Pros: Great gaming performance

Beautiful aesthetic design

Relatively cool temperatures under loads

Ample memory for multitasking

Amazingly fast boot and wake times

External expansion galore (my current setup has a single 23" monitor connected, with input for two more)

4 USB 3.0 ports (mouse, keyboard, 360 controller, and headphones if I'm barebones, but I have a 10-port hub, which is a huge advantage)

Great speakers for a notebook

Decently sharp webcam

Along with intense gaming, it's great for workstation and production tasks

Cons: Brushed metal. Always a con. I simply don't touch the lid of the notebook because I don't want any fingerprints on it. It was a horrible idea when it was first used, and it's a horrible idea today.

It uses a slotted power input connector. This is the year 2015. We should have advanced from this type of connector because it has too much risk to break both inside the notebook and on the charging tip itself. But it seems that no manufacturer is addressing this problem except apple. Magnets are not a patent. Certain designs are, but that doesn't mean that a $1800 laptop should have something so volatile as this type of connector. And if MSi wants to become truly awesome, then they'll start manufacturing notebooks that have magnetic breakaway cables, and they'll manufacture adapters that users can put into these power sockets so that they're flush with the body of the notebook, and a replacement cable that goes from the power brick to the notebook that ends in a magnetic tip. It's just absolutely appalling and embarrassing that a $1800 laptop is still using what was used 20 years ago when we've had all that time to try to improve all of our technology. But only apple does this, and no other company considers that people who pay price premiums for notebooks would also want a power connector that provides absolutely no risk of damaging the most important port on the entire notebook. Shame on you, MSi.

And now the reason I'm giving this product a 1-egg rating: MSi support. It is simply terrible.
I'm currently an exchange student in Japan, here until one month after my warranty expires. I've contacted MSi in the US, the UK, and Japan because when I got here, the notebook wouldn't say that it was charging (but was plugged in), and because I have a dead pixel (yes, dead, I've run the tests). I've replaced screens on my own before, and since it's vital that I always have a notebook with me where I live in Japan, I can't send my notebook to MSi to get the screen replaced. But I'd love to converse with them about perhaps livestreaming or making a video, taking responsibility for whatever damages might occur under my replacement skills.
But MSi simply has NOT responded. My only response was from someone running the MSi UK Notebook page on Facebook, and that person contacted US support in the most direct way possible from within the company.

So while the product performs fantastically, know that your 1-year warranty means absolutely nothing. Once you buy this, and you're outside of your 30-day Newegg warranty, you're on your own. MSi doesn't care about anything that may happen to the product, and all repairs/replacements will have to be done by you.

Again, shame on you, MSi. If you want to make this right, send me the panel for the 2QE-003 so I can spend two hours with this in my possession to carefully, professionally replace the screen and send you the defective panel.

And then pay attention to your customers. E-mail them. Don't be office

Other Thoughts: The most important thing to take from this is that when you buy this, you're getting only a 30-day warranty from Newegg. Any defects or issues you have with this will NOT be covered by MSi because you simply cannot get a response from them. Your best shot is to hope that one of the PR people on their facebook or twitter pages will respond to you, but the best that person can do is give you a link to e-mail, which will not receive a reply.

As MSi makes renown components and products, I'm hoping that they see this review and how I'm dissuading people from buying one of their top-tier products for the single reason that MSi doesn't serve its customers after they have our purchase money.

Companies/departments with this poor of a relationship with their customer base simply don't need to exist. And if MSi doesn't reply to me here, then when I'm able to settle and decide to stop traveling, my next desktop will not have any MSi or MSi subsidiary products in it. This notebook will have been the last MSi product that I will ever buy.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Milo,
Sorry to hear about the issue you reported. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the product, please do not hesitate to contact us directly at usreview@msi.com or contact our support toll free number at 888-447-6564 M-F 6AM to 6PM pst. and we will be more than happy to assist you, thank you.
Please note MSI support will response back to you within 24 to 48 hrs. through email if you cannot call.
Thanks for choosing MSI

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: Fantastic computer. Very powerful. Fantastic Graphics.

Cons: Build seems a little flimsy. Battery broke 32 days after arrival.

Other Thoughts: The fact that I have to pay one way shipping to have the computer fixed 32 days after arrival is a travesty. I am essentially paying a fee to receive a functional battery. My true anger at this fact cannot be expressed in a PG manner on this site. It is a true shame that such a great product had to have this problem. I suspect I received a lemon and it is covered by warranty, but come on, at least pay for shipping MSI.

Pros: Decent deal. Fantastic capability for the price. Dual SSD and HDD is a fantastic combo, now that I've had it, I'll never go without again. Boots super fast and very capable on games, excepting ultra-high end types. Survived 9 month deployment to Iraq, so reasonably tough. Best laptop I've ever bought.

