MSI notebook order thread: post your orders here

@SagerFanatic has a GT80S 6QE - it has different buttons.

 

Also, for the GT73VR, there are 2 function keys that can be used as a Display On/Off:

"F" - allows you to switch the display output to external display only, disabling the internal display.

"H" - Dim internal display, effectively turning it off - IDK if you can drop the brightness enough to black it out...

"F" is more what I was thinking of, but the Display button on the GT80S 6QE that @SagerFanatic fanatic has only turns off the internal display - and doesn't affect the display output. And, you can use any keyboard key to restore the internal display - turn it on again.

 

@hmscott @Phoenix

The button looks exactly in this picture (top of cooler booster): http://prntscr.com/e78z8x if @hmscott said its the display on/off button for an external display I haven't tried it yet because I don't have an external monitor. @Phoenix it's probably a different layout for the GT73VR, my MSI GT80S it's not optimus so they probably replaced that with display on/off button instead which is also the reason why it only last 1 hour and 30 minutes during battery mode.

 

when I said mine lasts for 3 hours and 30 minutes, that's on the integrated Intel HD Graphics not the nVIDIA GPU

 

oh sorry I thought he ordered my taptop

 

@hmscott @Phoenix

The button looks exactly in this picture (top of cooler booster): http://prntscr.com/e78z8x if @hmscott said its the display on/off button for an external display I haven't tried it yet because I don't have an external monitor. @Phoenix it's probably a different layout for the GT73VR, my MSI GT80S it's not optimus so they probably replaced that

I will soon if EVOC MSI 16L fail to have a 120Hz w/GSYNC within this year, just holding out for that beast to have such option.

 

@syscrusher A wise and excellent choice bro! I on the other hand will hold out for now, still waiting for a revised 17 inch version + 120Hz w/GSYNC, I got an email from them 2 days ago and they said they are currently working on it. No ETA yet though.

 

I needed the 4K for my CAD work, and 60 Hz frame rate is plenty for what I do, even in gaming. Also, I'm probably going to get into some VR development in the coming months, and in that situation you need 90 Hz refresh, but you're doing it in the headset and not on the screen.

 

No. MSI only puts that warranty sticker there if you break something.

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=172325.0

It's basically insurance for MSI - if the user opens it and breaks something, it is their fault, but otherwise, MSI will honor the warranty in full.

Good to know
I am mostly a desktop person, but MSI has these stickers as well on their GPUs. You can replace the thermal compound if you need to on their GPUs and or upgrade the thermal pads or upgrade to water cooling with the warranty still honored.

Their Lightning GPUs are generally very well regarded on the desktop market.

Just curious, but how does it compare to the Alienware M18X r2 and the top workstation keyboards (ex: the Lenovo Thinkpads)?

I've always thought the Lenovos made the top keyboards and kind of wish that the gaming companies would transplant them over, then add RGB LEDs to the keyboard, plus illuminate the perimeter of the trackpad.

 

If you plan to use this laptop as a desktop replacement, hooked to external monitors (as most programmers do), be prepared to purchase a 4k or 5k external display if you do not already have one, so you can run your extended displays at the same scaling as the built in display. I ran into lots of problems trying to run Windows 10 with a 4k 15.6 inch panel @ 200% scaling + 2560x1440 27 inch panel @ 100% scaling together. Many applications could not deal with the switch between different scaling settings on each display, and it would end up corrupting the window when switching between them. I also learned that some applications high DPI support was hardcoded to 200% scaling, and anything less or more like 250% or 150% would corrupt the window layout and sometimes make the application unusable. For these reasons, the FHD panel was an easy choice for my Tornado F5's.

