DaCM's MSI GE60 Mini-Review

After receiving tons of help and gathering a huge amount of information from this forum I thought I'd contribute something now that I've finally made my decision and bought an MSI GE60 .

As there are already some great reviews written by other forum members I didn't want to write yet an other one. Instead I'll focus on the areas which weren't discussed in detail yet and the ones that I personally was concerned about before buying the laptop. Let's get started:



Touchpad

I understand that people's impressions about touchpads can differ significantly, but mine is basically the opposite of what others have experienced. I simply love the GE60's touchpad. I think it's coating with the grid of little bumps is very nice because it prevents your finger from sticking down as you only drag it on top of the bumps, not the whole surface.

The touchpad is able to recognise even the complex 3-finger gestures with great precision. During about 2 hours of use I've only had 3 times when the mouse didn't do what I was expecting, mostly when trying to select text (which is tricky business on touchpads anyway). I didn't have trouble with palm rejection either, though it might be because my hands don't touch the touchpad while typing .



Keyboard

Not having used a chiclet keyboard before, I was worried if the one on the GE60 would have enough key travel for my liking. Fortunately it does. It's definitely comparable to traditional style laptop keyboards it terms of travel depth. However - as others have noted as well - the keys require quite a lot of pressure to press down and because of this after 5 days of use I'm still having issues with not registering keys while typing, mostly with the spacebar when hit from a side (any missing letter errors in this post are because I'm typing it on the laptop ). I'm getting better at it though, so probably in a few weeks I won't have any errors at all.

For gaming the keyboard is very nice, because of the feedback the keys give when pressed down, though this is only a personal opinion as I know some people like if keys don't have a distinct 'click'. Also there is only a low amount of keyboard flex under pressure. It's the worst at the right CTRL area (right from the L key) and as you go left it gets better and better and by the WASD buttons there is absolutely no flex at all.



Speakers

While most reviews mention that the speakers are great, I just have to state how amazing they are too. Of course as all laptop / in-built speakers, the GE60's ones lack in terms of bass as well, however the four-speaker setup gives very loud and clear sound. In some music tracks you can even feel the surround sound like if you were in a hall and the music was coming from the sides!



Build quality

In my opinion the weakest point of the machine is it's build quality. Of course to an extent this is to be expected as you won't find an other laptop with these specs that's not at least 0,5kg / 1,1lbs heavier and thicker. It's still somewhat concerning that the GE60 basically flexes everywhere you press it. If you apply pressure to the palmrest corners even the whole shell flexes.
It's not like it's going to fall apart though and the SteelSeries keyboard lives up to it's name in that it's the least 'flexibe' part of the laptop. In general usage and transportation I don't think this is a seriuos issue as this doesn't mean that the GE60 is badly built overall, it's simply the nature of the materials it uses.

However as link1313 also pointed out in his review the DVD drive is loose in it's slot and it can move 3-4mm's / 0,12-0,15 inches vertically. I'll try to find some homebrew solution for this issue like stuffing some rubber pads in the hole, because sometimes the drive gives a rattling noise when typing 'hardly' (which you will do on this keyboard).

The plastic surfaces are fingerprint magnets as well unfortunately, but so far this didn't bother me because it only takes a few seconds to wipe them off with a cloth every couple of days.



Screen

I've never used a 1080p screen on a laptop before, so for me the resolution was a huge bonus in default. The screen overall is definitely above average quality. The viewing angles are no IPS-wide, but 3 people can comfortably sit in front of the screen and see a mostly wash-free image. Vertically the situation is the same: if I sit down with a hunched back and head low and I set the screen in a comfortable angle, then sit up as high as I can I still see no washing out, so no problem here at all; you won't have to keep adjusting the screen as you move in your chair.
The colors are nicely saturated despite the matte coating and the screen is outstandingly bright: indoors the comfortable brightness level for me is around 40%.



Temperatures / Cooling

Before buying the GE60 I was a bit worried about the machine's gaming temperatures given it's one-fan cooling system. Fortunately the laptop doesn't overheat even in extended gaming sessions. After about 3 hours of playing Skyrim on max except Medium shadows and AA lowered to 2x, but with HQ texture and object mods, the max CPU temp was 93C and the max GPU 86C. The averages were of course a bit cooler, with the CPU in the high 80's and the GPU around 82-83C (this is just my estimate, I didn't remember the average numbers).
From this it's visible that the cooling system is definitely not an outstanding one, but it gets the job done. I'll try overclocking next week, but I'm afraid the temperatures might be the limiting factor, not the capabilities of the GPU.

The exterior of the machine does get warm when under load. Unfortunately the affected part is the middle and left side of the keyboard, with the warmest being the spacebar and the plastic between it and the touchpad. The WASD keys heat up as well, but it's only a few degrees over body temperature so I didn't find it annoying even with my fingers resting on them. The spacebar however - while not excessively hot either - might prove to be annoying in games where you have to hold it down as it gets a bit even warmer.

Edit: It seems like my temps are abnormally high (about 10C more than they should be) probably due to bad factory paste. I'll repaste the machine as soon as I get allowance from MSI to open it (a warranty sticker covers a screw and you actually have to email them for permission to open it to maintain your warranty -.-) and update this section.



Overall I think the MSI GE60 is a great laptop. Being the lightest and most portable of it's category I think it can be expected that there had to be some tradeoffs to squeeze the hardware in such a thin shell, so in my opinion the build quality issues and the only-adequate cooling are dwarfed by the amazing performance and the great screen and sound you get from the machine.

