MSI notebook order thread: post your orders here

Maggie, thank you for your response--I'm so relieved to learn I'm not the only one who has been reading and reading and wishing I had a tech dictionary on my desktop to demystify so much of the content in the threads!

Ten days or so ago, when the Spectre/Meltdown "event" began to surface in the media (tangentially at first), I began to follow a thread over at a subforum of another forum; it was populated primarily by programmers and PC builders, and the conversations--in language fully understood and banter that was tossed back and forth with ease--might just as well have been in Sanskrit!

I'll keep reading here and hoping not to irritate the experts with idiotic questions....

 

the tweaking session will also include a brief tutorial on things and how to make the best of your PC so don't worry, you are in safe hands with the Phoenix. I will make it all very easy for you to understand.

Speaking of the Spectre/Meltdown patches, they will decrease your taptop's performance slightly, so if you are brave and don't mind a slight security hole, I can help you disable the patch to get the full performance of your taptop. I don't think some hacker on the other side of the world is gonna get a notification that you disabled the patch and try to target you.

Be brave...be like Phoenix...

 

When I began my "session" with Donald, I had a bucket list of configurations that I had compiled for the purpose of creating a laptop that would be faster and more powerful than I need at this point in time--solely because I expected that the security patches coming (and yet to come) would jeopardize the speed of whatever I bought.

Simple math: I wanted "15," expected I'd lose up to 30% of that, or "4.5," so I decided to order "19.5."

By the end of my conversation with Donald, the world had changed. The reality is that I'm using my laptop primarily for word processing and Internet research/fact-checking (and occasional Skyping, some streaming).

That, apparently, meant I had little to worry about with respect to a slowdown--and with that, I waved goodbye to dual-channel 16GB at 2666 MHz (vs. single channel at 2444), and to M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD (vs. M.2 SATA SSD).

When my unit arrives in a month or so, @Phoenix, I will take you up on your kind offer to disable the patch(es). I'm already a sitting duck for identity theft for too many other reasons.

I'm about to start a thread over at Networking and Wireless that picks up on my post yesterday re the Intel or Killer wireless cards. I don't think it's appropriate of me to hijack someone else's thread any further.

Coming up!

 

Ha! I just rediscovered my old account from ....err...a long time ago... I'm in the market for a new gaming laptop and I'm finding myself drawn to the MSI Titans, thanks to all the wonderful info from @Phoenix. I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I'm getting close. My last gaming laptop was an Asus G73 back when those were still new and shiny and I gamed on it long enough to know that I don't want to go near anything Asus related again!

 

awesome man. what laptop are you planning to get? don't forget to email [email protected] for your NBR Discount

 

looking at the GT73VR line, just not quite sure which one.

 

Ask Donald if they still have one like mine ending with -425 otherwise see if your budget allows you to go for the GT75VR

 

I remember those G73s, I had one with the AMD 7970m that overheated and finally failed for the 2nd time right before the warranty was about to end. Sent it to repair and sold it when I got it back. Since then, I have never gone back to any AMD product.

 

Oh geez, same thing happened to me! At almost EXACTLY the one year mark (end of warranty), mine started overheating and shutting down. Mine had an Nvidia though, I think it was a 460M?

 

I'm still using an Asus G73SW, it has a 460m with 1.5gigs. I barely get 15fps in overwatch on lowest lol. I'm getting ready to buy my self this gt75vr laptop my self.

 

Wow! pretty impressive how that Asus laptop has held up for so long. I've never had one that even worked and they were all refunded.

Anyway, you will be extremely happy with this laptop in every aspect. From the performance, to the screen, to the keyboard, you name it!

 

That @Donald@HIDevolution guy saved me so much money too, he's a champion.

Heres the specs
https://pastebin.com/d1SusCyi

Can't wait to replace this Asus g73sw.
For those wondering how ive had this laptop for 6 years, ive replaced the motherboard 4 times, resoldered the dc power jack, 3 times, ive replaced the keyboard twice, and its missing keys and i removed the optical drive, and left it open for fresh air, it lost like 5 screws so its only held together with half the screws.

