MSI GT75VR 7RF Titan Pro (i7-7820HK, GTX 1080) Laptop Review

MSI sticks to its traditional design language for the casing's looks. The dark surfaces, some of which are brushed aluminum (lid, keyboard area), are adorned with red components that give the 17-inch machine a playful look. The wrist rest's material surprised us a bit. MSI has opted for a soft-touch finish, i.e. a rubber coating (just as sensitive as the other surfaces) here.

In terms of stability, at least the base unit scores well. The chassis can hardly be dented even with stronger pressure. The lid that produces noises when it is twisted is not as rigid. The hinges do a satisfactory job. Although the lid can be opened easily with one hand, the display does not rock excessively on unstable surfaces. As for the build, which is overall good, the transition between the base plate and base unit could be more precise.

One of the biggest shortcomings of the GT75VR is its extremely bulky appearance that looks outdated in the era of slim gamers, such as Gigabyte's Aero 15, Razer's Blade or MSI's own GS63VR. With a height of almost 6 cm (~2.4 in) and a weight of 4.6 kilograms (~10 lb), the 17-inch machine is one of the bulkiest and heaviest gaming laptops on the market.

Despite the same GPU, all rivals remain below 5 cm (~2 in). Asus' G701VIK and Alienware's 17 R4 are not even 4 cm (~1.6 in) tall. The enormous height has an impact on the ergonomics since the "keyboard" hand has to be lifted higher than the "mouse hand" and - depending on the seating and/or table height - is angled uncomfortably.

The connectivity proves to be - like the GT73VR - very generous. Five USB 3.0 Type A ports are just as impressive as four audio jacks (headphone incl. SPDIF, microphone, line-out, line-in). This is complemented by a card reader, RJ45 port, and a Kensington lock slot. Video materials are transmitted to external monitors via HDMI 2.0 (4K @60 Hz) or mini-DisplayPort. A Type-C port that supports USB 3.1 Gen.2, DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 3 rounds off the bundle and makes the GT75VR perfectly prepared for the future.

We liked the interface distribution because of it "tail-heaviness" although the rear ports are a bit awkward to reach due to the beveled upper edge. Also, both left and right handed users will get a share of the waste heat discharged from the lateral vents when playing games. In any case, we could feel how our mouse hand warmed up in the benchmark course.

We have to criticize the card reader's "downgrade". While the GT73VR almost completely exhausted our Toshiba reference card (max. 260 MB/s), the GT75VR only almost reaches the USB 3.0 standard. 88 MB/s in sequential read and 83 MB/s when transferring photos cannot compete with either Asus' G701VIK or Schenker's XMG U727, which exceed 200 and 100 MB/s. Only Acer's Predator 17 X has a comparably weak card reader.

The GT75VR can regain some ground with its wireless communication via the Killer Chip 1535 (Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2). Although 558 Mbit/s is just enough for one of the last places in the transmission test (1 meter/~3 ft away from the reference router), the reception performance of 700 Mbit/s is first-rate. Connection problems did not occur even when separated by several walls in practice. Tuning fans will also be happy with the Killer Control Center.

The accessories are very limited if the buyer does not opt for one of the "Dragon Fever Bundles" (currently for the same price at Notebooksbilliger.de), which includes a backpack, headset, and other gimmicks. In addition to a quick start guide, only a recovery manual and a warranty booklet are in the box. The power supply is a 1.2 kg (~2.6 lb), 330-watt model that is extremely bulky with dimensions of 20 x 10 x 4.5 cm (~7.8 x ~4 x ~~1.8 in).

MSI has to be praised for the excellent maintenance and upgrade options. The manufacturer has designed the entire base plate as a service flap that is fairly easy to remove. A screwdriver (5 screws) and a bit of muscle power (clasps) then almost uncover the entire innards: the sound system, battery, wireless module, the cooling system that includes two fans, three heat pipes for the soldered CPU and - believe it or not - 7 (!) heat pipes for the removable GPU.

