MSI GE60 Review: Mainstream Mobile Maxwell
by Jarred Walton on July 17, 2014 5:00 AM ESTConclusion: Worth Considering
After testing and using the MSI GE60 for several weeks, I've come away reasonably impressed with what's being offered. It's not the fastest or flashiest laptop around, and it's not the cheapest either, but it gets most of the important areas right when it comes to building a good gaming notebook.
Perhaps most importantly, the performance is good, the keyboard and touchpad work well, and the display also looks nice. If you want a system you could take to a LAN party or a gaming session at a friend's house/apartment, the MSI GE60 could certainly fill that need. What's more, you get a good level of performance without breaking the bank. The GTX 860M is really the star of the show here, and NVIDIA's Maxwell provides a good boost in performance over the previous generation GTX 760M while adding a few new features in the process, but let's not forget Intel's Haswell i7-4700HQ, which is fast enough for other tasks as well.
There are a few flaws however. The build quality is a bit suspect, particularly with the LCD cover, and the hinges don't feel all that solid either. Over months and years of use, I would expect the hinges to become quite loose, and the cover could potentially break. That's more conjecture than fact, however, so take it as you will. I could also raise a few concerns about the design and aesthetics of the GE60, but it's a difficult balancing act. Do you want a thinner, sleeker looking notebook, or do you want something that can run fast and not overheat?
More critically, the battery life is somewhat poor for a Haswell-based laptop. I'm not sure how much of this is simply due to component selection and how much could be caused by lack of power optimization efforts, but I remember testing the first quad-core Sandy Bridge notebook several years ago and seeing battery life of nearly seven hours in our Internet test at the time. 3.5 years later and two architectures updates and battery life (granted, on a shipping laptop) is still not able to match that old Sandy Bridge prototype; I'd like to see someone do better than this on a gaming notebook without sacrificing in other ways.
Ultimately, what it all boils down to is choice. If you want something fast and sleek, MSI's slightly more expensive GS series of laptops might be more your style, and I'll post the full review of the GS70 shortly. The GS series basically drops the optical drive and a bit of bulk, but increases the cost several hundred dollars. Razer has the Blade and Blade Pro, which of course are a much larger jump in price, and there's always the Apple MacBook and Dell XPS 15 to consider – but those aren't really in the same performance league, as the GT GPUs are a decent step down from the GTX GPUs. Probably the most compelling alternative is the Lenovo IdeaPad Y50, which ends up with very similar features in most respects (and it also targets four hours of battery life), so it's basically a question of design and aesthetic preference.
In terms of price, performance, and features, the MSI GE60 gets everything right. I just wish MSI had spent a little bit more effort on improving the chassis build quality and battery life, as those are the only things really holding this system back from an Editor's Choice award. As it stands, the MSI GE60 warrants at least an honorable mention, and if you're looking for a GTX 800M notebook for under $1250 there aren't a whole lot of alternatives. I'd still plan on at least upgrading the storage to an SSD if you can manage it, as dealing with pure HDD storage has become more than a little painful.
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Khenglish - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link
SLI class laptops already do not support optimus because nivida does not allow it with SLI, so these could do G-sync just fine.As for strong single card laptops then yes the iGPU is in the way. Alienware laptops allow you to run in optimus/enduro mode or in dGPU only mode which connects the dGPU directly to the display, but ASUS, Clevo, and MSI do not. Alienware actually has every display output directly drivable by the dGPU, so I feel it would not be very difficult for other makers to at least route the internal display with a BIOS option for iGPU/dGPU mode, or dGPU only mode.
yankeeDDL - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link
This is a good machine. I am looking for an upgrade and this looks fast and with a spacious HD, which is a plus.That said, I wish start seeing laptops (especially in this size and price range), using an SSD paired with an HDD (less than 1TB means that you need to find some creative way to keep music, photos and videos with you, and 1TB SSD is still way too expensive).
Maybe some of the Kaveri parts can compromise on the CPU while provide similar GPU power, all combined for a much lower cost. Let's see: so far Kaveri has been MIA.
Hrel - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link
I picked up the GE60 i7 and GTX765M GPU for $800 off neweggflash a few months back. Couldn't be happier with it. Really amazing laptop, for that money I wouldn't expect a backlit keyboard, yet it has one. a 720p camera, stereo mic, Optimus, fantastic keyboard feel, though the layout could use some work. Some things are in odd places and there's some completely unused keys that could be replaced with nice keys, like a Windows key to the right of the spacebar. I'd also like the spacebar moved left some as it sits directly under my right palm. The Del key is also oddly far to the right, so that should be put back where it belongs.Nit picky stuff though, it's an amazing laptop. Seems completely wasteful to get anything more expensive considering what is offered in the GE series. I guess if you need something .5" thinner, for some unkown reason, the GS series makes sense. But I cannot fathom a function for the GT series besides just wasting money.
Taurus229 - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link
Mainstream at $1200.00. Who's kidding who ?grayson360 - Saturday, July 19, 2014 - link
The Physx issue is because Metro Last Light installs an older version. If you install metro, then install the drivers, it runs beautifully. I had the same issue with my SLI'd 780's. The fps would plummet to single digits. After the fix, I had perfect smooth gameplay with zero slowdowns.GreenMeters - Sunday, July 20, 2014 - link
Is it possible to remove the tacky badge from the top cover?DaveLikesHardware - Sunday, July 20, 2014 - link
I prefer using a touchscreen to navigate Metro UI.Are GTX-class mobile GPUs and touch screens mutually exclusive?
I was looking forward to the Y50 - thinking it'd be touch screen.
How about the GS60 Ghost or GS60 Stealth? Neither are, are they?
I'll keeping waiting...
Dave
CommandoCATS - Monday, July 21, 2014 - link
I think there's a Lenovo Y50 Touch with a GTX 860M and touchscreen. Was that what you meant?DaveLikesHardware - Monday, July 21, 2014 - link
Yes, Commando, it is. Thanks - I missed it and only saw the Y50 non-Touch.That is the fastest GPU paired with Touch screen that I've seen so far.
Dave
romba - Thursday, July 24, 2014 - link
On storage, on the other hand, this is the only laptop at this price with 2 msata ports. My GE60 is equipped with 2 x 1TB Sams SSD and 2 x 1TB HDD (one in a caddy in the optical drive). So if you are willing to get your hands dirty and self upgrade, this baby is for you.I dare you to find a laptop at this price that can house 4TB of storage.
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