iBuyPower Battalion M1771 (MSI GS70) Gaming Notebook Review
by Dustin Sklavos on December 30, 2013 2:45 PM ESTDisplay Quality
I'm happy to be at the point where I can actually be critical of a 1080p matte display on a notebook instead of merely being thankful that it even exists. The Chi Mei TN panel that MSI employs for the iBuyPower Battalion M1771 has a slightly high amount of grain in the coating, but it's actually pretty stellar for a non-IPS display, at least in objective measurement.
Color reproduction is good, but not great. Where the panel excels is in its overall contrast ratio and brightness. Most users should be very happy with the panel in the M1771.
Battery Life
I'm mystified as to why this is the case, but nonetheless: the Battalion M1771's battery life is, in a word, horrible. I can't pin down exactly what the efficiency issue is, but whatever it is, it's absolutely killing running time off of the mains.
Normalize the battery life and it doesn't look as bad, but it's hard to ignore that the M1771 is both using a battery that's probably too small for it and is just plain lousy on running time. This is half the efficiency of the Razer Blade 14, or worse, despite a substantially smaller gulf in overall performance.
Heat and Noise
Despite the thin chassis, the M1771 is actually a pretty good citizen where noise is concerned. Unfortunately, there does seem to be some cost exacted for that.
While the GTX 765M doesn't get especially hot, the i7-4700HQ gets extremely toasty. Haswell runs hot in general and it's pretty evident here. MSI could probably tune the fan profile to be more aggressive on the CPU side, but part of Haswell's problem is the same thing that plagued Ivy Bridge, I suspect: high heat density. The 765M is a healthy sized chip that draws a lot of power, but that also means there's a much larger surface area to dissipate all that heat. Integrating the voltage regulation on the 4700HQ is really only going to amplify the heat density issue. Performance is fine, but those thermals would give anyone pause.
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DanNeely - Tuesday, December 31, 2013 - link
No. Except for anything they buy out of pocket or what is donated to create testbeds its mostly loaners so that the manufacture can get a half dozen reviews out of a single piece of hardware.Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, January 1, 2014 - link
It depends on the review item, publication and company/region. Typically expensive items like notebooks and smartphones have to be sent back but I've only had to send back two or three SSDs and that's because I've dealt with companies' European offices (they have more limited marketing budgets).johnxfire - Wednesday, January 1, 2014 - link
Will we we ever get a review on the W230ST? Its probably my favorite piece of hardware ever, coming from my NP8150 to that has been an amazing move. It saddens me that Clevo resellers arent as popular as they ought to be.hfm - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
I seem to recall all the reviews saying it sounded like a jet engine during gameplay. One of these days we'll get a nice thin and like gaming laptop (4-6 lb depending on size) .. I think the 14" around 4-4.5 and 15-17 maxing around 5.75-6lb are good spots..hfm - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
I meant to say something these sizes and weight that don't sound like they are about to take off during gaming..Hubszo - Thursday, January 9, 2014 - link
You're pointing lack of 802.11ac connectivity and it sounds pretty logical considering today's WiFi development. But what surprise me the most that Anandtech has so far not taken proper focus on the widespread issues (some even say about law suit) regarding the most common 802.11ac solution in the form of Intel AC 7260 (specially if utilized under Windows 8.1). It is now several months with this unsolved problem where signal and connection drop-outs are making customers furious and disappointed with Intel's lack of proper action. Personally I own MS-1757 (MSI GT70) with the mentioned WiFi card and I have unfortunately joined huge group of unhappy users (66 sides of posts on Intel's forum speaks for itself) regardless that entire machine pleases me a lot..Ananadtech always was (and still is) my favorite source of IT info, pointing pitilessly bugs, design flaws and "scams" but I just don't understand why is so little attention here on this subject where its negative impact on WiFi experience is so obvious.
Innokentij - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
Why dont you check for throttling issues when you review laptop gaming? 1 hour of gaming with fraps running to check is a must if you want to review a gaming notebook.