Thoughts on the GS63VR or alternatives?

[shadowbyte]

greetings once again

 

Following the release of the 10 series and Kaby Lake, I figured it's a good time to start looking for a new laptop, after selling my 2015 13 inch macbook pro retina because it didn't really suit my needs. My price range is from 1-2k, which seems like a sweet spot these days. After creating a spreadsheet and comparing many different laptops with 1050s, 1060s, and 1070s, I've come to the conclusion that the MSI GS63VR meets all my needs for a nice price.

 

(by price low to high)

Dell XPS 15 w/ 7700hq and 1050 (8gb)- 1474

Alienware 13 with 7700hq and 1060 (8gb)- 1449

Gigabyte Aero 14 with 6700hq and 1060 (16gb)- 1599

MSI GS63VR with 6700hq and 1060 (32gb)- 1649

Alienware 15 with 7700hq and 1070 (8gb)- 1899

Razer Blade with 7700hq and 1060 (16gb)- 1899

 

 

It has the most RAM by far (32gb is complete overkill, but why the hell not), the largest screen, thunderbolt 3, and weighs the least. After watching a few reviews, it seems to be exceptionally well cooled for its size, and the styling isn't over the top (cough...alienware..cough). Battery life isn't fantastic, especially compared to the likes of the blade and XPS 15, but, unlike the blade, has much more room for expansion in the future. I can actually get the laptop for 1498 with "only" 16gb of RAM, but that does double SSD space to 256gb, plus a 1tb hdd. This config seems like the better bet, because very rarely do I go over 16gb of used RAM on my desktop, and only when doing crazy intense stuff with a million processes in the background, so 16 will suffice. Plus, it's upgradable, which is sweet.

 

If anyone happens to own one of these laptops, especially the GS63VR, I'd love to hear comments and feedback about the machines.

 

thanks!

 

[Shiv78]

I agree. I've had my eye on the GS63VR for a while, just that my wallet closes its eyes whenever I do 

[The Sloth]

10 minutes ago, shadowbyte said:

MSI GS63VR with 6700hq and 1060 (32gb)- 1649

 

 

 

i would say go for it, try to buy it from a physical store. 

[shadowbyte]

23 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

i would say go for it, try to buy it from a physical store. 

I've only seen that config on Newegg

[BritScout]

I'm in the same position, I don't know if I want to spend that much. On release it was only £1300

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, shadowbyte said:

I've only seen that config on Newegg

just for a piece of mind but Newegg has good support. 

[shadowbyte]

Just now, BritScout said:

I'm in the same position, I don't know if I want to spend that much. On release it was only £1300

yeah, the price is a bit of a concern, but the semi easy upgradability means I'll be able to keep it for a long time

[BritScout]

21 minutes ago, shadowbyte said:

yeah, the price is a bit of a concern, but the semi easy upgradability means I'll be able to keep it for a long time

Yeah, that's why I'm not sure about it, I really like the laptop for it's specs and it's small size yet large screen, and upgrade ability is always a plus. So I'm stuck between it one of the other laptops on your list.

[BritScout]

I found a version of the GS63VR Stealth Pro for £1386. However it only has a 128gb SSD and 8GB of RAM, which as you said is easily upgradeable, so many it's a compromise worth taking.

[Pendragon]

7 hours ago, shadowbyte said:

MSI GS63VR with 6700hq and 1060 (32gb)- 1649

 

The price seems high given that it's only the 6700HQ. Really should get the 7700HQ. Please know that your paying for form factor at this price. For 1650-1700 you can easily pick up a 1070 Clevo. 

http://www.hidevolution.com/evoc-16s-1060-gs63vr-custom-built-gaming-laptop-pc.html

^ consider this one. You can get a discount for being a NBR member so it'll bring the price to parity. You can also call for a custom quote if you don't want any of the things included. Only reason why I say this is because I would get the liquid metal. Lowers temps, lowers acoustics which is great for thin and light laptops. There is actually a very real difference. 

 

Ofc, if you find a even better deal somewhere around the 1300-1400 range take that. But if you're already paying 1600+ get it from HID. 

[shadowbyte]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Please know that your paying for form factor at this price.

form factor and weight are pretty much paramount

 

[ramo55]

9 hours ago, shadowbyte said:

MSI GS63VR with 6700hq and 1060 (32gb)- 1649

 

 

 

Exactly like me, I've been looking for a laptop for a while now and the gs63 is the perfect one for me. Perfect size, perfect specs and so on. Maybe not so perfect price lol. It might be high priced and only with a 6700hq but the sky lake processor runs cooler than kaby lake so I'm happy with the 6700hq, really not worth it getting the 7700hq. Not a deal breaker just because it has a 6700hq/

 

Cooling wise, it depends, I've done a lot of research on it, some people say it runs cool, others say it runs a bit hot, while others say it runs cool but fans are loud, either way I'm happy with that since I'm not going to be maxing it's specs out 24/7, and if you use it properly it shouldn't really get hot. You can probably also undervolt the laptop and of course repaste it if you want even better cooling.

