Customer Ratings & Reviews

very fast and our college student really likes it.

Great laptop for the gamer on the go. Lightweight.

I have had this laptop for three weeks now and barring a few software issues, this laptop is amazing. Pros: -Performance: The configuration I have has an i7 8750H and a Nvidia 1070 Max-Q. As expected with these specs, the performance of this laptop is amazing. Gaming is very enjoyable and I never see my framerate drop below 100 fps on high settings. (I’ve played League, Overwatch, War Thunder, and a couple other Steam games on this so far.) -Thermals: The laptop does get warm during gaming, but not overly so. MSI’s dragon center allows for adjustment of fan speeds among other things. I usually keep the fan speed on auto for normal use, but during gaming I switch to Advanced or Cooler Boost. These settings run the fans at higher speeds, but cool down the laptop very quickly. During day-to-day use, I rarely if ever hear the fans. However during gaming, the fans do get quite loud so I recommend using a pair of headphones. I’ve heard undervolting can lower temperatures by around 10 degrees and it may be something I’ll try at some point. -Display: The 1080p 144Hz display looks amazing. It gets very bright and I usually keep the screen at half brightness for normal use. The display seems to be very color accurate. Gaming is where the 144Hz display shines. Gaming is beautiful and buttery smooth. -Trackpad/Keyboard: I really like both the trackpad and the keyboard on this laptop. The keyboard has per-key RGB backlighting which is a nice touch. The actuation force of 170g is slightly harder than the average keyboard, something I find makes for a very satisfying typing experience. The layout is also very good. The trackpad has a great surface and the mechanism is very clicky. There are no stutters when using it. -Speakers: I’m not an audiophile, but the speakers sound really good to me. -Battery Life: Battery life is around 6.5-7 hours. -Size/Weight: This laptop is very light and compact for the performance it is able to deliver. The build quality is also very good, I haven’t noticed any flex on the chassis. Cons: -Software: As mentioned earlier, I’ve encountered two main software issues with this laptop. The first has to do with the audio drivers. The problem I encountered was that I couldn’t hear any audio through the speakers, but I could through headphones plugged into the headphone jack. As I understand it, MSI uses two different audio drivers: Nahemic and Realtek. In order for the audio to work, both drivers have to be at compatible versions. The issue arises when Windows 10 auto-updates drivers and only one of the audio drivers gets updated. When this happens, the speakers stop working. This is easy to fix by downloading a compatible version of the drivers from MSI’s website and uninstalling the update to the compatible version. The second software issue I encountered was with Nvidia Optimus. Nvidia Optimus switches between the integrated graphics card and the dedicated graphics card depending on the graphical load that the computer is under. The problem was that the computer would randomly switch between the integrated and dedicated card regardless of the load on the computer. This resulted in random 1-second freezes that occurred all the time, from scrolling through a webpage to playing games. After looking online, this appears to be a somewhat common issue and the fix that I have found is just to manually switch between the two cards. I normally select the integrated card for daily use because it is more than sufficient for web-browsing and word processing and it preserves battery life. (7+ hours) When I play games or do something graphically intensive, I obviously switch to the dedicated card. Battery life does decrease though. (3-4 hours) Overall, this laptop is amazing. The few issues that I have encountered are purely software based and they are relatively easy to fix. They also don’t appear to be MSI’s fault but an issue with Windows 10 and Nvidia. I highly recommend this laptop.

The computer is nice however it does have several things I think could be improved upon having been a gaming laptop user for years. 1. The keyboard keys are a little soft/wobbly, 2. Upgrade capability is certainly an after thought since the motherboard is upside down. The laptop however looks really nice and the cooling looks like it was thought through well. Perhaps the next one they come out with will be perfect. Nice overall machine though and with more hours on it I may be able to get used to the sloppy keys on the keyboard.

This is a great laptop. It will be able to handle whatever you throw at it. Only thing i found that should've came with it is a SD card reader since the gs-63 came with one, but you can buy a external one for around $15.00. i think this is a great buy if its in your budget. you defiantly get what you pay for.

