PSA: The MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro 4K (2017, Kaby Lake) still uses Pentile not-true-4K displays!

You can tell by the photo included in this Amazon review. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be the telltale jaggedness and latticing artifacts of RG/BW PenTile. Straight lines appear bumpy, and the solid blue color appears to form a diagonal pattern rather than a horizontal/vertical pattern. It's possible that I'm wrong and this is just an issue with the user's camera, but to me that would be too much of a coincidence. I think it is safe to say the panel in the new model is RG/BW PenTile, the same as the last one.

For those who are unfamiliar with the issue, RG/BW PenTile replaces the RGB in each pixel with either only RG, or only BW. The hardware and software are still preparing a full 3840x2160 picture, but display doesn't have enough RGB components to render it in full detail. This is often regarded to be a deceptive marketing practice.

Many of today's laptops that formerly claimed this resolution by using PenTile, have moved to true full-RGB-matrix 3840x2160 displays. The Dell Inspiron 4K and HP Spectre x360 15t 4K both made that change this year, but it would appear that the MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro 4K has not. If it is important to you to get the full 3840x2160 resolution, I would advise to purchase a different laptop that is confirmed to use a true 3840x2160 display, such as the Gigabyte P35x. EDIT: Looks like that one has poor cooling. A Eurocom MX5 configured with one of the Sharp IGZO displays (Sharp = true 4K, Samsung = PenTile) would be a good choice.

As always, comparison image:


And the other comparison image:

 

My only thing to throw in is on a machine that is not made for gaming, this doesn't matter quite as much. From a normal viewing distance both the pentile (effective like 1520ishp) and the true 4K 2160p are both retina level. This means that you would not be able to successfully identify which was which all other factors being equal (color accuracy etc...) in a blind test from a normal viewing distance.

This is still dumb, and I hope panel makers stop doing this, it's really irritating to use my 1070 and push it really hard to not actually render 4K. Try and support the true 4K displays if you can, their color reproduction tends to be far superior anyway compared to the pentiles with awful yellows.

Nice post Edit.

Oh, I would also advise against buying the Gigabyte P35X unless you also need a flamethrower. If there are P55X models with it that is a better choice.

 

Thanks!

I also think that depends the user. I've found that I'm able to tell from a normal viewing distance, by looking at various models in Best Buy. I'm not a huge gamer, but I like to use it at below 200% scaling, which is where I see a real hit in quality with pentile vs true-resolution.

Another issue with this is that IMO the pentile displays are worse than the 2880x1620 displays from the GS60 3K. I think those displays provided a better picture, all while not demanding as much from the GPU for native-res gaming. The use of the pentile displays in this case in particular seems to signify MSI's willingness to choose components that sound better in advertising, rather than components that are actually better.

Ah yes, I'll see if I can find a better counter-recommendation than the Gigabyte P35x.

 

Replaced true-4K counter-recommendation with Eurocom MX5 http://www.eurocom.com/ec/configure(2,396,0)ec

EDIT: MSI GS63VR Megathread for more info
- https://www.reddit.com/r/MSILaptops/comments/5nkbb8/gs63vr_and_maybe_others_mega_thread/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/MSILaptops/comments/6lcbjg/mods_what_happened_to_the_gs63_mega_thread/