Systems

MSI GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 3K Gold Edition Review

vortez
November 7, 2014 11 Min Read
3 0

GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 3K notebook features a solid lineup of high-quality components. Intel’s new Core i7-4710HQ and NVIDIA GTX 970M.



Product on Review GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 3K Gold
Manufacturer & Sponsor: MSI
Street Price: £1899 GBP

As popularity for LAN parties continues to grow, the mobile gaming platform has seen significant rise in demand. Although desktop gaming systems are becoming more flexible and portable, not everyone wants to transport their system to a gaming LAN. Gaming notebooks are certainly more portable as the user only has to drop the product into a satchel and away they go. To play games fluidly and at a competitive level, high-end hardware is essential and this is where most gaming notebooks tend to struggle. Today we will be taking a look at one of MSI’s new offerings from their gaming series.

Taking on the rather long identifier, GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 3K Gold Edition features a solid lineup of high-quality components. Intel’s new Core i7-4710HQ sits at the heart of the notebook, supported by 16GB DDR3, NVIDIA’s new GTX 970M and 512TGB SATA III SSD in RAID0. This gold-themed notebook has even more to offer so let’s waste no further time and begin our review…



About MSI
Micro-Star International Co., Ltd (MSI) was established in August 1986 by 5 founders, one of the world’s largest information technology manufacturers.

MSI started from the motherboard and graphics card industries and extended into consumer and commercial electronics including notebooks, All-in-One PCs, servers, workstations, industrial PCs, household appliances, car infotainment products, barebone systems, multimedia, communication devices, and others.

MSI holds itself responsible not only to its clients, employees and stockholders, but also to the society and environment as a whole to consistently fulfill its corporate commitment.
With innovation and style as its core value, customer satisfaction and premium service as its goal, MSI will definitely be the most brilliant star in the global brands!

Technical Specifications


CPU
Intel Core i7-4710HQ (2.5GHz – 3.5GHz)
OS
Windows 8.1
Chipset
Intel HM87
Memory
DDR3L,up to 1600 MHz, slot *2, max 16GB
LCD Size
15.6″ 3K wide-view LCD display
Graphics
GeForce GTX 970M
Graphics VRAM
GDDR5 3GB
HDD (GB)
Up to 512GB Super RAID + 1TB HDD 7200rpm
Audio
Sound by Dynaudio
Support 7.1 channel S/PDIF output
Exclusive Audio Boost technology,
Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2
Webcam
FHD type (30fps@1080p)
Card Reader
SD4.0 (XC/HC)
LAN
Killer DoubleShot Pro Gb LAN
Wireless LAN
Killer DoubleShot Pro 11ac
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0
HDMI
1(v1.4), Support 4Kx2K Output
USB 2.0 port
0
USB 3.0 port
3
Mini-DisplayPort
1, Support 4Kx2K Output
Mic-in/Headphone-out
1/1
Keyboard
Full-color backlight SteelSeries keyboard
AC Adapter
150W
Battery
6-Cell Li-Polymer(4840mAh 52Wh)
Dimension
390 x 266 x 19.9mm
Weight (KG)
1.9kg(w/ battery)

Packaging & Bundle



GS60 arrives in a large, intriguing box


Breaking away from the norm, MSI presents GS60 in a large high-quality box. This box is nondescript and leaves us with no indication of what lies beneath except to say the MSI gaming series logo sits in the top right corner and the words “Top Player – Top Choice”.


Nicely packaged


Due to this particular model of notebook being somewhat special MSI has gone to extra lengths to deliver luxury even at the packaging level. Removing the cover off the box reveals a compartmentalised area for the various parts which are included and the notebook is carefully wrapped in a fabric cover.


Bundled accessories which come with GS60


Inside the packaging MSI include a number of items – the bundle is made up mostly of documentation. The included items are:

• Documentation – Quick Start Guide, Warranty Book, Hot Key, Registration, Windows 8
• DC Charging Unit with plug
• Driver/Utilities CD

Closer Look



Premium gold appearance


One of the most prominent attributes of GS60 Gold Edition lies within its name. This limited variant of the GS60 has a premium gold livery which, once again brings a whole new level of luxury.

System Specification
CPU: Intel Core i7-4710HQ
RAM: 16GB 1600MHz DDR3
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 970M
Storage: Kingston SATA III SSD RAID0 512GB + Hitachi 7200RPM 1TB


Bushed aluminium lid


MSI has equipped GS60 with a professional looking brushed aluminium lid. This lid has a concave design with two accents to add depth to the appearance and as we have seen with other MSI notebooks in the past, the MSI logo and gaming dragon insignia have been placed in the centre.

Stepping away from a traditional black theme gives this notebook an exclusive visual appearance. It definitely stands out and is likely to capture attention and generate discussion.


The underside of the notebook


Flipping GS60 over, there are nine rubber studs to prevent the unit from sliding on smooth surfaces. Towards the back of the unit there is some ventilation and there are some badges for the supporting brands as well as a specifications label detailing the model name/serial number for technical support purposes. Although this reverse side uses the same colour as the top, its base material is plastic rather than aluminium.

It’s customary to be able to detach the battery unit from a notebook and replace it, but GS60 steps away from this by using a 6-Cell Li-Polymer (4840mAh 52Wh) unit which is completely sealed in. Since it’s common to replace the battery in a notebook after prolonged usage, we asked MSI what their stance was on this. The battery is covered by a 1 year warranty and thereafter it is the user’s responsibility to cover the cost of repair.


