MSI GS30 2M-016UK

Specifications

Pricecompare

Reviews for the MSI GS30 2M-016UK

85% A gaming transformer for work and play
Source: T Break Archive.org version
I used to bring the GS30 to work for editorial purposes. And while at home, I could play with the multi-functional dock, or to continue working from where I left off on a bigger display. However, the price seems to be very steep at a hefty pricetag of 10,499AED. With this kind of money, you can definitely fetch an amazing gaming rig.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 07/28/2015
Rating: Total score: 85% price: 80% performance: 85% features: 90% workmanship: 85%

80% MSI GS30 Shadow with Gaming Dock Review
Source: Kitguru Archive.org version
Having said all that the selling price is the major sticking point as £2,195 sounds like a huge amount of money. The price needs to drop below £2,000 and ideally around £1,800, however we’ll have to wait and see how that shakes out over the coming months. Our final thought on the subject is that the MSI GS30 Shadow and GamingDock looks like a poor deal compared to a combination of MSI GT72 Dominator (Core i7 and GTX 980M) for £1,500 for gaming and a GE60 Apache (Core i5 and GTX 850M) at £700 for day-to-day duties.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/05/2015
Rating: Total score: 80%

MSI GS30 Shadow with GamingDock
Source: Trusted Reviews Archive.org version
A system that allows you to a take a thin and light ultraportable laptop and plug it into some sort of desktop dock that contains a powerful graphics card has long been the holy grail of mobile computing. Plenty of companies have tried their hand at a solution, but they’ve either never made it to market or been too expensive and rare to get any traction. The latest company to give it a try is MSI, with its GS30 Shadow and GamingDock combination.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 02/04/2015

MSI GS30 Shadow with GamingDock
Source: Hexus Archive.org version
The MSI GS30 Shadow is further proof that laptop docking stations have plenty to offer. Transforming a thin-and-light 13.3in laptop, the bundled GamingDock opens the door to greater storage, better connectivity, improved audio and a far superior graphics experience.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 01/13/2015

Foreign Reviews

MSI GS30 2M-030JP Shadowの実機レビュー（PR）
Source: The Hikaku JA→EN Archive.org version
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 02/20/2015

Comment

Model: MSI has been coming up with amazing gaming laptops over the years. The MSI GS30 2M 016UK is second to none in its range with the nVidiaGeforce GTX 980, 4 GB GDDR5 graphics card which is on the supplied MSI Gaming Dock. This graphic card can handle the latest date graphically demanding games on at least high quality. The gaming laptop is powered by the Intel Core i7-4870HQ quad core processor, which has an integrated Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 and is adequate to play games at medium settings while being mobile.

The 13.3" Full HD display is suitable to play games while on the go. The storage on-board is a 512 GB SSD and a 16 GB DDR3 RAM to effectively handle multi-tasking. The light weight laptop of 1.2 kg ships with pre-installed Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit. In terms of connectivity, there are two USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI port. There is also a card reader, however there is no optical drive as this gaming laptop was meant to be thin and light.

The battery life is rated to be 4 hours with power management switched on. Finally the included Gaming Dock features the mentioned GTX 980 Desktop Graphics card, an additional four USB 3.0 and two HDMI ports. There is also the 2.1 audio system and various other features.

Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200:

Integrated graphics (GT3 + eDRAM) as found on certain Haswell CPUs. It is the fastest version in its family.

Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.  

4870HQ: Haswell-based quad-core processor clocked at 2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost support up to 3.7 GHz. Offers an integrated Iris Pro Graphics 5200 GPU and a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

13.30":

Above all, this display size is used for subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles. For all three types, this size is quite large. The biggest variety of subnotebooks is represented with this size.

Large display-sizes allow higher resolutions. So, details like letters are bigger. On the other hand, the power consumption is lower with small screen diagonals and the devices are smaller, more lightweight and cheaper.

1.2 kg:

In former time,s this weight was typical for big tablets, small subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles with a 10-11 inch display-diagonal. Nowadays, often 15 inch laptops weigh as much.

MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI), is a Taiwan based computer hardware manufacturer since 1986 best known for desktop computer motherboards. MSI also designs and manufactures graphics cards, barebone PCs, notebook computers, networking products, servers, multimedia, consumer electronics, and storage devices. MSI, as most Taiwanese computer manufacturers, sells products on OEM/ODM basis. It also sells products worldwide based on its own brand name "MSI". The market share of laptops with the MSI brand is rather low.

MSI is not present in the smartphone market. As a laptop manufacturer, MSI has a medium market share and is not among the Top 10 global manufacturers. The ratings of MSI laptops are above average in the tests (as of 2016).

82.5%: This rating should be considered to be average. This is because the proportion of notebooks which have a higher rating is approximately equal to the proportion which have a lower rating.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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