The storage devices are also underneath a cooling cover. To access the 2.5-inch slot, the M.2 SSDs have to be removed (2 slots with PCIe/NVMe support, 1 slot with SATA III support), which is quite inconvenient. The 4 RAM slots have been distributed on both sides of the motherboard. While the 32 GB (2x 16 GB SO-DIMM DDR4-2400) are underneath the keyboard and cannot be accessed without some effort, the empty banks are easy to reach.

In case the empty place in the bottom left of the screenshot is bewildering: The GT75VR is supposed to also be launched as an SLI variant with two GTX 1070 chips. Considering all things, the design is very similar to that of the GT73VR.

A 24-month collect & return warranty is included. Please see our Guarantees, Return policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

Touchpad

Unfortunately, the touchpad's quality is not as good as that of the keyboard. Although it offers a good accuracy and decent gesture support for several fingers (zoom, scroll, rotate, etc.), MSI has not done itself a favor with the rubberized surface. The soft-touch finish slows down gestures unnecessarily, especially when moisture is involved (wet or greasy fingers).

It is also unusual that the dedicated mouse keys do not respond over the entire surface but only toward the top. The same is true for the installed backlight that only illuminates the touchpad's lower edge. We would have preferred an "all-over" solution like in the GT73VR. The touchpad's color matches that of the wrist rest, and the only way to find it in the dark is using the fact that it is lowered. The touchpad's size is 11 x 6.5 cm (~4.3 x 2.6 in) - decent for 17-inch conditions.

The 120 Hz panel has been adopted from the GT73VR. The N173HHE-G32 (CMN1747) is a Full HD screen based on TN technology. Apart from the middling viewing angles (typical TN problem) and mediocre brightness (average: 262 cd/m²), it does a good job. The low black level of 0.26 cd/m² results in a very high contrast (approx. 1050:1) that is on par with the competition.

Fortunately, the flickering that we discovered only occurs up to a screen brightness of 15% and, at 25 kHz, it is so high that even sensitive users should not perceive flickering. Very good: Backlight bleeding was not an issue of the review sample.

MSI's GT75VR is definitely situated in the premium range with its lightning-fast Kaby Lake processor and exorbitantly expensive top model from Nvidia's Pascal generation. 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and 1.5 TB of storage device capacity also point to a genuine desktop replacement that offers high future security.

The performance of the quad-core model that can process up to eight threads simultaneously via Hyperthreading completely fulfills the expectations. A maximum of 3.9 GHz in single-core load and 3.5 GHz in multi-core load correspond to Intel's specifications. As our Cinebench loop confirms, the high clock speed is also maintained for a prolonged time. The results were very stable in the 30-minute test.

The GT75VR lags behind slightly in the benchmark chart because the other devices are tested with an enabled factory OC. Schenker's XMG U727 usually achieves the first place thanks to its desktop CPU. We could never get the 17-inch machine to throttle, i.e. drop below the base clock of 2.9 GHz. The cores even achieved 3.5 GHz in the stress test using the tools FurMark and Prime95 - a superb rate.

The system performance is also beyond reproach. The high-end components and the SSD RAID ensure that the system runs quickly in every situation. The GT75VR settles between Asus' G701VIK and Alienware's 17 R4 in PCMark 8. Acer's Predator 17 X claims the first place, and Schenker's XMG U727 comes in last.

Should it get tight for the personal game and multimedia collection at some point, a 2.5-inch HDD with a capacity of 1 TB is also installed. HGST's Travelstar 7K1000 is an extremely successful 7200 model.

MSI has omitted Nvidia's brand new Max-Q design in the GT75VR intentionally, allowing the GeForce GTX 1080 to show its full beauty. Thanks to the powerful cooling system, the DirectX 12 chip supported by a generous 8 GB of GDDR5X VRAM can use its clock potential extremely well. Almost 1810 MHz after 60 minutes of “The Witcher 3” speaks for itself. Even 1890 MHz was displayed for a moment in the render test of the GPU-Z test.

The stress test performance also impressed us. While the GeForce GTX 1080 tends to throttle significantly in other gaming laptops, the Pascal model in the GT75VR runs at approx. 1600 MHz during full load.

