MSI GF65.. Thoughts?

Any owner / people experienced with this laptop?
Is it good? Bottleneck? Overheat? Etc?

It seems to be the cheapest 3060 in my country, even against Acer Nitro 5. Dell G5, HP Victus, Etc2.
My main attraction to this is the weight 1.86kg.

Thoughts?

 

I would recommend against buying one of these, they are cheap for a reason.

I helped my brother buy one of these for really, really cheap, but there are quite a few drawbacks that the reviews didn't talk about.

The thermals are quite bad unless you have the fans at max speed in which the thermals are just okay. The build quality is quite sub-par, the aluminum is cheap and flimsy, a bit sharp on some edges, and it picks up a lot of fingerprints. The display also tends to wobble a ton too.

It's an okay laptop, but if the other options are around cost around 100-150 more, I would just look into the other options as they all are a bit better build-quality wise and with thermals.

 

I see. Thanks for the info.
Your brother still using the laptop? How is it holding?
The spec that I wanted to get is i5, 16gb, 512 ssd & RTX 3060.

It seems like the best option because its "light" but still powerful enough (1.8 kg for a gaming laptop).
Other laptops would be either heavier or considerably more expensive.
I heard underclocking it would help a lot too.

By the way, how much is really really cheap?
Price here is around 1.2k USD or the 2nd hand is still close to 1.1k USD.

 

He's still using it, he has to clean it often though, and it has some noticeable coil whine, but otherwise its held up okay.

It is quite light, but then again, because of its smaller footprint, thermals are worse and the fans are louder.

When I say really cheap, he got the i7 10750h 1660ti model for around 700 USD about a year ago.

 

Wow, that is cheap.
My country sucks, things are never that cheap here.

Is there any concern with the laptop quality?
I heard MSI laptop's hinges often break. I never own MSI before.
I like GF65 because its lightest.

For the same similar specs (8 ram, 512 ssd & rtx 3060):
- HP Victus -------------- 1,300 USD, 2.46 kg
- Acer Nitro 5 ----------- 1,350 USD, 2.7 kg
- Asus Tuf 15 ----------- 1,500 USD, 2.3 kg
- Lenovo Legion 5 ---- 1,600 USD, 2.5 kg
- HP Omen ------------- 1,650 USD, 2.25 kg
- Asus G14 ------------- 2,100 USD, 1.6 kg
- Dell G15 -------------- 2,200 USD, 2.65 kg
- MSI GF65 ------------ 1,250 USD, 1.86kg

So yeah, my option is quite limited if I want light and cheap =(
Fyi I always use heavy one so far: Toshiba Qosmio 3kg+ and EVGA SC17 4kg+.

 

The build is fine, but not particularly good. It is true that MSI laptops have sub-par hinges, and my brothers GF65 does have quite a bit of screen wobble, but that's to be had with a thin laptop.

I've heard that the Victus is alright besides the insane amount of screen wobble there is.

If I were you, I would either wait for the GF65 to go on sale, or I would just go with the Victus or maybe even the Nitro 5. There are plenty reviews of all of the laptops you have listed, so deciding shouldn't be too difficult.

 

~10 options and ~$1000 difference. If only it were simpler to pick.

I'm waiting for Alder Lake CPU's to drop before "investing" in another laptop since it will open up doors to Gen 5 DDR / PCIE / TB4/USB4 which should be stable for at least a couple of years for new products.

If you want lightweight then look at a tablet. If you want gaming it's not going to b a feather weight laptops due to the need to purge HEAT.

I would be skeptical of anything under 2KG. 4# isn't that much to tote around for the sake of it not burning up. The other consideration with these RTX monsters is the brick you need to power it sufficiently. If portability is the idea here then finding something capable of charging over USB-PD 100W is going to save you another pound or so in not having the brick / power cable.

Screen stability is a good point being made though. Weak hingers lead to catastrophe if you pick it up wrong or drop it even in a bag.

All I'm going to say is you get what you pay for. If I were to pick based on personal experience I would opt for the Dell or Lenovo. They last quite awhile and tend to be built like a tank.

 

I understand that gaming laptop arent going to be light.
I wanted light laptop that can somewhat game decently. I still have my 4kg+ gaming laptop with 1070 from 2017.

When I consider thin & light laptop with similar ram & ssd, the price is already close / more expensive than 3060 laptops.
Yes, they would have better screen (resolution, not refresh rate), lighter weight, nicer build, etc; but they idk how decent they are in light gaming.
E.g. Laptop with MX450 / Iris Xe Max.

Ah, the dilemma when buying a laptop.

 

XE is for normal day to day like the UHD you probably have right now.

Those of us that are serious about tech are always in that position of weighing the options and comparison shopping for the best options to future proof to an extent.

Sometimes just going with your gut is the best option. I would be looking at each model for complaints to see which one is going to be the least problematic option. The biggest issue tends to be either cooling or drivers.

 

I've used work laptop with Xe and seems quite ok. Just not sure how far can it go for gaming.

But as you said, because we are serious about our investment, it is hard with so many options.
Making sure that what we buy is right, good value and long lasting.

My gut feeling is pushing me towards GF65 3060 because it is not only cheaper, but the light weight too.
Yes, the RTX is the lower max-q version, but should be ok?
I havent found any good / enough reviews that can assure me to buy this laptop yet.

 

Bumping for more info...