Background: I travel a lot for work and I was looking for a higher end computer that could do everything I wanted but also be light and portable with good battery life. I am just a casual gamer but like to have the high end specs to be able to keep up with the newest games. I also like to have the options to work with multiple programs such as a sound studio and Photoshop. I was looking for a laptop under the $2000 budget but still meet all my requirements. I originally purchased the MSI GS63 which was a great laptop at $1500. I went ahead and traded it in for the upgraded performance, battery life, and the smaller beveled screen. I also like the compact keyboard and matted black texture. Pros: -Actually lightweight and slim profile. -Decent battery, especially for a gaming laptop (5-7 with light web browsing and low screen brightness. I have not tried it with games yet. I imagine much less, but still way better than my old gaming laptop for daily use.) -HIgh end performance in a small package. The GTX1070 is awesome and I was able to immediately open up Witcher 3 and play on Ultra high specs with no fine tuning and still had a solid 60fps. So far, this laptop handles anything I throw at it and I have yet to mess with any settings. -I really like the keyboard. The feel of typing is great, and the placement of the FN key on the right side is great. It takes a little getting used to but over all it makes way more sense being close to all the buttons that use it. The keyboard lights work great and are easy to fine tune, and I also like the compact size of the keyboard and it makes it very easy to type and it feels great. -Doesn't look like a gaming laptop, I really enjoy the finish and the smaller MSI logo on the back. The gold looks classy but it's not over the top. -Amazing screen. I've never been a snob for refresh rates and I don't have a large knowledge behind it, but everything looks so smooth and every new app/window you open up is just so smooth and it does feel like it makes a difference. I love the screen proportion and how they made the edges smaller. Cons: -The build quality does have some flimsy spots. I read reviews on this before and I expected it when I got it but I can definitely feel it now. The power button and the surrounding area definitely have a little give, and right in front of the mouse pad on the edge of the laptop has one little soft spot. Overall it definitely has a little weaker frame then some of the laptops but its understandable that they had to change some things to make it as light as it is. It is also nothing that effects daily use, you only notice it when you are looking for it and applying pressure in some spots, I think overall you take care of it properly and none of it will matter. -This does indeed get very hot under heavy load but I have been able to mess with it and make it much cooler with a little fine tuning, just at the cost of the fans being much louder. You can hear the fans start blaring, and there are still some spots that get pretty hot but only when I have a game running. The fan noise is louder than average but understandable with the performance that you get in such a small laptop. I mainly play games when I am at a desk and able to use a platform with fans underneath it to help keep it cooler. Otherwise, for daily things on the laptop and most programs the fan runs somewhat quite and keeps it pretty cool. It does still get slightly hotter than other laptops I have had. It's best laptop I've ever had so far but should be for the price. It was a little more on the expensive side but it seems to have a big jump from the laptops that are just a few hundred dollars cheaper. I have only had it for a short time but I imagine it will last me a long time.

This is a great product if you’re on the go and want to travel with an undercover arsenal. It’s worth noting that you won’t get amazing battery life off the power adapter, but how many people don’t sit next to an outlet even at a public coffee shop? Would highly recommend the screen is amazing!

Bought this laptop for my son and have had it for about 6 months now. He loves playing the Battlefield and Ghost Recon series games and this laptop performs perfectly. Puts out some serious heat but deals with it efficiently. Super slim and light for the specification. Great product and happy son.

I exchanged a spectre due to the thing freezing up every 20 seconds. Then I saw this, and it peaked my interest. This thing screams!

Great gaming laptop, thin, portable and powerful. Build quality is a little bit cheapish, but other than that I'm satisfied

I have been shopping laptops for a few months and have been looking for a gaming laptop with good battery life, light, but powerful enough to play essentially any game. I've owned just under a week and have been able to put most settings on Ultra and haven't seen any issues. Would recommend so far.

All around pretty good. Chassis has some flex, but there must be some tradeoffs to make the laptop as light as it is. Runs pretty much everything I throw at it, and the 144Hz screen is a big upgrade from 60. Due to the small size, heat management is a bit of an issue, but not really a big issue.

I have had my GS65 for 3 days. I purchased it for gaming and entertainment while travelling. I travel 12-15 days a month so I was specifically interested in something, light, portable, and durable. So far the MSI fits the bill. The chassis is very nice, light and sturdy. The case is only slightly longer than my older ACER timeline U 14", with the same width and height. I can't speak to the gaming performance yet but this is well documented on other posts. So far so good. Thanks.

This is my first gaming laptop and i'm surprised at how fast it starts up. I havent had much time to work with it but you're able to customize fan speed, keyboard lighting, screen settings and color. So much different things you're able to customize. Can't wait to try it out with more games!

