MSI GS70 Stealth Gaming Notebook Review

Overview

 

So Gaming laptops then; slow, heavy and hot are usually the things we may think of when the subject of Gaming laptops crops up! But here we have a Gaming laptop (Notebook) from MSI that seems to buck all of those traits! The MSI GS70 Stealth (MSI GS70 2OD-246UK) Gaming Notebook sports a Core i7 Haswell CPU an Nvidia 765M GPU, 16GB RAM, a 17″ 1920×1080 screen, it’s less than an inch think and weighs in at just 2.66kg! This is a real Gaming laptop then… 😉

Quite frankly the full spec (see below) is amazing, coupled with the size and weight the MSI GS70 Stealth has to be one of the best Gaming Laptops on the planet. Most people seem to agree as the Stealth has already won countless awards, most notably at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2014.

 

 

You can almost see how small and compact the MSI GS70 Stealth is, as even the box that it comes in is diminutive and adorned with MSI’s Gaming Dragon, of course! As you can see from the image above the GS70 Stealth also features Networking by Killer and a keyboard by SteelSeries.

The side of the box features the following websites, complete with QR codes, should you have a QR Code reader to hand…

Dragon Army – dragonarmy.msi.com
MSI Youtube Channel – www.youtube.com/user/MSIGamingGlobal
MSI Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/gamingmsi

 

 

On opening the box we see the contents nicely packaged and we can see the notebook nicely wrapped up in an MSI Gaming bag, it’s not the best presentation in the world but it’s good enough. I just wanna see what’s in that bag… 😉

 

 

In addition to the notebook itself, we have a power brick and a UK power cable, as this was a review sample that’s all that was included in the box, but I guess it’s enough, so let’s crack on…

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of MSI

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

Wow! I could just leave it there as really that’s as much as you need to know, but I guess you want more, so…

On opening the box and gazing at the MSI GS70 Stealth for the first time you’re left in no doubt that this is one of the coolest looking (thinnest) laptops you have ever seen. It’s certainly the most portable and coolest laptop I’ve ever seen, 22mm thick and only 2.66kg? Amazing!

Everything is so compact, I’m amazed at what they have managed to squeeze into this thing! It even has two 128GB SSDs in RAID 0 and a 750GB hard drive, along with its Haswell CPU, NVIDIA 765M GPU, 16GB RAM and x4 USB 3.0 slots. I want one of these and I haven’t even turned it on yet, therefore, the best is yet to come…

 

 

As you can see from the images above the GS70 Stealth is very stealthy, it’s incredibly sleek in design and predictably features MSI’s Gaming Dragon in the centre of the lid. I was going to wait until later to tell you this but, the Dragon logo even illuminates (hehehe!), how cool is that!

 

 

Looking from the front of the GS70 Stealth we can see an array of LEDs on the left, these LEDs (from left to right) indicate; Battery, WiFi, Bluetooth, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Disk Activity and Sleep Mode.

On the left side we find, x3 Audio ports (Mic, Line Out & Headphone), x2 USB 3.0 ports, x2 Mini DisplayPorts an HDMI port and the Killer enabled Network port. MSI’s innovative Matrix display features 3 external screen display capabilities, allowing you to output to 3 displays simultaneously using HDMI 1.4, and mini Display-Port 1.2. This also means that the GS70 Stealth can support the new 4K resolutions, although I’m sure the on-board Nvidia 765M is unlikely to be up to that task. To the left of this we find one of the main heat exhaust ports, through which the GS70 expels its unwanted heat.

On the right we find a reset switch, 2 more USB 3.0 ports, Card Reader (SD(XC/HC)), Power socket and a security lock slot and finally another exhaust vent.

 

 

Opening the lid of the GS70 Stealth allows you to get the full effect; it’s subtler than you would think, not exactly Gamer, but cool none the less. Of course if you’ve been reading you’ll already know that the MSI GS70 Stealth has another trick up its sleeve.

