Customer Ratings & Reviews

Pros: -Thin and light -Amazing keyboard -Gtx 1070 max q along with 144hz screen (no gsync) -Battery Life (6-8 hours) while browsing/streaming -Fans are fairly quiet even on max Cons: -Serviceability (if you want to install another SSD, you better be good at tinkering because for some awful reason they flipped the motherboard, meaning you have to take out the whole motherboard to install another SSD or upgrade the memory) -The temperature (CPU reaches 91 degrees celsius while gaming, recommend undervolting with Intel XTU) - BACKLIGHT BLEED (im on my 2nd unit already, this one has really noticeable backlight bleed on the bottom left, the first one had it at the top and bottom but not nearly as prominent as this one) 3rd times the charm right? -The storage is slower than expected for a m.2 non NVME ( I was hoping for a pretty snappy system, but my gosh the drive they used on this model is slow when compared to my normal SATA samsung EVO drive) Final thoughts: Other than the terrible backlight bleed that I have been getting (gonna have to return and get a new unit and hope for the best) and the flipped motherboard (an inconvenience to upgrade the parts inside), then I highly recommend this laptop. For the price that I got ($1899) with the student discount, It is overall an amazing laptop. Best one I have used in a long time. I just wish MSI would do better in QC their laptops screen in order to avoid this backlight bleed fiasco.

A really good computer. Pros: -Beautiful design, good for looking professional -Great display & very little bezels -Quiet (When not gaming) -Amazing performance for a laptop -Very nice size Cons: -Headphone jack does not support optical & lower quality SSD :( -Underside can get hot when under heavy load -On the upper side of pricing

No issues at all and if any minute issue comes up it is very fast to fix itself. Excellent gaming laptop and screen is beautiful with 144hz refresh rate and thin bezels. Laptop also last me all day (charge it at night or the following day) while multitasking and is not that heavy for being a gaming laptop and 15” screen. Very thin and stays cool.

The GS65 is meant to be a light desktop replacement. It performs this task admirably. For reference, this replaced my Yoga 900. Physical Design: The device is well built with good materials. It is difficult to find defects or impart bends on the case. The back quarter of the entire device is dedicated to heat sinks and fans, and it needs it. The motherboard is installed in such a way that you must remove it in order to access the NVMe slots and RAM. It feels well built, and does not bend or warp. Hardware: This machine is a beast of a laptop. The processor is incredible, compiling Linux 4.18-rc4 full deb-pkg takes 22 minutes. The GTX 1070 graphics is great, I run Surviving Mars at max settings and it easily tops over 100 fps. The display looks great, but can be a little bit on the blue hue side, if you are sensitive to that turn on Windows nightlight. Despite having two NVMe slots, the hard drive is a SATA drive. There is a dedicated key that cuts power to the webcam. There has been a few times where the touchpad will cease to function, cycling the touchpad enable button off then on fixes it. Software: The MSI software SUCKS. Despite having twelve logical cores and more ram than it knows what to do with, the MSI software is slow, glitchy, and unintuitive. The SATA hard drive is partitioned horribly, they split the drive into the "Windows" partition and the "Data" partition. On top of that, there is a 20GB "Restore" partition, on top of the Windows Recovery partition that is placed immediately following the Windows partition. This means if you want to get rid of the Data and MSI Restore partitions, it is extremely difficult to do so without breaking the Windows Recovery partition. The switch between GPUs is not always seamless. For some reason MSI messed with the default Windows power settings, it is set to High Performance out of the box and has some odd sleep and hibernation defaults. Linux Support: Good, with some caveats. With the dual gpu, you have a choice between the integrated graphics and good battery life, (Seriously, I get better battery life on this thing in Linux then I do on Windows) or the dedicated GPU with Nvidia's drivers and not so great battery life. The open source drivers for the Nvidia card DO NOT play nice with dual gpu yet, and the system will panic after loading X, so use Nvidia's drivers or disable the GTX with Bumblebee. Sleep causes all of the wireless nodes to go into Airplane mode, and only a reboot can fix it. Overall, it is a great machine and I'd recommend it to anyone who needs a lightweight powerhouse.