This laptop is not only a gaming beast, but excellent for productivity and can double as a workstation as well. I bought it primarily because I needed a laptop with as many threads as possible without having to buy a bulky and overpriced workstation. This machine did not disappoint. PROS: -Lightweight and beautifully designed. I much prefer the subtle gold accents over the flash red-and-black theme of MSIs previous gaming laptops. The body is aluminum all around and the design is professional looking enough to go unnoticed in a business meeting. Not to mention it weighs about as much as an ultrabook and is less than .7" thick. Pretty incredible for a laptop this powerful. -Performs like a beast. The 8750H 6C/12T CPU is great for multitasking and heavier tasks, like rendering and editing. The 1070 Max-Q is great for gaming, even if it's slightly less powerful than the full-fat 1070. -The screen. Bright, color-accurate, 144hz refresh rate. Not quite as bright and vibrant as a Macbook Pro or even Dell XPS screen, but the 144hz refresh rate is still a pretty rare item on a gaming laptop, and the 7ms response time is well above average. -Temps and fan volume. Like any other gaming laptop, the CPU and GPU will get hot. The CPU maxes out around 85C while gaming, and the GPU can reach 84-86C as well. But MSIs cooling solution handles it admirably, with a triple fan design that can get loud, but not overly so. You'll want to wear headphones while gaming, but in my experience this laptop is quieter than most under full load. -Battery Life. Way above average for this class. I've routinely gotten between 7-8 hours of general use, and 2-2.5 hours while gaming. That blows basically every other comparable laptop out of the water, with the exception of the Gigabyte Aero 15X (basically a tie). CONS: -Body Flex in some spots. The monitor has a good amount of flex to it, as does the area around the power button and even the keyboard. This is a trade-off MSI had to make in order to keep the weight down, but I worry about the deck of the laptop holding up over long-term use without warping. -Speakers. The speakers fire downward and don't have much in the way of bass response. No distortion at max volume, though, and the sound is overall clear and vibrant. Great for multimedia, but again, you'll want a headset for gaming. Lastly, there's some information that Best Buy doesn't provide about the internals. The 512GB SSD this laptop comes with is SATA, not PCIe. However, both of the M.2 slots support PCIe NVMe drives. I'm currently running two 970 EVOs in RAID. But be aware that out of the box, it's a SATA drive. Overall, MSI hit an absolute home run with this laptop. I have a lot of experience with gaming laptops and PCs in general, and for my money this is hands down the best gaming laptop ever built. Strong words, but it's true. I'd challenge you to find a better combination of gaming and workstation power in a chassis this sleek and lightweight. Nothing even comes close. If you're looking for a laptop in this price class, BUY THIS ONE. Even if you've been turned off by MSIs designs in the past -- you will not be disappointed with this laptop.

As a landscape architect student, i have to use Adobe suits, Autodesk and lumion for work. It is hard for me to find the right laptop that i can bring to school every day easily. The msi Gs65 is the one that light weight and has great power to support all those programs i need.

This had been a great laptop until 6 months ago. Now experiencing problems with the speakers.

The computer is great and performs awesome. It just runs hot while gaming

So I need to upgrade my old laptop. While it did everything I needed with it's core i5, This laptop had the ram to be able to record high quality game capture and stream at same time with no lag. The processor easily handles my video editing, very quick.

So let me start at the beginning. My first ever gaming laptop was a GS63VR with the 6th Gen I7 and GTX 1060. I owned it for about a year and absolutely loved it. I then decided to upgrade to an Alienware 17 R4, which had a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1070 GTX. It wasn't a bad machine but I always missed the thinness of my MSI and portability. I took my Alienware on one trip to Las Vegas for a work conference and it wasn't the best experience. So mid-2018 comes around and a couple of laptops catch my eye. I looked at: Dell G7 w\ 1060 MaxxQ Razer Blade 15 w\ 1070 GTX MaxxQ Asus GU501GM w\ 1060 GTX MSI GS66 w\ 1070 GTX MaxxQ First was the Dell, it wasn't bad actually and if the refresh rate on the screen was higher, it might of stood a chance of being my daily driver. My favorite color is blue so I liked the look. It ran warm while gaming but not as bad as others. The 1060 is great but it be a 1060 and MaxxQ worried me. The second was the Asus which I absolutely hated. The keyboard LEDS are the worst I have used. The backlight bleed was AWFUL. The MIC didn't work and I just hated everything about it. Also it had very random lag completely everyday tasks. Very disappointing. I finally decided it was time to upgrade to the big boys, it's always been a huge "dream" to own a razer laptop so I took the jump on a $2600 Razer 15. The build quality on that was by far the best. The screen was also the best. Bright colors and little to no blacklight bleed. Speakers are great too. Now for the bad, it ran HOT, incredibly hot. I don't think the laptop would have lasted long running that hot playing the likes of WOW. I also couldn't get used to the keyboard, I was constantly clicking the wrong buttons and just didn't feel right. But the straw that broke the camals back was on the 3rd night of playing wow, a horrible whine/metal clicking sound started coming from the laptop. The sound was terrible. I immediatly turned off the machine and turned it back on. It was still happening but slowly went away. I contacted Razer straight away. I explained what was happening and they gladly let me return it as if it wasn't the first time they had heard this. Then the GS65. It has been absolutely incredible. I love the backlit keyboard, mine has minor blacklight bleed via the screen but it hasn't bothered me much. The colors are good, the MSI software is the best of all the laptops I tried. The performance is up there and I think the cooler boost is also very well done. I have learned I must just be an MSI guy but they make good products. I definately recommend this laptop to anyone looking for something on the higher end of gaming laptops.