 

Try this bro:

Set your DPI scaling to 100% then sign out and in before you play with it otherwise its DPI Scaling settings would conflict with Window's DPI Scaling settings if you set them to anything above 100%

• Windows 10 DPI Fix

 

Well, this is funny. I actually may have found a good solution to the problem I mentioned above. I enabled Nvidia DSR, which gives me a "virtual" 5k resolution on my WQHD external monitor. Using this, an external display can use 200% scaling just like an internal 4k panel does. You can then set the DSR smoothness option to 0% to get sharp text on the low dpi display. It does add a little bit of lag into the UI but its much better than letting Windows use multiple scaling settings for each display. I think the DSR option is a global thing so any new external monitor should have the virtual 4x resolution available when connected.

I am still not a big fan of the PenTile PLS 4k panel used in the Tornado F5, but if it was the 4k Sharp (or AUO) RGB Stripe 8-bit panels with a wide gamut backlight, I would choose those over a FHD panel with poor gamut. The only real downside at that point is battery life.

 

That's sorta how I feel, but I also do plan to game on mine as well and I'm too used to low latency gaming to give it up. Given the choices at the moment I just felt like having the option of 120hz for games was best, but if a 3K or 4K panel with low latency comes to the market and offers better color, I would definitely take it. I think HiDPI scaling is still awkward for most OSes/desktop environments that aren't MacOS still in my experience, though.

 

Sinds MSI have 18 inch laptop i love them. You get nice machine, like MSI gaming system user i also love them. But im more addicted with GT83VR.

 

Good advice, and yes, I already plan to do this. I can't afford it right away because I bought a beefed up version of this laptop, and I now have no budget for a while, but later this year I will upgrade from FHD to 4K external monitor. I'll probably retask my external FHD monitor for my servers in the data closet downstairs.

 

Understandable bro, still an excellent choice nonetheless.

 

Wonder which chassis will be used for the 17 inch version.

 

Probably GT72 or GT73, not sure tbh.

 

I just received mine, i noticed that there are times that my trackpad is not responsive that i need to lift my finger and touch it back again. A small issue I'm just wondering if this is just because of my finger tips. Can you please check yours phoenix ty

 

You might want to try updating the touchpad software, and other apps / drivers from the MSI support site, Windows 10 updates, etc, before pronouncing issues - they often go away with updated software - or get worse

I've had the "sticky fingers" feeling from trackpads before - check the trackpad options - you may have click hold and drag or other selected - I like to start with it all set to neutral and no special options enabled.

 

@syscrusher any update of your laptop?

 

I tried uninstalling the synapse app for the trackpad and the problem was gone. I guess it's a software issue. I tried installing it back and the problem is there again. I'll leave it alone for now, I'm using a mouse anyway what's important is i now know the reason and its not a hardware prob.

 

I don't have that problem although I never use the Touchpad and never will even if you paid me, I feel like I am disabled when I use it, I prefer a mouse

I installed the Synaptics Touchpad Driver v19.0.22.4 from MSI's site, then Windows Update automatically updated it to Synaptics Touchpad Driver v19.3.4.57 but I still have no issues with lag on it

PS: Where did you order yours from and what are the specs? fill in your signature like me bro, copy/paste mine then edit the specs to match yours

 

I prefer 18.4 inch actually but I don't like mechanical keyboards as I have 9 Persian cats and the amount of fur that would get stuck under the keys would be a hassle for me to clean everyday

 

Yes i know how its difficult, i has many years ago 15 cats

 

I ordered it from a reseller here in the Philippines bro, i got the base model 7820hk, 16gb, 256 ssd, gtx 1080. Its really a good laptop but i think it needs some tinkering with the drivers. May keyboard's backlight is weird, it changes every now and then especially when opening a game. For ex.from wave to breathing. And sometimes I'm loosing internet connection suddenly that i need to switch on and off the wifi of the laptop in order to have it back.

 

For the Wi-Fi problem, try changing the channel in the Router and also the bandwidth - the 20HZ/40HZ option.

With Auto Wifi channel, sometimes the Wi-Fi stops working. Note that the Wi-Fi might still be working fine on ur mobile when ur laptop says no internet.