 

Very nice man! welcome to the club!

Lemme know when you get it if you want me to help you tweak it over TeamViewer as I know the ins and outs of this laptop!

These are the Phoenix Tweaks:

1- Uninstallation of all the Windows Store Garbage Apps like 3D Paint, Print 3D, Alarms & Clock, Feedback Hub, Maps, Groove Music, News, Weather, etc.
2- Removing all Windows 10 Privacy Invasion stuff like Telemetry, sending your keystrokes to Microsoft, automatically installing suggested apps in the background, allowing Microsoft to conduct experiments on your laptop, disabling automatic driver updates through Windows updates, disabling Windows 10 ads, disabling Cortana, Cloud Search etc.
3- Removal of nVIDIA and Intel Telemetry
4- Adjusting a lot of options in PC Settings like disabling Windows Tablet Mode (you have a laptop not a tablet), disabling suggestions appearing in the start menu, disabling automatically connecting to Paid WiFi Hotspots, disabling Game DVR which reduced performance in games, and a lot more.
5- Replacing Cortana with a much better search tool that finds results instantly called Everything which finds any file you want as soon as you start typing even a few letters of its name and it doesn't even rely on the Windows Indexing Service to do this!
6- Restoring the classic Windows Photo Viewer
7- Restoring the Classic Windows 7 Start Menu
8- Removal of the new and useless 3D Objects Folder that appears when you open "Computer"
9- Completely disabling Windows Defender from its roots (including all scheduled tasks and startup files) for those who want to install their own AV. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is highly recommended if you want the utmost security with the least system performance impact.
10- Updating all drivers to the latest versions in case they weren't up to date.
11- Disabling the performance hit that is caused by the Meltdown and Spectre patches recently released by Microsoft (optional, only if you don't mind having this security vulnerability and would rather have your CPU's full performance back)
12- Overprovisioning your SSD anywhere between 10-20% depending on how much space you can spare to ensure optimal and consistent performance at all times.
13- Blocking the Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool (which causes a high system load when it is scanning files)



Meanwhile as you are waiting for your new beast, you can have a look at this mini tear down video (not full teardown)T:

 

wowowowowowowo hold the phone here for a moment....
Is that a giant passive ass heatsink for the M.2 sata drives?!

God I love MSI for their care.

 

Yes and I love it, all the attention to detail. Keeps the m.2 SSDs cool.

 

Hello all i just received my new laptop yesterday and have been messing with it and doing lots of driver installs and moving files over.

I ordered it from hidevolution.com with @Donald@HIDevolution helping me out and he made this purchase a breeze with no problems what so ever.

Here are the specs i chose for this build: https://pastebin.com/PzdEZhjp

So far i'm very impressed with this laptop and been having a blast with it. The steel series keyboard is a nice touch as i've been spoiled with mechanical keyboards for years and I could not use a laptop without one. I'll try gaming on it later today once i get everything setup the way i need it...

 

Very nice specs man. Yeah the keyboard and screen are one of my favorite things about this laptop.

Lemme know if you need help tweaking it.

 

I like my GT75 so far. No real complaints yet.

 

I can't wait till I get mine. im so excited

 

Talked to Donald and he was very helpful in getting it specced out properly. How'd we do? Unfortunately had to get office as well since it will double duty to do word processing/excel... Had to finally retire my old Lenovo Y500 as it had some trouble recently and all of a sudden wouldn't POST. Can't wait to get my hands on a new one!

