blast yet.  The only extra cooling solution is a cheap foam riser underneath my laptop, which provides about an inch of clearance for better air flow.

 

-Jim

 

 

Wow I am tempted. My toshiba I have to cool while using FS9 / FSX / Xplane using a small exhaust on top and that too after downclocking the CPU .

 

How much did you pay ? 

 

I am looking at a new skylake / Nvidia desktop in the coming months but if this type of a laptop serves the purpose it would be worth every money spent.

Wow I am tempted. My toshiba I have to cool while using FS9 / FSX / Xplane using a small exhaust on top and that too after downclocking the CPU .

 

How much did you pay ? 

 

I am looking at a new skylake / Nvidia desktop in the coming months but if this type of a laptop serves the purpose it would be worth every money spent.

Origin is running a special right now, check out their site here: https://www.originpc.com/

 

My cost is actually very close to what you can pay right now for a skylake rig.  Of course, I already had an SSD handy so I didn't have a need for the extra drive, but when you have 2 M.2 drive slots plus two SATA3 drive connections, that's 4 drives total you can have inside.  Downside is that it doesn't have a DVD drive internally, but you can find a cheap external on Amazon or similar.

 

-Jim

Origin is running a special right now, check out their site here: https://www.originpc.com/

 

 

-Jim

 

 

Thanks Jim.

Thanks for the help JIm, I hope I didn't offend, that wasn't my intent, just pointing out the difference in price, and the fact that I trust MSI probably as much as you trust your supplier:)

 

In the link I supplied in the op, you'll see that it's an MXM graphics card, so no worries there.

 

Humpty, cooling looks good, lots of holes in the appropriate places and 2 fans, so that is as good as can be expected, and if I'm not using it in an air conditioned hotel room or office, I'll use a laptop cooler to help:)

 

I've seen tests that put the 980M on par with the 7XX series desktop cards, so I'm not expecting to run with all settings maxed out, but I'd love to know what to expect running at 1080p.

 

Smokey

Thanks for the help JIm, I hope I didn't offend, that wasn't my intent, just pointing out the difference in price, and the fact that I trust MSI probably as much as you trust your supplier:)

 

In the link I supplied in the op, you'll see that it's an MXM graphics card, so no worries there.

 

Humpty, cooling looks good, lots of holes in the appropriate places and 2 fans, so that is as good as can be expected, and if I'm not using it in an air conditioned hotel room or office, I'll use a laptop cooler to help:)

 

I've seen tests that put the 980M on par with the 7XX series desktop cards, so I'm not expecting to run with all settings maxed out, but I'd love to know what to expect running at 1080p.

 

Smokey

No offense taken in the slightest Smokey.  I completely understand about being "brand loyal", and up until I discovered Origin, I was faithful to Dell, despite the customer service issues I'd had in the past with them.  It didn't help that they constantly sent me ads and coupons, just to keep me around.  Origin was recommended to me by Froogle, the guy on Youtube who does flight sim videos.  He has them as a sponsor but he did tell me they were extremely good at what they do, so I took the plunge.

 

MSI is a good name, don't get me wrong, it's just that I took about two months of research into various companies but found they lacked certain hardware, setups, competitive pricing.  I looked into Asus, MSI, Falcon, etc. but for what I was looking for (specs in my sig), I couldn't get the good deal.  Origin's full customization was a big seller for me and their warranty was just what I was looking for as well.

 

One last selling point for Origin, they aren't happy until you are.  If anything isn't right, let them know and they will fix it.  I had a rep stick with me through the whole buying, build and shipping process.  After I got the laptop, they checked in to see how everything was.

 

As for the 980 performance, yeah, I read that comparison too, but honestly, I see this chip running better than what they claimed.  Maybe it all comes down to individual setups.  I don't run my sliders maxed either, but I could if i wanted to, just not gonna get butter smooth flying. lol

 

Full screen is not an issue.  Whether it be Skyrim or P3D, the laptop handles everything with ease.

 

This is honestly the first laptop I've owned where I didn't have any complaints, and that's a rare thing these days.

 

-Jim