Thinking about upgrading to MSI GE60, some advice needed

Hello everyone!

I'm replacing my trusty old laptop by September (see specs in signature), and the MSI GE60 0NC-006US and Asus N56VZ-DS71 caught my eye. They seem to have some really good specs at a reasonable price. I do have some questions, and would appreciate if you could help me with answers.

- How reliable is MSI and the GE60? Are there any known issues with the standard GE60? I will pick it up during a trip to the US, but will be using it in South America. It's going to be sitting on a nice comfy desk most of the time, but it could get tricky (and expensive) to ship it back to the US. I want good build quality that will last me at least three years.

Side note: I'm probably buying the stock model through Amazon, unless Gentech can accept my order (XoticPC can't, unfortunately... blame Visa for it).

- What about the heat? Does it get too hot somewhere it shouldn't? Is the stock thermal paste good? I considered the Lenovo Y580, but it seems the HDD is placed in the worst possible place and can go over the safety limit.

- How is easy or hard is it to install a mSATA SSD in it for the OS?

- How good or bad is the keyboard? I keep hearing mention of SteelSeries, but don't know anything about them.

- Is the WiFi card good, or should I consider upgrading it?

Thanks!

 

1. GE60 0NC-006US has a mail-in rebate in August for US customer.
2. The unit has 650M VGA card. It has no heating issue.
3. I do not recommend you to install the mSATA SSD by yourself. There are some very small screws in the bottom of the notebook you need to remove. It requires a very small head screw driver
4. The keyboard is not backlit, but I alway like Chiclet Type keyboard. It gives you a good response.
5. It depends the DSL wireless router you have. The better the router you have, you shall upgrade the wi-fi for faster speed. But if you only use the standard one from your DSL company, I recommend not to change.

 

Ah, thanks for the screws warning! Guess GentechPC is becoming a more attractive option then. The rebate is interesting, but not sure if I can use it...

What about the thermal paste quality?

I read about the lack of backlit. It's a pity, but if the keyboard is really good I won't mind (much).

It's a Netgear WNDR3700, with 2.4 and 5 ghz bands.

 

You can install a mSATA SSD easily, you just put it in then find the appropriate screws from your local hardware shop. The thermal paste is good enough, though if you can, try repaste with AS5, Shin-etsu or ICD7

 

For thermal paste, MSI uses their own. You can upgrade it with some resellers.
For Netgear WNDR3700, you do not need to upgrade your wi-fi. Please be aware that router is the gate door and Wi-Fi bandwith provides the road. Both need to work together.

 

I've been using my GE60 for about a week now and the things I'd add are that
- the keyboard takes some time to get used to as it requires you to press the keys down quite hard to register, though it's actually quite pleasant after you get the hang of it
- I think I might have to change the thermal paste if I want to overclock as my CPU temps can get over 95C and my GPU reached 90C once (I have the GTX 660M version though)

Overall though I really like the machine, it's great performance for the price and it's easy to move around.