Custom Built MSI GF62 7RE-2025 15.6" w/ nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050TI
LCD Panel
15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) eDP Vivid Color 94% NTSC Matte Display
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050TI w/ 4GB GDDR5
Processor
7th Generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ Quad Core Processor, 2.8 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 3.8GHz), 6MB Smart Cache
Memory
16GB Dual Channel DDR4/2400MHz (2 x 8GB) - installed by HIDevolution
M.2 PCIe x4 or SATA SSD
HIDevolution Approved 256GB M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD - installed by HIDevolution
2.5" SSD/HDD Bay
1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 9mm Hard Drive
Wireless Cards
Killer™ Wireless-AC N1535 802.11 ac/a/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 4.1 - installed by HIDevolution
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 10 Pro, 64bit, English
Operating System Clean Install
Yes, Clean Install of Windows 10 including 32GB Clean Install Flash Drive
Office Software
Microsoft Office 2016 Home and Student - includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote
Power Adapter
150W AC Power Adapter (supports 100-240V)

 

Nice! I like the you went with Dual 8x2 GB RAM sticks rather than a single 16GB, that means your RAM will operate in Dual Channel mode rather than Single Channel.

Also very smart getting Windows 10 Pro!

Welcome to the MSI Gaming Team man.

Let me know if you need help tweaking it when you get it. These are the magical Phoenix Tweaks!

1- Uninstallation of all the Windows Store Garbage Apps like 3D Paint, Print 3D, Alarms & Clock, Feedback Hub, Maps, Groove Music, News, Weather, etc.
2- Removing all Windows 10 Privacy Invasion stuff like Telemetry, sending your keystrokes to Microsoft, automatically installing suggested apps in the background, allowing Microsoft to conduct experiments on your laptop, disabling automatic driver updates through Windows updates, disabling Windows 10 ads, disabling Cortana, Cloud Search etc.
3- Removal of nVIDIA and Intel Telemetry
4- Adjusting a lot of options in PC Settings like disabling Windows Tablet Mode (you have a laptop not a tablet), disabling suggestions appearing in the start menu, disabling automatically connecting to Paid WiFi Hotspots, disabling Game DVR which reduced performance in games, and a lot more.
5- Replacing Cortana with a much better search tool that finds results instantly called Everything which finds any file you want as soon as you start typing even a few letters of its name and it doesn't even rely on the Windows Indexing Service to do this!
6- Restoring the classic Windows Photo Viewer
7- Restoring the Classic Windows 7 Start Menu
8- Removal of the new and useless 3D Objects Folder that appears when you open "Computer"
9- Completely disabling Windows Defender from its roots (including all scheduled tasks and startup files) for those who want to install their own AV. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is highly recommended if you want the utmost security with the least system performance impact.
10- Updating all drivers to the latest versions in case they weren't up to date.
11- Disabling the performance hit that is caused by the Meltdown and Spectre patches recently released by Microsoft (optional, only if you don't mind having this security vulnerability and would rather have your CPU's full performance back)
12- Overprovisioning your SSD anywhere between 10-20% depending on how much space you can spare to ensure optimal and consistent performance at all times.
13- Blocking the Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool (which causes a high system load when it is scanning files)

 

Excellent Phoenix! I might have to take you up on that. I think they said it will be a couple weeks to get it. Let me know what I need to do to get it tweaked! Thanks!

 

Once you get it, when you first run it and get the initial Windows 10 Setup Wizard, it will prompt you to connect to a Wireless Network, click on SKIP on the bottom right otherwise you will be forced to login with a Microsoft account which I strongly advice against.

Also, when it prompts you to enter a password, leave the blank for now as during our tweaking session, we will need to reboot a lot and that will just slow us down.

The moment you are in Windows, go ahead and do all the Windows updates which will take a long time, then download and install TeamViewer then run it, it will give you an ID/Password which you could pass on to me via a PM so I can connect to you.

You won't be able to PM me unless I PM you first so what you wanna do is, when you get it, just tag me by using the @ sign then type my username right after it with no spaces and I will PM you then

 

I apologize if this isn't the correct place for this question, but can't figure out where else would be.

I'm getting very close to placing an order with @Donald@HIDevolution and am going to use some sort of financing for my purchase. I know I can get 6 months through PayPal, but I'm very interested in that Splitit service advertised on the HIDevolution site.

