Many laptop manufacturers are confident that by equipping a mobile device with a multi-core processor and installing a discrete mid-range video adapter, you can safely place your product in the game class. This approach of many well-known brands has led to the fact that an expensive class is full of laptops that simply can not cope with demanding games. Naturally, this creates a negative attitude towards manufacturers on the part of buyers.
The focus of this article is a mobile device that can handle all the dynamic toys on the market - MSI GX70. This laptop will not only allow you to run a resource-intensive application, but also provide the opportunity to play at the highest quality settings. Description, specifications, owner reviews and expert recommendations will introduce the reader to this wonderful device.
First meeting
Packing a laptop is more like a nested doll. The yellow cardboard box, which during transportation protects the contents from bumps and scuffs, contains a huge case inside. Red pen, black cardboard, dragon logo on one of the displays - you can immediately see that in this package is the MSI GX70 Destroyer gaming laptop . Some modifications of devices on one of the displays demonstrate advertising of some popular game.
After opening the case, the owner will get acquainted with the complete set: laptop, power adapter, battery, manual and many software disks. The mobile device is hidden in a dense black case. But that is not all. After removing the cover, the user will find another protective layer in the form of a white fabric envelope. And just removing it, you can finally get to your mobile device. Two protective covers in the kit will still not replace one branded mouse, as many buyers think, judging by their reviews.
Features of a complete set
The supplied power supply for charging the battery has a large weight and is dimensional. It is simply inconvenient to carry such a device with you, hence the negative of users in reviews who complain about the lack of compactness when transporting the MSI GX70 Destroyer 3CC 233RU laptop.
There are questions to the instructions. The manufacturer provided the mobile device with a large number of brochures that do not carry any useful information. Plain waste paper: advertising booklets, recommendations for storage, transportation and operation, as well as a catalog that contains the addresses and phone numbers of service centers in the Russian Federation. The instruction manual itself is more like a memo and does not describe the entire functionality of the gaming device.
There are many disks with drivers and software in the kit, but they, like paper brochures, are not needed by the user (except for drivers). After all, on the disks are demos of popular programs and games that crave registration and payment.
Appearance and build quality
An overview of the MSI GX70 laptop is best started with the finish of the case. It is made of thick plastic and has metal inserts. This explains the large weight of the mobile device. As for the soiling, it is present only on the inside of the case. It is unclear why the manufacturer made the framing of the display and keyboard unit glossy, while all other elements of the case have a matte finish.
There are no complaints about the build quality. During operation, the user will not detect squeaks, skews or displacement of ports relative to the case. Even the hinges that hold the cover of the mobile device, no complaints. Their move, though tight, but allows you to easily open the laptop without much effort. Loops work great, and every user can verify this. It is enough to set any angle of inclination of the lid. This can not but rejoice, because after all, the mobile device is equipped with a 17.3-inch display, which has a lot of weight.
Interfaces & Connectors
Regarding the placement of ports on the MSI GX70 laptop case, the reviews of the owners are contradictory. The manufacturer located the lattice of the cooling system on the left side of the mobile device, and took up the free space on the back of the laptop with interface connectors. For many users, this arrangement of ports is inconvenient, because, in addition to the fact that the gadget on the table takes up more space, the connection itself is also inconvenient.
On the left side, the user will find three USB 3.0 ports, a card reader and 4 gold-plated contacts for connecting speakers. The right panel is less rich: an optical drive and two USB 2.0 ports. As for the rear panel, the manufacturer placed a Kensington lock, a plug for connecting a power supply, an RJ-45 network interface and three video outputs (VGA, HDMI and Display Port) on it.
Input device
Notebook MSI GX70 3CC 233RU equipped with a real gaming keyboard. Firstly, its appearance is respected - the exquisite finish of the buttons, the metal frame of the keyboard unit and the equipment of the keys with backlight areas really attract attention. As for convenience, then here is an amateur. After all, not all users like the short stroke of buttons with sensitive feedback to the finger after pressing. Many players prefer a long stroke of buttons and weak returns (we are talking about racing enthusiasts).
With the touch pad, too, not everything is simple. It is not known why the manufacturer skirted the touchpad with a small recess in the case. Perhaps the designers of the company wanted to limit the movement of the finger outside the touch pad, but did not think about turning the touchpad into a real dust collector. The sensor itself supports multi-touch and is equipped with a shutdown button.
Economical manufacturer
Apparently, MSI has already gotten into the habit of equipping its expensive products with low-cost low-cost liquid crystal arrays. The entire MSI GX70 3CC Destroyer line has a TN + Film screen (while competitors have long switched to IPS). Naturally, such actions of the manufacturer led to the fact that the user will have to forget about the large vertical viewing angles and about 100 percent color reproduction. The display itself supports FullHD resolution and has a large margin of brightness.
The built-in LED-backlight slightly eliminates the poor-quality performance of a cheap matrix. This is primarily noticeable on the display of perfectly black and shades of gray - the transition does not have blurry spots. Not bad lighting copes with vertical viewing angles, but far from ideal. Many experts recommend the owners of this laptop to use an external display if you want to get a better picture.
