Pros: It "looks" great
It "is" light and has what should be powerful components

Cons: It overheats after just 15 minutes of playing world of warcraft (not even a true heavy video game) and the FPS drops to 3 yes 3. Lag becomes so bad mounting up takes 13 seconds
Because of the overheating and lag my 8 year old Dell XPS beats this laptop in game performance. Actual, play the game performance.

Other Thoughts: Let's be perfectly honest here.

I own a GS60 with Intel i7 sixth gen, 970m with 3G and all. The latop "looks" nice but that is where my favorable review ends.

After using it for "gaming" and light gaming at that (World of Warcrft and Star Wars the old republic) I found the 8 year old Dell XPS with a 630m beat this Gs60 hands down all day long. The GS60 had lag, very bad lag nd got extremely hot. MSI says "nothing is wrong with it" so I must assume this is "normal" performance. On Wow I got solid 60fps for about 15 minutes until it gets hot then I was getting 3 fps. yes you read that 3 fps on Wow. We all know Wow is NOT graphics intensive. meanwhile my old Dell was getting 55 all day and all night and remaining cool with no lag.

Dropping graphics to the lowest settings on the GS60 I managed to improve 3 fps to a solid 9 fps. Lag so bad still that mounting my noble stead took 13 seconds to complete and my instant cast spells only to 3 to 5 seconds to cast.

This is NOT an awesome gaming laptop. Why spend more than 2k on a laptop that gets beaten day in and day out by an 8 year old Dell XPS that you can now buy on the internet for less than 150 bucks?

Mine is going back except that MSI won't take it back. When I sent it in with video to show exactly what I had been doing and the fps issues I was having even with some side by side display so they could clearly see the 8 year old XPS eating the shiney new GS60 for lunch. They sent it back saying there was "nothing wrong with the laptop". So according to MSI it is "normal" for an old dell XPS with less than half the horse power to destroy their laptop on a non graphics intense game like World of Warcraft.

Save your money this machine is all hype and no substance. The reality is, go and buy any 5 year old gaming system for a few hundred bucks and that will destroy the GS60 hands down! Why? Heat throttling will cause the GS60 to lag so bad that actually playing a game on it is impossible or at the very least maddening beyond words!

ZERO STARS!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Joseph,
Sorry to hear about the issue you reported. Before considering an RMA can you check following steps below since many reasons can cause the situation like this ,
1. For best result ensure you have latest BIOS, EC and drivers for the system. please refer to our website www.msi.com
2. Run system at stock mode to check.
3. If you need further assistant, please feel free to contact our technical support department directly at our toll free number 888-447-6564 from M to F, 6am to 6pm Pacific standard Time.

Thanks for choosing MSI

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

Pros: There is an application named "Nahimic for MSI" and it's logo is a blue box with an "N" in it. This allows you to further adjust volume levels in great detail. The application starts at 1/3 max volume. So I quickly turned it to max and it is MUCH lounder.

Cons: If there are in have found any yet

Other Thoughts: I already wrote a review and couldn't figure out how to edit it.

Pros: This laptop is light, sleek, and packs a punch. Coming off a 17" MSI CZ-17 laptop, the GS60 feels like a feather (it's nearly half the weight) and it serves my purpose well. I wanted something I can game on but that was portable enough so I can carry with me. This fits the bill. I also love the customizable backlit keyboard.

Cons: My biggest grudge is the size of the SSD, 128gigs is just not big enough for gaming. The OS takes up a third of that. You put two games on it and it's full. (I literally have SC2, Fallout 4 on it and barely any space left..) In the least they could've put 256gigs. I know the 4K model comes with that but buying 4K on a 15" super thin laptop is a waste of money- it will never truly perform at that level. Replacing SSD is easy and not expensive but when you drop so much cash on a machine you kind of want that to come with it. In fact, why is there a hard drive at all??

The speakers and mic are also pretty poor I agree with other's feedback but I use external speakers or headphones 90% of the time. So not a big deal for me, those work fine.

The power cord connects about mid way to the left and I find that very awkward most of the time. The cable gets in my way often when I'm moving around. Not a huge deal but I thought I'd mention.

Other Thoughts: To address some of the most common concerns: yes, it's battery doesn't last long, it's a 4lb laptop, you shouldn't expect otherwise. Get a bigger rig if battery life makes such a huge difference to you. Alienware has an 8cell 15".
Some people have also mentioned it looks flimsy. I don't think so at all. It is very well built for how thin it is. And it is VERY thin.
The fans are loud. I don't find them unbearably so. Plus like I said I use headphones so I really don't hear them that much.
The touchpad some people complain about does not bother me at all. I do use a wireless mouse a lot of time and esp. when gaming.
Position of some keys is another common concern. If where the Delete key is makes or breaks you buying a laptop, I'd say the issue is not the laptop.

I'd say you'll really like this laptop if what you want is light and powerful. But expect the stuff that comes along with that. Otherwise buy a heavier machine that can compensate for some of these drawbacks.

Pros: 1. GTX 970M works like a beast
2. Slim and lightweight
3. Amazing temperature control for an ultra thin gaming laptop
4. Great overall design
5. Fast boot speed due to PCIe SSD
6. Back-lit keyboard and feels comfortable

Cons: 1. Horrible coil whine issue
2. Backlight bleeding
3. Fans are quite noisy when gaming
4. Speakers and microphones are very poor
5. Bezel around the screen is too wide.
6. Awkward positions of ethernet jack and 'win' & 'delete' keys
7. Battery drains out fast.

Other Thoughts: I've had a hard time choosing my next gaming laptop, but an even harder time to try to find out the issues for the two GS60s I received.
I bought my first GS60 from another retailer. I just became so disappointed at the annoying high-pitch buzzing sound near the power button when gaming or doing any rendering thing. The speakers also sounded distorted and the audio jack was so loose that it would vibrate to cause noise when playing sound. At first I thought these issues were not common, so I decided to return it and bought another one from newegg.
However, the second one turned out to have exactly the same buzzing problem and I'm so certain that this horrible noisy comes from the GPU directly. It seems both of the two laptops do have coil whine issue. Yes I think the fans noise is acceptable, but I just can't stand these coil noises for any second. The audio jack problem is gone, but again backlight bleeding appears. Now I have to replace it once more.
2 laptops and more than 5 (or maybe more) issues are found. This is one of my most expensive gaming laptops I've bought (also my first MSI laptop), but has the most defects I've ever met. I don't want this to be a waste of time and money. Well, I'll see if the replaced one has the same coil whine issue. I hope not.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Shiyuan,
Sorry to hear about the issue you reported. Since there is no known issue with the system, can you check for any physical damages on the system, also was there any modification done to the system? 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 phone number at 888-447-6564 M-F 6am to 6pm pst. and we will be more than happy to assist you, thank you.

Thanks for choosing MSI

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

Pros: Weight/Slim Design, GTX 970M works great, Backlit keys, CPU Temperatures, Awesome Display, Build Quality, Keyboard.

Cons: Battery life, fingerprint magnet.

Other Thoughts: I am very happy with this purchase. The pros easily outweigh the cons in my opinion. MSI makes great products and this is no exception. The battery life is very weak, but hey, this is a slim gaming laptop. The temperatures from other reviewers I felt were a little far-fetched. I played Siege on ULTRA settings running at an avg 60 FPS and I was able to do so on my lap (it does get hot, but not dangerously so.) Unfortunately, I am having a lot of problems with the intel HD graphic chipset. It has been making my screen flicker black from time to time. Mostly while viewing sites like Facebook. I have installed the latest drivers and it still continues to do this. I am unsure if this is a MSI problem but It really is frustrating at times. If I do not figure the problem out soon, I will be contacting them. Some things to note (that are negligible factors) was the placement of the windows key (on the right side) and the bloatware. I wish, like most keyboards, it was put on the left side. Secondly, there is a lot of bloatware when initially starting up the machine. However, its not a problem and doesn't take away much from the machine. With that said, I would not have bought any other laptop. This is the superior machine when compared to Asus and Acer and I am very happy with the purchase.

Pros: Recently purchased and returned.

1. GTX 970M w/ Skylake Refresh
2. Slim, Lightweight and attractive, not as flashy as other MSI/Gaming laptops
3. Customizable back-lit keyboard
4. Keyboard is comfortable and edges are clear so back light looks good from all angles
5. With clear edges, even with a set led color for that section of the keyboard you can see other colors emitting too, so it's kind of weird.

Cons: I will keep it simple.

1. Fans are ridiculously loud when gaming. Sure this is to be expected but at full volume and playing battlefield 4, the speakers failed to emit enough noise from the game to over come the fan noise. This was rather disappointing.

2. Speakers are very poor. They to me are not usable in a moderately loud room, or a room with some noise. You just won't hear anything and my laptop had distortion at max volume.

3. Along with high noise levels from the fan, the temperatures were high too. Both CPU/GPU were over 81-85'c in a fairly cool room. The whole sucking in air from the grille above the keyboard is a nice feature but it doesn't seem effective, or maybe it's the heat sink design. Whatever it is, if they can nail this one in the head I would consider buying this laptop again. High heat does not equal longevity of your hardware.

3. $1,699 and I get a 128GB SSD? Lol are you kidding me? All this thing has going for it is the slimness and...... well that's about it. The slimness. You get the same 1080P panel from last gen GS60's and same everything but a new CPU and GPU. I like refreshes but I think it's time to stop sending out a "gaming" laptop with a 128gb ssd. Just think about the size of games now and days. Buying a 256/500GB ssd would just bring the laptop above $1750 and nearing the $2000 mark you have a lot more option with more to offer too.

Other Thoughts: As of right now with the sky lake refresh you guys have a lot of choices with gaming laptops. I would not consider the GS60 if you dislike noise and high heat, horrible speakers and a small 128gb ssd at this price tag. A free game to me doesn't make up for it. MSI is always one of the first to do their refreshes but they also make the least amount of changes or give you nothing new to offer.. It really is just new cpu/gpu, DONE! Put on heavy price tag, hope sell, lotta money..