@XiCynx, I was wandering how that has worked out for you and what are your thoughts on the service having used it? Also wandering how you ended up with both a wire transfer and Splitit financing because I'd love to get that 2.5% cash payment discount plus financing, unless of course it wasn't eligible for the discount due to being partially financed.

If anyone else has used this service please let me know what you think. @XiCynx is the only person I've seen mention it, but the more the merrier.

 

If you pay part cash, you will get the 2.5% cash discount on that amount, and then you can finance the rest for up to 12 months (your choice of the number of months) with no interest with Splitit.

Splitit works by splitting your payment up to 12 times, charged on a monthly basis. You will need a VISA or MasterCard credit card (debit card will NOT work) that has the full amount of the order as available credit. Splitit will authorize your card for the full amount for the duration of the plan and charge you only the monthly due amount every month. Authorizations to your card do reduce your credit limit by that amount but are not charged interest.

To use the simplest example, let’s say you are purchasing a $12 item that you want to finance over 12 months. Your credit card must have at least $12 available credit. Splitit will authorize your card for $12. At time of shipping you will be charged $1 and $11 would remain as authorized. On month 2, you will be charged an additional $1 and $10 would remain as authorized. This goes on until the remaining balance is charged.

 

Thanks @Donald@HIDevolution for the further explanation. I have the CC covered and the authorization holds will not be a problem.

I mean no offense, but I was really hoping that I might hear from someone that has made a purchase using it. Given the reputation of HIDevolution, I can probably trust Splitit or you wouldn't be offering it.

 

No offense taken. I just answered my part of your inquiry...I will await other member's comments on their experience using it.

We have been using it for years, without a single customer losing as much as a penny.

 

I decided to retire my old stealth pro so I ordered one of these.
MSI GS73VR Stealth Pro-033 with 32 gigs of ram and a 512 ssd card. I should get it next week. I got a refurb one for $1899 which seem like a good deal since they are still going for $2400.

It has been a while since I have been tweaking a laptop...good to see Phoenix is still around with the excellent advice!

 

Very excited! My first MSI should be with me soon.
Here's what's on the way:

Spoiler: Custom Built MSI GT73VR 7RE TITAN-427

Holiday Game Bundle

GT Battlepack, Gaming Headset​

LCD Panel

17.3" Full HD (1920x1080) 120Hz~3ms 94%NTSC TN Matte LCD w/ G-Sync Technology​

Display Warranty

30 Days Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee)​

Video Card

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 w/ 8GB GDDR5​

Processor

7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK Quad Core Processor, 2.9 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 3.9GHz), 8MB Smart Cache​

Thermal Interface Materials

Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on CPU, Gelid GC Extreme on GPU, and Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads on heat sensitive surfaces – BEST PERFORMANCE – installed by HIDevolution​

Memory

32GB Dual Channel DDR4/2400MHz (2 x 16GB) - installed by HIDevolution​

M.2 PCIe RAID Options

no RAID (1st drive as primary boot drive, 2nd drive as storage drive)​

M.2 PCIe / SATA Slot

HIDevolution Approved 512GB M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD - Installed by HIDevolution​

M.2 SATA SSD Slot 2

None​

2.5" HDD/SSD Bay

1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive​

Wireless Cards

Killer™ Wireless-AC N1535 802.11 ac/a/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 4.1 - installed by HIDevolution​

Operating System

Genuine Windows® 10 Pro, 64bit, English​

Operating System Clean Install

Yes, Clean Install of Windows 10 including 32GB Clean Install Flash Drive​

Office Software

None​

Power Adapter

230W 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

3 Year MSI + HIDevolution Limited USA Warranty + 1 Year Global Warranty w/ 1 Year USA Accidental Damage "No Oops" Protection (Registration within 30 days of Ship Date Required) + LIFETIME HIDevolution Technical Support​

HIDevolution Global Warranty

None​

MSI Front Lid Logo Color

White (Standard)​

Thanks to Phoenix for the suggestion and Donald for the great pre-purchase discussion.
Will be getting the Phoenix optimization once it arrives and I'm guessing I should run some burn in tests. I'm sure there's a thread around here somewhere...

