Boasting a 120Hz 3ms display and a bag full of features, the new GE Raider is the mid-range gaming laptop seeking to steal the competition.
Product on Review: GE63VR 7RE Raider Laptop
Manufacturer & Sponsor: MSI
Street Price: UK £1600 US $1600
After recently visiting the Multiplay Insomnia Gaming Festival this summer, it was immediately apparent how popular gaming laptops really are. Participants at the gaming LAN are able to take their own computer system along to the venue for a weekend full of back-to-back gaming. Since taking along a full-fledged computer case isn’t always practical, a high-performance laptop is the ideal replacement – allowing gamers to still achieve excellent framerates.
A quick look at some of the biggest retailers highlights that MSI are one of the key players in the Gaming Laptop division, and today we’ll be taking a look at one of their latest mid-range units.
First seen at Computex 2017, the GE63VR 7RE Raider (or GE Raider for short) is a gaming laptop based around Kaby Lake architecture, using the 7700HQ. MSI has equipped Raider with the GTX 1060, pairing it up with a dazzling 120Hz / 3ms display for fluid gameplay.
The real question is, does this new GE63 offer much over the previous GE62/63? Let’s find out!
About MSI
As a world leading gaming brand, MSI’s goal is to become the most trusted name in gaming and e-sport. We’ve dedicated countless hours and committed numerous resources to the eSports community to support the world’s most aspiring and best gamers and use their knowledge and expertise in our products in return. The insistence on 100% in-house design and manufacturing gives MSI the solid capability to implement innovative ideas and optimized design in our products.
Technical Specifications
Below are the technical details surrounding GE63VR 7RE Raider obtained directly from MSI:
OS
Windows 10
Display
15.6″ (1920×1080) Anti-Glare IPS Level
CPU
Intel Core i7-7700HQ
Chipset
Intel® HM175
Graphics
NVIDAI GTX 1060 6GB
Memory
16GB DDR4 (2400MHz)
SSD
1x 256GB M.2 SATA SSD – Kingston
HDD
1x 1TB 2.5″ SATA HDD – Seagate Barracuda
Webcam
720p / 30fps
Communication
LAN – Killer Gigabit Ethernet
WiFi – 802.11ac
Bluetooth – 4.1
Audio Jack
1x Mic-in 1x Headphone-out
Type-C USB 3.1 Gen2
1x
Type-A USB 3.0
3x
Card Reader
1x SD (XC/HC) Card Reader
Video Out
1 x HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60Hz)
1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.2
Battery (Cell)
6-Cell 51 Whr
Battery (Type)
Li-Ion
AC Adapter
230W adapter
Dimension (WxDxH) mm
383 x 260 x 27.5 mm
Weight (kg w/ Battery)
2.3KG
Windows 10
Display
15.6″ (1920×1080) Anti-Glare IPS Level
CPU
Intel Core i7-7700HQ
Chipset
Intel® HM175
Graphics
NVIDAI GTX 1060 6GB
Memory
16GB DDR4 (2400MHz)
SSD
1x 256GB M.2 SATA SSD – Kingston
HDD
1x 1TB 2.5″ SATA HDD – Seagate Barracuda
Webcam
720p / 30fps
Communication
LAN – Killer Gigabit Ethernet
WiFi – 802.11ac
Bluetooth – 4.1
Audio Jack
1x Mic-in 1x Headphone-out
Type-C USB 3.1 Gen2
1x
Type-A USB 3.0
3x
Card Reader
1x SD (XC/HC) Card Reader
Video Out
1 x HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60Hz)
1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.2
Battery (Cell)
6-Cell 51 Whr
Battery (Type)
Li-Ion
AC Adapter
230W adapter
Dimension (WxDxH) mm
383 x 260 x 27.5 mm
Weight (kg w/ Battery)
2.3KG
Unboxing & Closer Look Video
For this review we’ve produced a video which reveals the packaging, bundle and a close, detailed overview of GE Raider. Please check out the video below for a comprehensive look at this new product:
Benchmarks: Temperatures
For our first benchmark test we observe the max. CPU/GPU temperatures of the system while allowing Unigine Heaven 4.0 to run on a 30 minute loop. To report back on the temperatures we use RealTemp and GPU-Z which provide the peak figures.