Also note that because I've only included the parts in this review that I felt were missing or not detailed enough in other reviews, it might seem a bit negative, but it's because the main selling point of the machine - it's performance - is very well discussed on the forum and in other reviews, so I skipped that altogether.

If you have any questions or suggestions about things that didn't receive enough coverage in my review either feel free to point them out and I'll extend it with them.
I also plan to add some videos to the review demonstrating the viewing angles and the build quality.

 

great review, I'm looking to upgrade from my ASUS G53 which weighed 8.3lbs + charger so it should be a good choice despite the not so great plastic build quality. I'm just worried that it's a fingerprint magnet and not as solid as say the MBP or other aluminum housed laptops

 

Well, the GE60 is only 5.26lbs + charger, but the build quality is far from an aluminum laptop's level. It's a fingerprint magnet as well, however it didn't bother me so far, because it only takes a few seconds to wipe it off when you need to.

 

Thank you for the review. I am looking into getting a Sager or this base model 16GA from Xoticpc. It has a more subtle look than the GE60 (but it is the same machine) and a few "barebones" configuration options I find appealing.

Does it seem to you that the intake area for the fan seems a bit small / restricted? In photos I cant help but feel like the fan has a very small area from which to draw fresh air.

 

The intake area is quite small indeed, it's basically a 'half circle', but it's radius is much smaller than he fan itself. The exhaust area is wide enough though. Probably a larger intake hole would make the machine run a few degrees cooler which would be a welcomed thing on the GE60. (It doesn't overheat as it is, it could just run cooler..)

Forge does have a solution to the issue though .

Spoiler

 

For the price... its probably one of the best mainstream gamer laptop...

 

Thank you so much for your review.

 

Well, I wrote it to contribute something after gaining so much information from other forum members so it's great to see that it helps .

 

If you think speakers are amazing on the GE series, then you'll absolutely love the speakers from the GT series. They are out of this world.

Mhmm, much better than the Acer V3 and Lenovo Y580.

 

Great review! Will be receiving mine in a week or so. Just sad to know about the flexing stuff. I really hope that this is not true or if it is, then the problem is with your unit/faulty unit . haha

 

Haha, I don't think so . It's simply because of the plastic it's made out of and that can hardly be faulty.

 

I heard about this issue but somehow it kinda subsided with that said it is highly possible that u got a bad unit(weak build) ). Another possibility is you got huge hands

 

Well, I have relatively small hands, but I don't think I have a faulty unit either . I'll try to make a video of it.

 

A video would be great!

 

Is it really necesary to get a green light from MSI to repaste the laptop? Also, what email address did you send the request?

 

I had to contact the Hungarian company that handles MSI repairs here, so their email address wouldn't be of much use to you. I wasn't even sure if they would allow me to repaste (I think they wouldn't) so I told them I needed the permission to replace the HDD. This allowed me to remove the sticker without a problem and I hope I'll have my SSD by the time I need repairs .

 

Have you played guild wars 2 on it? Curious to see how it handles that game.

Thanks

 

I don't have an account myself (ANet is not selling their own game on their site... -.-), but I've used my cousin's one for about an hour. The game ran at around 35(-40)FPS with everything on high, no AA in PvE with less than 10 players around me. I couldn't try WvWvW (too long queue), but I would probably have had to lower these settings to get acceptable FPS there. I think if you lower LOD or reflections and post processing it should run fine in all situations.

 

You mentioned in another thread that the GPUs are not changeable in the GE models.
Are the wireless adapters also soldered in?

 

The wireless adapters are completely changeable.

 

Thank you Forge for the info.

You too seem to be quite knowledgeable about this laptop.
Do you find it to your liking?

I've read complaints about the keyboard, touchpad and screen frame.
Is there any truth to that or do those reviewers just gripe about minor inconveniences?

I would like to get the GT model but my budget cannot go that high.
I guess anything would be better than a Pentium M 1.7 GHz with 64 MB Radeon X300.

 

The screen frame has some flex give it's plastic construction, but the hinges are very rigid, so the screen doesn't move during usage even when moving it around.

I'm actually finding the keyboard better and better as I keep using it. It might just be my hands adjusting to it, but I feel as if the buttons 'broke in' a bit, and don't require as much pressure as before. When you get it you'll have quite a few missed keystrokes, but with time you'll get used to it (at least that's what happened to me) and it feels pretty good to hammer the keys like a retard in games without the fear of breaking the buttons, because you know it was designed to require much pressure .

I've read negative feedback about the touchpad from people, but I find it very nice and usable. 3 finger gestures mean no problem, palm rejection works (my palms rarely touch the touchpad, but I've tested it once) and I like the surface of it with the grid of little bumps. I sometimes mess thing up a bit though, but it's probably because I've set the sensivitity higher than default and sometimes a tap gets registered as a double tap and it starts selecting things. Overall it's very usable and I'm completely satifsied with it.

By the way if you don't need much portability you can try to get a last gen GT laptop. If it has GTX 570 or better graphics it'll be stronger than a GE60/70 and it's probably in the same price range now. You also get better speakers, backlit keyboard and better cooling.

 

To be honest, I've noticed I can configure a GT60 680m barebones for about $200 more than what I paid for my GE60. ($1200 for the GE60, $260 for the mSATA SSD, and $35 for the upgraded wireless). I have a 256GB M4 lying around from a long time ago, so I'm not factoring that into the equation, and I'm assuming I can get Windows 7 for less than what the reseller would charge me. Also assuming I can switch part out (BR drive, wireless) into the GT.

Eh. Too much work.

 

That might be the way to go.
I usually leave my laptops plugged in all the time so battery life isn't important.

Appreciate the advice! :thumbsup: