MSI GE73VR RAIDER
MSI’s super-slim and speedy-screened gaming laptop has a lot to like, but does it hertz the pocket a little too much? Features Performance Value
At Computex 2017, one of the things MSI was most keen on highlighting was the 120Hz screens it’s using in its latest gaming laptops, and while we agree there’s definitely appeal in playing fast-moving games on a 120Hz monitor with a 3ms response time, the benefits over a traditional 60Hz display do depend heavily on the GPU’s ability to run games at higher frame rates.
In addition to basically committing you to high-end (and more expensive) gaming hardware, a 120Hz screen will also generally have a narrower colour gamut than your average 60Hz IPS display. For anyone playing lightning-fast multiplayer first person shooters, those limitations may be well worth the benefits, but if competitive gaming isn’t the primary purpose of your laptop, then the added expense of a 120Hz display becomes a slightly harder sell.
The speedy 17-inch 1080p screen on MSI’s GE73VR 7RF Raider is supported by a 2.8–3.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB) GPU, so there’s plenty of power under the hood to run the latest games. The problem with this configuration is that, while it’ll allow you to benchmark games like Batman: Arkham Knight and The Division at averages of over 60fps with 1080p and Ultra detail settings, you also get dips as low as 37fps — at which point, the 120Hz screen you just forked out for is really no better than its 60Hz counterpart.
From real-world testing with Player-Unknown’s Battlegrounds, we found we had to drop the graphics details down to Medium or Low before we hit frame rates consistently around the 60fps mark, but we were still getting dips as low as 36fps in intensive areas. The results were significantly better on more mature (but less demanding) shooters like Overwatch, where our frame rates consistently sat at 70–90fps on Ultra settings — but on the whole, despite that GTX 1070, you’ll likely find that only older games will be able to really utilise the fast screen.
The Raider continues MSI’s tradition of a brushed-aluminium veneer casing on the keyboard deck and top of the lid, which uses novel angular accents and shaded red decals. The new per-key RGB backlit keyboard offers pleasant resistance and travel distance (as far as laptop membrane keyboards go) and the trackpad has a nice powdery feel. However, the thin mouse buttons and the dedicated function buttons (power, fan and keyboard lights) are made of a thin painted plastic, which feels a bit less premium than we’d expect at this price.
The Raider has a 256GB SATA 6Gbps Toshiba SSD and an adequate, but not overly large, 1TB Hitachi HDD. The well-specced CPU performed as expected in PCMark 8’s Home and Work related benchmarks and the 53Wh Li-Ion battery endured a reasonable 2 hours and 4 minutes.
At 2.8kg and 2.9cm thick at its widest point, the Raider is refreshingly light and skinny for a 17-incher.
While the high-refresh screen and per-key RGB keyboard backlighting will only really be draw cards for those playing multiplayer first-person shooters and who like to colour code their keys, if that description matches your needs, then this one should please.
Verdict
A lightweight 17-incher with a 120Hz screen and a fast-enough GPU. Good for those looking for an edge in FPS titles.