 

I had a wonderful conversion with Donald and this is what I got based on his recommendations. This was such a wonderful experience that I know I will be back in contact with HIDEvolution when it's time to replace my kid's computers.

Spoiler: Custom Built MSI GT73VR 7RF TITAN PRO-866

Holiday Game Bundle: GT Battlepack, Gaming Mousepad, Gaming Headset

LCD Panel: 17.3" FHD 120Hz 5ms WideView Angle 94% NTSC Anti-Glare Screen (16:9) (1920x1080) w/ G-Sync Technology

Minimize LCD Backlight Bleed: Yes, quality check and give me a panel with minimal backlight bleed.

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 w/ 8GB GDDR5X

Processor: Overclocked 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK Quad Core Processor, 8MB Smart Cache

Thermal Interface Materials: Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on CPU, Gelid GC Extreme on GPU, and Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads on heat sensitive surfaces – BEST PERFORMANCE

Memory: 32GB Dual Channel DDR4/2400MHz (2 x 16GB)

M.2 PCIe / SATA Slot 1: Samsung 960 EVO 500GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 3D-VNAND SSD

M.2 SATA SSD Slot 2: None

2.5" HDD/SSD Bay: Empty HDD bay (with caddy/adapter) - -$30.00

Wireless Cards: Killer™ Wireless-AC N1535 802.11 ac/a/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 4.1

Operating System: Genuine Windows® 10 Home, 64bit, English (I have Windows 10 Pro which I will install myself using Phoenix's clean install guide.)

March 15 - Order Placed
March 16 - Payment Review Complete
March 20 - Pre-Production
March 20 - Parts/Product On Order
March 23 - Pre-Production
March 27 - In Production
March 27 - Awaiting Shipment
March 27 - Complete

 

awesome man! congrats! tag me once you get it if you want me to tweak it for you. These are the Phoenix Tweaks, one should never use Windows 10 without these tweaks unless they don't value their privacy:

1- Uninstallation of all the Windows Store Garbage Apps like 3D Paint, Print 3D, Alarms & Clock, Feedback Hub, Maps, Groove Music, News, Weather, etc.
2- Removing all Windows 10 Privacy Invasion stuff like Telemetry, sending your keystrokes to Microsoft, automatically installing suggested apps in the background, allowing Microsoft to conduct experiments on your laptop, disabling automatic driver updates through Windows updates, disabling Windows 10 ads, disabling Cortana, Cloud Search etc.
3- Removal of nVIDIA and Intel Telemetry
4- Adjusting a lot of options in PC Settings like disabling Windows Tablet Mode (you have a laptop not a tablet), disabling suggestions appearing in the start menu, disabling automatically connecting to Paid WiFi Hotspots, disabling Game DVR which reduced performance in games, and a lot more.
5- Replacing Cortana with a much better search tool that finds results instantly called Everything which finds any file you want as soon as you start typing even a few letters of its name and it doesn't even rely on the Windows Indexing Service to do this!
6- Restoring the classic Windows Photo Viewer
7- Restoring the Classic Windows 7 Start Menu
8- Removal of the new and useless 3D Objects Folder that appears when you open "Computer"
9- Completely disabling Windows Defender from its roots (including all scheduled tasks and startup files) for those who want to install their own AV. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is highly recommended if you want the utmost security with the least system performance impact.
10- Updating all drivers to the latest versions in case they weren't up to date.
11- Disabling the performance hit that is caused by the Meltdown and Spectre patches recently released by Microsoft (optional, only if you don't mind having this security vulnerability and would rather have your CPU's full performance back)
12- Overprovisioning your SSD anywhere between 10-20% depending on how much space you can spare to ensure optimal and consistent performance at all times.
13- Blocking the Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool (which causes a high system load when it is scanning files)
14- Updating all drivers
15- Creating a system restoration image using Macrium Reflect

 

I will definitely reach out and I am big user of Team Viewer.

