Thinking of buying this laptop.

cvette · July 2016

Hey Folks,

I work out of hotels for 90% of my job, so a gaming desktop would not be a good choice for me. I was thinking of buying this laptop and was hoping to get a few more opinions on it and on MSI laptops. I did a lot of research online. For the price (Canadian), it seems pretty good. I would like to stay below 2000.00.
https://www.amazon.ca/MSI-GE72-6QF-071CA-Apache-Pro/dp/B01ABVHO9C/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1466462000&sr=1-1&keywords=Gaming+970m

Thanks everyone

Cougarboy · July 2016

decent machine, me personally I'd try to find another with more video ram 4-8gb range

frostymug · July 2016

I can't vouch for that particular laptop other than saying that the specs looks solid. I can vouch for MSI gaming laptops though. I work out of hotels a mere 40% or so. I got the GT70-2PC because it was on sale for just over 600 and was close enough to the top of the heap at that time. I've never once had an issue with it at all. Runs every game I've tried to play on it. The fan will crank up at times, but it's never shut down or blue screened. I think MSI has completely nailed the performance per dollar ratio in gaming laptops.

GladDog · July 2016

deleted unneeded comment.

GladDog · July 2016

I'm not sure how Canadian dollars translate to US dollars, but this machine is far more powerful, and I don't think it is that much more money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154184

This one is about the same price as the one you listed, but it is quite a bit stronger, especially for a gamer. This one has the newer style CPU and 6 GB of VRAM compared to the one you listed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233144

frostymug · July 2016

GladDog said:

I'm not sure how Canadian dollars translate to US dollars, but this machine is far more powerful, and I don't think it is that much more money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154184

That one is close to 2400 before shipping and all that fun stuff

filmoret · July 2016

I got that laptop but without the SSD and the 960m graphics card. Its very bulky and loud. Runs very hot but IDK if that is just normal for all laptops. When you get it clamp all the edges of the screen together because they don't come completely locked. But I Can play any game on the market right now at high settings. Probably on Ultra but I'm one that doesn't like fans running at 100x all the time.

I paid 1k for mine.

frostymug · July 2016

Cougarboy said:

decent machine, me personally I'd try to find another with more video ram 4-8gb range

You can find 970m laptops with 6GB, but they are usually more money for marginally more performance if any. Otherwise it is moving into a different class and price range for 980m. Unless he's taking a monitor as well or plugging into the high quality hotel TVs, he's going to be bound to 1920x1080 anyways so 3gb should be enough for the job.

GladDog · July 2016

frostymug said:

GladDog said:

I'm not sure how Canadian dollars translate to US dollars, but this machine is far more powerful, and I don't think it is that much more money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154184

That one is close to 2400 before shipping and all that fun stuff

I added another choice in my post. It looks like it will be about $1906.

frostymug · July 2016

Also food for thought...

Not sure if you carry a laptop around already or if you mostly fly places or drive, but the difference in weight and size between a 17 and 15 inch laptop is more noticeable when carrying it around than it is when gaming. If you're flying and carrying a work laptop as well it just sucks.

If I hadn't gotten mine on a huge sale I would have gone with a 15 incher. You can save a few hundred spec for spec or go higher on certain specs for the same amount. The 10% you are home you can get a decent monitor to run through if you really wanted.

Nightlite · July 2016

yea with 17 inch laptop you tend to get looks : /

Gaming on the road is one thing, but if you want the portability of a laptop and a large screen for gaming in your special place.. I would use the HDMI out and buy a separate monitor.

Normally you suffer a bit with larger laptop screens for color accuracy and view angle, but this one has reviewed exceptionally well with some tough critics. Aside that, unless you want to wait for nextgen mobile chips this laptop seems pretty solid.

filmoret · July 2016

frostymug said:

Cougarboy said:

decent machine, me personally I'd try to find another with more video ram 4-8gb range

You can find 970m laptops with 6GB, but they are usually more money for marginally more performance if any. Otherwise it is moving into a different class and price range for 980m. Unless he's taking a monitor as well or plugging into the high quality hotel TVs, he's going to be bound to 1920x1080 anyways so 3gb should be enough for the job.

The video ports on most laptops are ran through onboard graphics. So he won't be able to use the nvidia card while hooked up to a television.

ceratop001 · July 2016

It should be good enough just set it on something that cools it.