Having a better quality router avoids such issues.

Sent from my ASUS_Z016D using Tapatalk

 

exactly, i still have internet on my mobile while in my laptop its gone. as for the moment i uninstalled the wireless driver and reinstalled. so far still didn't encounter it again. as for the keyboard it changes the color after a game of dota, from green to red. still figuring it out.

 

and also how do you enable gsync properly. i tried enabling it and my fps drops to 70 to 80fps while playing dota 2 on a 120hz screen. if i disable it and use v sync instead i get 120fps

 

If problem occurs again, as I said just try changing the channel on the router from Auto to a fixed channel and see which one works better. Also use 5GHZ as it will have less interference compared to 2.4GHZ.

This problem is not specific to ur laptop. I have this problem both on my lenovo and clevo if I use Auto channel.

Sent from my ASUS_Z016D using Tapatalk

 

to disable the lights from changing as per game, disable GAMESENSE:

 

Not as of Friday, sadly. I'm hopeful for some news next week. We're just approaching the time when @Donald@HIDevolution originally thought I might see a build happen. As hard as the waiting has been, I knew up front it would be around the end of February. From all accounts I've read online, this machine is worth the wait.

 

Just curious, overall are people here happy with their decision to get the MSI over the Clevo and other competitors?

• Overall subjective build quality does seem better on the MSI than on the Clevo
• The Clevo does have the upgrade advantage though, especially when it comes to upgrading the CPU
  
• The rest of both laptops though seems to be upgradeable
  
• I'm not sure which one has the advantage when it comes to cooling under load - granted the MSI doesn't have as much heat thanks to a mobile CPU
• Unlocked BIOS available for both (must donate for MSI BIOS from Sven)
• The MSI is a bit lighter - the Clevo weighs as much as the MSI GT83VR

In terms of upgrades, they have the Asus, the 17" Alienware, and the Gigabyte Aorus beat. I don't have much experience with the Acer Predator.

 

I have an unlocked BIOS without the need for Svet

Yes, overall, I am much happier with it. better keyboard, better speakers, better screen, better cooling, never gets over 85C on the CPU despite it being overclocked to 4.2 GHz on all cores with a -100mV undervolt......

see: MSI GT73VR 7RF Titan Pro-425 Review By Phoenix

I'll never buy a Clevo laptop again!

What upgrades are you talking about? When I had my P870DM3 with a GTX 980. I couldn't upgrade to the GTX 1080 so I had to buy the P870DM3 and sell my laptop at a big loss! No one can guarantee upgrades even if its socketed components. that's a moot point to me at least. Give me a good keyboard, a good screen, and decent hardware and I'm happy

Clevos = Great for benchmarking (with the exception of the P6xxx series), MSI, better overall for everything

 

@Phoenix The new fix from Dell for the overheating and uneven core problem on latest AW models due the amazing Tripod cpu heatsink. Aka new firmware
This pict is from stock 7820hk in Wprime. Only 18C degrees difference between hottest vs. coldest core. + Powa Throttling!!

 

Hey @Phoenix bro. I tried to PM you but not sure if it went through as i kept getting some error msg. Could you please PM me.

 

no one can PM me bro unless I PM them first.

I will now PM you

 

By the way did you register your product bro, i haven't done it yet, I'm not sure if it's necessary

 

Yes I did, after you register your product, they invite you for a brief survey, if you complete the survey. you get 3 months extra warranty

 

It seems my long journey and frustration is coming to and end regarding the P775DM3-G which DPD lost and I will be getting a refund.

So I am starting to look for a new laptop and this MSI is certainly on my radar. However despite your excellent review, I will be still be a hard nerd to convince.
So bro, convince me, why should I go with this BGA book instead of a Clevo ?
Is the CPU rock solid even with the factory BIOS or I need a custom BIOS for that?
Does the VGA in this laptop too have power throttling like the one in the P775DM3-G?
Do you experience microstutter in games?
Is G-Sync working better with this 120 Hz screen then with the 60 Hz screen in the Clevo (I was able to notice that under 50 FPS games had very small, hard to notice choppyness/stuttering) ?
Can I get acceptable temps and absolutely no throttling even with the stock paste ? (I can only order it with the stock paste)

I am really eyeing with this beast, but I need some push on the back to pull the trigger and join the BGA fan club.

