MSI GS60 Ghost Gaming Laptop Review

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→ April 18, 2014The*idea behind*gaming laptops can be difficult to understand. They're vastly underpowered when compared to traditional desktops, they aren't upgradable, and they can be very expensive. But for those who travel a lot, whether it be for work, school, or pleasure, relying on a giant, stationary machine for gaming isn't exactly convenient. Thankfully, there are companies like MSI and Razer that want to make portable PC gaming as pain-free as possible by creating compact notebooks with high-powered internals.
The GS60 Ghost is MSI's latest attempt at packing a ton of power into a thin and lightweight laptop. With the help of a brand new Nvidia GeForce GTX 800M series GPU and Intel's Haswell processor, the GS60 certainly packs a punch, but unfortunately the experience doesn't spread to the rest of the machine.

When it comes to gaming, MSI's new 15.6-inch laptop pumps out graphically-intense titles with ease. Equipped with a*2.4GHz Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M GPU,*the GS60 Ghost handled Titanfall, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Tomb Raider at 1080p and at least*high settings, all*while keeping the frame rate at an acceptable 30*FPS or higher.

  • Titanfall (High Settings): 45 FPS
  • Tomb Raider (Ultra Settings): 30 FPS
  • Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (High Settings): 30 FPS
The 1920 x 1080 display was great as well. Color reproduction was on point, the viewing angles left little to complain about, and*the matte screen does a great job at deterring distracting reflections.*I'd rather take a non-reflective finish over a glossy screen any day of the week, and the ability to effectively deal with varying light sources is particularly important when it comes to a portable device. The GS60 may not have the impressively high-resolution display that comes with the latest 14-inch Razer Blade, but 1080p is more than sufficient for a 15.6-inch screen.
To store your library of games and Windows 8.1 (I updated to Windows 8.1 Update 1 during the review), the GS60 includes a 128GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. Windows 8 is a speedy operating system as is, and accessing necessary files from a solid state drive makes it even quicker. The aforementioned Razer Blade, for comparison, comes with either a 256GB or 512GB SSD, with no additional HDD included.

While playing high-resolution games on the Ghost is a pleasure, there are areas of the notebook that aren't quite as impressive. The 0.78-inch tall laptop weighs just 4.36 pounds, definitely making it easy to transport, but the build quality is lacking when compared to Razer's machines and similarly priced laptops from Apple.
The Magnesium-Lithium material used to wrap the GS60 is lightweight and looks both sleek and aggressive, but it feels flimsy, especially the lid. Since the laptop is held together with a pair of thin hinges located near the edges of the display, I was able to easily bend the lower portion of the cheap plastic bezel while the lid was lifted using just one finger. I applaud MSI for creating such a light machine with powerful internals, but the Ghost's casing*occasionally had a hard time convincing me that it's worth the $1,699.99 price tag.

Problems that plague gaming laptops in general—and thin and light notebooks, in particular—are heat and battery life. The Ghost does a fantastic job at keeping the keyboard and the surrounding surface cool during long gaming sessions, thanks to a pair of relatively quiet fans, but the bottom of the laptop can get very hot in a short amount of time. I had to remove the notebook from my lap due to discomfort after playing Titanfall for less than an hour.
In terms of battery life, the GS60 was far from impressive.*When the 800M series GPUs were unveiled, Nvidia also announced a Battery Boost mode for its GeForce Experience software. By automatically lowering game settings to decrease power consumption, Nvidia claimed that gameplay time would be extended*by up to two times on average. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
I was able to get in about an hour of Titan bashing before the notebook shut down, and around an hour and a half of Assassin's Creed IV with Wi-Fi turned off. Obviously, mileage will vary depending on game and settings. MSI's latest can likely get you through a day of classes, but don't expect to do much gaming without an outlet nearby.

The GS60 Ghost does have some redeeming qualities when it comes to hardware, though. The chiclet SteelSeries keyboard, while a tad bit on the squishy side, felt good when knocking out some quests in Torchlight II, and being able to assign macros and create custom color profiles for the backlighting is a nice touch. The laptop also includes all of the ports and connectivity options that you would want from a PC: three USB 3.0 ports, Mini DisplayPort, 802.11ac wireless LAN, SD card reader, Bluetooth 4.0, and an HDMI port.
MSI included some pre-loaded software on the GS60 as well, with some being more useful than others. Nvidia's GeForce Experience is a nice addition, as is XSplit Gamecast for recording and broadcasting gameplay through a variety of services. MSI's Dragon Command lets you quickly view PC settings and launch games, which has some utility, but isn't something I would ever see myself using. And then there's Norton Antivirus, which is something I'd definitely rather not see instantly pop up when turning on a computer for the first time.



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