Most gaming notebooks have a certain stigma attached to them. While some of the amend systems bachelor are more than than capable of running the latest graphically demanding PC games out there, they're oftentimes hulking beasts that tin can hands tip the scales at over 12 pounds.

Recently, nonetheless, gaming notebooks like the Razer Blade accept helped steer the industry towards slimmer class factors. Example in point is the MSI GS70 Stealth Pro notebook we'll exist looking at today, a descendant of the hefty GX60 we looked at early last year.

MSI GS70 Stealth Pro - $2,099.99

  • 17.three" one,920 x 1,080 IPS LCD (130 ppi)
  • two.5GHz Intel Core i7-4700HQ
  • 16GB DDR3 1,600MHz RAM
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M GPU 6GB GDDR5
  • 3 x 128GB SSD RAID 0
  • 1TB HDD 7200rpm
  • SteelSeries keyboard backlit in total color
  • 4 ten USB iii.0 , HDMI, two x DisplayPort
  • Wi-Fi b/g/n, Gigabit Ethernet
  • Windows 8.1
  • v.9 pounds, 16.47" x 11.29" 10 0.85" inches

MSI'south GS line consists of portable gaming notebooks with a focus on performance and portability. They're generally very slim, very sleek and lightweight compared to the GT series, MSI'south nigh powerful (and big and heavy) line. But don't be fooled, as the peak-of-the-line GS70 Stealth Pro is packed with the sort of hardware that'll likely put most desktops to shame.

The unit we tested came packed with an Intel Core i7-4700HQ processor clocked at ii.5GHz, paired with 16GB of DDR3 1,600MHz RAM and Nvidia'southward GeForce GTX 870M GPU with 6GB of GDDR5 memory. A 17.iii-inch full HD anti-cogitating display takes care of the visuals with a resolution of 1,920 x i,080 but it'south the storage system that may surprise most.

Ane would look a solid state drive to go along with this sort of configuration. Instead, MSI is using non 2, but three 128GB solid land drives in a RAID 0 array for a blazing fast boot drive. There'south also a 1TB hard bulldoze spinning at 7,200RPM to handle storage duties.

Other specifications include a Killer E2200 Gaming Network card, Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 and a backlit keyboard past SteelSeries. Our price as tested here today is $ii,099.99.

MSI describes the outer chassis of the GS70 Stealth Pro as brushed aluminum grayness, although under the right lighting, it almost takes on a purplish tone. The ii-tone outer hat features MSI'due south and the gaming series logos. The correct side of the motorcar is home to a bombardment reset hole, dual USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, the power connector, a Kensington lock and ventilation slots.

The dorsum of the notebook is free of any connectors as the remaining I/O ports are found beyond the left border. From back to front, nosotros have an Ethernet jack, HDMI, two mini DisplayPorts, one powered and one standard USB 3.0 port, and headphone, SPDIF, mic audio jacks.

A series of LEDs are positioned across the front left edge of the organisation. These are indicators for battery status, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, caps lock, number lock, hard drive and sleep state.

Opening the lid reveals the 17.3-inch anti-cogitating, matte display. It's framed by a textured flat black plastic bezel that'southward a scrap of an eyesore due to how thick it is, especially beyond the top and bottom where the 720p webcam with dual microphones and another MSI badge reside.

The SteelSeries keyboard with number pad fills the surface area nicely without feeling cramped. It'south slightly inset but more chiefly, the keys are backlit in full color and can exist programmed to your liking. A audio bar and the power push sit down in a higher place it and a large touchpad beneath.

A set up of half-dozen rubberized anxiety on the lesser keep the system firmly planted on a flat surface. In that location's also a serial of vents (1 hiding a subwoofer that's part of the Dynaudio audio system), the obligatory stickers and multiple screws property the back panel in place.

With 16GB of retention and enough of storage, there's really no reason you'd need to open things upwardly for expansion purposes. This does, of form, meant that the bombardment is not-removable -- hence the same battery reset button. Pressing the button will initiate a bombardment reset, the aforementioned blazon you'd expect if you lot removed and reinserted a battery in any other notebook.

Software and Operation

The GS70 arrived with a 64-bit copy of Windows 8.ane. As I typically do with a new system, I showtime headed over to the add / remove programs to approximate the amount of bloatware I'd exist dealing with. In this case, there were half a dozen or so apps that I removed from the first including XSplit Gamecaster, MSI Social Media Collection, MSI Remind Manager and a trio of Norton programs.

All graphics-based benchmarks (unless otherwise noted) were performed with the discrete Nvidia GPU selected as the recommended graphics carte in the Nvidia control panel.

Every bit you can see above the GS70'southward GTX 870M GPU can handle modern games at twoscore - 60 fps when using medium graphics settings in full HD resolution, but max out the eye candy and more often than not you won't be able to hit the 30 fps playability threshold. Equally long as you lot keep it reasonable you'll exist able to savor most games on the market, which is keen for a laptop this thin.

The GS70 breezed through our informal YouTube 4k resolution video test without breaking a sweat. CPU usage never went higher than 10 percent and the clip never showed whatsoever lag.

MSI GS70 Stealth Pro Scorecard
3DMark 4231
PCMark vii 6196
iTunes encoding 59 seconds
File transfer (small files) 5 seconds
File transfer (single big file) 4 seconds
Common cold boot time 12 seconds

The iTunes encoding tests consist of converting 14 MP3s (119MB) to 128Kbps ACC files and measuring the functioning's elapsing in seconds. The GS70 was washed in merely under a minute.

For file transfers, we measure how long information technology takes to copy ii sets of files from one location to another on the same drive. The small files test consists on transferring 557 MP3s, totaling two.56GB, while in the large file the aforementioned MP3s were zipped into a single two.52GB file.