Example: https://www.amazon.com/Targus-Group-International-Category-Accessories/dp/B00PCLJK4E/166-4260669-0202451?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&tag=laptop-magazine-20

There are several Laptop coolers try checking them out.

Quizzical · July 2016

Do you need it right now, or can you wait a couple of months or so? Pascal and Polaris cards have already launched for desktops, and are surely coming to laptops soon. Once that's available, they'll both be much better than anything you can get in a gaming laptop now. Gaming laptops are fundamentally about packing too much heat into too little space, and the new generation offers greatly improved energy efficiency over previous hardware.

If you don't have a laptop at all, then you probably don't want to wait. But if you've already got a decent gaming laptop from a few years ago and are just looking to upgrade, then you really should wait. A GeForce 1000 series or Radeon RX 400 series is probably what you want, though we don't know the official names just yet as the laptop parts haven't launched.

GladDog · July 2016

I have a 17.3" Gamer laptop I bought 5 years ago, and I suppose I should add my experience with it.

First off, it is not a problem to travel with it. Just pull it out of the case and let security look at it, open the DVD drive, take out the battery, and they are fine. If you leave it in your luggage they will tag it so you won't have to open it if you have to transfer flights.

There are a few caveats. A gaming laptop is HARD on the battery. I barely get an hour out of mine. Maybe a more modern one will do better, but keep your expectations low.
They run HOT. Some form of a cooling pad would be a good idea.
Bring a gamer mouse. No matter how good you are with a glidepad, a mouse is a lot easier to game with. Get a gamer mouse, since they are very precise and will help make up for any lag you get from your hotel's network connection.
Consider a 15.6" to save money. It still is a good size for mobile gaming.
The video is MOBILE video. It may say you are getting a GTX970, but the performance is more like a GT940 or 950.

Also, if you are not in a rush, wait a bit until they release the mobile versions of the GTX1070 and Radeon RX-480.

Here is a very good choice at 15.6". It is 1920x1080 capable, but if you run it at 1366X768 it will be easier to see, and the 3GB video memory won't be any problem at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233162

Price is $1640 CAD.

Elevenb4 · July 2016

GladDog said:

Also, if you are not in a rush, wait a bit until they release the mobile versions of the GTX1070 and Radeon RX-480.

This would be my advice. I was a laptop gamer for about 6 years due to traveling also. The new mobile GPU's are supposed to be head and shoulders above what the current 900m series can do. If you do get this, expect to be happy with it for maybe 2 years max graphics wise, unless you only play the current MMO's. Then it will tide you over for awhile.

I recently upgraded to a desktop after gaming on a 770m for almost 4 years. The 770m was great when I got it, but it really started showing it's age (hardware limitations) about 18 month into the owner ship of it when trying to play the new releases out there.

Loke666 · July 2016

filmoret said:

I got that laptop but without the SSD and the 960m graphics card. Its very bulky and loud. Runs very hot but IDK if that is just normal for all laptops. When you get it clamp all the edges of the screen together because they don't come completely locked. But I Can play any game on the market right now at high settings. Probably on Ultra but I'm one that doesn't like fans running at 100x all the time.

I paid 1k for mine.

Not for all laptops, my Sony is never particularly hot but then it got a worse graphics card (I game on my desktop and have it just for travels). One with a good graphics card that doesn't get hot takes a really good cooling system and that is both expensive and adds weight.

Anyways, MSI make rather good laptops and the specs look fine to me. A desktop is generally better but when you travel a lot you have to live with far lower specs for the same price. Just have a good screen and keyboard + mouse at home to dock it to when you aren't moving, that makes the gaming experience far better when you are home at least. On the roads you have to live with playing on a small screen.

MrMelGibson · July 2016

I've rocked a few Sager laptops and have nothing but amazing experience with them all. Great price. Made in the the USA and tech support is from the techs who build the laptops. The way the sagers are built make they super easy to clean. The internal fans are very easy to get to to clean out from time to time. About 4 tiny screws is all it takes to get to them.

https://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

As far as the laptop you posted. It actually looks solid spec wise. I have never heard many bad things about MSI either. I would also consider buying it myself if I was looking for a replacement. Let us know what you end up buying.

ubermut · July 2016

MrMelGibson said:

I've rocked a few Sager laptops and have nothing but amazing experience with them all. Great price. Made in the the USA and tech support is from the techs who build the laptops. The way the sagers are built make they super easy to clean. The internal fans are very easy to get to to clean out from time to time. About 4 tiny screws is all it takes to get to them.

https://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

As far as the laptop you posted. It actually looks solid spec wise. I have never heard many bad things about MSI either. I would also consider buying it myself if I was looking for a replacement. Let us know what you end up buying.

