MSI GS65 Stealth-002 15.6" Razor Thin Bezel Gaming Laptop NVIDIA RTX 2070 8G Max-Q, 144Hz 7ms, Intel i7-8750H (6 cores), 32GB, 512GB NVMe SSD, TB3, Per Key RGB, Win 10, Matte Black w/ Gold Diamond cut

Comment

I have now owned this laptop for about a month. I spent a long while looking for that holy trinity of gaming laptops: thin, powerful, and good battery life. I finally narrowed my choices down to this laptop or the GIGABYTE Aero 15X, but I decided on the MSI because I was more wary of the GIGABYTE brand. My last laptop was probably twice as heavy and had been worn out so badly that the moment it was unplugged, it would die, so this is quite a step up. Unboxing the laptop and setting it up, I was very impressed and found myself wanting to figure out all the quirks and features this thing has. After a month or so of use, here are the main things everyone should know about it... Pros: Extremely thin and light! I was very happy with the size, which is considerably smaller than my previous HP Pavilion, and probably half the weight. However, despite being light, the weight is proportioned perfectly. When using one hand to open the laptop, the bottom is heavy enough to not be lifted up with the screen. Design! Not going to lie, the gold bezel is pretty snazzy. Its sleek and looks even spiffier than a MacBook. I also prefer the gold MSI dragon emblem to a backlit one. Specs! This is my first gaming laptop, and it plays all of the titles I want without any issue. Im not super picky about all the details, but its a quality setup. You can play probably just about any of your favorite games on standard or even highest settings no problem! Speed! This is a beast of a laptop. Maybe its because I havent gotten a new laptop in a while, but from a complete shutdown to completely on, its maybe 10-20 seconds. Thats quick in my personal experience. Everything goes from black and dead to 100% in a very short amount of time! Settings! You can easily adjust most of your settings from Dragon Center; fans, color/display, keyboard. FN will also highlight some easy, quick selections like keyboard colors, opening Dragon Center, disable trackpad, screen display, webcam, etc. Cons: Keyboard! This is just a personal nitpick, but the font of the keys looks like the 2002 Spider-Man Movie font. The backlit RGB keys are a cool feature, but one I havent used much so far. Speakers! Im not sure if its just mine, but the speakers occasionally dont work without headphones unless I shutdown and restart. SSD Size! I got the 256GB version. I probably should have looked into it more, but the 256GB is essentially split in half between writeable date (c:) and backup (d:). So you really only have about 150GB at default. I will edit my review if I can figure out how to change the hard drive partitions, or upgrade the SSD. Throttling! Once you hit about 30% battery life, a AAA title (in my case, Batman: Arkham Knight) on the highest settings will start throttling majorly. Lots of lag and slow response from the computer. However, the moment you plug it back in, your game will be back to its visually stunning, 60fps self. So far, it hasnt been an issue, but just dont expect to be gaming for 5 hours straight on this thing. Fans and heat! Thankfully you can choose your options for how loud the fans can be, but if running a AAA title, youll probably want to set it to "Cooler Boost," which is incredibly loud but keeps your laptop at a decent level of heat (65 C on average). Still, its a little off-putting when you have your game drowned out by the sound of a noticeably loud whirring of laptop fans. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my purchase. $1,800 is a good amount of money, but I do believe it will last me a while and I will get plenty of use out of it. Just be wary of the storage, since youll either want to get the 512GB model for $300 more, or install 1TB SSD yourself for $250. Most of the things I mentioned I can get over, but this is obviously not THE perfect laptop. Youre still getting great value for your money!

Show more

Comment

I tried. I really did. I bought this laptop back in August, very eager to use what was, up to that point, the most high-end computing device I ever bought. And the most expensive. Little did I know that I would embark on an insane odyssey of stupidity and frustration. To put it simply, the laptop started manifesting problems almost right away. The audio from the speakers would fade away as I would switch from earphones to the computers native speakers. It just wouldnt produce any sound. I would roll back the drivers, update again, install new ones, pretty much every trick in the book, including a factory reset. And it would work, until it finally didnt. Thats when things got nutty - the speakers went from no sound at all, to a garbled, tinny, reverbed, distorted mess. It was awful. So I call up MSI customer support for a repair. Ok, fine. The Amazon return date was up? Not to worry - surely, MSIs warranty was beefy enough to match the price and brand prestige. I knew something was up when I called in to their support line and was asked to pay shipping. And yeah, the problem manifested AGAIN after the "repair." No sound, and then a garbled mess. I even did a factory reset, and the problem persisted. That should tell you the problem is with the hardware. At this point, I am annoyed - I just spent more money on a computer than I ever did, and I was dealing with persistent, basic problems. So I asked MSI for a replacement. No can do. Warranty doesnt cover replacements. Only repairs. UGH. I sent it back in, for a second repair. Guess what happened? The problem manifested AGAIN. This is a defective machine, period. But will MSI stand by their product and do the right thing, nope! Sorry - the warranty only covers repairs. And so, if we had it MSIs way, we would be caught in an infinite loop of problem-repair-problem-repair, for ever (or until the warranty runs out). So let this be a lesson to all of you. Never buy MSI. Their policies suck, and their computers are lousy. I am stuck with $2000 paper weight, as far as I am concerned. I will have to look into some legal action. As a resident of California, perhaps the Lemon Law will protect me. Never. Buy. MSI.