Battery Life

I conducted our standard notebook bombardment tests on the GS70. Our video playback test consists of looping a 720p rip of the motion picture Inception at full screen with max effulgence and Wi-Fi disabled. This is a taxing test that resulted in just 1 hour and 18 minutes of battery life.

These results were obtained with the graphics card gear up to "car" meaning it selects either the integrated Intel graphics or the discrete Nvidia card based on what information technology thinks is best for the job at mitt. The bombardment life was so poor that I ran the examination again with integrated graphics selected but received the exact same results downward to the minute. We were able to bring that upwardly to ii hours and 16 minutes, nevertheless, when toning down our exam with 60% brightness.

Usage Impressions and Conclusion

I was thoroughly impressed with the Dynaudio system as it was able to fill a big room with crystal clear music at merely fifty percent volume. At 100 pct, tunes remained distortion-free simply it was simply as well loud for regular listening. Around l-lx percent was the sweetness spot for me.

The speaker system is only one office of the equation equally the Sound Blaster Cinema 2 software certainly helps things out. I've ever been a fan of Sound Blaster's Crystalizer, a tool designed to "restore portions of sound lost during compression." Enabling it and adjusting the slider certainly makes music seem more than "live" which is the intended consequence.

Just to see how much of a deviation the Sound Blaster software made, I disabled it and was instantly met with a flat and dingy experience. I'd certainly go on it running if given the selection.

Keeping expectations in check, I'd rate the speaker system as ane of the best I've heard on a mobile platform. That's of import on a gaming motorcar although I suspect most will adopt having a set of quality headphones handy for extended gaming sessions.

It goes without maxim that the storage system in this car is incredibly fast, hands outperforming the dual SSD RAID 0 setup found in the Acer Aspire S5. With that speed, nonetheless, too comes the take a chance that in its RAID 0 configuration if whatsoever one of the 3 drives fail, y'all will lose everything. This is somewhat offset past the fact that you also have a terabyte drive available for storage -- and offsite deject backups are getting ever more than affordable as well.

In any case, I personally like the thought of exchanging chance for speed every bit I'd proceed mission-disquisitional information backed upward at all times but I tin can't speak for everyone.

MSI has done a neat job with the display on the GS70. Electing to get with a matte cease over a glossy panel will no doubt appeal to gamers equally it well-nigh eliminates reflections nether bright lights. Side-to-side viewing angles are superb simply there is a chip of color shifting present when looking at the screen from to a higher place or beneath. That shouldn't be much of an result, yet, as one could only tilt the screen for optimal viewing.

The GS70 can get pretty loud during intense gaming activeness. As for heat output, the fan on the left side of the system seemed to expel much more heat than the right. Even still, the meridian expanse of the notebook only below the left bottom corner of the brandish got extremely hot -- far likewise hot to even concord a finger on for more than than an instant.

The system also heats up just as much on the underside which is likely why MSI covered the upper half of the base of operations with a felt-similar material. Without it (I touched a few of the exposed areas), it'd be far as well hot to sit down in one'due south lap.

That said, I still wouldn't feel also comfortable using the GS70 in my lap while gaming. Observe a prissy desk-bound or a similar flat surface that gives the machine plenty of breathing room and you're good to become. Fortunately, the keyboard area and the palm residual don't get very warm at all.

The touchpad on the GS70 is ane of the very few faults I could find with the machine. I would depict its operation every bit finicky at best. On several occasions, it would completely fail to recognize finger swipes. And not simply one time; I'1000 talking 4 or five swipes earlier the touchpad would register an input and move the mouse.

Non to audio every bit though I'm making excuses, but once again, I suspect most serious gamers will use a quality gaming mouse anyway. The touchpad is all the same very abrasive to deal with during normal use only given the system'due south target audience, I don't think it'll exist a major issue for almost.

The SteelSeries keyboard, meanwhile, worked dandy. I'll admit that the font used on the keys is a chip different but that doesn't really affect operation. The keyboard as a whole did showroom a flake of flex during use but again, it's far from a bargain-billow. I had no bug as it relates to accuracy when typing equally in that location was enough of real estate and then I never felt cramped.

The backlit keyboard is another solid addition to the GS70. I especially like the fact that the characters on each key are transparent and let light shine through. Well-nigh "backlit" keyboards only illuminate the edges of the keycaps which pretty much defeats the purpose entirely.

There'south plenty of customization available with backlight coloring and macros within the SteelSeries software. There's even a feature that'll tape how often you printing each key. I'm not entirely sure why such information would be useful, simply it'due south pretty bully nevertheless.

With four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and 2 mini DisplayPort connections, this organisation is more than than capable of handing a multiple input accessories, an external drive or two and some larger monitors. MSI certainly did a nice chore hither.

If you're serious about spending $2,100 on a notebook reckoner, odds are that y'all're either looking for a desktop replacement or something that will handle existent gaming without breaking your back while on the go. As evident by our criterion results, you may non e'er be able to run every unmarried game with every fleck of eye candy on merely yous can get pretty darn shut, and that'due south saying something for a laptop that's simply 0.85 inches thick.

The MSI GS70 Stealth Pro isn't without mistake - namely a flaky touchpad and poor bombardment life - but if you tin overlook these few glaring bug and value a lean footprint, this organisation is more than than capable of coming together the needs of pretty much anyone.

Pros: Vibrant display with a matte finish to eliminate reflections under bright lights. Blazing fast SSDs. Keyboard with configurable backlighting is a dainty addition. Solid gaming operation in a portable and elegant packet.

Cons: Touchpad functioning is rather finicky when it comes to registering gestures or even swipes. Bombardment life was some other weak betoken, although that'southward to be expected for a machine of its kind.