 

It is rock solid, before I had a custom BIOS, it was working just perfectly, the custom BIOS just enables you to have better control.

- You can disable Intel SW Guards Extension to stop the mouse stuttering
- You can disable hibernation if you don't need it
- You can do all your overclocking/undervolting from the BIOS
- You can switch to the GPU you want from the BIOS itself, let's say you forgot to switch to the Intel GPU before installing Windows, now when you want to install the drivers in the correct order, you have to intall the Intel first right? so the BIOS switch will allow you to do that since the GPU Switch button on the right won't work until you have the SCM utility installed
and the list goes on, it's just lik the Prema BIOS but with a few more options

Overclocking a 7820HK is a breeze bro

Just increase Power Limit 1/2 to 230
Increase the VR Current limit to 400 (ie. 100A as the actual value we get in the BIOS is a dividend of 4)
Undervolt by -80mV to -100mV and bam! you're done!

Remember, this is a BGA laptop right? so the CPU is delidded better cooling / better contact with the heatsink

No for both questions, this is not an SLI system, as long as you have Intel SW Guards disabled, I will teach you how to do that when you get your system

0 choppiness / 0 stuttering. the 120hz not only has a faster refresh rate, it also has a super low 5 ms response time. so no ghosting as well. Its smooth as butter and once you get used to it, you can never go back.

This screen is made by Chi Mei ans has better color accuracy in both sRGB and NTSC than the AUO ones found in Clevos

The stock paste is very good and long lasting, but I chose IC Diamond on both the CPU/GPU and am loving the temps.

speaking of temps, this laptop is like silent man, even while overclocking the CPU/GPU, you never hear the fans, at least not in my usage scenarios. and even if you DO ramp up the fans to max speed using the dedicated turbo fan button on the right, it is not annoyingly loud like it was on my P870DM/DM3

The laptop has to large exhaust vents on the back and 2 smaller vents on each side, it has one of the best laptop cooling solutions I've ever seens. Blows the Alienware with the same 7820HK out of the water, that samve CPU in the Alienware easily reaches 90C, with this one, on stock speeds, it never exceeds 75C, on overclocked speeds, it never exceeds 85C

Yes it's BGA, but remember, when I had my Clevo P870DM, I had to sell it for a big loss to get the P870DM3 just to get an upgraded GPU, so how was an LGA laptop beneficial here? it wasn't!

The only thing I could upgrade was from a 6700K to a 7700K but is that really an upgrade? the 7700K *in my experience* overheated more. I know others had better luck but i'm just stating my experience and 3.8 - 4GHz is enough for any game really as the GPU does most of the work.

Sure, don't expect to win trophies in benchmarks, but if you want a great overall machine that works out of the box, has better aesthetics, better cooling, far superior screen, night and day better keyboard, better / more vibrant keyboard lights, I don't know what convincing you need. you are wasting your time not ordering one ASAP

Oh don't forget, you will get a free neck pillow and free awesome MSI backpack with it

All I can tell you bro, is I am much happier with this laptop than I was with any Clevo or Alienware I had before

don't forget to email [email protected] to get your small NBR discount

 

Thanks for the reply!
Will email him if he can cut the price.

