MSI GP60/GP70 Owners Lounge

GP60 Specifications:

CPU: The latest 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
OS: Windows 8
Chipset: Intel HM86
Memory: DDR3 ,up to 1600MHz, 2 Slots, max 16GB
LCD Size: 15.6" HD (1366x768) /FHD(1920x1080) Anti-Glare
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT740M
Graphics VRAM: 2G VRAM DDR3
HDD (GB): Up to Hybrid 24GB Nand,1TB 5400rpm
Optical Drive: BD Combo / DVD Super Multi
Audio: Stereo
Webcam: HD type (30fps@720p)
Card Reader: SDXC
LAN: Gigabit LAN
Wireless LAN: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: Bluetooth v4.0
D-Sub (VGA): 1
HDMI: v1.4
USB 2.0 port: 1
USB 3.0 port: 2
Mic-in/Headphone-out: 1 / 1
Keyboard: Keyboard by SteelSeries
AC Adapter: 90W or 120W
Battery: 6-Cell Li-Ion(4400mAH)
Power Management: Turbo Battery+
Dimension: 383X249.5X32.3~37.6mm
Weight (KG): 2.4Kg(W/battery)

MSI global GP60 page: MSI Global GP60


GP70 Specifications:

CPU: The latest 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
OS: Windows 8
Chipset: Intel HM86
Memory: DDR3 ,up to 1600MHz, 2 Slots, max 16GB
LCD Size: 17.3" WHD+ (1600*900)/FHD(1920x1080)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT740M
Graphics VRAM: 2G VRAM DDR3
HDD (GB): Up to Hybrid 24GB Nand,1TB 5400rpm
Optical Drive: BD Combo / DVD Super Multi
Audio: Stereo
Webcam: HD type (30fps@720p)
Card Reader: SDXC
LAN: Gigabit LAN
Wireless LAN: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: Bluetooth v4.0
D-Sub (VGA): 1
HDMI: v1.4
USB 2.0 port: 2
USB 3.0 port: 2
Mic-in/Headphone-out: 1 / 1
Keyboard: Keyboard by SteelSeries
AC Adapter: 90W or 120W
Battery: 6-Cell Li-Ion(4400mAH)
Power Management: Turbo Battery+
Dimension: 418x269.3x39mm
Weight (KG): 2.7Kg(W/battery)

MSI global GP70 page: MSI Global GP70


Earlier versions of the gp60/70 came with windows 7, 750gb 7200rpm hdd, dvd combo drive.

 

My review of the gp60: 4.5/5 stars. depending on what you use it for and how you use it the gp60 can be a lot of computer for the money. Its honestly not a killer gaming rig but what really is under $1000?

The Pros:
The screen is great, it has 4th gen i7, 7200rpm hdd, 2 mSata slots, 8gb ddr3l 1600mhz, its a lot for under $1000. out of the box its pretty fast but adding a mSata ssd as a primary OS drive would really make this thing fly, adding 16gb ddr3l wouldn't hurt either lol. A lot of people complain about the gt 740m gpu in this but if your not an extreme gamer then its more then enough. It runs very quite IMO but I haven't played games with it. while surfing the web and downloading some torrents it was still very quiet and runs pretty cool (doesn't burn your nuts off like my wife's older Toshiba). The fan boost button is pretty intense, when its on the fans are LOUD but you can feel it working. Speakers don't blow me away but they are pretty good for notebook speakers it has a full number pad.

Cons:
The body feels a little cheap/plasticy. no bac-klit keyboard, you have to void the warranty to make any upgrades but all MSI are like that. I've heard that they will work with you though as long as your mods were within reason. Battery life is almost 3hrs with constant web browsing which I don't think is bad but most people would consider it not great so I put it in cons. I was a bit sad that I got the DVD combo drive right before they changed it to a BD drive but its not a huge deal because I will probably swap it out for a large storage drive in a caddy. For my use an AMD gpu would have been better but most people would probably prefer the nVidia so that isn't much of a con either.