I was told I would get a free headset if I write a review. So…. Overall, the laptop performs as expected it is super fast even without the m.2. The screen is awesome for being a 1080p. There is no PWM going on with screen diming ( I have sensitive eyes and have had issues with the surfaces in past). Battery life can be all over the place as you use the laptop. It switches between the integrated graphics and the 1070 which can skew numbers a bit. You can force it to only use one or the other if you like. The laptop stays cool to the touch even under gaming. The matte finish is nice if you sit somewhere with a lot of light that can be reflected. I mostly play Overwatch and see temps get to 80c on cpu and near 90c on the gpu this is with the auto mode. You can pull up Dragon Center, fn+f7, and change the setting to ramp up the fan/ performance mode. Using perforce mode and setting the fans to boost temps drop by 10c and it does get loud. Some minor complaints I have is with the flex from the chassis. It has not broken in half or anything like that yet. I use this for grad courses and throw it into my messenger bag everyday with text books. There are some sharp edges around the laptop. Mainly where the top and bottom pieces come together on the chassis. Edges have caught on my bag, granted my bag is lined with fabric. Even though you can upgrade/ add another m .2 device, the mobo is flipped upside down so it can be a pain to change out. I feel like this is done to help places like best buy get some money for those who do not want to tear their $2000 laptop apart. The Razer Blade 15 and Gigabyte Aero14/15 are all easily upgradeable. I would highly recommend this laptop if you want a do everything laptop. This thing is a beast! The Razer and Gigabyte are other options to consider. I was dead set on getting the Razer till I drove 100mi to go biking and thought I would stop by and see another example of the Blade 15. This laptop is fairly similar to the GS63 but with some steroids. You get high end specs for where the Blade15 starts, but you do not get the amazing build quality that Razer had. I steered from Razer due to all the complaint reviews about QC and having customer support issue. There are a hand full of people in my classes that have the Razer, and I can see some of those complaints coming out. My main complaint still lies with the sharp edges. I wish it had a touch screen.

As a software engineer who also games, I needed a laptop that didn't look "gamer-ey" while still packing some serious power. So far, the MSI GS65 has met this need convincingly. Performance: For weighing < 5 lbs, this thing is a beast. I was getting > 100 fps consistently on PUBG at medium to high settings. The fans get loud but that is not particularly surprising. A cooling pad takes care of this. Build Quality: The only noticeable downside to this laptop. Yes it is not built as solidly as a macbook or the Razer blade, but it also costs $800-$1000 less. Plus as long as you aren't dropping it or picking it up by the screen, it shouldn't be much of a problem. Appearance: A major reason why I bought this laptop. It is a simple black rectangle with some light gold detailing. It fits in just as well at a business meeting as it does at a LAN. Other: The keyboard is great. The speakers are more than acceptable. The IPS panel is beautiful. There is a great selection of ports. Battery life is solid. Basically if you need a laptop for work and play, and you have the money, the MSI GS65 is the best in its class.

It is an impressive computer that does not say gaming all around, but the performance is outstanding. I cannot hear any cracking on the chassis. Pros: Thin and light weight Good battery life for non gaming activities Trackpad works like wonder Incredibly fast Cons: Runs slightly hot but nothing to be alarmed

Runs smoothly, screen looks great at higher refresh rate. Fans can be loud when running at full. Somewhat flimsy, plastic like feel to the case. But otherwise feels refined. Keyboard feels nice and the ability to map a color to each individual key is a fun feature. Plays modern games without breaking a sweat. +

This laptop rocks! I've had gaming laptops, convertibles, ultra books, and run of the mill laptops. This is the perfect balance between them all and sacrifices very little to achieve that. I use it for work, school, and gaming. Fits easily in my backpack and the power adapter is reasonably sized too. I've used it for games like The Division, Star Citizen, and Total War on some very demanding settings. It looks great too, just be wary of fingerprints as it sucks the oil out of your hands. If using in a public or office environment, you'll probably want to mess around with the fan settings because while they do a pretty good job at minimizing throttling from high temps, they can be obnoxiously loud. That's probably fine for the user if they have on headphones, but not so much for everyone around you, especially if ambient noise is low. Yes, it's a chunk of money, but comparatively speaking, it's a better buy than the competition unless you are stuck on a very particular functionality that an alternative in that price range has.

Beautiful computer! The 144hz screen is amazingly clear and fast. I wish it had gsync but at this high of a refresh rate, its debatable of if you will notice it. >160fps on Overwatch on Ultra. When running on Battery, computer automatically reduces to 30fps to give you more time. I was hesitant about the maxQ 1070 but after playing some games, my hesitation has been silenced. I plan on hooking up a 3440X1440 144hz gsync 34 inch curved gaming monitor, so we will see how it will handle that but I don't anticipate much disappointment. At my level of gaming (Avid good gamer but not pro) this computer fulfills all my needs. Switched from console to PC, and wow this thing really shows you the difference. I was debating between a desktop, or a larger gaming PC, and i went with this slim model and happy i did. Stays pretty cool, ESC key area gets a little hot but left palm and WASD stays cool. Compared this to my friends older AW 15 r2 and this think kicked its butt and at about half the thickness vs the 1060.

