MSI GS70 2QE Stealth Pro review

The GS70 2QE Stealth Pro is an ultra-powerful gaming laptop, and is the first we’ve reviewed that comes equipped with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970M graphics processor (GPU). Unsurprisingly, we were eager to put this 17.3in behemoth to the test straight away. The 970M and 980M GPUs replace the 870M and 880M chips, but while a performance boost is to be expected, the 900-series GPUs promise to be more power-efficient too.

The GS70 is almost identical in specification to the Recommended award-winning Chillblast Helix. Not only does it have the same 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor, it also comes in the same chassis and has the same battery, making direct performance comparisons very easy. The main differences are that the MSI machine has the GTX 970M while the Chillblast Helix has a last-generation 870M, and the MSI GE70 has 16GB of RAM while the Chillblast Helix has 8GB.

We performed the same graphics benchmark tests on both machines, and the progress Nvidia has made in just a few months is startling. In our super-easy Dirt Showdown benchmark, with the game running at a resolution of 1,280×720 with 4x anti-aliasing and High quality graphics, the Chillblast Helix managed 107.5fps while the MSI produced 118.1fps. Increasing the texture settings to Ultra and boosting the resolution to 1,920×1,080 revealed a gulf in performance. The Helix produced a capable 51.6fps but was trounced by the 2QE Stealth Pro, which produced 99.9fps.

In our most challenging test, Crysis 3 running at 1,920×1,080 with High quality graphics, the MSI GS70 produced an average 48.7fps while the Helix produced an average 38fps, which is clear evidence that although their release is only separated by a few months, the 900-series GPUs are much better performers.

We also strayed beyond our usual benchmarks to see how this laptop can handle being hooked up to a higher-resolution external monitor. We connected it to a 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution display via the MSI GS70’s HDMI port (there are also two mini DisplayPort connectors) and re-ran our Dirt Showdown and Crysis 3 benchmarks. Dirt Showdown at Ultra graphics quality yielded a still excellent 67.4fps, but Crysis 3 at High graphics quality was unplayable at 23.3fps. Careful graphics tweaking will be required if you’re looking to play modern games at these resolutions, but it’s definitely possible.

The GS70 2QE Stealth Pro scored 92 overall in our application benchmarks. This score breaks down as 104 in the single core-focused image rendering test, 91 in the video rendering challenge and 95 in the multitasking segment. This is very nearly desktop-quality performance, and it makes Windows 8 programs open lightning fast and also hints at excellent performance if you’re planning on streaming games live to the internet, or want to edit video on your laptop.

Storage space comes in the form of two 128GB SSDs in RAID 0 and a 1TB mechanical hard disk, which should be plenty of space for storing all your music, videos and games. The high capcity SSDs mean you’ll also have room to store your most used games and applications on high performance storage, meaning they’ll be faster to load.

While the physical design of the chassis is identical to the one used by the Chillblast Helix, there are a few tweaks unique to MSI. The keyboard has the same characteristics, with widely-spaced keys coated in a grippy material. The keys have pleasant tactile feedback, making them very well suited to long sessions of typing and gaming. The layout is a little strange, though, with the Delete key sitting to the right of the Insert key, making it harder to reach, and the Return key is half-height, which may irritate some users.

The keyboard is backlit, although not in the useful way that lights up the characters on the keys. Instead, the lighting strips are found underneath the keys and light up the spaces between them. There are three sections, each of which can be customised using the preinstalled SteelSeries software, and you can set them to display any colour you please, either static or pulsing. There’s a host of different options, but the backlights look cheap and patchy.

The touchpad, while unlikely to be the focal point for most gamers, is accurate and easy to use. The physical buttons are integrated into the pad, and we had no problems clicking and dragging icons.

The screen is a Full HD TN panel. It’s a good performer, and our calibrator reported sRGB coverage of 84.4 per cent. Contrast levels were high as well, and we recorded them at 1062:1. This, combined with reasonably low black levels of 0.25cd/m2 made for a fairly pleasing image, although the actual colour balance was slightly off, with reds and pinks losing out to oversaturated blues and greens. These aren’t things you’ll notice while gaming, but you’ll want to bear them in mind if you’re going to be doing colour sensitive work. The panel’s matt coating makes viewing easier when in brightly lit conditions but it leaves a slightly messy grain over some brighter colours. It’s not noticeable most of the time, and the easy viewing granted by the matt coating is probably worth it.

The rest of the MSI GS70’s build is superb. The chassis is plain, but the simple addition of MSI’s red dragon Gaming Series badge draws the eye in and sets it apart from the Chillblast Helix. It’s very thin at 21.8mm when closed, although how useful this is on such a large laptop is questionable. Aside from the display outputs, you get gigabit Ethernet, three separate 3.5mm audio jacks, four USB3 ports and a card reader.

The speakers are DynAudio branded and include a subwoofer. For a laptop, they’re surprisingly good, with reasonable bass presence and a very high maximum volume. That’s not to say they’re anything close to a good pair of external speakers, and in all likelihood a serious gamer will be using a proper gaming headset most of the time, but at least they’re there for when you’re catching up on TV or streaming video.

Battery life is pretty poor, even for a gaming laptop. Our light-use test took it from a full charge to empty in just 2 hours and 58 minutes. Expect less than half that when playing games.

There are various ways to increase power efficiency, including two confusing and conflicting sets of power options. The Shift tool, which is found as a shortcut on the keyboard, lets you choose between three modes: Green, Comfort and Sport. What these do exactly is never explained, even in the manual. There’s also a System Control tool which lets you choose from even more modes, including Movie, Presentation, Game, Office and Eco Off. Meanwhile, the Dragon Gaming Centre application, yet another piece of software, allows you to switch “High Performance” on and off. All these things seem to do is override the Windows 8 power settings you’re likely to be familiar with already. We’d recommend leaving all of those settings alone.

CONCLUSION

Overall, we’re impressed with the MSI GS70 2QE Stealth Pro. It’s supremely powerful thanks to Nvidia’s latest graphics chip but manages to maintain its elegance with its slim and relatively light chassis. Like any early adopter, you do have to pay a premium for this. We’d say the investment is probably worth it, because you’re likely to be able to run the latest games on higher settings for longer, and a laptop like this is a long-term investment.