Show more

Comment

It wasnt white like described, its more of a light silver. The backlight on the keys is very blue-ish. Those two things along with the gold logos just made it look trashy, definitely not what I expected. The laptop felt very premium, the keyboard was absolutely perfect in my opinion. Tried to update the GeForce graphics drivers after the Nvidia app downloaded them, I got an error message saying those drivers werent compatible with my os. So clearly theres an issue as Nvidia experience grabbed those drivers. I didnt try any further as the look of the laptop was not what I expected and would just annoy me. I opted to spend an extra $200 to get the gs65 with the same specs, in black, but with the added feature of individually lit rgb keys.

Show more

Comment

Computer is thin, light, and beautiful. Super fast and gaming is a breeze. I consider myself a light gamer, playing simulation/ world building/management games like Cities Skylines, Tropico 5, Sims 4/3, Project Highrise & this computer takes everything you throw at it. My husband also steals it for PUBG and says it runs exceptionally well (he really likes the 144 hz refresh rate). (It can get hot when playing, but I keep it on a desk at all times on top of this cooling pad and it really helps to keep it cool: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNMB3KS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) This is a huge upgrade from my cruddy Macbook pro 13 that i bought just last year. Goodbye apple!

Show more

Comment

I just received this laptop today, purchased for myself as a work laptop. I wanted something slim and powerful for the budget I was given and that would ultimately be fairly lightweight compared to most chunky gaming laptops. I have to say that MSI has certainly delivered. The packaging was very thorough and included a rather large microfiber cloth and ensured the laptop made it without any issues. Speaking of the laptop itself, it is a bit thin feeling at points but considering how light they made it, the metal casing is an acceptable tradeoff. It has a slight bit of flex in some spots when pressed, but nothing alarming compared to most laptops Ive used over the years. The speakers are one of the weak points, having typical laptop quality but this was purchased for the things it delivers on. The new Intel chipset and 1060 combined deliver incredibly smooth graphics and ultimately have no stutter, delay, or any other noticeable hiccups while multi-tasking for work or even letting large Windows updates run in the background as I continue (yes you, W10 1083). It even has a large amount of ports available, including a Thunderbolt 3 and MiniDP+HDMI. Ultimately, I would recommend this laptop for you either as a business grunt machine that can game when youre away on trips or ultimately as a very portable gaming rig to supplement or even replace a desktop.

Show more

Comment

First things first, this is a good laptop. Unless you are incredibly picky, you will be happy. But I do have some beef that is self fixable by any owner. Firstly I did not heed the bloatware warning and I am reaping the consequences, even after uninstalling there are many bugs and spam keeps downloading. Please trust me and just completely reinstall windows, you will be much happier. All drivers are on msi website (but I barely used any of them because you dont need them... Why not use windows drivers if they aint broke??). 2 important notes if you reinstall: use the windows installation to delete all partitions and reformat to one partition. Otherwise msi will install their spam again. This is crucial. Also, before you install you can configure it to use Intel RST drivers, if you want RST drivers you pretty much have to add it to the windows installation, I messed up and couldnt get them after but they arent needed.. Secondly you can easily decrease cpu temperatures without decreasing performance by undervolting. Dont be scared, its not dangerous. Only overvolting is dangerous. Worst case scenerio you have to restart your computer. I recommend Throttlestop, and I am easily running -125mv. Ive heard owners run -150mv, if you are concerned just run -100mv. Then create a task scheduler to start throttlestop when you log in. Everything is solid. I love the screen and LOVE the keyboard. This thing smashes games, yeah its only a 1060 but thats plenty for me. If you need more just get the 1070 version.

