MSI GS75 Stealth Evaluate: A 17-inch Gaming Laptop computer That’s No Monster
MSI struck gold with final 12 months’s GS65 Stealth. It had all of it. Trimmed bezels, an unbelievably skinny chassis, a 144Hz display screen, and spectacular gaming efficiency.
MSI has introduced that very same design as much as the 17-inch measurement with the GS75 Stealth. Together with that bigger measurement is up to date parts like Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics and three storage growth slots. It begins at $2,099, however our configuration maxed out at $three,000. That’s not low cost, and now that competing gaming laptops have additionally thinned out, does MSI’s design nonetheless have the magic?
Skinny, gentle, and unfastened
The MSI GS75 retains the identical fashion as final 12 months’s 15-inch mannequin. It isn’t flashy, however it’s distinctive. Simplicity is the secret. The highest is only a stable, easy black panel, accented by MSI’s dragon emblem. There are frills, no lights, simply straight edges and gold trim alongside the hinges, the define of the touchpad, and the hallmark vents alongside the perimeters. It’s even the defaulted shade of the RGB keyboard. All this gold won’t be sufficient to make the laptop computer really feel luxurious, however it’s good change from all of the purple, blue, and inexperienced LEDs within the gaming world.
Although it’s principally plastic, the GS75 feels stable. It’s not on the extent of an aluminum laptop computer just like the Razer Blade, however it’s not flimsy both. There’s a little bit of flex within the lid, in addition to the hinge, however until you’re heaving on it, you wouldn’t discover. The laptop computer opens with one finger, and even has a small lip to tug it open. The hinge does shut a bit prematurely, nonetheless. When you get it 75 p.c closed, it slams shut, which led to various unintentional shutdowns.
The dimensions of the GS75 is one in all its largest strengths.
The dimensions of the GS75 is one in all its largest strengths. It weighs slightly below 5 kilos and is simply zero.7 kilos heavier than the 15-inch mannequin. That’s an entire pound lighter than the ROG Zephyrus S GX701 and 17-inch Lenovo Legion Y740. In the meantime, it’s only a sliver thicker than the Razer Blade and Asus ROG Zephyrus S at zero.75 inches, and a stable zero.15 inches thinner than the Legion Y740. The MSI has stiff competitors within the space of portability, however it’s nonetheless among the many most cell gaming setups you should purchase.
MSI has thrown in nearly each port conceivable. That features a USB-A three.zero port, an ethernet jack, headphone, separate three.5mm mic jack, barrel plug for energy, and even a mini-SD card slot. Video outputs come within the type of HDMI and USB-C Thunderbolt three. Additionally included are two further USB-A ports and a USB-C three.zero port. That’s a improbable choice, offering all of the spots for peripherals you might ever want. It won’t look all that clear, however that’s the worth you pay to dwell a dongle-free life.
No place for palms
The keyboard structure, which features a quantity pad, is spacious. Included are full-sized arrow keys, a column of macros keys to the left, and cozy spacing throughout the board. There’s additionally extra key journey right here than your common keyboard, making for lengthy, satisfying keypresses.
It’s comfy, too, although just a few modifications can throw you off. The Home windows secret’s shrunk and moved to the fitting facet, which provides additional area for an enlarged left-side Management key. MSI has additionally sliced off a part of the fitting Shift key to make room for a full-sized set of arrow keys, which is all the time appreciated. The arrow keys additionally intrude upon the quantity pad, which pushes the zero key within the heart. It’s a irregular for a tenkey setup, however it’s a great compromise for gaming.
Riley Younger/Digital Traits
The placement of the touchpad is the most important hindrance to the typing expertise. Reasonably than centering it with the keyboard as most producers do, MSI left it dead-center. Whereas that appears extra symmetrical, it means your proper hand is continually resting on the touchpad whilst you kind. That makes unintentional clicks and cursor strikes onerous to keep away from. It’s made worse by the touchpad’s extra-wide dimensions. You’ll not often hear me complaining a couple of touchpad being too massive, however right here, it’s on the detriment of the typing expertise.
Keyboard backlighting is normal. It’s powered by SteelSeries and is lit per key, which suggests you’ll have a just about limitless variety of combos to customise. I desire the extra restrained look of the Razer Blade’s lighting, however the MSI is even and brilliant.
A show that defies stereotypes
Gaming laptops was once saddled with poor shows, however that’s modified over the previous couple of years. The GS75 Stealth has a wonderful display screen — quick and responsive for video games, with good distinction and colours for all the pieces else. Like a variety of high-end gaming laptops in 2019, the GS75 has a 1080p 144Hz panel, that means the display screen deal with framerates as much as 144 FPS (frames per second) with out display screen tearing or artifacts. It’s easy and exquisite.
The GS75’s picture high quality is correct line with its rivals, which suggests it’s improbable for what it’s meant for use for. The display screen’s brightness goes as much as 345 nits, which is loads brilliant for the non-reflective matte show. Colours are vivid but correct, and the slim border across the display screen removes any distractions out of your gaming. It’s not as correct as a MacBook Professional, however it’s dependable sufficient to do some video or photograph modifying on. That’s necessary, as a laptop computer just like the GS75 is likely to be a lovely alternative for content material creators, who simply occurs to be gamer.
The identical can’t be mentioned concerning the audio system. They’re positioned alongside the ahead nook edges and are loads loud, however sound awfully tinny. Bass is totally absent, and all the pieces sounds prefer it’s being performed via a filter. You’ll discover higher audio system on all the pieces from the Razer Blade to the Legion Y740.