 

Recently had this session myself. It's awesome. Be ready to take notes.

 

I should record the entire session! How is your lappy running now?

 

Hah, totally wish I had recorded the session. There is a ton of info - just too much to try and remember. Luckily it finishes with a disk imaging so that you always have the result available.

Laptop has been running smoothly. No weird hiccups or random delays due to who-knows-what. The best thing (for me at least) was seeing all the telemetry being disabled. There is so much being captured it's not even funny. Phoenix was even kind enough to walk me through a mild overclock (3.9GHz) since our machines are close enough. That's been rock solid as well.

Be sure to allocate a few hours for the session. Also, you can help by updating the drivers beforehand. Will definitely save some time due to the restarts involved. Here's what Phoenix suggested for me:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...and-gaming-laptop.812984/page-2#post-10690333

 

My lappy should be here by Saturday. I will be installing Windows 10 Pro myself and will be using the Phoenix install guide. I already have the drivers downloaded and ready for install as well. I'm so excited. I've been without my own pc/laptop for 3 and half years and I am about to burst!

 

Download Windows 10 Redstone 4 RTM= https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hwCkHPUh37v1dD9zcOHckvZcVrWYVtYJ

How to select Windows Home or Pro when installing Windows 10
NBR Windows 10 Clean Installation Guide

 

Will the RTM be the same as what I'd get from Microsoft after official release?

 

From the past years, it is the same 97%. The RTM was always the same build as the final.

Can one be 100% sure? No, but I can tell you this, this RTM is way more stable and has no bugs compared to the pile of garbage called Redstone 3 which is the worst build ever released since the history of Windows 10

Also see: Windows 10 Redstone 4 reaches RTM milestone

 

Got it. Already downloading the RTM file and have the *.cfg file ready to go as well.


Are there any applications I should have at the ready? I've already downloaded the following:

Autoruns for Windows v13.82
BatteryInfoView v1.23
Everything
GPU-Z v2.8.0
HWiNFO v5.74
O&O ShutUp10 v1.6.1395
Winaero Tweaker v0.9

You list also has SyncBackPro instead of Macrium Reflect, so not sure which one you are preferring.

All other apps listed I wasn't sure I'd use.

Last thing, Is it really necessary to have a defrag program when all I have are SSDs?

 

Do NOT use Winaero Tweaker, it will destroy your OS

You need CCleaner Portable, rest I cannot sit and type in a post as it'd take me a week to do so.

SyncBack Pro is a file backup program to backup your files to external media, Macrium Reflect is an OS Imaging program, 2 different things.

Make sure you see this:

Macrium Reflect Installation/Usage Guide

and this

The best and fastest way to backup your data!

 

From a gamer standpoint why get windows 10 pro vs home?

 

Why choose Windows Pro over Home?

So you have access to the Group Policy Editor

As you may be well aware, Windows 10 although boasts great support for new hardware and is required to make the most out of your new hardware especially newer CPUs which are not supported on previous OSes like Windows 7 anymore, it has its quirks and privacy invasion like automatically sending your keystrokes, displaying ads, telemetry, and much more.

While there are many utilities out there such as O&O ShutUp10 that help you eliminate most if not all of the nasty stuff, the Home Edition lacks one very important feature which is the Group Policy Editor. Think of it as flying on an airplane, do you want to be the passenger or the pilot in control? That's exactly what the Group Policy Editor enables you to do, be in control of how your OS behaves.