Would be nice to get if from Hid, however due to the large distance, Amazon UK seems to be a better option for me in the EU.
Price would be around the same, however Hid gives 1 year MSI warranty (for the price) and Amazon gives 1 year Amazon warranty and I have to be honest , I would rather have Amazon handle my warranty then my local MSI service. In this country (Hungary) MSI laptops are not very common because the general belief from the old days is still that they are cheap Chinese trash and no major retailer will stock them.
Only 1-2 shops stock modern MSI laptops but they ask higher price than HID and Amazon and I am not sure that they are getting it from the official local distributor.
Few years ago there were huge amount of complaints grom consumers and retailers about MSI laptops that they are bad quality , easily broke and repair service was not the best either. Because of this belief MSI laptops almost completely disappeared by now from this market.
You are not a beginner regarding laptops and I trust your word when you say that the GT73VR is no cheap Chinese quality laptop.

However I might become a heathen and might not get it from Hid. Not because they are not good, just because handling general warranty AND pixel warranty (4/5 times I get a laptop with dead or stuck pixel) would be cheaper and faster to handle with an EU seller.

We shall see.

 

Do you really think Amazon has any department to handle the warranty? they'll send it to MSI.

Important thing to note is that MSI has a global 1 year warranty as standard. So that will cover shipping costs both ways should anything go wrong with your laptop. you can also pay a bit for the 30 day dead pixel warranty from HIDevolution.

Here's the thing, MSI support isn't that great, even in the USA. When I contacted them asking why Fast Boot isn't sticking when I enable it in the BIOS. I got a very brief response. But when I contacted HIDevolution about that, they used their contacts in MSI to escalate the issue and I got a reply from the senior tech in MSI explaining the issue to me.......see:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ion-in-bios-stick.801271/page-2#post-10468432

The point I am trying to make is, you have HIDevolution to support you, better than any MSI or Amazon warranty and you won't have to pay the extra 200 USD for HIDevolution's global warranty since MSI includes that for free with all their laptops

 

Looking forward meeting you all!

NEW THREAD CREATED

I just ordered a laptop from HIDevolution with the following specs:

Spoiler: MSI GT73VR 7RF TITAN PRO-425 Specs Updated

Custom Built MSI GT73VR 7RF TITAN PRO-425 17.3" nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Free Game Bundles
For Honor OR Ghost Recon: Wildlands - Download through NVIDIA GeForce Experience (Must have either nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU installed)
LCD Panel
Full HD (1920x1080) 120Hz 5ms 94%NTSC TN Matte LCD w/ G-Sync Technology
Display Warranty
30 Days Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee) - $35.00
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 w/ 8GB GDDR5 X
Processor
7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK Quad Core Processor, 2.9 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 3.9GHz), 8MB Smart Cache
Thermal Paste
IC Diamond on CPU + GPU - installed by HIDevolution - $35.00
Memory
32GB Dual Channel DDR4/2400MHz (2 x 16GB) - installed by HIDevolution under the keyboard
M.2 PCIe RAID Options
no RAID (1st drive as primary boot drive, 2nd drive as storage drive)
M.2 PCIe / SATA Slot 1
Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 3D-VNAND SSD - Up to 3,200 MB/s Read-1,900 MB/s Write
M.2 PCIe / SATA Slot 2
None
M.2 SATA SSD Slot 3
None
2.5" HDD/SSD Bay
1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
Wireless Cards
Intel® Wireless-AC 8265 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n 2x2 NGFF - Bluetooth 4.2 - installed by HIDevolution - $20.00
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 10 Home, 64bit, English
Operating System Clean Install
None
Office Software
None
Power Adapter
330W AC Power Adapter (supports 100-240V)
Internal Battery
Internal 8 cell (75Wh) battery
Audio
Dynaudio Tech Speakers x 2 + Subwoofer x 1
Steelseries Keyboard
Steel Series Gaming Backlit Color Changing Programmable 102 keys w/ Silver Lining Print - U.S. English
Warranty and Service
1 Year MSI + HIDevolution Limited Warranty w/ 1 Year Accidental Damage "No Oops" Protection (1 Year Global Warranty), LIFETIME HIDevolution Technical Support
MSI Front Lid Logo Color
White (Standard)

I will be updating this thread constantly about the order progress and once I receive the laptop I'm going to make a full review on it!