Are you in the uk btw? I read someone's comment saying on release it was £1300 so how did the prices go up? If I can find it for £1300 I'll buy it straight away lol. Everyone selling it for £1700 right now

[ramo55]

8 hours ago, BritScout said:

I found a version of the GS63VR Stealth Pro for £1386. However it only has a 128gb SSD and 8GB of RAM, which as you said is easily upgradeable, so many it's a compromise worth taking.

 

Where did you find this deal?

[ramo55]

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/nda-156-msi-gs63vr-6rf(stealth-pro)-011-fhd-i7-6700hq-16gb-ddr4-256gb-m2-pcie-ssdplus2tb-hdd-6gb-gtx

 

Why does it say end of life on this? Isn't the gs63 a new laptop? How is it end of life already?

[shadowbyte]

32 minutes ago, ramo55 said:

Are you in the uk btw?

nope, america

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, ramo55 said:

Why does it say end of life on this? Isn't the gs63 a new laptop? How is it end of life already?

It's the 6700HQ. It's updated to 7700HQ hence it's end of life. And also because the GS63VR will be refreshed with a 1070 in the near future. 

[ramo55]

8 hours ago, Pendragon said:

It's the 6700HQ. It's updated to 7700HQ hence it's end of life. And also because the GS63VR will be refreshed with a 1070 in the near future. 

 

Ahh okay okay makes sense now.

[ramo55]

9 hours ago, shadowbyte said:

nope, america

Yeah you'll probably get it cheaper in america anyway.

[TheDankKoosh]

10 hours ago, Pendragon said:

It's the 6700HQ. It's updated to 7700HQ hence it's end of life. And also because the GS63VR will be refreshed with a 1070 in the near future. 

How is that gonna work when the way it comes stock barely cools the 1060 correctly?!?!

[Pendragon]

6 hours ago, TheDankKoosh said:

How is that gonna work when the way it comes stock barely cools the 1060 correctly?!?!

That's what I said. But MSI has a decent track record of upgrading the cooling when it needed to. They upgraded the cooling from the GS60 to GS63. So lets give them the benefit of the doubt.

[Emberstone]

Just wanted to say that the 6700HQ isn't bad even compared to the 7700HQ. The difference is about 10%.

 

I've got a GS63VR that I've been using in place of my main tower the last few days (I'm just using it as my main PC for the rest of the semester since I do all my schoolwork on it). It's the 6700HQ + GTX 1060 model. Got it hooked up to two monitors. Effectively, it's a desktop for now.

 

Rock solid 144 fps in Overwatch for my 144hz monitor on high settings.

 

Over 100 fps most of the time in Doom on max. I think the lowest I saw was like 70 fps in the campaign?

 

Can record 1080p60 lossless quality with Fraps or OBS (fairly CPU intensive; I mainly use Fraps when going for lossless and OBS for the other).

 

No thermal throttling either.

 

I couldn't ask more of this machine.

[TheDankKoosh]

21 hours ago, Pendragon said:

That's what I said. But MSI has a decent track record of upgrading the cooling when it needed to. They upgraded the cooling from the GS60 to GS63. So lets give them the benefit of the doubt.

Even so, this is like stuffing a desktop 980 (heat wise) into that thin and small body. Even MSI is going to have some troubles with that. Also, it will probably end up like the one asus laptop that's 1070 is so starved for power that it only has like a 30% edge on the 1060.

[shadowbyte]

34 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

Just wanted to say that the 6700HQ isn't bad even compared to the 7700HQ. The difference is about 10%.

 

I've got a GS63VR that I've been using in place of my main tower the last few days (I'm just using it as my main PC for the rest of the semester since I do all my schoolwork on it). It's the 6700HQ + GTX 1060 model. Got it hooked up to two monitors. Effectively, it's a desktop for now.

 

Rock solid 144 fps in Overwatch for my 144hz monitor on high settings.

 

Over 100 fps most of the time in Doom on max. I think the lowest I saw was like 70 fps in the campaign?

 

Can record 1080p60 lossless quality with Fraps or OBS (fairly CPU intensive; I mainly use Fraps when going for lossless and OBS for the other).

 

No thermal throttling either.

 

I couldn't ask more of this machine.

thanks!

I'm definitely picking it up now. How's battery life for you?

[Emberstone]

13 minutes ago, shadowbyte said:

thanks!

I'm definitely picking it up now. How's battery life for you?

Battery life is where this machine falls short, most likely due to the hardware packed inside and the size it all has to fit into.

 

Absolute best-case-scenario, around 3-4 hours while not using full brightness. Realistically, 3 or less. Bring a charger.

[shadowbyte]

Just now, Emberstone said:

Battery life is where this machine falls short, most likely due to the hardware packed inside and the size it all has to fit into.

 

Absolute best-case-scenario, around 3-4 hours while not using full brightness.

yep, that's what I've heard. I'll probably buy another power brick so I can carry one around and leave the other at home.

thanks for the info!