Overall I think it's a great machine for sub $1000 but if you got the cash or parents/wives to buy you Xmas presents then I would strongly recommend adding an mSata ssd as your primary boot drive.

 

I actually just bought this laptop and I must agree that it is great bang for buck.
Shaving off $100 USD made the difference of having a laptop now or waiting until January.
I am a media student who needed a quad core machine for video editing with a dedicated GPU for CUDA acceleration in Premiere Pro.
At these two requirements the GP60 does this well enough.
Even though it is plastic it is the high quality stuff, hard and with no flex at all.
I also wish the keyboard is backlit but otherwise it is a dream to use ;D
I easily get 4 hours on wireless and the lowest brightness so that's good enough for me.

It does not however have any msata slots. I opened it up tonight just be sure and def there is no slot for msata.
I'm gonna swap the ODD for the HDD and put the SSD in the slot later in the year.
Hope this helps clear some stuff.

EDIT*
Apparently there are two msata slots hidden underneath the wireless card. Hot diggity!

 

all the customization sites I've seen allow you to add 2 mSata disks to this machine. I called my MSI customer support and the guy said yes the GP60 does has 2 mSata slots on top of the included HDD slot. perhaps you just didn't notice them? or they are in a inconspicuous location.

 

I am picking this up tomorrow. After school, I'll do an "unboxing" of it, and we'll see.
I checked Google, and Youtube, and NO ONE has yet to post a review anywhere.

 

I took the plunge and opened it up just now. mine is a 2OD-072US and the 2 mSata slots are under the wireless card. I'll add a few pics in just a little bit to show where its at.

 

the 2 slots are hidden under the wifi card ^^

 

Ah ok. Guess I'm buyin' an optical bay conversion kit. I have a 120gb SSD + 500GB Momentus XT.

 

you wont need the momentus xt it comes with a 750gb hdd. mSata are getting pretty affordable you can get a good 256gb under $200 or a 128gb for a little over $100

 

Oh ok thanks for the pics! I never would have looked under the wireless card! Thanks for saving me from wasting my lappy's space lol

 

Some people might find this interesting... my windows 7 gp60 came with a windows 8 keyboard. just keep that in mind if you ever try to replace your keyboards because it matters.

 

Yes I can confirm this as well.

 

+

+rep for finding this mate. Many thanks

 

some might find this interesting... my windows 7 gp60 came with a windows 8 keyboard. keep that in mind if you ever have to replace yours because it does matter. You should be able to use a replacement from a GT/GX/GE series 60/70 if you have to. Backlit replacements run about $120-$150... I want that backlit board pretty bad but not $150 bad hopefully drivers aren't a big issue if you do try the swap. It will probably be a while b4 anyone tries this but Id love to see the results

 

How does a Win7 keyboard differ from a Win8 keyboard?

 

Hi all,
mSATA ports are there but what about the hole needed to put the screw on the mSata SSD?

 

I was wondering about this too. Was wondering how lol any ideas?

 

Hi. I'm a newbie on notebookreview. I'm going to buy a gp60 in the next few days. so I need answer for some question:
1. Does it has glossy or matte skin? Because I've heard that glossy skin is fingerprint magnet and it's very hard to clean
2. Does it get too hot when ilde or playing demanding game like Shogun 2 or Civ 5?.What about the temperature of CPU/GPU/plastic case? I've read some review on notebookcheck and realize that MSI gaming laptops usually have heating problem, it's hotter when compare to ASUS G\ Sager or Alienware. Does it true?
3. The GPU is 128 or 64bit, DDR3 (on many other sites) or GDDR5( on MSI site)?
4. What about the screen's quality? (view angle, contrast ratio, brightness, color spectra...etc...)
Thanks for help!

 

1. It has a glossy skin that does attract smudges but I guess it isn't so bad considering the overall package.
The Keyboard area is less susceptible to this than the LCD lid though.

2. It doesn't get hot at all, neither the case nor the internals as far as I can see. Nor is it loud when playing BF3 for example.
I have even left this laptop rendering videos all night with the lid closed for my media classes.
It is barely warm to the touch when I reach for it the next day.

