New to gaming machines - help

Hi I’m new to gaming and gaming machines at 63 yrs old? I bought XPlane 9 years ago with a VFR scenery set for my imac and that didn't end well so gave up. Thinking of XPlane 11 now on my MSI which i pick up tomorrow spec as below but reading through some of this forum it seems it may not just be a matter of turning it on? There is a lot of talk of changing the OS or removing bloatware? Is all this essential or will it be ok as it comes? I am not computer illiterate but I’m certainly not an engineer?

I also have a Saitek X52 Pro joystick that has spent many years in a cupboard!

SPECIFICATIONS
GP73
MSI GP73 Leopard 17.3 inch Core i7-8750H 16GB 1TB + 256GB SSD Gaming Laptop
Manufacturers SKU - 9S7-17C522-6
Processor
Intel Core i7 -8750H
Memory
16GB
Hard Disk
1TB
Solid State Storage
256GB
Screen
17.3in Full HD
Graphics
nVidia Geforce GTX 1070 8GB
RF Network Standard
802.11 ac
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home

 

There are definitely recommended things to do like a clean Windows install and only putting back on the things you really want/need. Also most will suggest a CPU undervolt using Throttlestop is highly recommended. You don’t HAVE to do any of this, it should run out of the box.

However, it may run hotter, and the CPU (and possibly GPU) throttle some due to that extra heat. It sucks that we have to do this ourselves, but I would honestly recommend if you do nothing else, get Throttlestop setup and running which will help in basically everything you do. It won’t hurt anything and helps things run cooler and maybe even fans a tiny bit quieter. There are plenty of folks that can offer help to get you started. There are tons and tons of options in TS, but honestly, I use very few of them and I’ve been fine in all the years I’ve used it, across dozens of laptops.

 

There isn't really much bloatware on the system that can really cause performance degradation to your system. So that being said, if this does bother you then you can do a clean install and apply settings that allow your system to run leaner. However, doing this will help just a little bit.

Get the computer and try to enjoy it. If you do see things you dislike then feel free to share that experience with us here on the forum and then we can figure out what we can do to make your system to run better.

 

That hardware should handle the game OK, even in stock configuration. If you want it to run better than OK, Throttlestop as @Porter mentioned, and if you or someone you trust more with it than yourself can repaste it to keep the heat down that can't hurt.