MSI’s GE series aren’t quite as powerful as their beefier GT siblings, but the range are still in line to receive a considerable performance boost following Intel’s jump to hexa-core mobile processors. We’ve grown accustomed to the 10% or so CPU performance boost Intel offers with each year’s updated mobile CPUs, but this two core increase marks a big shift in the CPU upgrade landscape. These additional cores offer considerable performance boosts to the GE63 and GE73 gaming laptops from MSI, both of which are powered by the Intel Core i7-8750H.
The GE series has traditionally been MSI’s value proposition, offering a well-rounded set of powerful gaming components in a package that isn’t cutting edge, but at the same time won’t cost an absolute fortune. This year’s edition keeps the tradition going while dropping the price and adding some novel RGB lighting synchronizations. But is this enough to get an edge on 2018’s mid-range gaming laptops?
Price and availability
The MSI GE63 and GE73 Raider devices will be available for pre-order globally as of April 3 from $1,599 (AU$2699, about £1470) with the device officially hitting shelves on the 16th. This price is for the GE63 8RE Raider fitted with a 15.6-inch Full HD 120Hz IPS Display, Intel Core i7-8750, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, 128GB SATA 3 SSD (256GB NVMe PCIe SSD in AU) and a 1TB HDD. Alternatively you can beef up the GPU spec for a total cost of $450 (AU$300, about £164) or boost the SATA SSD to a 256GB NVMe PCIe SSD for $100 (about £70) in regions outside of Australia.
If you’re looking for a bigger display, you can grab the GE73 with a 17.3-inch Full HD 120Hz IPS display and a GTX 1060 for $150 more than the entry 15-inch models at $1749 (AU$2799, about £1525).
MSI hasn’t released prices on the GE73 8RF models yet and there’s no info on the costs for upgrading to the 4K screen (a planned option for the entire range), but with the laptops being available in the next few days, we expect to know soon.
Design and feel
MSI’s GE series has always focused on performance and price, so the GE63 and 73 units are a little bulkier than the latest sleek gaming ultrabooks. At 1.08 inches (2.8cm) thick this range wedges itself into a gaming-specific size bracket that offers ample space for internal components, which in turn cuts out a lot of thermal and space management engineering costs.
The GE63 shifts all the ventilation to the sides and the underside of the unit, keeping it off the screen and away from the rear (both common output points on gaming laptops). We tested an engineering sample ahead of the launch and we noticed some CPU temperature spikes at 100°C , which we’re hoping can be cooled down in consumer models as we expect thermals and stability to be the areas that differ the most from the final model.
We liked the generous key size and standard layout of the GE63 Raider’s full-sized keyboard, but the travel depth was a little on the shallow side and the typing experience was too spongy.
The Full HD 120Hz screen was the big new feature on the GE63 and 73 devices for 2017, and the speedy screen’s return on this year’s iteration is definitely still a highlight. Sitting neatly within a relatively compact border, the responsive screen doesn’t have an ideal color gamut for editing photos or working on design projects (94% NTSC), but it’s perfectly tailored to performance gaming. While both the 8RE and 8RF models are capable of producing high enough frame rates to utilize the faster screen on less demanding games, if you are wanting to push past 60fps on the latest FPS titles using Ultra settings, you’d want to opt for the more powerful GTX 1070 GPU configuration. This will allow you to consistently get above 60fps (the max rate of a regular screen) on anything you throw at it.
The two ‘Giant’ speakers have also returned to the underside of the front edge, giving the keyboard surround a particularly clean look. These two speakers are loud, but they have their limitations and don’t sound great on anything but a flat desktop.
RGB Lighting is a feature this reviewer can take or leave, but if your perky for per-key RGB backlighting then the GS63/73 has you covered. Returning with the SteelSeries keyboard partnership form last year, this hardware/software combo gives you complete control over every color on the keyboard backlight and offers some unique gaming lighting synchronizations through the GameSense software. This configurable lighting scheme integrates with the two speed stripes on the shell that have come to signify the GE range and will cooperate with a variety of popular games to provide color feedback and interaction.