Six cores at its disposal
The MSI GS75 Stealth comes with the most recent six-core Intel processor that gaming laptops and high-end productiveness machines have used for the previous 12 months or so. It’s a particularly succesful CPU, particularly when matched with 32GB of RAM, which our unit got here with (although that a lot RAM is certainly overkill).
In Geekbench, there’s not a noticeable distinction between the GS75 and another widespread gaming choices, whether or not it’s in single core or multi core efficiency. To see the way it did in a real-life state of affairs, we additionally encoded a 4K film trailer from H.264 to H.265. The GS75 completed the duty in 2 minutes and 28 seconds, which is 10 seconds slower than the Zephyrus and seven seconds sooner than the Predator Triton 500.
Our assessment unit got here with 512GB of M.2 SSD storage from Western Digital, which proved to have some super-quick write and skim speeds. Storage is accessible as soon as the again cowl and fourteen screws are eliminated. Not like most gaming laptops, the GS75 Stealth contains an additional M.2 SSD slot, which comes empty. It’s a pleasant contact for people who admire some additional growth room sooner or later.
A gaming rockstar that stays cool underneath stress
We weren’t shocked to see the GS75 Stealth is a robust performer within the graphics division. It comes geared up with the RTX 2080 Max-Q, essentially the most highly effective cell graphics card you will discover. How a laptop computer handles a card will all the time be totally different, so we ran the system via 3DMark Time Spy to begin.
The GS75 Stealth isn’t on the entrance of the pack. The additional cooling and bigger chassis of the ROG Zephyrus S produces a 14 p.c enhance in Time Spy. In actual fact, the MSI is even a tiny bit behind the Acer Predator Triton 500, which squeezes the 2080 Max-Q right into a smaller 15-inch chassis. Once we headed to play some precise video games with the GS75, we noticed very comparable outcomes throughout the board.
Utilizing the system’s 1080p display screen, we pushed graphics settings to max in nearly each recreation and noticed framerates that would make the most of the excessive refresh display screen. We’re speaking 129 FPS (frames per second) in Fortnite, 97 FPS in Battlefield V, and 122 FPS in Civilization VI.
These are spectacular numbers in comparison with earlier generations of gaming laptops, however they’re proper according to rivals from Asus, Acer, Lenovo, and Razer. The ROG Zephyrus S is as soon as once more on the head of the pack, whereas the RTX 2070 machines we’ve examined are on the again. The GS75 is correct within the center. Its efficiency is most intently matched to the Acer Predator Triton 500, which is a 15-inch laptop computer with an Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q, which suggests the additional chassis area isn’t affording the GS75 a lot benefit.
That mentioned, the thermals listed here are nonetheless stable. MSI has thrown in an additional fan and 7 heatpipes for good measure. That doesn’t lead to higher efficiency, however it does preserve each floor and inner temperatures surprisingly low. It’s a really comfy gaming expertise, particularly on the keyboard and palmrests, which by no means felt overly heat. It additionally means an extended shelf life for the inner CPU and GPU, which aren’t continually being overheated.
And we did put it via its paces. By plugging into a big 1440p and 4K monitor, we needed to know the way it might deal with increased resolutions. At 4K, most the video games in our take a look at suite had been easy and playable, touchdown round or simply beneath 60 FPS. The one exception is Murderer’s Creed Odyssey, which stays far too demanding for top resolutions on a laptop computer. You’ll need to keep on with 1080p there.
No G-Sync, however first rate battery life
A whole lot of laptops in 2019 are shifting to G-Sync screens, which frequently bars methods from utilizing Nvidia Optimus to modify between the discrete graphics and devoted graphics. Whereas G-Sync has its advantages, the result’s horrible battery life. The MSI GS75 Stealth avoids the matter, which lets the system earn a win there.
Whereas the distinction in battery life in an intense take a look at like Basemark is much less vital, our lighter assessments are the place the GS75 takes the lead. It’s round twice so long as the Lenovo Legion Y740 17, with 6 hours and 51 minutes in native video playback and 5 hours and 45 minutes in internet searching. In comparison with an ordinary 15-inch laptop computer just like the Dell XPS 15, that’s a disappointment. It received’t final you thru a full workday. However for a gaming laptop computer, it’s among the finest performers on the market, neck-and-neck with the Razer Blade (for those who purchase it with out the optionally available G-Sync display screen).
Our Take
MSI’s thin-and-light design doesn’t stand out fairly as a lot because it did up to now. However that doesn’t imply the GS75 Stealth fails on its promise. With good battery life, a formidable display screen, and nice gaming efficiency, it nonetheless has sure strengths over its rivals. It’s on the upper finish of the pricing scale, although it nonetheless affords a substitute for the spendiest machines from Razer.
Is there a greater different?
MSI affords a smaller, 15-inch model, the MSI GS65 Stealth. The smaller measurement and extra inexpensive value make it a lovely choice. We nonetheless suppose the Razer Blade has the most effective steadiness of gaming capabilities, however it’s additionally one of the vital costly gaming laptops you should purchase.
In the event you’re set on a bigger display screen, the GS75 is one in all your higher choices. The Legion Y740 17, although, is an effective different. It’s fairly a bit bigger and heavier, although it’s as highly effective and a bit extra inexpensive.
How lengthy will it final?
The MSI GS75 Stealth is futureproof, and its specs are up-to-date. The construct high quality, nonetheless, might make maintain the machine with a bit extra warning. It comes with an ordinary one-year guarantee for repairs.
Do you have to purchase it?
Sure. The MSI GS75 Stealth has just a few flaws, however it’s skinny, moveable, and lots highly effective for even essentially the most hardcore players.