3. IDK to be honest but it plays BF3 quite well at full HD and at Medium Details. I could push it to High and still play at 30+ FPS

4. Screen quality is excellent, with better-than-average viewing angles and it is matte (yay outdoors).
Contrast is great too with the only nitpick being the brightness.
IDK about the colour gamut though.

Hope this helps yah

 

Thanks for answering!
Can you use GPU-Z and take some pictures of GPU info(GPU clock, bandwidth, memory type)?
What about the noise,speaker and battery life?

 

Anyone gonna answer this question?
Since you were all talking about it, I figured someone had to know.

My (poorly filmed - sorry!) unboxing.

 

my screen is matte. The difference in keyboards is only a couple keys but apparently its a compatibility issue.

 

My screen is also matte.
I've noticed diffefences with the bottom keys:
CTRL, FN, ALT, SPACE, |\, Alt Gar, Win, CTRL

Where as a "normal" board is CTRL, Win, ALT, Space, Alt, FN, CTRL

GP60:


Asus G55 et al.



BTW can anyone tell me what program I need, to get the icons on the top to light up, like in the photos?
I've install everything ... and it doesn't seem to work. (maybe, because I replaced the 750GB HDD with a 120GB SSD + 500GB Momentus XT with my documents etc on it, that I was too lazy to transfer. LOL)

 

there is no way to get a msata HD in mine

 

That's not related to Windows 8, it's specific to MSI Gaming Laptop.
They moved the Windows key to the right to avoid unintentional presses bringing you to desktop while immersed in your beloved game

 

It's not a mSATA port, nothing wire to it.

 

So msata connectors are present, just not wired/enabled?

 

Ok so my brief (very) review so far:

• Build Quality: 5/10 - the bezel around the display flexes WAY too much (more so, than my old Asus K55 did, and mSATA instead of 2x SATA drives.)
• Keyboard: 8/10 - the keyboard is nice, it's responsive, and it has good travel, with little delay.
• Touchpad: 4/10 - not so good. Single left/right button makes for difficult clicks. It's also a bit stiff. I DO appreciate the hardware on/off button, and that Elantech actually has the "Disable when external mouse attached" still, while Synaptic has remove that feature.
• Audio: 0/10 - poor. Very low sound coming from the internal speakers. My very old (2005) HP Z_ _ _ did better Audio wise. It topped out at about 85 dB. (About the same as hearing traffic while sitting in a car.)
• Graphics: 9/10 for nVidia 2/10 for Intel (avg. 5.5 [(9+2)/2]). I wish they'd have totally disabled the Intel 4600 graphics, and left me with JUST the nVidia chip set. When running Windows Experience Index, it doesn't seem to like to run it on the nVidia just the Intel, so it lowers my score.
• Screen: 9/10 - bright, easy to see, and decent angles. Love the fact that it's 1920x1080, but, again, the bezel it weak.
• Graphics Output: 10/10 the ability to use 2 external and the internal monitor, at one time, give this a perfect score.
• Webcam: 0/10 - can't get it to work, can't tell if the driver is installed or not, can't find a driver on MSI's website.
• BT/Lan/WiFi: 8/10 - I don't often use BT, but it's nice it's here. Lan, I rarely use either, as I have wifi at home, and school, and the WiFi is bbout the same as my old Asus G53Sw. Gets, and retains a signal at school very well.
• OS: It's Windows 8, so I won't dock them for that, what I WILL dock them for, is a failure to have Windows 7 drivers, so I give MSI a 4/10 on that one.

GRAND TOTAL: 53.5/100


Now, it DOES play games - Star Trek Online, Euro Truck Simulator, and SimCity 2013 on full settings, full screen with ~50 fps. I haven't tried others, as I don't
care about other games. So just because I listed it at 53.5 doesn't mean it's a horrible computer... it's just my personal opinion.

 

Allan, congrats on your new purchase, and the interesting final score.

Is the audio really that poor that you must gave it 0 points? lol
Have you tried updating the Realtek HD audio driver? And adjust loudness equalization setting in the playback device property?