The 17-inch machine is on par with the competition in the graphics benchmarks. In 3DMark 13's Fire Strike test, the five comparison devices drift at most 10% apart. It is a maximum of 6% in the Ungine Heaven 4.0 benchmark.

Note: The processor's graphics chip (Intel HD Graphics 630) remains inactive due to G-Sync. However, it is possible to save energy and reduce the other emissions in idle mode by switching the graphics accelerator via the GPU button. This requires rebooting the system (Nvidia's GPU was always active for our tests).

Before dedicating ourselves to the gaming outcomes, we would like to say a few words about the long-term performance of the GeForce GTX 1080 that we simulated with “The Witcher 3”. The frame rates drop by 5 to 10% in the course of the 60-minute test only because the GPU's Turbo gets weaker as it reacts to increasing temperatures at some time. This behavior can be observed in almost every laptop and cannot be criticized.

There is generally no reason to worry about the frame rates in the Full HD sector. Although the 120 Hz technology is sometimes exhausted in maximum settings, the GeForce GTX 1080 achieves smooth rates even in demanding games such as “Ghost Recon Wildlands” or “Playerunknown's Battlegrounds”. The high-end GPU usually has enough power for 3840x2160 pixels, as the results in “Prey” and “Rocket League” prove. Core players will be absolutely satisfied with the GT75VR in any case.

The configuration with the GeForce GTX 1070 is right for saving a bit of money. Nvidia's second-best Pascal model also copes with 1920x1080 pixels quite well.

The situation is not as tense in idle mode. Although the GT75VR reaches up to 38 dB(A) when booting, the laptop runs relatively quietly for gaming conditions (33 to 34 dB(A)). However, the fans are never completely inactive and tend to wobble. We also perceived a discreet coil whining sometimes.

The entire casing remained pleasantly cool at 28 to 35 °C (~82 to ~95 °F) in idle mode. The competing devices can only be compared conditionally due to the lower ambient temperatures (20 °C/~68 °F in the winter and spring vs. 24 °C/~75 °F in mid-summer). The common picture is seen under the hood. The GeForce GTX 1080 settled to an acceptable 81 °C (~178 °F) and the Core i7-7820HK to borderline 84 to 99 °C (~183 to 210 °F) after 60 minutes of full load - but without throttling as mentioned earlier.

Other laptop manufacturers can gladly take the sound quality of the GT75VR as an example. Although our audio analysis shows a bit of potential for improvement in bass and mids, the 17-inch machine has one of the best sound systems that we have ever encountered. Only very few laptops have such a powerful and balanced sound.

This is no surprise as MSI has invested a lot of resources in both the hardware (Dynaudio speakers, gold-plated plugs, amplifiers, digital-analog converters, etc.) and the software. In addition to the manufacturer's sound tool, a program called Nahimic 2+ is preloaded on the system. It provides diverse profiles and setting options. The GT75VR's high maximum volume is also impressive. Up to 98 dB(A) even fill large rooms with sound decently. Most gaming laptops achieve only 75 to 85 dB(A).

In a nutshell: Thanks to the superb sound, external speakers are not needed. The integrated 2.1 system is suitable for music, videos, and games to an equal degree (if the loud fans can be tolerated and a headset is not used).

Frequency diagram comparison (checkboxes above can be turned on/off!)

Naturally, the high power consumption has an impact on the battery life. The GT75VR lasts for at most 3 hours, even with minimum brightness and low load (Battery Eater Reader's Test). Approximately 2.5 hours of Wi-Fi browsing and 2.5 hours of watching HD videos (medium brightness) are also modest. Acer's Predator 17 X and Asus' G701VIK, both with stronger batteries (89 and 93 Wh vs. 75 Wh) are first depleted after 3.5 to 4 hours. The GT75VR shut down after just 1 hour in Battery Eater's Classic test that simulates high load and which is performed using maximum brightness.

Furthermore, playing games without the power supply is not a good idea for performance reasons. The frame rate dropped by 70% (22 rather than 70 FPS @ FHD/Ultra) in the test with “The Witcher 3”.