====================================
Here are the order stages: http://www.hidevolution.com/stages
==================================
Order Status:

22 February 2017: Payment Review Complete & Card Charged
27 February 2017: Updated my configuration!
28 Februrary 2017 (2:31PM): Pre-Production
6 March 2017 (10:09am): In-Production
10 March 2017: Processing Build Complete
14 March 2017: Shipped
17 March 2017 (11:41am): Arrived

======================================================================

You might wonder why I went with HIDevolution and the MSI GT73VR-425 instead of Alienware 17 R4?

Well, the answer is simple... HIDevolution offered me options way beyond my expectations and accepted my credit card while Dell made fun of me and didn't take the $3000. For instance, if you go to Dell.com and you try to make a purchase with an international credit card they will literally keep you suffering for months even if you live in the U.S and you would literally have to beg to Dell to take the money. From the beginning I wanted to purchase the Alienware 17 R4 w/GTX1080 maxed out. However, Mr Donald explained me the thermal issues it has from the factory, like how they stamp thermal paste and the heating pads that leave a gap between CPU or GPU or both not quite sure... and you can see that those issues are listed bellow:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ything-you-need-to-know-now-and-later.799020/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5r3-disassembly-repaste-guide-results.797373/


Huge thanks goes to @Donald@HIDevolution

Donald from HIDevolution was amazing and words can't simply describe it. He recommended me this laptop in the first place and it definitely made an influence on my purchase. Furthermore, the amount of time he spent with me on the phone patiently waiting is just incredible. He helped me to do the best purchase choice that I could've ever imagined.

Donald if you're reading this you're the man.

Please check the amazing warranty that they have!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/hidevolutions-warranty.784735/

I'd like to thank Vivian @thattechgirl_viv for the effort and the hard work that was put in while customizing the laptop, and also for taking care of my laptop and making sure that everything is flawless.

 

Congratulations for this great order bro! awesome specs, your laptop is just like mine almost minus the SSDs! You will love everything about it starting from the build quality, the awesome screen, the best keyboard in any laptop, the superb cooling that is very quiet thanks to its 4 exhaust fans, etc.

Here are the latest drivers, might wanna download them and keep then handy for future use or to update:

MSI GT73VR 7RF TITAN PRO Drivers

can't wait for your review

I'm sure you've seen my review.

 

Let me know if you need help with it when you get it

 

Wow! Thank you so much for your most kind comments!

 

@OP Since you said you are getting 1 year warranty from Amazon - you do know that by law in EU, you always have 2 years warranty right ?

@Phoenix That's the thing about EU. Here your reseller is responsible for handling warranties. Sure Amazon will send it to MSI when you send it to them and then they send it back to you I guess.

Sent from my ASUS_Z016D using Tapatalk

 

I know Amazon just sends it to MSI for repair, however I feel more relaxed with a middle man like Amazon handling warranty issues.

I also know HID can offer the same or better service, however buying from HID would cost an extra $310 compared to Amazon and for me right now every penny counts. But I am just still asking around , I will make the decision when I am crossing that bridge, because despite having way better service, $310 extra still something to think about (this is with MBR discount).

 

That's one of the things I like about buying from Amazon, newegg, etc - companies that track product quality through failures and repair returns.

There have been a few times I've noticed product shipments being stopped by Amazon and Newegg, probably others too, when failure rates are too high in a laptop.

The same complaint from buyers gets flagged and the company goes to bat for the customer protecting them from bad product or bad product runs.

When it's a small company or one that doesn't have clout with the vendor, I notice things don't get fixed as readily.

That's one of the reasons I buy retail and do my own storage, RAM, Blu-ray additions.

My turn around for newegg, Amazon, Frys, Microcenter, etc on problems are immediate, I don't get stuck waiting weeks for a build or a repair.

It pays to learn to do these things yourself up to a point, and then let the vendor / store handle the rest.