Specifications
Notebooks series MSI GX70 Destroyer in the world market are present in two variations: on the Intel platform and AMD. Processors manufacturer selected almost identical in performance, power consumption and cost. Judging by user reviews, this approach to the end customer is the most correct, because future owners will be able to choose a laptop in one price category.
Crystals with four AMD A10 or Intel Core I5 cores are complemented by a large amount of RAM (8 GB). The manufacturer placed an additional DDR3 slot in the laptop in case the user decides to increase the volume to 16 gigabytes. Discrete video adapter ATI Radeon HD 8970M (R9 290X) with 2 gigabytes of memory allows the owner to run any toys at maximum settings. As for the hard drives, here the user will be surprised. The laptop has two hard drives installed: a 1 terabyte magnetic drive (7200 rpm) and a 128 GB SSD.
Decent Multimedia
Notebook MSI GX70 3CC is able not only to run demanding games, but also to accompany all applications with high-quality sound. The fact is that the manufacturer supplied his product with 2.1 system from the famous speaker manufacturer Dynaudio. In addition to high volume, a stereo system and a subwoofer guarantee the owner a decent sound. Naturally, the mobile device was supplied by the manufacturer with special software in the form of equalizers to improve the quality of music.
But MSI technologists apparently forgot about the built-in camera. The standard sensor for all laptops with 1.3 megapixels and with a resolution of HD looks very strange in a laptop. Next to the camera, the manufacturer placed only one microphone.
As for wireless technologies, the mobile device has complete order with this - Wi-Fi of 802.11n standard will allow the owner to enjoy high-speed and high-quality Internet. It is equipped with a laptop and a Bluetooth module, which not only supports file transfer, but is also able to provide the services of a wireless modem, audio device and remote control.
Gaming performance
Naturally, all potential buyers are interested in the power of the MSI GX70 3CC laptop in demanding dynamic applications. All tests conducted by enthusiasts were performed only at the maximum settings (Ultra), and here is their result:
- the new Battlefield 4 is capable of demonstrating 30 frames per second, however, in overly saturated scenes this figure drops to 15 FPS;
- the legendary game Metro Last Light without slowdowns can run at 20 frames per second;
- with the Belarusian representative of World of Tanks it’s still easier - MSI GX70 demonstrates 42 FPS;
- on the laptop you can play the latest version of the game Crysis, however, at a maximum it will demonstrate only 25 frames per second.
To increase the frame rate, IT experts recommend lowering the quality in the game settings in the first place. But using acceleration is not recommended. The fact is that when the components of the laptop fail, the settings made to users (increase in the core frequency) are saved in the video adapter firmware. Accordingly, the failure of a mobile device is not a warranty case.
Customization Features
Apparently, it has become fashionable among laptop manufacturers to equip mobile devices with an intelligent power management system. We are talking about automatically reducing the processor clock speed in the BIOS. It is clear that the powerful MSI GX70 gaming laptop consumes too much power and gets very hot, only this concern of the manufacturer harms the user more than helps.
To increase the performance of a mobile device, you need to go into the basic I / O system and turn off the POWERNOW function in the power settings. It is worth noting that this change may lead the laptop to overheating, and possibly to the burning of the processor and discrete video adapter. Therefore, the owner should worry not only about decent cooling of the device, but also about installing monitoring programs that can timely notify the user about the critical temperature on the processor and video card cores.
Problems and their solution
Notebook MSI GX70 3BE in retail is offered with the installed operating system Windows 8.1. IT experts strongly recommend that owners abandon its use in favor of Windows 7 or 10. The fact is that the "raw" operating system does not work correctly with the drivers that are required for the laptop to work. For example, an ATI video card on a 64-bit platform does not support the full operation of DirectX 12, and the driver itself constantly terminates in standalone mode.
After installing the Windows 10 operating system, the user may find that the sound quality of the 2.1 system is poor. Do not get upset, you just need to let Windows download the latest software updates. After installation and reboot, the problem itself is eliminated. In favor of reinstalling the operating system, there is one more fact - the keyboard backlight does not work correctly (the selected color is not set) under Windows 8.1.
Owner reviews
In addition to a decent cooling system, the MSI GX70 mobile device is easy to disassemble and thoroughly clean all components from debris and dust. This, of course, is a virtue. The presence of an SSD-drive inside the system can significantly increase the performance in games, as noted by reviews, however, 128 GB is not enough for everyone.
Many negative aspects include the impossibility of disconnecting the integrated video adapter, which works in conjunction with a discrete graphics card, is warming, consuming electricity and “stealing” RAM. Users also have questions about the AMD A10 processor - in games, it acts on a par with the representative of Intel Core I5, but in performance with video editors and 3D modeling it is much inferior in performance. A rather strange problem with the operation of drivers in the Windows 8.1 operating system cannot be explained at all, because in fact the user buys an inoperative product (and the OS is quite expensive).
Finally
The powerful, beautiful, convenient and multi-functional MSI GX70 laptop is really worth it to pay 50,000 rubles for it. After all, this is one of the few products on the mobile market that has the right to be placed in an expensive gaming class. Having studied the description, specifications and reviews of the owners, many potential buyers will certainly have a desire to buy this laptop. And this is the right decision, because the MSI GX70 simply does not have competitors in terms of price and quality.