Laptop Testdrive - MSI GS76 Stealth

 

I thought I would post a quick review of this laptop, since it's been my daily driver for work, for about the last 2 months. Some light gaming, multi-monitor workloads, and a little bit of benchmarking have been done in that period of time.

I bought the computer here. 

Specs:

• 99.99wh battery
• 32gb 3600hz ddr4
• 1tb m.2 drive
• 2tb back up solid state drive
• i9 11900K
• RTX 3070 (full desktop version)
• 360hz refresh IPS panel

Summary:

     It's a lot overkill for what I needed at work, and it was never intended for such a purpose. I have a nice work laptop- i7 11700, 16gb ram, touch screen, fingerprint scanner. Basic, but much better than average for spreadsheets and email. The screen cracked, and in the process of repair, the shop damaged the laptop so it's being replaced. I had to use this new laptop that I ordered from Bestbuy as my new work replacement in the interim. I ordered this particular laptop with the idea that I would be gaming out in the world a little more being that I travel so much. This is by far the most expensive and most powerful laptop I've ever had. I spec'ed it out with the only option not checked being the 64gb of ram; 32 should be enough for any game or anything really. 

Pros:

• It's just lightning fast in all desktop processes. As good or better than my overclocked i7 10700k desktop in a compact package.
• The refresh rate is insane. I could not tell that much of a different between 240 and 360, but there was a difference. I felt like I needed to get a new mouse for some reason it was so good. Colors are bright and blacks are inky black in any situation. When compared to other laptops around the office, the screen is far and away better.
• Lots of airflow that I can see both on the top and the bottom of the case. I'm using a laptop cooler, but I don't think it's doing much more actual cooling.
• The battery when using the desktop graphics and not the RTX 3070 lasts a very long time, almost the whole day. When the graphic card is activated and when playing a game, it lasts about an hour and a half which is not bad at all.
• The case is metal and feels insanely sturdy with no flex at all. It's heavy, beautifully machined, and feels like you are a bad bitch. it's thin for it's weight as well. 
• The keyboard has decent travel and is a pleasure to type on.
• Trackpad is a great size, large and the multi-touch control panel works great.
• Hinges for the monitor are not made of plastic.

Cons:

• The sound, although full and bright, is very low volume. My other MSI laptop that is half the price is 3 times as loud. I've tried drivers, settings, any little trick to get it higher to no avail.
• The fans are screaming loud during gaming or anything that uses the video card. You can adjust this, but only between a few pre-determined settings to get a somewhat quieter fan curve. It's a hot little machine. 
• Speaking of hot, this PC unless on the highest fan settings, teeters on the dangerous side of thermal throttling all the time. Just let those fans scream and get use to it.
• Switching to using the video card instead of on-board graphics is a really painful process that you will not know if you got right or not, and even then, will only work on the applications you designate. The only way to ensure it uses the video card all the time is to deactivate internal graphics in the device manager.
• 2 USB ports does not seem like enough to me. There are a ton of other IO options so you can break out your dongles and get to work, but I'm use to at least 3-4 USB ports.
• I like that it's a heavy machine, but it's heavy, so that's a con.
• Won't fit in a normal 17-17.3 laptop bag. It has a little extra meat on it, so in most cases will not fit in your budget minded laptop bag. 

In Games:

• It runs overwatch at the full 360hz, full ultra everything with not so much as a drop of sweat. The fans turn on and off during play like a jet taking off and I like it.
• Playing Control was awesome. Full RTX DLSS at a high FPS, no issues. Video card temps got pretty high. Having the full RTX 3070 and not the laptop version has it's benefits and it shows.

Conclusion:

      I played a few various other games and there was no stopping this machine. I have the luxury of having a really nice desktop that plays everything on full settings the same way, but I have never experienced this in a laptop before without all kinds of issues.. even with the same or better specs. I feel like this is a true desktop replacement hooked up to a second monitor, keyboard and mouse. Something durable enough to throw in the car and head out without worry.