Introduction and design
Forget about controllers, keyboards and mice; the new MSI GT72S G Tobii gaming laptop lets you control games with just your eyes. As the name might suggestion, MSI has teamed up with Tobii to integrate the eye-tracking peripheral right into this 17-inch notebook's hinge.
More than a gimmick, the new tech comes in handy while playing games and even just logging into Windows 10. That said, without many games or much Windows 10 integration, you might have some small reservations about picking up this this piece of fancy eye candy.
Design
The MSI GT72S is the first to integrate Tobii's technology directly into a notebook and it's hard to miss. Not only is the peripheral built right into the hinge, it also has three constantly turned on red lights staring you down.
The good news is it isn't continuously beaming light into your eyes. Well it is but you won't be seeing red all over, instead it projects infrared light – which is invisible to the human eye – to see where you are and where you're looking.
Though it might look like the Tobii sensor bar is designed to spin on its own separate hinge, it actually turns with the screen. However, it's offset just enough to aim directly at your eyes.
Aside from the integrated hinge, this gaming notebook looks like the rest of the MSI Dominator line, which is to say it's a thick and aggressive gaming machine. The entire chassis is painted with a simple jet black finish and otherwise you'll find a few red accents including the MSI dragon badge on the back of the lid.
While the lid and keyboard deck are made of brushed aluminum panels, the rest of the machine is made of plastic. On the one hand I would have preferred a more premium material like carbon fiber or magnesium as seen on Alienware's gaming laptops, but MSI would have likely had to make the parts much thicker to provide the same level of rigidity.
That said, you'll find a few soft spots on the heavily vented underside of the laptop. It doesn't quite as flimsy as we found the MSI GT72S Dominator Pro, but there's a definite sponginess to the bottom slats.
The one thing MSI still has nailed down is a nearly perfect SteelSeries keyboard. It's the same set of candy-colored keys I fell in love with on the MSI GS60 Ghost and they feel just as tactile here with a perfectly tuned amount of travel and resistance.
The touchpad feels just as luxurious, though. However, instead of being a clickable panel, it's a touch-sensitive portion of the palm rest with two mouse buttons beneath it. Although the touchpad is made of plastic, it feels nice and smooth. Some users though might find the lack of any distinct transition between the pointing device and rest of the palm rest annoying.
There are four…three lights
Although eye-tracking might sound like it would take a lot of getting used to, setup is super simple and you can get to using the Tobii system within seconds.
All Tobii requires is for you to sit down and start a small calibration demo where you focus on a few dots until you spin them out of existence. After that you're escorted to an asteroid field where you can blow up space rocks with your laser eyes. It's gentle and effective introduction into the eye tracking experience.
As for real world usage, at the most basic level Tobii ties in with Windows Hello, letting you login with your face. On top of this, Tobii's will recognize when you're sitting in front of the computer automatically dim the screen and set the computer to sleep.
The Tobii system knows to just when to dim the screen when I stepped away or even look away from the screen. Then it brings the screen back up to full brightness as soon as I turn my attention back to the display.
Eye have you
The eye-tracking technology also comes into play games, In Assassin's Creed Syndicate, I can visually aim my grappling hook at all times by starting at the screen while my two thumbs are busy with character movement and camera controls.
It's like having a third thumb stick or a second mouse, as unnatural as that might sound. I can seamlessly zip-line from one roof top to another and traverse that much faster in the virtual streets of London. Aside from the shooting off zip-lines, the eye tracking peripheral comes in handy for peering around corners as I drive around horse carriages.
Tobii seems like a natural fit for games such as Project Cars and the F1 racing series. For now, you'll have to settle with Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Elite Dangerous, but a Tobii spokesperson says the company is in talks with studios working on car simulation titles.
Otherwise, the small handful of games Tobii works included Assassin's Creed Rogue, GTA V after a bit of modding, ARMA 2 & 3 and The Division.
Specifications, performance and features
With a starting price of $2,599 (about £1,810, AU$3,576), the Tobii-equipped MSI GT72S surprisingly doesn't cost any more than other equally configured gaming laptops. A similarly specced Asus ROG G752 costs the same, as does as an Acer Predator 17 with only half the amount of video memory.