Losing health in Counter Strike: GO? You can program a section of the keyboard to simulate a health bar that will dip as your in-game health does. The same can be done for ammunition, team goals and more.
And, this is just the beginning. As GameSense gains support for more games, the GE63 Raider RGB will be only that much more versatile, promoting a HUD-less gaming environment.
Pair that with the beautiful, vibrant 4K display, and you’re looking at that much more enrapturing gaming sessions from the laptop.
Performance
The key component in the new GE series performance comes from Intel’s 8th Gen chips. The six core Intel i7-8750Q adds an additional two cores to the traditional four core array that has been the maximum on laptops over the last few years. This means that there is the potential for 50% performance boosts over last year’s iterations, plus any individual core optimizations. If we throw the new GE63 8RF model against last year’s GE73 7RF on Cinebench’s single-core CPU test we noted a 9% boost in performance, while the multi-threaded performance showed a 49.7% increase. This is a substantial jump considering the multi-threaded Cinebench scores of MSI’s 6th Gen GE72 6QD were 669, meaning last year’s devices saw a boost of just 9%.
In general use tasks, this raw processing power translates to home PCMark8 Home (conventional) scores similar to other laptops running the i7-8750Q CPU including MSI’s GS65 Stealth and the Gigabyte Aero 15. This powerful CPU is backed up by 16GB of RAM on each of the configurations, which is enough to match the work performance of any business focused laptop available.
MSI’s GE63 and GE73 laptops can be configured with either a GTX 1060 or a GTX 1070 GPU and so the gaming capabilities will vary between the respective 8RE and 8RF models. We tested a GE63 8RF model with a GTX 1070 and noted that it beat out last year’s similarly-specced GE73 7RF with scores between 10% and 25% greater across 3DMark benchmarks. The engineering model we tested got an average of 51.3 fps on Total War: Warhammer II’s benchmark at Ultra 1080p settings and 61.37 using similar settings on Middle Earth: Shadow of War.
While the Middle Earth score is a little lower than we’re expecting on the consumer model, these scores demonstrate the power of the GTX1070 GPU. If you’re willing to dull the graphics a little or play slightly older or less demanding games, then you’ll easily be able to push those frame rates above 60fps to make the most of the 120Hz screen.
Battery life
Few gaming laptops house enough battery to get you through a working day and the 8th Gen GE63 and GE73 series are no different. Scoring just 1 hour and 48 minutes in the PCMark 8 Battery Life benchmark and 3 minutes less in our movie playback battery life test (with the processor curbed to 95% performance), MSI has clearly jettisoned the Lithium-ion batteries on the GE63 Raider 8RF.
This is pretty common practice on price conscious gaming devices, but you definitely won't want to leave home without the power brick, a caveat that may lose it some fans.
Early verdict
Without clear retail prices it’s hard to accurately judge the value of the full range of devices, but the few we have details for seem to have dropped by several hundred dollars since last year. Regardless, the MSI GE63 FHD units are reasonably priced for the components you get, as long as you factor in the premium you’ll pay for scoring the latest laptop model so soon after launch. If we add to this the considerable jump in CPU performance then there’s a couple of compelling things on offer.
The broad footprint, 5.5 pound (2.5Kg) weight and severe lack of battery life mean you won’t want to carry this unit around often. The keyboard and trackpad also aren’t ideal for work purposes, but add a mouse to the equation and it’s perfectly adequate for gaming. For anyone into RGB customization then the MSI/SteelSeries partnership is market-leading, allowing you to sync color schemes to your favorite games and pull HUD information off the screen and display it through novel keyboard lighting arrangements.
The GE63 and GE73 laptops package good components into a reasonably priced gaming laptop that’ll appeal to a broad market. The premium you’ll pay for a new device this close to launch does counteract the value proposition slightly, but from a CPU perspective, this generation is the perfect time to snag a futureproof gaming laptop.
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