Examples of things you can disable / enable easily with the Group Policy Editor:

1) Turn off file history completely (this is a useless feature which Microsoft is phasing out in its next build but you can still disable it now)

2) Disable / Prevent your computer from joining a Home Group (Home Group is a crippled way of sharing files that rarely works if ever, one is better off manually selecting the folders that he wants to share and giving them appropriate permissions by right clicking on that folder and navigating to the Sharing tab)

3) Disable Windows DVR (Gameplay Recording Mode). If you have that enabled which is the default state, then Steam warns you that it may hamper your game play/performance so its best to turn it off completely using the Group PolicyEditor). You can do this in the Home Edition but it requires a lot of complex registry edits which are time consuming. There are better tools to record game play such as nVIDIA's Shadow Play or better yet, a program by Mirillis called "Action!"

4) Turn off Microsoft Consumer Services

5) Turn off Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program

6) Completely disable Windows Defender and not have it re-enable itself if you are wanting to install your own AntiVirus since Windows Defender bogs down the system's performance by as much as 36% according to the latest AV Comparatives Performance Test: http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php?chart=chart4&year=2017&month=10&sort=1&zoom=2

7) Disable Windows Driver Updates through Windows Updates

8) Turn off the Windows Explorer Notification about new apps that can handle new extensions. By default, every time you install a new application that can handle an extension, let's say, a new video player or an internet browser, etc. you get an annoying popup telling you that you have installed a new application that can handle these extensions

9) Disable Windows Error Reporting, that never does any good and only eats a lot of space writing the details of background errors. Microsoft has never in its history fixed any of these reported errors so why keep this useless service enabled on your system and creating unnecessary writes to your SSD?

10) Disable unwanted features such as Windows Ink, biometrical features, etc.

11) Disable automatic downloading of map updates (who needs map updates on a laptop? this is not a GPS device /phone)

12) Turn off Work Folders (this is used in corporate environments and not needed for home or power users)

and much more, these are just some of the things you can control with the Group Policy Editor.

 

Well after my unpleasant experience with static ruining my laptop whilst I was doing a repaste of my GE62VR7RF Apache Pro last weekend, I ordered the following :

1 x MSI GE63VR 7RE(Raider)-013XFP
Specs as ordered:

Intel Core i7-7700HQ Quad Core Processor, 15.6" Full HD 120Hz Screen,
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit,
8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD + 1000GB HDD, Dedicated GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Graphics,
USB3 | HDMI | Bluetooth | DisplayPort, Steelseries Backlit Full Colour Keyboard, 9S7-16P112-013

Obviously things from my GE62 made it to the GE63:

Windows 10 pro x64
16GB RAM
SAMSUNG SM961 256GB in the second NVME/M2 Slot
Intel 8265 (had a 9260 but that died )
DVD Rom Drive is getting put in an external USB enclosure as is the 1TB HDD.

Only slight weirdness was that the 256 MB Toshiba SSD it came with had no OS installed . Haven't looked at the 11TB SSD yet as I swapped my Seagate Firecuda in. Did a "reinstall windows" on the Samsung drive from my old machine, got a new W10 Key it and it is fine Just got to finish reinstalling apps now and then get rid of the bloat.

Chuffed to bits with it but first boot seeing the bios freaked me out a bit

 

@Phoenix

Thank you for that very detailed bit of information. Makes me regret not having all of these things disabled as my desktop is Win10Home. I'll definitely need to get on that for my laptop purchase.

 

I was finally able to start installing Win10 Pro on Thursday and spent the weekend working on it. So I went through the Windows 10 Clean Install and have completed many of these things. I even used Autoruns to turn off the nvidia telemetry stuff.

 

Perfect man! Shout out if you have any doubts or concerns

 

I will. I'm still learning how to use Windows 10.....

Do I need to install Classic Shell to change me start menu?

 

yes

then load my custom XML file for the settings to make it look exactly like Windows 7:
https://mega.nz/#!3SQ0gT7T!qvH6MX5lFhelTltzG3LU6b7GQdRuKuMyBg5bbmmbpzg

 

Have you done the tweaks and fixes yet? I'd be curious to know if you do and if they are still correct / relevant. I was going through a few of those this past weekend and some seemed a bit different now.