MSI GS43VR 6RE Phantom Pro-025AU
$2,699 | AU.MSI.COM A familiar gaming laptop cocktail that missed the opportunity for a twist.
For the past few years, the performance offered by laptop GPUs has meant that 1080p resolution screens offered, arguably, the best balance of resolution and framerate in mid- and entry-level gaming laptops. But when you consider that the latest update to MSI’s GS43VR 6RE features a GTX-980-beating GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, it’s hard not to want to match some of that power with a higherend screen. Unfortunately, MSI didn’t seem to share this thought and opted for a simple matte 14-inch 1,920 x 1,080 display.
The GS43VR 6RE is similar in shape but slightly lighter than the GS40 that we tested back in March 2016, with both 14-inch units being around 2.3cm thick and weighing 1.6kg and 1.8kg apiece. There were also no surprises when it came to the layout and and design of the black plastic case with red accents, side and rear fan vents, and a slightly left-ofcentre trackpad.
The unit’s Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD and 14-inch FHD IPS LCD display amount to a spec sheet that’s imbued with a sense of déjà vu. Though we’d normally be fine with this as it represents a well-honed product, there are a couple of things we see as missed opportunities.
It’s worth reiterating that, if you have the GPU to run the latest gaming titles on Ultra settings using a widescreen 1440p output, then it’s a shame the inbuilt display doesn’t match. While MSI wasn’t the only vendor to miss this opportunity, Gigabyte’s Aero 14 (see left) shows it can be done, offering both a GTX 1060 and a 14-inch QHD screen.
There’s still a lot to like about the GS43 6RE. Its overall performance is a significant step forward from the previous GS40. The 256GB Samsung M.2 SSD is a speedy PCIe unit, so you get 2,333 and 1,298MB/s read and write speeds on the hard drive that your OS runs from, with enough room to store a handful of games. This little workhorse was also able to outpace the Aero 14 on both PCMark 8’s Home and Work benchmarks, scoring 3,765 and 4,750 compared to the latter’s respective 3,579 and 4,427.
MSI’s implementation of a Nvidia GTX 1060 comes with the expected boost for GPU tasks, though the thermal performance isn’t the best: this unit runs hotter than Gigabyte’s, with a maximum GPU temperature of 83ºC over the Aero’s 78ºC when under load. When the two units face off, there’s a bit of to and fro, but for the most part the scores are close. The Aero 14’s average of 94fps beats the GS43’s 91fps in Batman: Arkham Knight, while the Aero 14’s 138fps average in the Tomb Raider benchmark was fractionally outpaced by the GS43’s 142fps average on 1080p Ultra settings. The flaws here aren’t deal breakers and everything else on offer is up to scratch, and the performance boost of that new GPU adds a lot of value when compared to older units. We wouldn’t be at all disappointed if MSI’s GS43 6RE was our gaming laptop, but then, with Gigabytes’ Aero 14 offering a little more for the same price, we know which one we’d pick.