Various ports for connectivity


Turning our attention to the sides of the notebook we have an assortment of different ports. First on the left side we have ventilation for the graphics card, allocation for a Kensington lock, AC power port, two USB 3.0 ports and headphone/microphone jacks.


Even more functionality


Over on the other side we have a single USB 3.0 port, SD card slot, HDMI port, mini display port, gigabit LAN and more ventilation for the internal components.

So by now you’ll have realised there are no USB 2.0 ports on GS60 – MSI has chosen to kit this notebook out with just USB 3.0 ports instead. Since we have backwards compatibility this won’t create any issues but will future-proof our unit. There is also no optical drive available but oddly MSI supply software CDs with the bundle – it would have been better in this instance to provide a USB stick instead.


15.6” screen offering up to 3K resolution


Flipping the lid on GS60 we are met by a 15.6” screen which has the capabilities to output 3K resolution – up to 2880 x 1620. This LCD screen is backed by the new NVIDIA GTX 970M – without this GPU, GS60 would struggle to run the latest titles at such a high resolution. Our only grip with the configuration MSI has chosen to go with is that using 2880 x 1620 on a 15.6” screen significantly reduces the size of windows, fonts, icons and other such objects and it can be cumbersome to use.

Just above the screen, MSI has included a 720p webcam which will assist with Skype calls or recording vlogs.


Gold styling for the keyboard area too


Turning out attention to the rest of GS60 we can see the gold theme continues to the keyboard area too. Although this is plastic the brush aluminium affect stretches to each corner.

Running along the top of this region there is a speaker strip. The audio on GS60 is supplied by Dynaudio – MSI has partnered with Dynaudio for many years now and in the past we’ve testified to the quality of such products. Dynaudio brings a new level of audio features with realistic and immersive sound. Sound Blaster Cinema 2 is installed on GS60 which works in collaboration with Dynaudio hardware to deliver this premium fidelity.


Exclusive SteelSeries LED backlit keyboard


MSI has also teamed up with SteelSeries to supply an exclusive keyboard for gamers to enjoy. This keyboard is LED backlit and offers a plethora of customisation for both commands, macros and colours – something which is lacking with other gaming notebooks on the market.

The touchpad on GS60 lacks any physical buttons for the left and right click and instead requires the user to press the lower areas for such operation. This isn’t a new implementation for MSI as we’ve criticised it in the past – unfortunately we aren’t a fan, while it may be elegant and in keeping with the design, it’s hard to use and mouse cursor operation is very sensitive.

Benchmarks: Temperatures, Boot Time & Battery Uptime

For our first benchmark tests we observe the max. CPU/GPU temperatures of the system during 3DMark and THIEF. We also monitor how quickly the notebook boots into Windows 8.1 using a digital stopwatch. Battery uptime is another aspect which is observed… in its idle state (not performing any tasks) – uptime will be affected when the notebook is used, so expect less than the recorded result below.

3DMark – CPU & GPU Max. Temperatures



THIEF – CPU & GPU Max. Temperatures



Benchmarks: Cinebench R15

CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor is.

Benchmarks: X264 HD

Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. We think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.

Benchmarks: PCMARK 8

PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: 3DMark & Heaven 4.0

The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it’s not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It’s the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we’ve ever created.

Benchmarks: THIEF, Tomb Raider, BF4, Crysis 3

Our MSI GS60 uses GTX 970M for graphics delivery. To test how effective the 3D capabilities are, we use the benchmarking tool within THIEF, Tomb Raider and FRAPS in BF4 and Crysis 3 to obtain average framerate

Conclusion


(Even if it is a mouthful to say) GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 3K Gold Edition is another spectacular notebook from MSI.

The sign of something special can be traced back to the packaging which is a step above the norm with its classy large black box and compartmentalised components. But the notebook itself holds the biggest surprise with its elegant and luxurious all-gold theme.

After testing GS60 in a range of benchmarks the benefits are clearly evident. The Intel Core i7-4710HQ, 16GB of DDR3 and SATA III SSDs in RAID0 all contribute to GS60’s strong processing power in a variety of different activities. For gaming, GS60 handles most titles very well by allowing more than playable framerates at the super-high resolution of 2880×1620 and with settings on high/ultra detail. The struggles come when more demanding games are played, the GTX 970M, although more than proficient in this arena has some difficulties allowing high detail levels at such a substantial resolution.



It’s nice to see MSI still continuing to work with the likes of Dynaudio for sound and SteelSeries for the keyboard configuration. Both these elements of the notebook bode well and transform the entire experience into a very pleasant one.

The battery in GS60 isn’t the usual detachable Li-on type which can be detached and upgraded. Instead MSI has chosen to go for a more permanent solution which takes some of the control away from the user – if the battery does need replacing it has a 12 month warranty to which MSI will take care of the unit, after this the user will still need to send to MSI but this will hit their pocket.

Costing £1899 GBP, MSI’s GS60 is an aggressively priced notebook. It has all the bells and whistles you would expect from a mid-high end gaming notebook and should be on the shortlist for those wanting a mobile unit of this calibre.

GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 3K Gold Edition is another stellar product from MSI. It features the latest and greatest hardware that avid gamers, offers great all-round performance at a decent price and ironically achieves our gold award!

Video Review – Vortez TV


Pros
+ Luxurious
+ Nice packaging
+ Great performance
+ Sharp & vibrant display
+ Dynaudio speakers
+ SteelSeries LED backlit keyboard
+ USB 3.0 throughout
+ Ideal for gaming & video editing

Cons
– Battery life
– Fixed battery – not upgradable
– Software CDs but no optical drive



Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

Tags:

MSI

Share Article

vortez