WEI will obtain the correct score for the nVidia graphics. If you pay attention to the color of LED on the power button you will notice the changes, white for Intel and red for nVidia, and it switches seamlessly.

Webcam = You need to toggle it on using Fn + F6. Driver is provided by Microsoft Windows. Pressing Fn + F6 again will toggle the webcam off. This serves as power switch, but not shortcut to launch any webcam utility.

MSI does provide Win7 drivers, see below driver download page.
MSI Global GP70

 

Hahaha interesting review! It seems you did point out why you scored it that way. As Kevin suggested, you can find Win 7 drivers and enabling the webcam will first install it and then you can use it with other software like with skype.

However I don't understand your score about graphics. Since you can play games fine, why the low score? The fact that it has an intel GPU is because it is embedded and it allows you to enjoy much more battery life compared to the stock nvidia GPU. Since you can force any software to use the nvidia gpu using the nvidia control panel, I don''t understand the score there haha

Overall you did have a good impression on the keyboard, nvidia gpu, wifi etc, screen so it seems like a nice laptop for the price. Maybe MSI can put some support for the screen bezel to prevent that much flex! I remember my old GX660R did have flex on the screen bezel, unlike my new GT60 thanks to the aluminum sheet with stronger plastic.

As for the sound: How about the actual quality? Loudness is nothing if what you hear is also bad. Some notebooks are louder than others, but some really give out crystal clear sound. How's the sound quality from the GP? I am curious since I don't think GP series has Dynaudio, so it might have your standard laptop speakers.

 

Hey all. Just received my GP60 in the mail and overall I'm quite happy with it. However, I have a problem I could use your guys help with.

The HMDI output is too large for my TV screen. I read that TVs are set to oversize their input and this can be fixed by adjusting the aspect ratio on the TV's settings. I've tried that and it's gotten me nowhere. The settings are very minimal for this TV.

So, I've been looking for a way to fix this on the input side with graphics settings. My old computer's Radeon HD 5570 driver settings were very useful in this way, I could adjust the output DPI and such. But the Intel 4600's settings that came on this laptop are lacking. There is no way for me to adjust the HDMI output besides changing the resolution, and on all resolutions the picture is too big for the TV screen.

I've tried updating the Intel drivers and no use. There are two graphics drivers on this computer, the Intel 4600 and the nVidia 740M. Frankly this is a little confusing; is the Intel driver for the HDMI only? Is there a way I can make the HDMI output under the control of the Nvidia software?

Thanks in advance for the help. If this isn't the right place to post just let me know. As you can see this is my first post on these forums.

 

Try changing the settings on the nvidia control panel. With these new models, the HDMI out tends to be routed to the nvidia GPU. It will help fix it but not entirely, what is happening is an overscan of the TV and then you will scale your out a % so it will degrade the signal and won't look as good even if you manage to fit the screen.

What brand/model is your TV? To find the setting. You need to find it to enjoy full native scan that will look the best

 

I have. All there is on the nVidia control panel is "3-D Settings". Nothing for resolution even.

It is a Digital Research WT322. For aspect settings it has "Normal/Zoom/Wide/Cinema". I've combed through the user manual, there are no other places to change the aspect ratio :-\
Digital Research Technologies Inc.

 

Try adjusting the resolution to 1366 x 768 on your PC first since this is a 720P TV.

 

On every single resolution, the picture is too big for the screen. Is there a way to put the nVidia driver over control of the HDMI port? I can't seem to find a way.

 

While connected, please take picture of "Set up multiple displays" from nVidia control panel and show it to us, thanks.

