MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro Review – The Best Balance in Handling and Performance

Big changes also seem to occur in the GS series gaming laptop product line from MSI. In addition to presenting the performance of the Geforce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 in a barebones thickness of approximately 17mm, improvements in terms of handling and cooling systems also accompany this gaming laptop weighing less than 2kg. Immediately, let’s explore the “beautiful” MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro in this review article.

Design & Handling

MSI_GS63VR_Stealth_Pro_ront_side_right MSI GS series, including the MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro, is one product that offers compact, slim and light dimensions. In the local gaming laptop market, in fact, it doesn’t have a really commensurate opponent. But if you see his behavior, some vendors will refresh their ultrabook gaming line-up to compete with the GS63VR. The MSI GS63VR relies on aluminum alloy for almost 75% of its body. This makes it one of the lightest 15-inch gaming laptops. This metal material is made of vertical brushed texture and is finished in black.

The LCD cover, brightly different from the GP and GL series. The MSI text is engraved, the logo also uses a transparent emblem that will light up when it gets backlit from the display panel. Apart from these two points, the outer cover of the GS63VR LCD according to pemmzchannel is too ordinary in design. When compared to the GS60 version which was released for the first time, the GS63VR is actually a downgrade. We believe, actually MSI can make it more eye-catching. Entering the inside, there is a 720p HD resolution web cam with the ability to take moving objects up to 30fps.

MSI_GS63VR_Stealth_Pro_exhaust_design Another new thing that is present on the GS63VR is the double exhaust hole. 2 additional holes placed on the right and left sides of the notebook, is the correct solution to help hot air escape faster. In addition, the use of 3 fans which further increase the thrust with 41 propellers.

If you count the numbers, compared to the previous GS series, the GS63VR appears 10% more compact. But when compared physically, it seems that the difference in length x width is very significant. And besides being lighter in weight, the MSI GS63VR looks a bit different in the bottom cover area. There is a kind of extra velvet that is likely to increase grip when carried.

Workstation
MSI_GS63VR_Stealth_Pro_Front_Side Slightly different from its predecessor the MSI GS60, this 15.6-inch Stealth Pro appears more “classic”. The keyboard area is actually made lower than the workstation surface, where the GS60 series, the design is made to “impress” one-piece with the workstation surface. The mesh-hole above the keyboard board is not an area where the speakers are located, these holes are the way in and out of air to help the heat dissipation process which has only relied on the exhaust holes on the sides and bottom.

For speakers, the GS63VR actually uses a 4+1 configuration that promises good sound. But maybe because the dimensions are fairly mini, it makes the MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro’s built-in sound system less kicking. Fortunately, you can take advantage of the real Pre-Amp hardware made by ESS Saber that he offers to maximize all types of your headset. And for this one, it really deserves a thumbs up because the kw headset that we are also testing is able to work much more optimally than being used on a laptop without ESS Saber.

Display Panel Quality

The MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro unit we reviewed uses a slim panel made by LG Philips LP156WF6 which offers a good contrast ratio and black level. The RGB and sRGB values are not quite high. Consequently, he had to admit defeat if he had to compete to display a crispy image with a wider color range. The response time, brightness distribution is also very good, including the minimal screen bleeding percentage.

Ports and Connectivity

MSI_GS63VR_Stealth_Pro_port_and_connectivity Present as a Gaming Ultrabook, the MSI GS63VR 6RF certainly has a side port that is limited in size. One thing that makes a laptop thin, is often unable to offer a variety of connectivity. But MSI looks able to maximize the port and connectivity on this GS63VR. Except for D-Sub or analog Video out which he doesn’t offer, the MSI GS63VR is equipped with a fairly complete port. Especially for display out, you can choose to use HDMI 2.0, Mini Display Port or directly Thunderbolt 3. For USB, there are a total of 5 ports, 3 USB 3.0 type A, 1 USB 2.0 type A and 1 USB 3.1 type C gen. 3.

You can also find the SD Card Reader on the left, next to the gold plated audio port. What’s unique is that the power button is moved to the side because the upper right or left area, which it generally occupies, is used as a cooling area. For wireless connection, you can use wifi a/c and bluetooth 4.1.

Upgrade Options

MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro Teardown (property of ultrabookreview.com)

MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro Upgrade Option (property of ultrabookreview.com)

For this point, pemmzchannel itself can not be sure. Because it seems that almost all the parts that might be replaced are at the top just below the keyboard. This makes it impossible to access directly even though the bottom cover is very easy to open. But from valid information on ultrabookreview.com, there are 2 memory slots and an M.2 2280 PCIe slot ready for upgrade options. Because by default the new MSI GS63VR is equipped with 2x8GB DDR4, we can still replace the default RAM with a 2x16GB configuration. For storage, by default the Stealth Pro that we are reviewing already uses a PCIe SSD type made by Samsung with a capacity of 256GB. But, we can still increase the capacity to a larger one up to 512GB.

temperature

This point is very important in review considering this product carries specifications that are considered high-end class. In the idle position with browsing activities, streaming music, office, to enjoying your favorite HD movies, the CPU and GPU temperatures are very friendly. The CPU is at 37° to 39°C and the GTX 1060 GPU is at around 50°C. Seeing this, it’s natural that MSI, and maybe all gaming laptop vendors, are more worried about GPU performance decreasing due to excessive temperatures.

When I started using it to play games, the temperature started to creep up to around 86°C for both the CPU and GPU. What’s unique is that the palm rest does get warm, but only on the right side. Meanwhile, the left palm rest, where WASD activities are based, remains cool. It’s a bit unfortunate, the GS series is not equipped with a shortcut button to activate the cooler boost. So, if you plan on playing games for a long time with this GS63VR, it’s best before starting, switch the fan speed mode to cooler boost to keep the temperature lower.

Pemmzchannel thumbs up for MSI’s development of the cooling section. Instead of adding a heatsink that has the opportunity to increase the weight of the laptop, MSI chose to increase the number of fans that offer more propellers. The final result is quite satisfactory, even compared to many gaming ultrabooks today, the MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro is proven to be able to last longer before finally entering a bottleneck condition due to overheating.

Performance

The Geforce GTX1060 laptop version has almost the same performance as the desktop version. It’s just that it consumes lower power because of the adjusted clockspeed. You could say, the GPU version of the beginner-class gaming monster. But don’t take it lightly, because with a 192-bit memory bus, its performance far exceeds the GTX 970M, even being able to silence the Geforce GTX 980M.

Because what we are reviewing is still the i7 6700HQ Skylake series, which is likely to be directly refilled by the Kaby Lake series, the performance of the MSI GS63VR CPU is predictable. Please refer to some gaming laptop reviews in the previous article that reviews the performance of the i7 6700HQ.

MSI GS63VR already uses PCIe SSD type Storage for its System partition. Armed with the Samsung SM951 which we reviewed previously here, you don’t have to worry about the data reading and writing process stumbling with an average throughput speed of 1500mbps.

Conclusion

The design of this product does not make us say “wow”, as well as the default audio system. But the cooling side that has been in the dress-up, fully supports the handling side that he offers. Still regarding handling points, MSI also deserves thumbs up regarding its success in making the GS series more compact, including in the screen to frame ratio area. But it seems you have to pay for low upgrade option points because of the difficulty of accessing components.

Well, for those of you who have always had doubts about “long run capability” a gaming laptop, the MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro tries to answer your concerns. The MSI GS63VR is a gaming ultrabook that offers the best balance of handling and performance currently in the pemmz.com product catalog.