 

 

The keyboard looks good, but you can see that compromises have been made here and there. The first is that the normal Windows key has been moved to the right of the space bar to make way for the Fn key. This is a good move as it keeps the space bar closer to the WASD keys, some manufacturers just add the additional Fn key forcing the space bar further away. Another key shift is the \ key, which has been moved to make way for an elongated shift key, again good for Gaming. The odd one is the Enter key that has been shortened, but is wider, not sure what the thinking is here, but I’m not keen on that idea. Otherwise the keyboard looks good and feels good to boot.

The keyboard itself is also designed and manufactured by SteelSeries, as you can see from the image above.

 

 

The touchpad is a smart, discrete affair, installed slightly left of centre. It’s completely flat, with no specific click area, I quite like this idea as it keeps the design simple, yet it works perfectly well. Just use the left side for left click and the right side, well you get the idea…

Behind the keyboard is a large ventilation section running the full width of the keyboard. Behind this we find the only button aboard the GS70 Stealth, the power button. Beyond this we find the two stereo speakers built into the hinge of the Notebook lid.

 

 

Finally we reach the most exciting part about powering up the MSI GS70 Stealth, the backlit keyboard. Not only does it light up it also allows you to choose multiple effects and colours. I’ll just let the images below give you some idea of what this back-lighting can look like, enjoy! 😉

 

 

The keyboard back-lighting can also be controlled via the installed software. An array of colours and modes can be selected and strangely, due to the position of the LEDs, none of this seems as annoying as you may think! Take a close look at the image above to see what’s possible, it’s undeniably impressive.

 

 

But maybe the Pièce de résistance, which I didn’t even realise at first, is that the smart Dragon logo on the back of the lid also illuminates. And I think you’ll agree, damn good it looks too! Simple touches like this help raise the MSI GS70 Stealth to a Design/Quality level that few others seem able to reach.

 

 

The underside of the MSI GS70 Stealth is predictably somewhat uninteresting, but you can clearly see the nine rubberized feet, ensuring that the notebook doesn’t move during those frantic Gaming moments. That’s not easy either as this is one light weight notebook don’t forget.

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

As notebooks often come pre configured with a host of specific settings and with a wealth of (unwanted) software installed, for testing purposes we test the notebook as is, as it comes out of the box. This is after all how most users are likely to use it. Although Graphics Card Drivers are updated if necessary. The MSI GS70 Stealth came pre-configured with Windows 8.1 64 Bit.

The following games were used during testing:

• Battlefield 4
• Lego: Marvel Super Heroes
• Remember Me
• Batman Arkham Origins (benchmark)
• Metro Last Light (benchmark)
• Tomb Raider (benchmark)

 

Hardware Performance

 

Let’s start off by taking a look at our benchmarks, to allow us to gauge what Gaming Performance Level the MSI GS70 Stealth offers. It’s also worth noting that a Laptop/Notebook will never offer the same level of performance when compared to a similar priced Desktop. Sorry guys that’s just how it is…

Benchmarks Used:

 

 

Results: (all Notebooks at default settings)

Notebook Model	Batman Arkham Origins	Metro Last Light	Tomb Raider	UNiGiNE Heaven	3DMark (Fire Strike)
Gigabyte P25	68.00	23.00	27.10	440	3370
Toshiba Qosmio	67.00	24.67	26.00	438	3242
MSI GS70 Stealth	55.00	17.00	19.80	311	2402

 

As you can see the MSI GS70 suffers in the benchmark scores due to its choice of GPU (NVIDIA 765M), while this GPU is still good for Gaming it can’t match the raw horsepower of the NVIDIA 770M used in the other laptops listed. This is a bit of a shame as the GS70 Stealth is truly an awesome notebook, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by its Graphics performance. During the Metro Last Light benchmark I also saw a fair amount of stuttering, this was far less prevalent when testing the other notebooks. In Game it is also necessary to turn down some of the settings to get a decent frame-rate, but we must not forget that the MSI GS70 Stealth is not a desktop Gaming PC!

