Crave reviews MSI Turbobook GX600 (Verdict: Ugly, underpowered... but it has a turbo button!)

Over at Crave UK, they have a review of the MSI Turbobook GX600, an utterly non-remarkable, garishly-blinged little laptop that seems both underpowered and overpriced, except... it's got a Turbo button, hearkening back to the good old days of the 486!

Anyhoo, back to the turbo button. MSI says pressing it will instantly overclock the Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 CPU by approximately 20 per cent, taking it from 2.4GHz to around 2.8GHz. It also says if you hit it while the laptop is booting, it'll decrease boot time from 1 minute or longer to around 40 seconds.
We've only played with it for a short time, but with the turbo button enabled, it scored a very decent 6,070 in PCMark 2005. With the turbo button disabled, it scored 5,409. That's better than we expected, but why not just have it overclocked by default and get rid of the turbo button? When would you not want to go turbo?

The reason is because turbo buttons are cool, guys. They are like elevator door close buttons: even if a turbo button doesn't work (or may as well just always be left on), you somehow feel more in control of your computer's speed while wildly jabbing the button.

MSI Turbobook GX600: Bringing turbo back [Crave UK]

Discussion

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#1 posted by Silva

, April 21, 2008 11:35 AM

Well, on a laptop, wouldn't overclocking permanently suck more juice from the batteries than allowing the user to choose when it needs a boost?

I really don't know much about laptops and overclocking but yes, turbo buttons are cool. Especially if it has a large red button surrounded by red LEDs that light up as the user presses the button.

#2 posted by Scuba SM , April 21, 2008 6:54 PM

Also, permanent overclocking will also increase the heat coming out of the proc, which in a small lappy might cause overheating issues.

#3 posted by liquis , April 22, 2008 8:47 AM

the elevator door close button will often save you a couple seconds of precious time, which is what you need when trying to escape from the zombies on the 5th floor.

#4 posted by dculberson , April 22, 2008 10:58 AM

Yep, overclocking uses more power and generates more heat. Seems like the Crave guys should know that?

I wouldn't mind a "slow-mo" button on my laptop, for when I'm doing something that requires more thinking on my part than the computer's. I bet it could add time to your battery life!