Cons: Puts out a lot of heat, limited battery life if that is significant. Power adapter socket located on right side in the middle is the only ergonomically negative feature.

Pros: - Fantastic build, very slim form-factor, lightweight
- Powerful
- SSD Raid storage
- Keyboard is sleek and feels good

Cons: - Can run a little hot under full load
- Fans are fairly audible
- Keyboard lighting customization is limited

Other Thoughts: Bought this as some changes in my life have me needing to be more mobile. I needed something capable of holding its own with new titles, but didn't want a bulky beast to lug around. Been a fan of MSI for a while with parts in my desktop rig treating me well. Couldn't beat the price/performance/form-factor of this machine, so I went with this.

Tears games up, very capable of running most anything at 1080p. Without having to make any major of sacrifice on settings, you can get 60FPS out of games like Witcher 3/ GTA V no problem. Looking forward to having this for some Star Wars Battlefront LANs coming up!

It's gorgeous. I initially wanted something 15" for the sake of bulk, but the GS is so slim and light I was more than willing to bump up to 17". Very nice construction, very comfortable to game on for long sessions (just put 7 straight hours on it with the new Diablo 3 season). Keyboard is no mechanical desktop keyboard, but this is the best laptop keyboard I've experienced. The custom lighting is cool - you can only choose between 10-15 preset colors/shades, but that is enough for me. RGB lighting was just extra fluff for me anyway, as I prefer the power and build over things like this.

Screen is what it is: 60Hz TN panel. Nothing fancy. Coming from 144Hz on my desktop, its a transition, but it does the job well. Colors seem just fine, and I'm glad I went 17".

My only real complaint would be heat. If you are putting this thing under heavy load, it WILL get hot. Ensure nothing is blocking the intake underneath (don't game with it on a blanket or loose clothing) and use a hard flat surface. When it gets hot, it gets loud. Surprise surprise. It's a gaming laptop so I expected this going-in. I usually game with headphones on or the TV on so its no issue.

I love this machine and would highly recommend it for anyone needing "desktop" capability in an on-the-go solution!

Pros: It seems to run most everything just fine, and most games I care to at close to max settings for 1080P. For a laptop, I like the keyboard, with no complaints about it.
Thin
Light
Fast (for a laptop)

Cons: 2 Issues I have with this product:

1) Likely because it is a laptop, I have issues getting certain games to run the dedicated graphics vice the i7. Eventually after giving up with software solutions I changed it to default the 970m in bios. Now if a screen savor runs the thing gets obnoxiously noisy, As I am having issues finding the screen savor in Nvidia's deal to use the i7 for graphics. Though this is likely my lack of knowledge, just a heads up.

2) All electronics are a lottery. I knocked an egg off for this one.
I use a TV as a primary screen. (just some standard 1080p Panasonic if anyone cares). And I have the screens cloned.

After several months, for reasons I can't identify, the screen flashes white with some faint lines of color through the middle (not tv, only laptop screen). As I've used several graphics drivers, they don't seem to be the issue. I don't imagine it is Windows, or any other software as I've tweaked things here and there. Most notably if the screen isn't close to a 90 degree angle.
That would make me think it is a hardware issue. But to confuse me even more, Sometimes alt + tabbing to a different program sometimes gets rid of it.

To note, this issue happens more often hooked up to the tv.

Other Thoughts: Electronics are a lottery if they work. As Newegg said there wasn't any other reviews, I don't want to knock this to hard. And personally it doesn't bother me based on my situation. Just good to know, these issues exist.

So you're aware, overall I am happy with my purchase. And I never cared enough to return it on warranty.

Pros: Obviously ultra thin and light for its power and in general. Great price also at 1699.00 for two msata drives in raid 0 and a 7200rpm 1TB for all those movies and pictures you took last summer of your cat for the internet. That also gives this a very fast boot time of about 15 seconds if optimized. Finish is beautiful, solid, and (Austin Powers) very stylish baby yeaaahhhh. Definitely fast browsing and enough for 95% of gamers with the last %5 being the extreme basement dwellers your mom told you about.

Cons: Worst mouse pad. In the world. Hands down. Also has Windows 8.1 which is a nightmare for troubleshooting and optimizing and is only fit for touchscreen phones. Also gets a bit warmer (nothing too crazy) than my GT7020C and sub-sequentially has fans that are normally running faster and louder. Put your Bluetooth headphones on and quit yer cryin'. Everything is tightly packed in so anything you wanna do besides using the mouse and keyboard will require tools. Also want to mention the screen does not dim as low as the gt70 with the 770m I have which is great for watching movies at night what gives MSI?

