MSI GS65 Stealth 8SE [GS65 8SE-007US]

Gaming laptop or premium laptop?

In recent years, the MSI catalog has accumulated a pack of interesting and not quite format laptops that blur the lines between ultrabooks, gaming laptops and powerful mobile stations designed for professional use. For example, the hero of this review, the MSI GS65 Stealth 8SE, is listed as a gaming laptop according to the passport, but very often it is bought specifically for working with multimedia content, because the combination of such powerful hardware, an excellent screen and pumped functionality is not often found in the segment of premium laptops.

Graphics card RXT 2060 with 6 GB of video memory

On the one hand, we have a six-core Intel Core i7 processor of the latest generation (operating frequencies 2.2 — 4.1 GHz), a 256 GB SSD, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and one of the most powerful mobile video cards on the market, RXT 2060 with 6 GB of video memory. That is, here we can safely talk about both high-quality video decoding and comfortable FPS in voracious games like RDR2 and Metro Exodus. On the other hand, we have an excellent IPS display with 100% sRGB colour coverage, a high frame rate of 144 Hz and a low response time. The screen is excellent in all respects, even with the immodest price tag. And again, it is equally suitable for games and for working with visual content.

A thousand little things

Considering the price tag of almost $2000, the rest of the laptop's components are not far behind. Firstly, all the iron is soldered into a very thin and strong aluminium case. If that's what you like about Macbooks, then you'll like the GS65 Stealth. A good picture is complemented by excellent sound: the laptop has a high-quality sound card with a good DAC and a pair of speakers from the eminent Danish manufacturer Dynaudio. The power is only a couple of watts, but they play very cleanly and pleasantly. The battery holds a charge for a decent 7 hours with an average display brightness and normal surfing mode.

The devil is in the details

Oh yeah, MSI also did a great job with the keyboard. It is a pleasure to play and type on it, and the large touchpad with gesture control is quickly addictive. In addition, the keyboard has a non-trivial backlight, which really distinguishes this model from other fancy laptops. The keys here are highlighted not from below, but from the inside, which is why only the symbol highlighted on the key glows. Moreover, each key can be individually backlit — the space bar glows blue, the function keys are blue, the numbers are green, etc. And for the keyboard itself, there are 8 different lighting effects.