The GS70 Stealth’s GPU Core could also not be overclocked (not too sure why), but if you tried via MSI’s own Afterburner, each time you applied the new Core Clock setting it just reset to the default. Obviously this is a shame as it means the only way of increasing the GPU performance is by way of the GPU Memory Clock speed. This did yield some good results though, as I was able to add an additional 1000MHz. This resulted in an increase in GPU performance of almost 20%! I’m sure (hope!) MSI will squeeze a 770M into the GS70 Stealth if they can, because if they do the GS70 Stealth surely will become one of the finest notebooks on the planet.

Another strange thing that I came across while testing is that if you pull the power out while Gaming the Frame-rate immediately drops by 50%! This I assume is to ensure better battery life while unplugged, but the knock on effect to the FPS is obviously significant. Other notebooks tested perform similar stunts in an attempt to preserve battery life (the Gigabyte seems to do the same at around 50% battery). The bottom line here is (and this applies to all Gaming laptops/notebooks, not just the MSI GS70 Stealth) that these power hungry Gaming laptops need to be plugged in, pretty much all of the time! Now this isn’t so much of an issue, unless you feel the need to Game in the park perhaps, as most places now have power points that you can access, pubs, cafes and trains even.

The Disk subsystem is also worthy of note as the GS70 Stealth features x2 128GB SSDs in RAID 0 and an additional 750GB Hard Drive. Boot speeds and Gaming loading speeds are simply awesome with this setup and MSI should be applauded for squeezing this into such a small/thin chassis.

Other minor issues that I would like to highlight is the slightly lacklustre screen, mainly caused by an aggressive Anti-Glare coating, that seems to subdue the image somewhat. In use the keyboard was excellent, in its responsiveness, but I found the space bar a little award to press, due to the position within the chassis, as there was little gap between the bar and the raised chassis. The power socket was also a little awkward as it’s half way up the chassis on the right. Meaning that the power cable it close to your mouse, assuming of course that you are right handed!

The sound produced by the on-board Realtek chip was good, and also output via the on-board speakers was also quite impressive. This is thanks to MSI’s Audio Boost Technology and the installed Sound Blaster Cinema software. Headset sound was also very good, again aided by the software installed, the Gold plated Audio Jack and the optimized headset AMP.

Of course there’s also on-board Killer networking allowing for the natural prioritisation of Gaming network traffic. We have seen this before aboard the MSI Z87-GD65 motherboard and we were quite impressed. Here not only does it control LAN traffic but WiFi traffic also.

 

Final Thoughts

 

There’s no doubt that the MSI GS70 Stealth (MSI GS70 2OD-246UK) is one of the coolest notebooks that we have ever seen, the combination of excellent aesthetics, incredibly slim chassis and of course its light weight, meaning that the GS70 Stealth is one seriously desirable piece of kit!

It comes in a smart Dragon emblazoned box with carry handle, although the un-boxing is not quite as amazing as one would perhaps think. It’s once you take the notebook out of the Black Dragon cover that your eyes will begin to light up. This is one beautiful looking notebook, and as soon as you have it in your hands (the notebook that is!), you will know you want one! While holding it (the notebook that is!) you should then mull over the specifications: Core i7 Haswell CPU, NVIDIA 765M GPU, 16GB RAM, X2 SSDs in RAID 0, 750GB HDD, x4 USB3.0 ports, back-lit keyboard by SteelSeries.

Performance is unfortunately only good; and to be honest I was expecting more, maybe that’s a little unfair, but… The chassis and the aesthetics promise so much I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by the performance of the Nvidia 765M GPU. In many of the games that I played, I found that I had to turn the settings down, which is always frustrating of course! But to be fair I think the MSI GS70 is more about size, portability and aesthetics than raw power, and if that was MSI’s goal, then they have nailed it.

The price is fair too, at the time of writing the MSI GS70 Stealth is retailing for round £1,500, which when compared to the competition (and there is no competition from an aesthetics POV) is very fair. But, here you’re paying for what at one time was the thinnest notebook in the world and although it’s not one of the fastest, it certainly is one of the coolest…

 

Verdict

 

Many thanks to MSI for providing this sample for review