Other Thoughts: For the price nothing is better in any aspect. Build quality is great if not lacking a few tweaks like swapping the Windows and function "FN" buttons for one handed brightness and volume control. Keeps my other hand free for the triple bypass burger and diet coke I ordered. Stylish and fast you need look no further.

Pros: Light
Thin
Solid feel
Decent cooling (for a thin notebook)
Internal Hardware (fast SSDs, CPU, and GPU)
Soundblaster Cinema

Cons: Keyboard backlighting (see 'other thoughts')
deplorable customer service (see 'other thoughts')
Trackpad is awful
TN screen

Other Thoughts: If you want to utilize the keyboard backlight and color customization options, DO NOT BUY THIS COMPUTER. I received this computer about 2 weeks ago and it performed pretty much as expected. The cpu is good, the two SSDs in raid are brilliant, and the GPU is a screamer. My only issue was the keyboard backlight was not working as advertised. On the bottom row of keys there is almost always a few green leds that stick out and throw off the look of the whole keyboard. I tried different custom color variations and some of the preset lighting effects; and it looks like any time the green color value is above 30 (out of 255) in the steelseries engine, the green leds at the bottom are distinctly visible. I thought this was a manufacturer defect so I called MSI, talked to a customer service representative, and sent them pictures of the problem via email. (I wish I could include a picture here for reference.) The representative agreed with me that it looked like a defect so I was approved for warranty service, but I had to pay to ship it there. ($43, ouch!) They received it and 'fixed' it in a rather timely manner but after they shipped it back out, they called me to update me on the situation. According to the representative, this is a problem with the current iteration of the steelseries keyboards and "that's how the keyboards work". I have a MAJOR problem with this. The lighting should be even across the whole keyboard and there shouldn't be distracting inconsistencies in the color! They said they replaced my keyboard but the problem I described would still be the same.
I am just dumbfounded that the manufacturer of the keyboard or the notebook would find it acceptable to advertise the keyboard as being sooo great and then ship out this piece of garbage! If I pay $2000 for a machine, I expect it to perform as advertised and I at least expect an explaination as to WHY the keyboard looks like this. "That's how the keyboards work" is NOT a valid excuse for such a glaring variation of color from key to key. The computer is currently being shipped back to me from their RMA department and I just called customer service again to try to at least get a refund on the shipping paid (since my problem was not fixed), but they refused because they replaced the keyboard. (They knew that the keyboards behaved like this and just replaced it anyways to avoid refunding the shipping.)
Overall I am just disappointed by this whole experience. I really wanted to like this computer, but the bad keyboard and customer service experience ruined it for me. They should have educated the customer service representatives about the keyboard lighting issue so I didn't have to pay shipping and wait a week and a half just to hear they couldn't do anything! I will be making a youtube video about this once I get my computer back, then I'm promptly returning it to newegg. Hopefully I can get my extended warranty refunded too...

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
If you have any questions or concerns regarding Laptop product, please do not hesitate to contact us directly at usreview@msi.com or by phone at our toll free number 888-447-6564 M-F 6AM to 6PM PST and we will be more than happy to assist you, thank you.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: Fast! Boots up in 5-7 seconds and most operations take far less time than I have been used to. Plenty of everything that I need: lots of memory (16GB) a good processor (quad i7 2.5GHz) and a very fast GPU (3GB 970GTX). Plenty of ports including four USB 3.0. Backlit keyboard with software that lets you set the colors and patterns. Big,sharp,17" HD screen. Remarkably thin and sleek case design.

Cons: Too much added software, IMO. The Killer network software kept checking the Bandwidth Control option, which reduced my download speed from 33 to 5 mbps. Looks like it is finally accepting the change. The power supply connection is near to one of the vents. While this does not seem to be a problem, I don't like having the cord sitting next to the vent.

The keyboard lettering is a bit weird and takes some getting used to. The keyboard itself is very good, except for the space bar. I find that from time to time it doesn't register when I press it and I have to go back and insert a space. The fans can be quite loud when pushing the system, which is to be expected in a slim design with this much power. But it bears noting that it can get loud enough to be distracting. If you game with high enough volume or use headphones, I don't think it's an issue.

Other Thoughts: None of the cons are enough for me to deduct a full egg. Together I'd probably rate it at 4.5 eggs. The pros simply outweigh the cons by too much in my mind. The primary drive is a particularly strong pro: the use of two msata drives in RAID-0 provides performance that I simply didn't expect. Everything is just noticeably faster.

