i5-12500H 12 cores (4 Performance + 8 Efficient), 16 threads
RTX 3070 8GB Max-Q 105W
8GB DDR4 (!?), 2 slots max 64GB, adding an extra 8GB for $35 is a mandatory upgrade
FHD IPS 144Hz display, unknown nits/sRGB coverage
Dual M2 slots
240W AC adapter
High wattage GPUs require bulky chasis to cool them. Given the thickness of this device, the 105W TGP is perfectly normal.
Its 2.5cm which is not any thin for a gaming laptop whatsoever and also not light at 2.3kg.
Size is not an excuse for the underpowered parts, the sad piece of cooling solution is.
Agree, Lenovo Legion 5 is 2.5cm thick and 2.5kg but can get 140W for a 3070
@nenjih: Exactly. And MSI’s own higher tiered sku the GP66 gets up to 150w at ~2.3cm and 2.3kg. It’s completely on MSI themselves cost cutting so much on lower tiered skus when practically every other brand is improving their budget lineups, even new nitro 5s and tufs are getting 140w gpus with a mux switch it doesnt take rocket science to get it right.
The problem with the GF/GL is-and I really hope people can see this- that MSI shoehorned powerful hardware into dogshite chasis, it looks good on paper and cheaper than the competitors for ‘the same specs’ but once you do the frames per dollar you aren’t actually getting a deal at all.
@nenjih: Agree, I was going by pics and this seemed relatively thin however looking at reviews it's actually not thin.
The Legion 5 though is in another category altogether and has a beefier cooling solution.
@nenjih: The NUC X15 is 2.1cm and 1.9kg and has a 140W 3070.
The gpu doesn't get hot, the cpu however does.
Ok deal - can be 1400
Agreed
Refurb is the real bargain
Would stay away from all low end MSI models with a 10 ten pole.
Cooling solution which have not been updated in years and worse than every gaming laptop out there bar none, Im not even talking about legions, rog strix, or even dell g15 or the new tufs, its worse than the ideapad, the tuf dash, or the old nitro 5. For comparisons sake this is the $1199 kraken x15's cooling solution currently going for $1499. Im not exaggerating when I say that this is e-waste grade innards. And we are not even going into details such as:
pathetic build quality thats no better than nitros nor victus
no mux switch and low powered gpu, of course a given due to the aforementioned cooling solution
no displayport output, only HDMI 2.0 and they had the nerves to put in a usb 2.0 port, yeah sure its fine because you need a mouse anyways doesnt excuse the cost cutting given the price
battery is also pathetically small and if you cant tell from the cooling solution yet yes its exactly because they reused the same mobo design from like 2016 with the space for an 2.5 inch drive bay and did not bother changing it.
Medium-high end MSIs are very good gaming laptops but these lower end ones are borderline e-waste. Shame on MSI because while they make other good pc products, these low-medium end gaming laptops is clearly something they spent a grand total of 10 minutes to update each year with newer specs inside a dying chasis.
1.7k with intel 12th gen (and no large L3 cache advantage unlike i7 options from last year even), only 8gb ram needing an upgrade down the line and a 3070 sounds fire until you realise this would perform worse than most semi decent 3060 laptops with an 11th gen/ryzen 5000 series. No deal.
Out of curiosity, would you recommend I buy this MSI laptop?
No. I wouldn’t, certainly not at this price, not at the refurb price neither. While it’s true we haven’t seen any deals from the ‘good models’ recently. For a big purchase like this and for something you will use daily over a long time. Definitely worth waiting for a better model to go on sale.
Build quality, performance, screen and cooling matters not just in day to day operations but contributes towards the longevity of the said device as well. Obviously it’s electronics so it’s not going to be ‘buy it right and use it for life’ kind of thing but you get my point.
Thanks - appreciate the insight :)
Always happy to help, I can not watch people getting robbed of their money because what MSI is doing here is no better than what dell did with their prebuilt desktops and it needs to be exposed for as much as Dell/alienware desktops gets frowned upon.
I'm out of the loop, what's so bad about Dell's prebuilt? Is it all prebuilts or is it limited to low-end (non-gaming) prebuilts?
@jikijiki: Actually, I would say its a bigger issue the higher tier/specs you go up in Dell/Alienware prebuilts. See this video which really illustrates whats wrong with them.
Don't mince words. Tell us how you really feel about this laptop.
I (profanity) hate it, I think its trash and rightfully belongs in the trash bin. Or in the bargain bin with a min 50% discount for it to be a deal.
Out of curiosity what’s the difference between that cooling and a Razer blade 2020 which I own … besides the fact Razer has a bit better build quality
For one, razer is a premium thin & light and a different form factor to other gaming laptops, you trade performance for portability, its a given and is fine, where as this is not because its the standard 15' gaming laptop form factor and compared to other 'standard' 15.6' gaming laptops this is not a deal.
For two, thats an 2020 model, parts needed less power and cooling solution also dont need to be that large, this years model also only have 2 exhausts, but it gets upgraded in the form of a bigass vapor chamber, and fan blades have increased in count (maybe even a higher power one as well) and both of these helps a ton with cooling.
The bottom line is that you get what you paid for, premium build including the innards which most people dont see and the build quality. And razer indeed have been upgrading it over the years, unlike our GF66 over here.
8gb ram lol
Yes, but you can upgrade for $35 and plenty of room up to 64GB.
Most games run fine with 8GB.
Wait another few months for the 40 series laptop, 30 series have rubbish resale value so you will lose very harshly, especially cheaply made cr#p like low tier MSIs
Edit; if you NEED something look at the ASUS tuf for 777 at jbhifi.
Can you post a link? Searched their site and can't find it?
This CPU beats the 6800 nearly everywhere, why do people claim AMD is better? Just for battery?
Yes better performance per watt, amd cpus just don't scale above their power rating but are more efficient leading up to it. If you are getting it for pure performance and gaming, Intel is still better in the laptop space. Battery life etc is with AMD.
if you take everyone's advice on here, you'll never buy a laptop.
Are you suggesting people should buy this laptop?
Or GPU….
105W 3070 is a bit underpowered. Still not too bad of a deal. If it was sub 1600 it'll be gone in a heartbeat.