The GS65 STEALTH THIN-037 is about everything I want in a gaming laptop. At 4.14 pounds (without the wall plug), it is very portable unlike previous gaming laptops I have owned. The outside is not showy or flashy, just a single bronze logo on a black background. The keyboard is nice, it does have the RGB coloring, but you can customize it to your hearts content. Connectivity is great with USB-C (Thunderbolt 3), USB-A, mini-DisplayPort, ethernet, and audio connections. I won't have any complaints here. The downsides for the laptop in my opinion are fan noise. General web browsing with the Steam browser running in the background made the fans spin up. And when the fans spin up, they get loud. A headset might be helpful for using in association with the laptop. Also, there is some bloatware on the the computer, mostly Norton, that can be readily removed. Disclosure: While I am not affiliated with MSI in any way, I received unrelated equipment in exchange for my review.

My first initial experience with this laptop wasn't pleasant. I ordered from Bestbuy.com and had the laptop shipped to my house. When I opened the brand new box and unveiled the laptop, I discovered the bottom left side of the laptop made a creaking sound and would decompress if I pressed hard enough. It was as if the top and bottom piece wasn't assembled properly. I immediately knew something was wrong so I took it to my local Best Buy store. The exchange process was simple and they swapped it for another laptop of the same model. Here's my initial impression based on using it for a few hours. This product isn't cheap, but the materials inside it are not either. You definitely get what you pay for. It's fast, powerful and the laptop feels well built (when it's defect free). There's minimal bloatware, but you'll still have to remove it on your own. The keyboard feels great to the touch. The screen is bright and crisp. No complaints so far. Will update it after using it some more.

The laptop is great. Pros: 1) Great Keyboard. LOVE IT! 2) First 144 hz screen experience for me and man i cant go back to 60 Cons: 1) you might have some storage issues down the line as it only houses a 512 SSD,( Can upgrade it but doing so is very hard because everything is placed upside down in the chassy and you will have to unscrew the whole motherboard to get to the M.2 slot) 2) if you want to upgrade the ram too, you will have to buy 2 16 gb sticks as this version has 2 8 gb sticks installed. About the minor Hicup: My laptops headphone jack stopped working 10 days after buying it. But I did not have a problem replacing the laptop from the store. The only thing that sucks is I have to set it up again :|

My decision ultimately came down to 2 choices: the MSI GS65 Stealth Thin and the New Razer Blade. I demoed both models in store. In the end, both were great choices, as I was looking for a high-spec thin laptop that could handle just about software or game, and both had the profile and portability I wanted. In the end it came down this: the MSI had a bigger hard-drive; the Razer had a better display and cost more $$. To be honest, the MSI screen looks amazing for both games and movies and I am very happy to have the extra storage and extra coin in my pocket. No brainer, no regrets. PROS -Super fast, excellent gaming performance, doesn't bog down multi-tasking. -Great aesthetics. the aluminum case with bronze accents is beautiful. -Excellent specs for the price. -Thin bezel on display, thin profile, lightweight. CONS -Speakers are just okay. -Dragon Center software is just okay. -Heats up more than I'd like at top-end of keyboard while gaming.

I purchased the MSI Gs65 Stealth gaming laptop for my son that is a college freshman. He was interested in a gaming computer that would also be portable enough to be used at college. Since he is a commuter and not dorming there he really needed a lightweight laptop because he carries it back and forth every day on public transportation. Best Buy customer service recommended the MSI and my son fell in love with it. The videos and graphics are fantastic. It has handled every game that he has downloaded including fortnite. It is lightweight and fits in his backpack with books. He has used it every day in his chemistry and calculus classes and he is extremely impressed. The colorful keyboard is unique . This laptop satisfied all of his needs as a college freshman and a heavy gamer. We completely recommend it and I am looking into purchasing another for my younger son.

This laptop is absolutely amazing. I was deciding whether to buy this or the RB 15. After hearing that the RB had so many QC issues I went with this. This laptop is everything a gamer needs. I was concerned about the building quality (according to youtubers) BUT this is one premium machine. TThere is some flex but REALISTICALLY why are physically stressing a $2000 machine? You aren't. Besides, the flex is greatly exaggerated. I won't say anything about the GPU because, well, its amazing. Temperatures are not too bad on idle but on gaming they are going to be high, as expected. I'd recommend some kind of cooling pad or other ways to decrease that temperature. Finally, the fan noise can get quite loud while gaming but let's be honest you're going to be wearing a headset anyway. And, I'd rather have loud working fans than not. 5/5 laptop.