Pros: -Slim
-Powerful
-Good battery life
-Not "gawdy"
-Solid build quality

Cons: -Loud under load
-Power placement
-Odd key placements
-Sharp edge around monitor

Other Thoughts: Firstly, I bought this machine from NewEgg as an open box item, kind of throwing the dice on what I would get. I figured, if it was non-functional they wouldn't re-sell it, and if something was wrong, it would probably be minor enough for me to fix. Turns out I got a pristine machine with literally no problems or defects... at a HUGE discount. So, major thanks to whoever just "didn't like it" and sent it back.

Overall, this machine was exactly what I expected, and way more than what I was looking for considering what I was prepared to spend (which, please remember was well below normal price because it was open box). The 970M is a monster for a laptop, and has blown away all the games I have thrown at it - everything just goes the maximum setting and flies. The Core i7 and 16GB of RAM are sufficient for running some virtualized test environments for work, and the 1TB HD gives me a place to put all of that, while the SSDs in RAID more or less mean an instant start-up.

Build quality on the unit I received was solid with no flaws or defects but the outside edge of the screen/lid is rather sharp and I can imagine possibly losing some skin to them in certain scenarios. Maybe this is a design oversight, or maybe this unit is actually defective and that's why it was sent back, but it's not something I really care about at all.

Weight and size are a mixed bag; it's fantastically slim, about half the weight of my previous gaming laptop, but it is also a 17" behemoth. I was actually looking at GS60s when I saw this at a massive discount and decided that I didn't need to go with the smaller screen size all that badly. That said, while the overall size may be a minor hindrance to me, it's not going to be a problem for people looking a a 17" laptop, so not something I would knock off any points for. It's definitely going to be more mobility-friendly than your average 17" gaming laptop, and not too bad overall.

The keyboard is billed as a major selling point for this device, and it is quite good in terms of basic functionality, as well as advanced features (especially if you like turning your laptop into a lightshow). It's cool and all, but there are some odd key placements that bug me. The Windows key is moved to the right of the space bar where there is also a second backslash key that I see no use for, and the "Page" keys are combined with the "Home" and "End" keys with the "Page" keys being the default. The latter is very annoying because I use "Home" and "End" quite a bit, and I don't like having to hold "Fn" to access them. For me, this is the biggest negative to this machine, and I consider it to be very minor.

Pros: * Thin and very light
*Fast CPU i7( ~ lower clocked 3770k/4770k)
*Optimus (970m + Intel HD 4600) saves on battery life
*970m dedicated gpu with 3GB GDDR5 (some future-proofing/non MXM Slot)
*17 inch display with wide viewing angles and great colors (also very bright at max, I had to turn it down some to be comfortable looking at it, especially at night)
*Steelseries keyboard that is very comfortable to type on and is backlit (but only below the keys, the top of the keys have a faint glow to them, even when the backlight is set to max)
*Adjustable backlight for keyboard(helps with battery)
*Touchpad (ONLY after updating the firmware) is good

Cons: *Placement of power connector on the right side of laptop near ports (also where most people will plug a usb mouse)
*no DVD/CD (obviously to keep it thin, an addition like what Lenovo provides for their Y series would have been nice, but nothing worth docking an egg for)
*Random pop sound coming from the speakers (not sure if its driver or speaker related but ive removed both drivers for sound/creative software twice and issue still persists)
*Dynaudio speakers are great but the subwoofer is lacking.
*Issues below


This is my second laptop, the first one had an issue where it would power on then power off on boot. I had to press the power button again to get it to turn on. Updating BIOS and EC firmware off of MSI's support website for this model did not help. There seems be an issue with the finish around the keyboard/power button area, its not scratched but it appears that way. The area around the palm rest and touchpad are not affected by this. The issue isnt noticable when its dark, but any type of light will reveal this and its very distracting, not really acceptable for a laptop in this price range. This second laptop has the same issue, except now the power brick makes a buzzing/click noise whenever I move the mouse cursor with the touchpad (this happens with a USB mouse also). There are black spots on the bezel, it looks like the finish on the material used but its very dark and noticable. The Touchpad is questionable even with the updated driver from MSI, I still couldnt move the cursor very wel/clunkyl, and it would randomly go haywire on the screen. The only way I corrected this issue was with a firmware update on MSI's support website. (which I had to go digging through forums to find this out)

Other Thoughts: Great laptop, I wanted to like it, but the QC on both the laptops I got are unacceptable. I hope someone from MSI reads this because there must be a bad batch of laptops that were shipped from the factory. Kudos to Newegg,I was shipped a replacement laptop in 1 day after they posted my RMA.

Im sure Ill get a canned response for MSI, but this thing is going back, I wont be purchasing a MSI laptop again.

PS. (I can provide pictures to MSI if Im emailed.)

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the product, please do not hesitate to contact us directly at usreview@msi.com and we will be more than happy to assist you, thank you.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com