I work for a computer rental company – and we do, rather irregularly – receive requests for high-end gaming systems. For the smaller developers (and even the larger ones) it can be convenient to rent a laptop or a computer for presentations made away from home.

I am relatively familiar with the leading manufacturers that make gaming computers – Alienware, Lenovo, etc. But I recently came upon one I had never heard of before.

MSI? Anyone? Nope?

Well, you’re not alone.

MSI snagged my attention attention-grabbing headline announced that they were embarking on a new mission to develop gaming-friendly laptops.

So who – or what – is MSI? It’s a company founded by five friends – and it stands for Micro-Star International. According to the company’s website, innovation and style represent its two core values – and its motto is “Insist on the best.”

Insisting on the best has resulted in the announcement of the MSI GX680, a gaming laptop boasting a quad-core, second-gen Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA’s GeForce GT55M discrete graphics card and plenty of room for up to 16GB of RAM.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president to the global sales department over at MSI Notebook, said that the GX680 notebook computer boasts superior performance and the best wrap around sound available.

But while none of the above features really sets the GX680 apart from its competitors enough to deserve the “best” designation,  there are a few additional bells and whistles that manage to distinguish it. For one, this laptop offers cinema-quality THX certified sound. For another, a series of pretty cool LED lights surround the laptop – and they can be set to pulse in tune to whatever movie or music might be playing at any given time.

There is no official pricing available as of yet available, but other, similar products released by MSI appear on Amazon, Newegg, etc. at a price point of $1,200 plus.

As many game development companies tend to invest in sturdier, more powerful, less-portable desktop options, it can put a real wrench in their plans when it becomes time to travel and show off their works in progress. That’s where an intensively performing laptop can save the day.