So this is the first gaming laptop I ever bought. I searched high and low to find one that would fit my needs/wants. Thankfully I came across this beauty while it was on sale! It's a pretty powerful machine that will handle your most demanding games with ease. I was pretty amazed at how well it ran and I can honestly say my jaw dropped. Equipped with the gtx 1070 max-q design I'm able to play my games at the highest settings. The only concerns I have with this laptop is its design and heat output. It creaks when you move it but it's not going to break unless you're swinging it around with no care whatsoever. It just bugs me a little bit every time I hear creaking. This laptop does tend to get pretty hot. I get around mid 80s low 90s on my cpu when I run the most demanding games, but it can be fixed using coolerboost or undervolting your cpu using throttlestop. Thankfully this systems cpu (i7-8750h) has max temps of 100c so it's not like your laptop will break down quickly. The gpu temps seem to stay pretty steady even on the most intense games at around 66c-70c. I use this laptop for school as well and it can definitely handle anything you have to do regarding your studies. Overall this is a great gaming laptop and I would definitely recommend this to a friend!

Purchased this laptop around 3 weeks ago, A few notes from my experience: -I purchased the laptop for work and play. I am a marketing professional and frequent software such as photoshop. Works fantastically for those applications. Screen: I can't tell you how great 144hz (sp?) is for regular browsing. If you are contemplating whether or not to go with a touch screen, I had the same dilemma and this screen is as smooth as butter. Keyboard: -This was one of my in-store selling points. I wanted the best keyboard but also wanted to have dedicated graphics. This keyboard is fantastic. Gaming: -I am a console gamer, so the only games I play on this are either casual or strategy. This one works well at max settings for anything I have tried VR: I purchased an oculus rift with this and several games. AMAZING experience. This notebook keeps up well with anything I use it for. Audio: Very impressive, but my experiences here are limited. I don't use the audio in the office as it is very crowded here, and I use oculus headphones at home. Battery: -Great battery life. I stepped away from a 2013 ultrabook so I am not comparing apples to apples. Keyboard Lighting: The party trick -Being in an office where there are no other tech-savvy people, I can't go around and brag about my graphics card, Hz rate on my screen, or the games I play. But throwing the American flag on my keyboard makes EVERYONE say wow. It's fun and maybe gimmicky, but on the other hand, you can make your keyboard look like the code streams from the matrix. Price: Of course, you can't say this laptop was cheap at 1850 (what I paid for it.) But under 2k for a 1070 ultrabook styled gaming notebook is not so bad. Comparison: If you are seriously considering a purchase for work and play, you are most likely looking at this laptop and the razer blade 15. I will tell you that I actually decided on the Razer, purchased it online, went into the store to pick it up, and only then, did I realize that I could get this laptop for $50 cheaper with around 40% more graphics ability, and a much better keyboard. If you are down to those options, I would highly recommend the MSI.

I've had this laptop for a few weeks now and what can I say, I love it. No regrets. I'm an avid gamer and I've really been blown away by how well this rig handles everything I throw at it. With its GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU, thin design, tiny bezels and excellent battery life (relative to its competitors), this laptop is a no-brainer. Nothing will beat this machine at this price point. Just be sure to handle with care; the aluminum body, while somewhat sturdy, is still flimsy considering the cost of this beast! Finally, you may want to check out one ThrottleStop tutorials on YouTube to get the most out of the rig without getting things too hot under the cover. Temperatures hovering around 90degC are not uncommon! I love this laptop and it I had my time back I would happily buy it again.

This laptop is incredible for its category. Lighter than an XPS 15 4k (nearly as bezel-less, too), faster than a 7th gen desktop, 144hz display, and really great battery life. The only downside to all this is that the aluminum panels are incredibly thin. Handling the device makes plenty of creaks and noises, but that's the price you pay to get down to nearly 4 lbs. Still honestly one of the strongest and lightest daily powerhouses you can fit in a backpack. Highly recommended! Pros: -Lightweight (very) -Powerful -Decent temperatures after tweaking -Good battery life -Wonderful screen -Keyboard is great after getting used to it. Cons: -creaky and noisy when handling (very thin materials) -will probably have ugly silver scratches with wear, be careful, get a skin, or use a sleeve.