MSI GT73 & Windows 7

I've been interested in purchasing a GT73 for a while now, and after previewing various resellers, I noticed that GentechPC offers a Windows 7 installation with their model.

Given all the cons I've heard about Windows 10, I would prefer using Windows 7, however I was wondering if this would result in any hardware or software complications down the line. I know clinging to an old OS might not be wise for what should be a relatively future-proof gaming laptop. On the other hand, I've also heard that some Windows 10 updates break the pre-installed software like MSI TrueColors.

Does anyone have experience or input in regards to this? Thanks.

 

Most are using windows 10 here. Honestly, while sometimes there are bumps with the updates causing issues, I haven't had anything major that was not fix with an update. I think installing windows 7 won't really help you much at this point.

 

I figured as much, thanks for your input and review of this machine.

Follow-up question, is there enough bloatware on this version to justify a clean install? Reinstalling the drivers often seems more troublesome than removing some unwanted programs with CCleaner.

I also noticed there are some concerns on this forum was that some machines 1070 cards appear to have some crashing issues:

I'm on a slight budget so I would prefer not to leap to a 1080. When I asked Donald of HIDevolution about this, he informed that their failure rate was less than 1% with the card, but still thought I'd mention it.

Also, if you don't mind me pestering you, do you recall what color calibration settings you used for the setup in your review? Was that stock with the TrueColors software, or was it calibrated by the reseller?

Thanks again.

 

The crashing issues with the 1070 GT73 variant plague mostly 2016 models and only some of them. There are vbios that alleviate such issues by limiting the max clockspeeds that run into inestability due to turbo boost 3.0 so you can use those if you bought an older model. Again, not all models are affected. It seems 2017 models are entirely unaffected though.

I don't think a clean install is necessary at all. There are a handful of MSI programs preinstalled, but you can get rid of whatever you don't want. There are alternatives to some of the MSI software, though if you are not very experienced, things like Dragon Center are very useful into bridging all other MSI programs into a useful hub to adjust things like overclocks, True colors, Fan speed, etc etc.

If you do decide to perform a clean install, I advise you pre download all your respective drivers to a USB so you have them ready.