Today I'm taking a look a the MSI GE70 2PL Apache.
Gaming G Series
Before I Give You My Review I Will Give You A Insight To The Product
Hope you enjoy the review
Insight to the product
Cutting edge 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor, the MSI GE70 2PL Apache is fully equipped to power your
video editing, image manipulation, gaming, and general multimedia playback duties without breaking a sweat. It features performance enhancements which make it between 3-7% faster than previous generations of the processor,
and 15% more powerful overall as a package. Battery life depends on usage. Maximum battery life as stated by the manufacturer indeed dose fluctuate depending on applications or software you have running. Not plugged This Laptop
will last gaming on battery for about 45 minuets before it needs recharging.
The MSI GE70 2PL Has dedicated Nvidia Ge-force GTX 850M 2GB VRAM DDR3, the performance is faster than the
previous GTX 750M processor. The MSI GE70 2PL(Apache) is fast enough to play the latest games at high quality settings. The NVIDIA Ge-force GTX 850M is a high-end graphics chip, announced in late 2014. It is part of the Maxwell
generation and constructed through a 28nm process. It consists of five shader blocks, each of those has 128 smaller shader cores, also known as CUDA, for a total of 650 CUDA cores. The Nvidia Ge-force 850M users
could get up to a 75% faster and more performance at same level new graphics card with low watts and temperature. The performance of the GTX 850M will certainly bring your games to life.
So there is a quick insight to a couple of it's features
so lets get the review underway : )
The opening of the box.
Very Well packaged with clear brand labels listed throughout the outside of the box also
with the MSI dragon printed in center of the box. The laptops main feature listings are listed clear at the bottom of the box with a full specification list label on the side of the box.
Inside we find a very well presented and covered product, with plenty of protection and separate compartments for all accessories, such as power supply manuals and CD Etc.
On uncovering the laptop you can see the MSI logo clearly visible located in the top center
with the MSI gamers shield badge located just underneath. The
laptop its self is like a brushed metal plastic effect throughout.
Although having more of a plastic feel this dose not feel too cheaply made.
On lifting the lid you can see that a nice 720p HD Camera is embedded in the center of the
lid just above the screen, also what you can't on this picture are two little Microphones embedded on either side of the camera with little rubber stoppers all the way round the screen for opening and closing protection. As I take a look around the keyboard
part of the laptop as you can see there are two speakers located on the left and right with the soft key function keys situated in the middle.
There are 7 soft keys located and they are for ejecting CD, Screen On/Off or Screen
switch, Airplane mode, Fan control or fan boost, WiFi on/off , MSI gaming center and power switch. The keyboard is powered by steel-series. Not only is the keyboard more rugged, the Windows function key has been repositioned
to the right side to reduce the possibility of accidentally striking it when you’re gaming.The keys feel very comfortable and have a very nice spread with a separate number pad.
On looking at the mouse touch pad below , You can see it has a rough textured feel.
So what's the spec's for the GE70 2PL ?
LED Panel 17.3"FDH 1920x1080 none glare type
CPU Intel Core i7-4720HQ Processor
VGA Nvidia Geforce GTX 850M 2GB DDR3
17.3" WHD+ (1600x900)/FHD(1920x1080) Anti-Glare
HDD 1TB 7200Rpm + 128GB SSD
RAM DDRlll (L) 8GB Supports up to 16GB
ODD DVD Super-Multi
RF 802.11 ac+BT
OS Windows 8.1
Keyboard UK (No LED KB)
Battery 6 Cells
USB3 ports, HDMI , audio , mic inputs and SD card readers on the left.
LAN port, VGA port, USB charger port, DVD ROM and USB 2 port on the right
Laptop Under The Hood . Warning warranty void If you do this be warned.
I've done this just to show you just what is really inside there.
WARNING Once you do this bit it will for sure void your warranty so on this note I would not recommend you do
this bit and to take your laptop to a professional who will check your components for you/ carry out your repairs as required.
My Final Thoughts After Nearly 30 Days Of Use
Outer Casing
Finger prints all aver the case. Just gotta keep wiping it. The things like a magnet. It shows up everything. I
would have liked to
have see the construction a little more solid seaming that this is a
gamers laptop, we all know gamers laptops do take some stick.. although there are other models out there that support this.
Turning It On
Once all installed and fully ready to go I switched on the laptop and was ready to go in
under 12 seconds.
(Very impressed). You can tell just how much the Solid State Drive 128GB SSD performs here
The Screen
The screen is very clear indeed but where's the glass. I miss the glass screen.
The Keys/Pad
First of all I would just like to say Remove the flight key. We don't need this.
