MSI GS75 Stealth-093 Review (The Gaming Beasts)

With the RTX 20 series graphics card from NVIDIA being one of the most widely used GPUs in many recently released laptops, there is quite a lot of expectation in terms of performance from this GPU line from the brand. The MSI GS75 Stealth-093 is yet another laptop model that comes equipped with the graphics card.

With their GS65 Stealth delivering excellent results in terms of sales last year, thanks to its amazing features and specs, MSI has gone a step further introducing the new GS75 Stealth. Unveiled at CES 2019, this laptop has its 17-inch screen as the major upgrade from its predecessor, and also happens to be the first device from the company with a screen of this size. The GS75 Stealth belongs to MSI’s thin-and-light gaming laptop line, known to be the brand’s flagship, and comes packed with a lot of features you would expect from an almost $3000 gaming laptop.

Though the device is available at cheaper prices based on the configurations, the $3000 version comes with maxed out configurations, perfect for gaming enthusiasts, now and for the future. The highlight of the GS75 Stealth-093 is the fact that it offers all the exciting features and configurations in a device that is just 0.75 inches in thickness.

MSI GS75 Stealth-093 Review by LaptopDiscovery

Design

Following the same style as its predecessor, the MSI GS75 Stealth-093 is one highly attractive machine. The sandblasted finish of the laptop is quite sparkly but not too flashy. The overall design of the laptop makes it look very distinct, unlike any other model on the market. The back panel is smooth to the touch, sported by the famous dragon shield logo of MSI. The gold trims along the edges and highlights on other areas give it a unique touch, also making the device look premium. While most gaming laptops you come across sport typically a black and red finish, the gold accents on this one are definitely refreshing.

The GS75 Stealth-093 is made mostly of plastic; however, it is still a sturdy machine. Yes, the lid seems to flex a little, but nothing to be concerned about in terms of durability. Weighing just under 5 pounds, this may not be the lightest gaming laptop around, but at a thickness of 0.75 inches, this is most certainly one of the slimmest models. The device has some competition in terms of portability.

Display

As mentioned, what you get with the MSI GS75 Stealth-093 is a 17.3-inch display, better than the 15-inch ones on the company’s previous Stealth versions. This is a 144 Hz IPS-level gaming display with a response time of 3 ms and FHD resolution (1920 x 1080). With this frame rate, what you get to enjoy is an amazingly smooth screen that doesn’t tear. With such display specifications, colors just pop on the screen, including the background, regardless of whether you watch a movie or play games. The display is matte and non-reflective, and the overall image or visual quality delivered by it, including the brightness, is certainly on par with its competition in the segment and price range.

Another highlighting feature in terms of the Stealth-093’s display is its 4-sided ultra-thin bezel, giving you a screen-to-body ratio of 85%, minimizing distractions and maximizing your vision. Furthermore, with the diverse port options, you can use up to 3 monitors with the device for multitasking. On the whole, the display is undeniably a standout feature on the MSI GS75 Stealth-093 gaming laptop.

Hardware Performance

The MSI GS75 Stealth-093 comes armed with the 8th generation Intel Core i7-8750H processor, which can reach maximum clock speeds of up to 4.1 GHz. This 6-core processor is known to escalate performance by up to 40% when compared to its previous generations, thanks to the additional cores. As a result, what you get to work with is a highly capable CPU, which is further enhanced by the 32 GB DDR4 RAM and 512 GB NVMe SSD. With this storage space, you can also expect great read and write speeds and faster game loading times as well. And when that’s the case with gaming, you can certainly expect to carry out your regular tasks with complete ease and at lightning fast speeds.

For cooling, the brand has implemented what they call Cooler Boost Trinity, where the laptop comes with 3 fans, 7 copper heat pipes, 4 exhausts, and up to 47 blades. The fans are called Whirlwind Blade fans. With all the fancy naming aside, you would expect a machine of this caliber and price range to have the excellent cooling ability, better than many of the other models out there. Well, though the extra fans and blades do not really deliver better cooling ability, the internal, as well as surface temperatures, seem to remain low even with fairly heavy loads. Hence, you could expect a comfortable gaming experience, as well as for the GPU and CPU to last longer.

Gaming

For gaming purposes, the GS75 Stealth-093 comes with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX2080 8G Max-Q GDDR6. While the RTX 20 series graphics, in general, is known to deliver an amazing gaming experience, this particular version, the 2080 Max-Q is known to be way better than its counterparts in terms of powerful gaming performance. In addition, the GPU also comes included with the new Ray-Tracing Technology, which is capable of delivering real-time, cinematic-quality gaming experiences from even the most intense games. With the GPU, you are sure to notice the performance bump, provided you have experience using the previous versions. In addition, the Ray Tracing feature is an added bonus any gaming enthusiast or avid gamer would appreciate.

Connectivity

For a gaming laptop of this size, the MSI GS75 Stealth-093 comes furnished with a variety of ports. For audio jack, you get 1 mic-in port and 1 headphone-out port; there is also 1 RJ45 port, 1 micro SD card reader, 1 HDMI port (4K @ 60 Hz), and 3 Type-A USB 3.1 GEN2 ports. Additionally, there is 1 Type-C USB3.1 Gen1 port and 1 Thunderbolt 3 port. As can be seen, you get almost every port you can think of, which can be helpful in a lot of different ways, meeting many of your needs. For Wi-Fi, as always, you have the 802.11 ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v5.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The GS75 Stealth-093 has a full-size keyboard, with a number pad on the right. The overall layout of the keyboard is really spacious, making typing easy and natural. The key travel with this keyboard is more than what you usually get with other models, and this makes key presses easy and satisfying even when you do the same for a long period of time. You are allowed to individually customize the backlight of the keys. Yes, there are some intrusions here and there; for instance, the full-size arrow keys sometimes interfere with the number keys, which could be troublesome when playing.

The touchpad, on the other hand, happens to be a hindrance because of its positioning and enlarged surface area. The problem with the touchpad is that, unlike all other laptops where it will be positioned the center to the keyboard, here it is positioned at the center of the whole deck. As a result, your palm will be constantly touching it, which can lead to many unintended clicks and cursor movements.

Audio

Audio is yet another positive aspect of the MSI GS75 Stealth-093 laptop. The device delivers its audio output via its two 2W top-firing speakers, which will impress you with their excellent and immersive sound quality and output. The piercing sounds you get to experience while gaming will be extremely satisfying, and even when you watch movies, you will be pleased with the quality and audibility of the narrations or dialogues. And when you play games with high-quality audio, prepare for your ears to be completely overwhelmed. Along with the Nahimic audio software, with which you can preset your sound or volume preferences for gaming, music, communication, and movie individually, your experience only gets better.

Battery Life

The device is powered by a 4-cell Li-Polymer battery. While the laptop comes with an 8-hour battery life claim, it has to be mentioned that it doesn’t last for anywhere near that number. The GS75 Stealth is capable of running for up to 6 hours and 30 minutes when used for performing general tasks, like web browsing, video playback, etc. Therefore, unlike some of the other models out there, you cannot expect this one to last a full day. However, it has sufficient juice to be called a decent gaming laptop.

Conclusion

The MSI GS75 Stealth-093 is one of the very few laptops on the market that carry more positives to their name than minuses. With its excellent performance, high specs, and great features, this laptop is certainly a force to be reckoned with this year. Setting aside the few flaws, this can certainly be considered an impressive package.