Show more

Comment

We were originally eyeing some pricier laptops but shot for the MSI GS65 after seeing some favorable reviews across the web. We are not disappointed. Pros: - The performance: Its simply a monster laptop. It has no problems running CPU heavy programs like Photoshop and Adobe Premier. It makes productivity apps like Excel and Onenote run without a flicker of disturbance and will run every game I have on high settings -- most on ultra, even. I sometimes have as many as four intensive programs open, and it handles it with pure finesse. - The weight: Its extremely lightweight for how powerful it is. I can easily take this laptop with me wherever I go. Clocking in at 4.14 pounds, its a simple move for any distance. I dont see this weight being an issue for most people. - The design: Unlike your typical gaming computer, the Gs65 sports a sleek and professional design. The programmable keyboard allows for both a creative design for your home, and a simple business oriented design for work. No matter where you use this laptop, it will be appropriate. Mini-con: The dragon logo may have a less than professional “feel”, but if it’s truly an issue — it’s nothing a sticker can’t solve. It also has a very thin display, without a ton of black space (minus the bottom which has about an inch?), so that makes for quite an appealing look. Cons: - The placement of certain ports: Most ports are in perfectly fine places, but the HDMI and charging port are located towards the center of the right side of the laptop. This may not be a universal issue for some, but for me it causes some disturbance to my setup. If these ports were pushed to the end (near the screen) Id be able to comfortably fit everything on my desk. - The noise and heat: This is not uncommon for gaming laptops, and I happen to believe this laptop handles this issue decently. The only reason Im placing this as a con is because Ive noticed the MSI GS65 may be more susceptable to noise issues without much intensity. Ive run some simpler programs that were met with loud-ish cooling efforts, but overall its not a big deal for me personally. Heat wise, the laptop is almost always a little warm -- and after a prolonged period it can become scolding. Again, not uncommon. - The speaker quality: This is my biggest con. I listen to music 95% of the time Im using my laptop, and the speaker quality is pretty abysmal. The laptop does not have a great max voume either, so if you do plan on getting this machine, do not expect great things in that department. Id invest in some decent speakers or headphones if you are an avid listener. Side notes: - The bloatware: MSI sure does have a lot of programs to accompany your machine. I dont know enough about all of them to put them as a pro or con, but I appreciate the effort to add some helpful features. - The battery life: I think its pretty good for a gaming laptop, but its not great. - The OS: Never been a fan of windows 10, but that can change :) Thanks for reading! Hope this helps.

Show more

Comment

So I will start off by saying, I like this laptop, but Ive had a few hiccups. To start, the unboxing... the computer came in a regular old brown box which I was kinda shocked to see that housed the power supply and then a much more sleek box that had the laptop inside. I like to keep the boxes so in case it gets stolen, I have the model number and serials, etc... When I booted the laptop up the first time, everything was working pretty well out of the box. Some annoying things are that when I would right click, if you just glanced the keyboard at ALL, the whatever menu you had up would close. There are different inputs on this laptop if you use 1,2,3,4 fingers and that took some getting used to. I still am having problems even when I swear I am not touching anything on the touchpad where menus just close. Still working through that one, might be a windows 10 thing but I have had 3 other laptops and none have had this anomaly. Secondly, the steelseries 3 engine backlit keyboard was working fine, for about a day. When I showed up to my DnD game, I had it set on Disco which is basically multicolored shimmering. I play with a couple of gay guys and a straight guy... and the gaybees absolutely drooled over the colors on the keyboard and some might end up getting a standalone steelseries keyboard because of it. Then during the middle of my DnD game (when I was using the keyboard), the backlighting switched from my preset to just plain white background. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the steelseries 3 engine software, dragon center software, and updating the drivers. Nothing worked. I contacted customer support and their suggestion was to basically revert from USB to an old image using MSIs burner/system imager. I didnt want to do that so I basically found if I reverted the steelseries 3 engine software back to 3 or 4 versions back, the keyboard would respond to the presets and to backlighting changes. Quirk, and it is a software thing not a hardware thing so I cant dock it too hard. I like multi-display support as in the last couple of days, Ive used it on my home 27" monitors. The batter life works pretty well, but it will suck you dry if you are on performance mode. To get the advertised 8hrs, you basically have to be on "regular" or about 50% brightness. The dragon center is nice to mess around and tweak things. Per the version I got GS65 stealth thin with 1060 GTX graphics it works fine for what I play on it (mainly MMO RPGs on max settings and steam games). Im not a big FPS person, but it does the trick for me. Basically isnt far behind my GTX 1070Ti in my desktop and it is ultra portable which I like. I wish on the PSU there would have been a USB port. I know that is strange, but my last two laptops have had USB ports on the power supply and it was very convenient. The overall design is super sleek and sexy. I like the black steel look. Overall, I like the laptop. I am still working through a few things that I suspect are more software related, but could potentially be just the sensitivity of some of the hardware. I would recommend.

Show more

Comment

I work from home. Im a 3D modeler/Graphics Artist and I cannot stress how upsetting it is for the price I paid for this laptop that not even 2 months in, it has issues. I received this October 16th 2018. Today I got "The Blue Screen of Death" as shown in the photo. Not really even 2 months yet. the fan is chattering so loudly that its become an issue just being obnoxious broken sounds. I was out of work over a month waiting for this laptop, now Ill be out of work again trying to have fixed or having to replace something brand new. I wont be buying another MSI product. My last MSI gave out only 2 years in. I paid over $5,000 for that one. Another issue is the graphics seems to not be compatible with any version of Photoshop that Ive tried. It crashes immediately so I had to just turn it off for PS and a few other things that are important to my line of work.

Show more

Comment

Dont get it from msi since this one is only 1 yr waranty and it also does not come with the limited white box. Had to return since there some dents on mine but i will be purchasung from hidevolution since they give u 2 yr waranty with the wooden box. This is a better value of a laptop compare to razer blade since it has finger print reader and lower price with more ram memory.

Show more