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Pakou,
Thank you for the feedback, regarding your reports can you check below things out with address your concern and issue.
1. When the CPU and GPU fans adjust to your CPU and GPU temperature and operation.
2. Please update to latest audio/Nahimic utility provided from our MSI website to give you the best high-fidelity audio quality http://www.msi.com/product/notebook/support/GS60-6QE-Ghost-Pro.html#down-utility&Win10 64
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 toll free support number at 888-447-6564 M-F 6am to 6pm pst. and we will be more than happy to assist you, thank you

Thanks for choosing MSI

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

Pros: The little that I got to experience from playing with this laptop is that it can seamlessly play games on the highest setting which is what I purchased this for.

Cons: Within a day of having this laptop, an incessant flashing black screen comes across the display rendering this laptop utterly useless as I can't access functions such as the start-up menu. This feels like a waste of money, you pay a lot for a product and honestly hopes for it to work.

Other Thoughts: This could have been an awesome laptop, and purchase if not for the incompetence of manufacturing.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Lorenzo,
Sorry to hear about the issue you reported. For best result we recommend you refer to our website link here http://www.msi.com/search/gs60/product/1 and update to latest drivers, EC firmware and BIOS for the system and retest.I f 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 phone number at 888-447-6564 M-F 6am to 6pm pst. and we will be more than happy to assist you, thank you.

Thanks for choosing MSI

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

Pros: Very thin and light. Island keyboard, SSD + 7200 HDD gives great boot speed.

Cons: Very wide border around the screen. Only 2 USB ports. No internal disc drive.

Other Thoughts: Finally replaced a 6 year old ASUS computer that was prone to overheating and weighed too much. Very impressed with the slim design of this GS60. I pulled the trigger on it over an ASUS because it has the 6th gen intel processor. Wish it had the 980M graphics card, but the 970 runs all the games I want it to, and will be fine for the next while.

I tend to keep laptops for several years before upgrading, so I'm hopeful this one will perform as well as my last ASUS. I'll try to revisit this review after couple months of use to update as necessary.

Pros: Unbelievably fast and powerful. This is my first laptop so there might be bias, but goodness gracious! I cannot comprehend the power of this machine. I have already ran several games at ultra settings, and used console commands to push the limits of this laptop. After 11 hours of continuous use, the laptop has only become warm. On top of this it looks very nice. The design is simple so its not gaudy shouting, "LOOK AT ME! I AM A GAMING LAPTOP!" The keyboard is solidly built thanks to the steel series. The backlit keyboard colors are really cool as well. However, if you dont like the many number of choosable collors, patteren etc., you can set it all to white just like a boring backlit keyboard.

Cons: There was an issue when enrolling it with the warranty. A message kept popping up about how the Intel whatever that controls the visual output kept failing then restoring. That only happened during enrollment and it hasn't happened since. The speakers are good quality, however, I find them to be a bit quiet.I can hear it well enough, but I'm not blasting audio to watch a movie with other people or to rock out with my favorite jams while cleaning.

Other Thoughts: This is more of a nod to newegg but when i placed the order, i was expecting the average 5-7 business day shipping. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to have received it the next day after purchase. The quiet speakers seem to be an issue with Windows 10 and realtek, so maybe they will fix it.

Pros: This is the hybrid rig I've been looking for. Half gaming laptop, half slim/light laptop with all the power you can need.
I have & recommend the matte (not 4k) screen & 3gb video card. I've read smart reviews who say the extra 3gb in that card is pointless & unused. Also if you want some mobility the matte screen/3gb versions uses a ton less battery.

I don't game much but downloaded DOTA to test the rig. It was flawless on max settings. Quick wifi card, great keyboard.

I bought this for media creation, video editing in Premiere, Photoshop, Lightroom, & Adobe After effects. I can say that this thing can FLY! I have an editing desktop 2 years old and this surpasses it like nothing. Huge renders that are like desktop times. Multi-layers, mass conversions, & resized in a split second. (Don't waste your money on a CUDA card.) NO dead pixels either.

I have no doubt that this MSI GS60 -002 will make any game it's biatch.

My previous laptop was an 8lbs 17" Asus G74 and this is like carrying a phone comparatively.

I got 3:45 minutes on battery (eco mode) with no gaming. Lite photoshop, wordpress, 15 tab surfing, writing. I did play two full DOTA games on battery & it was flawless. Had more juice left too.

One thing I really like seeing that I'm early 40's & not a gamer; is that the laptop looks professional. I can bring this to a meeting & not look like I need Redbulls & catheter. Just need to adjust the Rainbow Dash backlit keyboard (which I love.)

Cons: The only real drawbacks I have found so far is that the touchpad is a touchpad & the keyboad is small. When they added the number pad they squished the main keyboard too much for my ex-nfl fat broken fingers. The num pas should be smaller & keys bigger.
Also DELETE button is in the middle of others & home/end need to be used with FN key. As a writer these are annoying issues.

Other Thoughts: Overall I love this laptop & am glad I didn't use originpc to modify it. It is a sleeper. Something for business at day & gaming at night.
By far the best mobile editing / media creration laptop you can buy. If you write code & compile this will be great.