I recently bought the sager equivalent to this. https://www.amazon.com/Eluktronics-Eluktro-P770DM-G-i7-6700K-Graphics/dp/B01C4CWX24/ref=sr_1_57?ie=UTF8&qid=1469771993&sr=8-57&keywords=sager+laptop

absolutely love it. they have a smaller cheaper line too, this one uses the desktop processor

Incomparable · July 2016

MrMelGibson said:

I've rocked a few Sager laptops and have nothing but amazing experience with them all. Great price. Made in the the USA and tech support is from the techs who build the laptops. The way the sagers are built make they super easy to clean. The internal fans are very easy to get to to clean out from time to time. About 4 tiny screws is all it takes to get to them.

https://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

As far as the laptop you posted. It actually looks solid spec wise. I have never heard many bad things about MSI either. I would also consider buying it myself if I was looking for a replacement. Let us know what you end up buying.

edit: i noticed with their other lap tops they did have nvidia 980m and not only that quadro vid card. view all instead of going to their top end and customization might give a wrong impression.

Cleffy · July 2016

AVADirect is the other desktop replacement type laptop vendor if you want to take a look for comparison. However, MSI tries to be the best gaming laptop with things like superior keyboards and screens. They seem to be the only ones trying that hard towards user experience outside the specs. Their customer service is abysmal. Sager has superior customer service, but probably not as feature rich as an MSI.

MrMelGibson · July 2016

Cleffy said:

AVADirect is the other desktop replacement type laptop vendor if you want to take a look for comparison. However, MSI tries to be the best gaming laptop with things like superior keyboards and screens. They seem to be the only ones trying that hard towards user experience outside the specs. Their customer service is abysmal. Sager has superior customer service, but probably not as feature rich as an MSI.

I would say this is a very fair perspective and I agree.

BillMurphy · July 2016

I actually have this laptop, but with the 960M. I absolutely adore it, and reviewed it:

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/10396/The-MSI-GE72-Apache-Pro-Laptop.html

And yes, I did buy it from MSI after testing it. Good luck!

MrMelGibson · July 2016

BillMurphy said:

I actually have this laptop, but with the 960M. I absolutely adore it, and reviewed it:

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/10396/The-MSI-GE72-Apache-Pro-Laptop.html

And yes, I did buy it from MSI after testing it. Good luck!

That's an awesome laptop. When I am eventually looking for an upgrade. I will give MSI a look this time.

cvette · July 2016

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate the help and time you spent. I can't believe all the choices there are for gaming laptops on the market.
Being stuck in bush camps and very remote places, the laptop is also used for watching movies and processing data, so 17 inch screen is a must.
After reading up on the next generation of mobile chips, I think I will wait a bit before buying. And in the meantime if I see a good sale on a 980m I could cosnider buying it.

The last laptop I bought was a Samsung series 7 gamer. I have had it for 4 years, bought it for under 1700.00 and can still play games loke Witcher 3 on medium settings. I am very impressed with it, but it is time to upgrade soon.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it.

Jess

filmoret · July 2016

MrMelGibson said:

BillMurphy said:

I actually have this laptop, but with the 960M. I absolutely adore it, and reviewed it:

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/10396/The-MSI-GE72-Apache-Pro-Laptop.html

And yes, I did buy it from MSI after testing it. Good luck!

That's an awesome laptop. When I am eventually looking for an upgrade. I will give MSI a look this time.

Mel it runs sorta hot. IDK if the one you have now runs hot but this series does for sure. No it doesn't overheat and shutdown but you can feel the heat literally almost burning your fingers sometimes. I called MSI and they said it could run up to 200F without danger. But normally on a high end game like Witcher 3 it runs about 140-180f depending on the settings.

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Thinking of buying this laptop.

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The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!

The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!

The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!

The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!