MSI GS70 Stealth Pro 210 or Sager NP9377 need help deciding

Hoping someone here is familiar with Sager laptops because it would help me get a feel of both brands and make it easier for me to decide. So I've been stumped over deciding between which of these two laptops to get. Price isn't an issue I guess because they both come out to around $2k in the end plus or minus some.

With the way I specd out the Sager, here are the main differences between them:

Stealth Pro - Intel Core i7-4710HQ (2.5ghz - 3.5ghz) Sager - Intel Core i7-4810MQ (2.8ghz - 3.8ghz)
Stealth Pro - 2x128gb SSD totaling 256gb (i disabled raid) Sager - 1x250gb Samsung 840 EVO SSD
Stealth Pro - no optical drive Sager - 8x Super multi..etc

Everything else besides those^ is for the most part the same. So like I said price is irrelevant because they both end up costing about the same save a few $ difference. I put the optical drive up there as a difference but in all honesty, that also won't affect my decision as I don't use optical drives. Can't remember the last time I've ever needed an optical drive for anything. Hence why in the Sager build, I chose the stock option for optical drive just so I could install Windows. So with those two differences in specs listed above (not including optical drive), which would you guys choose? I'm not familiar with Sager laptops so I'm leaning more towards the Stealth Pro unless someone can prove otherwise. I'm liking the Stealth Pro for it's lightweight and slimness. Steelseries is awesome as well.

Oh and if this helps, I would mainly be using either laptop for school work and light gaming. If I really wanted to game, I would just build a desktop with better specs or get a desktop replacement. I would mainly be playing LoL, minecraft, rs, skyrim, and ffxiv. If my friends wanted me to, I would play other games, but the ones I listed are the ones I would be playing consistently. I'd like to be able to play these on their highest settings but high would be fine as well I guess.

Ok so with that said, could anyone help me decide which one they think would be the better option? I won't be ordering this until sometime next week but just thought I'd ask now.

 

stealth:
-better keyboard
-arguably better screen(theyre pretty close)
-obviously much lighter and more portable
sager:
-better cooling
-more power

the processors wont matter much. the cooling is an issue with the stealth pro. if those are the only games you plan on playing, i would say the stealth with the 860m would be better. it can run skyrim on ultra and will be a lot cooler.
it pretty much comes down to whats more important to you. if you plan on bringing it different places, then i'd say the stealth. if its only going to sit on your desk and you dont care about size and weight, then the sager would probably be better.

 

I'm in college so I'd have it in my dorm a lot but I'd also take it to classes and other places pretty frequently I suppose. Also, is there a difference in build quality or the steelseries keyboard between the Stealth 037 (860m one) and Stealth Pro 210? Because after customizing it with the same specs I had on the Stealth Pro, it came out to being about $50-60 cheaper.with the only differences being the GPU, CPU (i7-4700HQ vs i7-4710HQ), and 1x250gb Samsung 840 EVO SSD in the 860m vs 2x128gb stock SSDs in the Stealth Pro 210 870m.

Also, I know I said cost isn't a factor but here are the final prices if you're curious:

MSI GS70 Stealth 037 (860M 2GB) - $1949.98
MSI GS70 Stealth Pro 210 (870M 6GB) - $2013.95
Sager NP9377 (Clevo P377SM-A) (870M 6GB) - $1974.00 ($1914.78 with the 3% cash discount from xoticpc)

 

all of the external components(chasis, keyboard,screen) are exactly the same in the stealth and stealth pro. the only difference is the graphics card and how you configure anything else inside. and in that case, i would get the upgraded stealth 037. it can play all of those games easily without heating excessively, and is fairly portable. carrying around a 9 pound, 2 inch thick laptop would get old pretty fast

 

Oh yea sorry for late reply. Thanks for the help. Because of what you said, I think I can safely rule out Sager. That brings it down to just the 037 and the Pro 210. Also, not just from this site, but in general I've heard what people have been saying about MSI and excessive heating. If it's really as bad as I hear (frequent throttling issues, hot to the touch in certain areas, etc), even with just the games/programs I'll be playing/running, then I think I might just go for the 037 instead. I game on console (PS4/PS3) so most of the big time games that would make my laptop explode I'd be playing on those. I plan on building a desktop as well once I'm out of college but this laptop and my consoles will do for now.

 

Another vote for the 860m setup with ssds.

 

Bringing up a somewhat old thread (been about a week since I've checked up on it). Does anyone know if the Stealth with the 860M 2GB vRAM is Maxwell or Kepler based? I plan on ordering this laptop this weekend and just want to make sure this is the right decision.

How big of a performance difference are we talking between the 860M Maxwell/Kepler vs 870M Kepler? I see most people here are telling me to go with the 860M because it's less of a heat beast than the 870M, but I just want to confirm that the performance of the 860M (FPS mainly) when gaming will still be satisfactory for me. To remind you, the games I'd mainly be playing on this laptop would be Minecraft, League of Legends, runescape, FFXIV: ARR, and skyrim, and I'd like to be able to play these at max or close to max settings with decent fps. (60 would be ideal but 45+ preferred.)

 

Actually, ignore my previous post. I've decided to go with the 860M 2GB after all. Also found out that all GS models are Kepler based (including Ghost). This brings me to my last question. So I've brought the decision down to two laptops:

MSI GS70 Stealth 037 (860M 2GB I've been mentioning earlier in this thread)
MSI GS60 Ghost 003.

I speced them both out to be the same. After tax and discounts the Stealth comes to $1910.96 and the Ghost comes to $1835.51. The only main difference between them are their displays: Stealth's 17.3" TN display vs Ghost's 15.6" 'IPS' display. I'm guessing this just comes down to personal preference? Could anyone give me their opinion on whether they would rather have smaller screen estate with IPS display or larger screen estate with TN display to help me make a better decision?

 

pretty much just preference as to what size you want. the ips probably has slightly better viewing angles, but i wouldn't necessarily call it a better screen. the tn display on the stealth is a high quality tn display, so you probably won't notice much of a difference in normal use.

 

Alright thanks Arcanine. Just noticed you were the same guy replying earlier as well. Anyways,I decided that the 860M would be good enough for what I plan on doing. Plus I figured it would feel like a waste getting anything more expensive than the 860M with the supposed 900M series closing in.

As for the displays, the quality of the Stealth's display is what I was mainly worried about. I know TN displays aren't necessarily inferior depending on the quality/Hz you get. All previous laptops I've owned have been 15.6" or smaller so a 17.3" would be a nice change of pace. Stealth/Ghost lineup are known for their slimness so the increased size shouldn't impede portability at all for me.

Thanks to your post, I think I'm going to seal the deal and go for the Stealth. I'm not actually placing the order until sometime this Monday (08/18) though, so if anyone else has an opinion on the displays, I'm more than willing to listen. As long as nobody else does, then I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the Stealth.

 

Welp, did it. Bought the MSI GS70 Stealth -037 which is the 860M 2GB model from gentech. I saw the Ghost Gold Edition but that's just too flashy for me. I don't like the 'Gold" finish on it anyways. I prefer my laptops in black. So in the end, I chose 17.3" over 15.6". As for picking the Stealth -037 over the Stealth Pro -210...

Ultimately, it came down to the 860M with a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD vs. the 870M with 2x128GB Stock SSDs, and for my purposes (light gaming), I chose the 1st option. It just wasn't within my budget to have the 870M AND the 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD. Anyways, it should be here next week, can't wait .