 

hello! anybody having GP70 could write some more information about the quality of the display? I mean the contrast, color spectrum, luminance. I want to buy a new laptop but I am hesitating between GP70 and ASUS N76VZ(which has good color spectrum,contrast and luminance). I cannot find anywhere any tests. Or maybe you know that it is the same display as in some GE... or GT...?because I found some comprehensive reviews of those models and I could check there. If not, maybe some GP owners could advise if this laptop is enough for graphic design 2D and video editing?I was considering also Samsung NP550P7C but I found some reviews that although it is a nice multimedia laptop, the display is not sufficient for graphic design/photo editing as it is too dark and with low contrast. I will appreciate any advice. Also, if you recommend GP70, please tell me if you had any technical problems, also if overheating occurs (which is a common problem with Asus). Thank you in advance

 

Gauranga: I'm no expert on these things, but my uneducated opinion on it is that the picture quality is very good. The contrast especially. However I wouldn't base your decision off this. Might be safe to go with the other one you know is good for that.

Kevin@gentec:

For the nvidia panel, this is all there is in the way of setting up multiple displays:


Intel control panel:



The "Display Scaling" option is unclickable; it won't let me change it.

Thank you guys VERY much for the help by the way. I would really like to get this figured out.

 

As you can see, both screens are connected directly to Intel HD Graphics.
Can you try to adjust the resolution in Intel HD display properties to 1366 x 768 again (2nd pic)? Additionally, play with Scaling too.

 

AH! You are a god among men. I didn't notice that it allowed me to adjust the scaling once it was set to a lower resolution. Thanks so much. The thing is the icons and text are really big at this resolution, and the Windows text size setting is global (applies to all res) so it can't just be set smaller when I'm in 1366x768 because it forces me to log on/off. But this is a small price for me to make use of my HDTV again. Thanks so much Kevin.

 

Great, you've done well.

 

there are windows 7 64bit drivers on their international site. mine came with windows 7. I disagree on audio, I think the sound is pretty good for a notebook, mine took a little while to break in but they sound pretty good now. I agree on build quality and touchpad though, it does feel cheap and the touch pad is light years behind my macbook touchpad. screen is awesome, hdmi works perfect out of the box. I will look into the webcam, as of now its like it doesn't exist but I will let you know if I get it working.

 

First activate the Webcam via the FN+F# on your keyboard. First time use usually is first time install. Afterwards use any software that uses webcams, like Skype, to test it

 

My webcam works fin out of the box with Windows 7.
740M is a dream to use for someone without a gaming machine before.

 

@Kevin@GenTechPC This was not the answer to my question. Nvidia provides the notebook manufacturer can use the 64-bit and 128-bit memory interface. The 128-bit versions are for the GK107 chip, the 64 version, the GK208 chip. This is even in the link that you posted ...Some manufacturers, such as Asus, use 128-bit memory interface ( Test Asus N56VB-S4050H Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests
), but but use 64bit, such as Toshiba ( Test Toshiba Satellite L50-A-10Q Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests). My question was, since we also find ourselves in GP60/GP70 thread what MSI used ... because MSI is normally known to always use the maximum configuration of the graphics card.

Therefore, I do not think the MSI uses the narrow 64bit memory interface. For no one can submit a screenshot on GPU-Z ... ? Then the question would be answered very quickly ...

Thanks

 

Here you go, it's GK208:

 

Thank you for the Screenshoot.

It's a shame that MSI only uses the GK208 there with its 64bit memory interface. Thus, the device has unfortunately become extremely uninteresting, because then you might as well take the CX61, which has a GT730M @ GK208 64bit. But it costs far less. Here in Germany you can get it with i3-3310m for around 400Euro or i5-3230m for around 470Euro. Invest for the GP60 has mab but still good 200Euro more (from 670Euro) and although the case is the same, it just lacks the mSATA slot on the CX61. When you consider that one of 700Euro already gets the GE60 with 2x mSATA and GT750M @ 128bit GDDR5 VRAM, together with a Haswell i5-4200M, the existance of the GP60 does not make sense.

 

You are right, 740M is just slightly better than 730M with similar specs.

 

Guys help! I just got my gp60 and upgraded to windows 8.1, and now my g-panel button has disappeared! each time i press the g-button or fn+f4, it just opens user defined key and is asking which program i would like to assign it to. please help, need the extra boost. i already updated all the drivers and the scm from the msi website. i just need to find out which button im suppose to assign it to.

 

Remove existing SCM software and download a new version for Win 8.1.
MSI Global – Download Center