The
keys do feel comfortable as I have said
but to me they don't feel like they could handle any serious game play,
Personally I will be connecting a separate keyboard to this.
I will do
this not only to protect it from wear and tear but also for better gaming and gaming comfort.
I've seen
too many
gamers laptops with button wear and for me personally to be spending
this kind money I would like to protect my investment.
Also I would have
liked to have seen lit keys on this unit as it is listed as gamers laptop so
this would have
been a really good feature to have, but as I have said before that this is a feature available on other models.
I
know some people will see this as a gimmick, But If you game like I do
almost in the dark then at least you can see the keys lol.
Some of you
will also be asking then why not have just bought
one with this feature already on. But just like everything else in the
world everything comes down to cost and what you can afford.
looking at the mouse touch pad, It has a rough textured feel.
I like this and
also the fact you have a left and right separate click keys so
you don't have to rely on the touch pad for everything. Above the
touch pad there's a key which when pressed you can enable or
disable the pad. For
a gamer this key is a great asset as I will be connecting a gamers mouse to this and wouldn't wanna hit that pad accidental while in a game.
The Audio
On testing the audio performance with it's exclusive audio boost design for crystal clear audio fidelity this is
very good sound for a laptop.
I was so impressed with this
that i hooked straight up to a Yamaha MG166C audio mixer and connected two Mackie Thumps 15".
Now normally you get the sound of the power supply coming through the system requiring grounding support or removal of power
supply. But not with this. The sound clarity is very very good here. Could this be because of the MSI audio boost enhancements?
Camera
What an impressive camera this has. With a 720HP this is very handy indeed although it's missing a camera rotation for frontal view. Shame it can only be used for Skype due to it being fixed mounted.
Killer Gaming
I haven't tested the Killer Gaming features at it just slows down my connection speed, It won't run stable no matter what settings are used so this is currently uninstalled.
Operating System
I have to be honest that I'm a windows 7 fan myself but it hasn't took me long to get use to the windows 8.1 operating system. I class myself as a PC gamer other than an average pc
user. After receiving the windows 8.1 update, for me the update still hasn't changed my mind. I find this operating system more user friendly for a touch screen PC or a tablet than a gamers system.
The OS I find is very awkward
to use without the function of a touchscreen. A simple click of the start button faces you with a wall of items which although can be simply clicked to access, I find totally useless for my needs and I am currently seeking
ways to remove most of these setting. I have also noticed a few problems with the touch pad to which I have disabled most of it's features and now set this to my touch to help me with smooth usage.
Windows score has been removed
from windows 8.1. Now this is a feature I liked because once you had done your base score you could then use the overclocking function to help better your score. Although the windows score system was not that great. It still
gave a simple way of showing just how better you could improve your machine.
On the windows 8.1 update they have reintroduced the start button but where has the original classic windows gone "I still can't find it but I'm still looking."I'm not saying that any of my options or opinion will be the same for everyone, I'm saying that this is my personal settings and a review for me as a gamer.
Overall though this dose look pretty very impressive
laptop. With USB3 ports, HDMI , audio , mic inputs and SD card readers on the left. LAN port, VGA port, USB charger port, DVD ROM and USB 2 port on the right. This laptop certainly has almost everything you would need get
you and keep you entertained.
Devices
Been using the fast charge feature for my mobile, this little feature works really well with the fast charge USB situated on the right hand side. All devices, USB ports and SDHC Cards work flawlessly without any issues so far. I would have liked to be able to use an extra hard drive in here for sure. Just for that extra data copy or backup the drive or RAID. But again this option is available on other builds.
Despite a few little tweaks Operating system mainly this is clearly a powerhouse, I Love It
Benchmarks.
So here I will do a few benchmarks and see just how the MSI GE70 2PL Apache performs.
I Have just put need for speed Hot pursuit on here to test graphic performance on high setting just to get a idea of how games will look. This game is running with all settings on high.
So What Are My Final Thoughts.
Well I'll start by saying it is definitely without a doubt a powerhouse.
Since buying this I've used it for software such as Virtual DJ 8 with many controllers connected through Powered USB hubs, Taken it to LAN Parties playing racing games using the Xbox controller which was also just a simple plug and play. Apart from the keyboard and a few items which needed ironing out from the OS system I love it. But I will still be changing to windows 10 once it becomes available fully. I will be using this for all my driving games and audio from now on instead of my tower.
If you are after LED keys , RAID Systems or even SLI Graphics MSI have many of the Gaming G Series with all different setups. Why not take a look here
http://www.msi.com/product/nb/#?category=Gaming%20Series&category_no=271
Thanks for checking out JCONTHEBLOG.
