MSI GS66 vs Razer 15

[Guest]

Razer: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/razer-blade-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-512gb-ssd-black/6409400.p?skuId=6409400

MSI: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-gs66-stealth-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2070-1tb-solid-state-drive-core-black/6409057.p?skuId=6409057

 

I'm sure these threads are a dime a dozen so forgive me, but I'm at an impasse and need advice. I do some light to moderate gaming (CS, Starcraft 2, L4D2, Subnautica, Half-Life, etc) and basic productivity stuff (Office, Youtube, etc). No content creation or anything like that. I've narrowed it down to these two laptops and since they're the same price, I was wondering if the community has any experience with either of them. On the surface, I lose out on SSD space and take a small hit on the GPU if I went with the Razer, but on the other hand I hear Razer's quality is pretty solid and are fairly durable since they're made from CNC aluminum. The MSI appears to have a bigger battery but the Razer has the edge in overall aesthetics in my opinion. I've never owned an MSI product and I've only ever experienced Razer peripherals and they've been pretty decent.

 

Thoughts on either of these laptops?

[zeusthemoose]

I have the version of the gs66 stealth you posted with 32gbs ram. Great laptop. Build quality is great. It can get very loud when doing intensive work. Battery life is meh. If you get the settings right, you can get 4-5 hours for web stuff (people have been able to get 7 but I can’t)

 

I considered the razer, but I’ve heard that it has a high failure rate.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, zeusthemoose said:

I have the version of the gs66 stealth you posted with 32gbs ram. Great laptop. Build quality is great. It can get very loud when doing intensive work. Battery life is meh. If you get the settings right, you can get 4-5 hours for web stuff (people have been able to get 7 but I can’t)

 

I considered the razer, but I’ve heard that it has a high failure rate.

Yeah a buddy of mine has the Stealth, and I agree it looks and feels pretty slick but the fans were LOUD playing seemingly simple games. And he got it like a week ago and his battery is complete garbage, like dropping from 80% to 40% in like 15 min just browsing Youtube. Maybe he got a lemon but with that massive battery, I guess I was expecting better.

[Morale]

If youre willing to sac some performance to get a better feeling laptop, Razer is worth it.

They feel like a macbook with the solid aluminum case, and the screen quality is very good.

Their laptops run quite hot though, i would recommend a cooling pad for any gaming at all. 

 

I havent had a razer laptop in a few (a lot) years.. i had the v2.. so dont take my word as gospel. I have hear that things have only gotten better. 

[genexis_x]

GS66 would be my pick. Take a look at Legion 7i also. Open to custom laptop brands?

[Guest]

12 hours ago, genexis_x said:

GS66 would be my pick. Take a look at Legion 7i also. Open to custom laptop brands?

Custom as in what? Like not mainstream?

 

12 hours ago, Morale said:

If youre willing to sac some performance to get a better feeling laptop, Razer is worth it.

They feel like a macbook with the solid aluminum case, and the screen quality is very good.

Their laptops run quite hot though, i would recommend a cooling pad for any gaming at all. 

 

I havent had a razer laptop in a few (a lot) years.. i had the v2.. so dont take my word as gospel. I have hear that things have only gotten better. 

With what I play, I feel like I wouldn't feel a performance hit. I had a GTX 1050 in my older Nitro 5 and it ran everything just fine. I figure most laptops at this price point and performance level would run kinda toasty anyway, but is Razer worse than the competition?

[Morale]

7 minutes ago, Stylized_Violence said:

With what I play, I feel like I wouldn't feel a performance hit. I had a GTX 1050 in my older Nitro 5 and it ran everything just fine. I figure most laptops at this price point and performance level would run kinda toasty anyway, but is Razer worse than the competition?

if you look up some reviews on the laptop, you will find that every one says something about the thermals being pretty bad with the razer. its not that the CPU/GPUs run overly hot (between 80c and 90c with most modern games), but the case itself gets very hot.

Most of the reviews say that the area above the keyboard and the bottom of the laptop were sitting around 120 freedom units while gaming. 

 

i had the same expereance with my razer blade as well.

[zeusthemoose]

24 minutes ago, Stylized_Violence said:

Custom as in what? Like not mainstream?

There are some manufacturers like eluktronics that allow you to choose what parts go in. They mostly use desktop parts.

 

26 minutes ago, Stylized_Violence said:

I figure most laptops at this price point and performance level would run kinda toasty anyway, but is Razer worse than the competition?

Anything with this level of hardware in this form factor will run toasty when gaming. Idk about the razer, but the gs66 regularly hits 80-90s when gaming even at full (very loud) fans. However, when doing browser stuff in the battery saver or silent mode, it’s barely audible. Especially with headphones on.

[Guest]

I ended up getting the Blade. Thanks guys!

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, Stylized_Violence said:

I ended up getting the Blade. Thanks guys!

Hopefully you won't get quality/reliability issues...