MSI GP70 Leopard Notebook Review

As known, there is no accounting for taste, and the GP70's looks will likely cause some mixed feedback. While the GE60/70 and GS60/70 (tests to follow), rely on a modern and fitting design line, the GP70 looks like a relic from days gone by. Particularly, the speaker bar with its special keys seems to be an artifact from 2000. However, the dedicated buttons are still more reliable than touch elements.

Apart from the looks, the chassis makes a viable impression. Although the build and quality impression clearly lag behind the GE and GS line, top-notch quality cannot be expected in this price range. Buyers who do not have an overly high demand will deem the laptop solid.

The all-around laptop neither makes a good nor a bad impression in terms of rigidness. The base unit is not excessively yielding as long as no high force is applied. The lid could - like in most laptops - have a higher stiffness. The cover clearly warps if twisted with both hands.

The size and weight are similar to the 17-inch GE70. The GP70 can still pass as a multimedia laptop with a height of four centimeters (~1.6 inches). The same is true for its weight of 2.9 kilograms (~6.4 pounds).

Processor

The Core i5-4200H is a 2.8 - 3.4 GHz dual-core CPU from Intel's Haswell generation that is correspondingly built in the 22 nm process. While the majority of dual-core CPUs are specified with a TDP of 37 Watts, the i5-4200H is specified with a whole 47 Watts, which corresponds to the level of the quad-core members.

The other specs are as expected. In addition to a large three MB L3 cache, the HD Graphics 4600 DirectX 11 chip should be mentioned here. It is switched on via Nvidia's Optimus technology for basic tasks in the office, video, and Internet fields. The GeForce GPU is automatically enabled during load (games, etc.).

Unlike the low-end GeForce 820M model, the mid-range GeForce 830M and 840M do not come from the older Fermi, but from the energy-efficient Maxwell generation (both 28 nm).

With 384 CUDA cores, the latter model is clearly below the GeForce GTX 850M that can fall back on 640 arithmetic units (+67%).

Another advantage of the GTX 850M is its wider memory interface. The GeForce 840M only has 64-bits rather than 128-bits and DDR3 video memory is used instead of a GDDR5 (GP70 vs. GE70).

The clock rate is good; the core clocks with its maximum 1124 MHz even during full load. The base clock without GPU Boost is 1029 MHz.

MSI divides the 500 GB storage device into two partitions (307 & 139 GB). Our benchmarks underpin that the Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX does not belong to the strongest HDDs. An average transfer rate of 80 MB/s (HD Tune) will not awe anyone in 2014. It looks the same in CrystalDiskMark where it recorded a sequential read and write speed of 84 and 82 MB/s. The 5400 model also subjectively feels sluggish in both loading times and installations.

Users with the necessary money should definitely install an (mSATA) SSD. That would speed up Windows routine massively.

The GP70 is hardly suitable for passionate gamers. Although hardware-friendly games like F1 2013 and Dota 2 run decently even using maximum details and 1920x1080 pixels, it is often still just enough for medium to high details in 1366x768 or 1600x900 (see chart). Low settings and absolutely no anti-aliasing have to be accepted in extreme cases like Crysis 3.

Analogous with the synthetic graphic benchmarks, the performance difference is also gigantic in the gaming tests. It is ultimately +64% in favor of the GeForce GTX 850M DDR. The difference to the GDDR5 model is even more massive with a lead of almost 100%. The older GeForce GT 750M also calculates faster, although its lead is only 10%. At least the GeForce 840M surpasses the GT 740M by over 20%.

Users who play regularly should take at least a GeForce GTX 860M. Extreme compromises have to be made in up-to-date games without a high-end chip.

We would like to compare the temperature development with the GE70, which features a very similar build except for a few details. The GP70 remains significantly cooler during load due to its weaker hardware. Hardly a user will find up to 41 °C (105.8 °F) on the upper side, and a maximum of 47 °C (116.6 °F) on the underside distracting, especially since these rates were only achieved under extreme conditions.

The GE70 struggles more with the cooling considering a maximum temperature of 47 °C (116.6 °F upper side) and 58 °C (136.4 °F; underside). Both devices are roughly on par during basic tasks. The GP70 and the GE70 finished our idle measurements with an average of 28 °C (82.4 °F).

Again, bigger differences are noticed with the graphics chip. Despite throttling, the temperature of the GeForce GTX 850M in the GE70 climbed to over 90 °C (194 °F) (GP70: maximum 73 °C; 163.4 °F). It is a long known fact that Intel's Haswell generation produces a lot of waste heat. No matter whether the Core i7-4700HQ or Core i5-4200H - most CPUs settle to around 90 °C during full load.

The battery's low capacity is noticed in the runtime tests. 49 Wh or 4400 mAh is quite little from a laptop point of view, and prevents Nvidia's Optimus technology from developing its full potential.

Although 6.5 hours of idling in minimum brightness sounds good on paper, not quite three hours of Internet browsing (medium screen brightness), and two hours of DVD playback (maximum brightness) are in no way awe-inspiring. The battery lasted for approximately 1 - 1.5 hours in gaming operation.

The GP70 can only be called a bargain to a certain degree because MSI cuts costs wherever it can. While a dual-core processor is still tolerable and does not have a negative impact in practical use, the GeForce 840M very frequently finds its limits. The main reason is the narrow memory interface of just 64-bits.

In our opinion, the slow hard drive is the biggest point of criticism as it has also been unnecessarily "stuffed" full of bloatware. MSI should hold back a bit on that in the future or install a bigger / faster HDD from the outset. Other drawbacks are the missing keyboard backlight and the stale design. Beyond that, buyers will find manufacturing flaws. Many areas have irregular transitions, which considerably lessens the quality impression. The unusual keyboard layout and dotted touchpad also need getting used to.

On the positive side, the screen stands out. It is bright with high-contrast and the viewing angle stability is reasonable - every multimedia user wants that. MSI also has to be praised for the good communication equipment that meets more than just mobile requirements. Then there are acceptable temperature and noise development, which is not a matter of course - at least not in gaming laptops. The speakers' decent sound and the large maintenance cover must also be mentioned.

Despite all that, it is still only enough for a "Satisfactory" owing to the listed drawbacks.