Spec Sheet
Here is the MSI GT72S G Tobii configuration sent to techradar for review:
- CPU: 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-6820HK (quad-core, 8MB cache, up to 3.6GHz with Turbo Boost)
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (8GB GDDR5 RAM), Intel HD Graphics 530
- RAM: 32GB DDR4 (2133MHz)
- Screen: 17.3 FHD (1,920 x 1,080) Anti-Glare IPS Wide View Angle
- Storage: 256GB SSD (PCIe Gen3x4) + 1TB SATA HDD (7200RPM)
- Optical drive: 8x Blu-ray disc burner
- Ports: 6 x USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Type-C, mini DisplayPort, mini HDMI, SD card reader
- Connectivity: Killer N1535 Combo (2 x 2 ac) + Bluetooth 4.1
- Camera: FHD type (30fps, 1080p)
- Weight: 8.50 pounds
- Size: 16.85 x 11.57 x 2.30 inches (W x D x H)
Performance
On top of some novel eye-tracking technology, the GT72S comes with a well-stocked configuration to keep games running smoothly. I was able to play Assassin's Creed Syndicated at decent 60-50 fps with maxed out graphical settings. With The Division, I could set everything to Ultra without seeing a single dropped frame.
Of course, with a 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-6820K processor and a Nvidia GTX 980M GPU with 8GB of DDR5 VRAM, what else would you expect?
The included 32GB of DDR4 RAM, also means you'll never have to worry about running out of memory as you would with only a 256GB SSD. At the very least MSI makes it easy to upgrade your storage, and you also have a 1TB of hard drive space to archive your game collection.
Benchmarks
- Here's how the MSI GT72S G Tobii performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
- 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 12,552; Sky Diver: 14,621; Fire Strike: 8,342
- Cinebench CPU: 675 points; Graphics: 73 fps
- GeekBench: GeekBench: 3,299 (single-core); 13,365 (multi-core)
- PCMark 8 (Home Test): 3,971 points
- PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 hours and 26 minutes
- Battery Life (techradar movie test): 2 hours and 37 minutes
- The Division (1080p, Ultra): 56 fps; (1080p, Low): 119 fps
Thankfully the extra process of eye-tracking hasn't bogged down the performance of the MSI GT72S G Tobii. The 17-inch rig is just as fleet footed as other comparably equipped gaming laptops like the Gigabyte P35X v5.
The GT72S G Tobii is so fast on the processor front that it actually outpaces its desktop Nvidia GTX 980-equipped Dominator Pro brethren and other high-end rigs.
Verdict
The MSI GT72S G Tobii offers a sneak peek at how naturally eye tracking technology could be integrated into everyday computing and playing games. However, your use of the Tobii eye-tracking system rests entirely on the shoulders of developers programing for the peripheral.
We liked
The MSI GT72S G Tobii honestly made me giddy when I sat down in front of it for the first time and it just worked. It's just clicks and it's clear Tobii figured out a natural and intuitive control scheme. The in-game and regular Windows 10 applications work perfectly – I just wished there were more.
And if you strip away the new-fangled eye-tracking system, this is still a solid 17-inch gaming laptop. Either way it beats its competitors on a performance and value front.
We disliked
This particular version of the Dominator isn't the most attractive machine. Aside from the three glowing red dots that stick out like a sore thumb, the MSI GT72S G Tobii's plastic body just seems too boring and it could use some more personality.
Final verdict
If you're in the market for a 17-inch MSI gaming laptop and you don't need the desktop graphics power of the Dominator Pro, there's almost no reason to pick up this Tobii-equipped model. It offers plenty of performance and the eye-tracking system will just click with you automatically.
That said until there are more titles are on the horizon and greater Windows 10 integration, it feels like a bit of a beta product. It's similar to the Leap-equipped HP laptops that came out in the last few years, and I personally hope Tobii's system doesn't end up at the same dead end.
But it's something to consider before you find yourself starting at three useless red lights on your gaming laptop.
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