Benchmarks: Boot Time & Battery Uptime
In this test we observe how fast the boot into Windows 10 is by using a digital stopwatch. Battery uptime is another important observation, for this we charge the notebook up to 100% and then disconnect the charging unit and leave Heaven 4.0 running on a continuous loop until the notebook loses all power.
Benchmarks: Cinebench R15 & x264 HD
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: PCMark 10
PCMark 10 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 10 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 TimeSpy, Unigine Heaven 4.0 & Superposition
Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for gaming PCs running Windows 10. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, built from the ground up to support new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal benchmark for testing the DirectX 12 performance of the latest graphics cards.
Benchmarks: TW: WARHAMMER, ROT Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: MD, DOOM
The MSI GE63 Raider uses the GTX 1060 graphics delivery, in this section we test the latest gaming titles to see how effective the 3D capabilities are. We report on the average framerate using FRAPS or in-game benchmark tool.
Conclusion
The GE62/3 has remained MSI’s bread and butter for many years as this series has offered the ideal blend of features and performance for gamers seeking to slot into the mid-range arena. The new Raider edition of the GE63 builds on the success of the superseded Apache laptops.
Styling on MSI laptops is always cohesive and we can therefore once again enjoy the delights of a clean and elegant design which not only looks good but also feels good in the hand too. Tweaking a popular design is quite a wise and prudent approach – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Working with a strong selection of features and hardware is the overall strategy with Raider and it doesn’t shy away from serving up a bag full of goodies. The well-established Kaby Lake 7700HQ takes centre stage offering solid quad-core performance while the 6GB NVIDIA GTX 1060 tackles 3D-based operations with ease. There is also a good blend of functionality including USB 3.0/3.1 and video-outs with HDMI 2.0. Our only criticism being that we wish MSI would have opted for a PCI-Express driven M.2 SSD rather than the slower SATA-based drive which Raider uses. Even on a mid-range laptop we expect faster primary storage, SATA doesn’t cut it.
Using Raider in the latest triple-A gaming titles, we can enjoy frame rates upwards of 60 with the resolution set at 1080p and detail presets on maximum. The real joy with this new laptop is that we can take advantage of a 120Hz capable display. This makes a significant difference after moving from a standard 60Hz display – movement is substantially smooth, sleek and fluid. These types of features are the extras which contribute to completely changing the user experience and soon enough we’re likely to see more and more laptops utilising displays of this calibre.
Having already reviewed the GE62VR Apache Pro (which also features the GTX 1060) we can see the thermal design inside our Raider offers a slight improvement, shaving off a good 2-3 degrees from the GPU. Working in such tight space constraints isn’t easy, so this is definitely an achievement given the 27.5mm thickness of this unit.
At this moment in time, Raider is on preorder and has a price-tag of £1600 GBP in the UK and $1600 USD in the United States. The US version of this laptop has a number of different variants which differ from the UK version we’ve reviewed today, so please bear in mind the hardware specification is likely to be different. At this price we can certainly see great value and this is fortified by a satisfying 2 years of warranty.
MSI has done a great job with Raider – this laptop is packed with great features and represents a definite improvement over the preceding GE62/3.
VIDEO REVIEW – VORTEZ TV
Pros
+ Elegant, stylish design
+ Reasonably small dimensions
+ Superb build quality
+ Per-key RGB lit keyboard
+ 120Hz display
+ Features HDMI 2.0 port
+ Great overall performance
+ Includes card slot reader
+ Features USB 3.1 Gen2
Cons
– SATA-based M.2 SSD – slower boot/transfer
+ Elegant, stylish design
+ Reasonably small dimensions
+ Superb build quality
+ Per-key RGB lit keyboard
+ 120Hz display
+ Features HDMI 2.0 port
+ Great overall performance
+ Includes card slot reader
+ Features USB 3.1 Gen2
Cons
– SATA-based M.2 SSD – slower boot/transfer
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
