The MSI gaming notebooks are already old acquaintances from our technical catalog; the Asian company has been polishing their concept for several generations and following its commercial success, and it seems to have connected with their demanding niche buyers. We tested the MSI GE70 Apache Pro-012 for a few weeks and these are our impressions.
As usual in their high-end series, MSI delivers a machine in a meticulously packing that shows-off the classic red dragon. Besides the laptop, the charger is included (which can be a bit too much, considering the energy demand of the computer), and there’s the manuals, the documentation and the CD with the drivers.
Regarding the MSI GE70 design, it retains the aesthetic line of other models, with a nod to its gaming character but without great fanfare, at least while we keep it closed. It was built with high quality plastic materials and reinforcements in sensitive areas such as the connection panels, and the design is quite remarkable under the keyboard or the rest area for the wrist.
No computer with 17-inch screen can be seen as a laptop, but MSI’s effort to reduce the weight of the equipment is remarkable, almost 3 kilos, while direct competition such as Alienware and ASUS have models that weigh more than 4 kilos. Details such as hinge resistance, the reinforced rear panel or the finish of the profiles is indeed very good.
MSI sets up this laptop with a powerful Intel Core 2.4 Ghz i7-4700HQ of four cores, 12 GB of DDR3 RAM memory at 1600 MHz in one module and a 1 TB hard drive, manufactured by Hitachi. In addition, it incorporates a DVD burner (it’s a pity that they reserved the Blu-ray for the newest model, 500 euros more expensive).
The graphics card is a vital component of any equipment with gaming in mind and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M with its 2 GB of dedicated memory does not disappoint. We are facing a computer capable of running virtually any game in high definition without having to adjust the level of detail.
Some of the newest titles, such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Far Cry 4 or Dragon Age: Inquisition exceed 30-35 frames with high level of details (not the maximum) and have only had problems with the demanding Crysis 3 in which we have to choose between going down to 720 or lower the details to a mid-level to make it playable. In any case this is a delightful computer with fantastic performance and the best we can find in portable format (we leave the discussion of optimization problems on many PC games for another article).
We need to note the Cooler Boost function that has a dedicated key and increases fan speed to improve cooling and to squeeze the most of the hardware. The downside is the noise that it generates, though you are supposed to be enjoying your favorite video game with some good headphones and you won’t even notice.
Among other details of the laptop, it is worth noting the keyboard, designed by SteelSeries (a reference to the gaming universe) as it offers a great touch and accuracy very well above the average. Thanks to its dedicated software, we can design customized macros for games and also customize the backlight settings.
The sound aspect that is often neglected by many other manufacturers has proved to be another pleasant surprise: a powerful 2.1 system designed by Dynaudio that offers great sound quality, a surprising volume level and surprisingly strong basses considering its size. It’s really outstanding.
Conclusions
MSI is a veteran manufacturer of gaming laptops and it shows. This is a remarkable product that provides great performance and pays attention to key details in this category, such as the sound system, the dedicated GPU or the backlit keyboard. It does not seem fair to us to take down the final grade by aspects, like the weight or the autonomy, considering the niche they are targeting and the current technology limitations.
The MSI GE70 can be found at various online and physical stores for a price of around 1000 dollars, a good price considering its features and it comes with Windows 8.1 installed. An interesting product for gamers looking for a similar experience to the desktop, but in portable format.
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