MSI GS60-2PE ‘Ghost Pro’ Gaming Notebook Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

As a part of the GS series of notebooks, the Ghost Pro is one of the top-level systems that is on offer. When we look at the high levels of performance that are available from virtually every corner of the chassis and then the slim & lightweight built that everything is crammed into, the Ghost Pro is quite a nice system to have. When you look at the fact that this is only a shade heavier than most Ultrabooks and it has a whole heap more performance on tap, one might even be able to get away with using this as a truly mobile system.

Overview

As the gap between desktop and notebook performance, both on the general side and the gaming side of the book, we are slowly seeing users move over to the notebook market for their next system, partly because they are convenient and easy to take around, thus removing the need to have more than one system, but due to their great levels of performance, they are a suitable replacement for a full-fat desktop setup. As far as gaming notebooks goes, we have to congratulate MSI for being able to pack such a high level of performance into such a slim frame whilst also keeping the weight down to a minimum. To prove that the weight was not a problem I did take this system on the train with me when I popped to London for a couple of press events over the last couple of weeks and apart from the slightly wider and deeper dimensions, the system was easy to use and have sat on my lap for an hour and half without me regretting that I put it in the bag and on my shoulder (something I have doing with my XPS laptop). The battery life is also very acceptable and given the fact that I used the GS60 for over 3 hours on the train (there and back) plus a little bit at the meetings I attended, getting back with 20% battery life was a pleasant surprise – obviously this was whilst using the system for writing content and not gaming so if you are looking to play a game on the train don’t expect such a long battery life.

Looking at the performance side of things, the GS60 once again proves itself worthy. The dual M.2 SSD array gives read speeds of over 1GB/s resulting in very fast boot times, and once we take the i7 Haswell CPU and 870M graphics into consideration, we are seeing performance figures that are strong for its class and more particularly in the graphics front we see figures that are around 10% higher than that of a 780M platform. The gaming performance as a result is very impressive. Using the same settings that I would on a desktop system, the 870M GPU gives frame rates that are in a close proximity to that of a GTX 770 which even itself is a strong card.

Aside the performance, the GS60’s design did leave me sitting on the fence to start to be honest. The large gap between the top edge of the keyboard and the display and also the wide bezel that surrounds the screen did leave me wondering if I liked it or not, but as I’ve used the notebook more and more, I have warmed to the design and considering we can see just how crammed everything is inside, it’s easy to understand why things are the way that they are. The brushed metal effect that is all over the back of the screen and around the keyboard is also nice to see, but damn is it a fingerprint magnet; even after cleaning the system before I did the photos, we can still see some marks where I’ve handled it and this may get a bit irritating for some people. What is good through is the fact that MSI include a stylish and very well padded carry case for the Ghost Pro so the risk of getting scratches on the back of the display when out and about is almost reduced to nothing.

The GS60 is not without its downsides though; due to its slim design and the way that things have to be built, memory, HDD and battery upgrades or replacement will void your warranty instantly as the how underside of the notebook as to be removed. Additionally, even though the keyboard has a full RGB backlight (and I will say that I love the print that has been used on the keys) , the lighting effect that you do get is rather limited. Whereas a number of backlit keyboards shine light through the letter print in each of the keys as well as lighting up the space in-between, the lighting effect here is only underneath the keys. This isn’t to say that it is a bad keyboard, in fact it is very nice to type on, it’s just a little design feature that I feel could do with a bit of tweaking. The other gripe I have with the GS60 is the advertised position of the two main speakers. If we refer back to the marketing image that I inserted on page two, MSI show the speakers to be positioned above the keyboard and behind the grill that is in top of the chassis. This is however not the case, the grill is actually used for the cooling system, where the fans draw air in and down through the chassis and out the side, rather than from the underside. Additionally the speakers are to be found underneath the chassis towards the front. Once again this positioning and the reasons why the parts are where they are is not a problem and I can see why this design was chosen, the problem is misleading information on the product page to indicate to users that the speakers are in a totally different location to where they are.

On the whole the whole though and everything considered, I’ve come to like the GS60 ‘Ghost Pro’, although I didn’t like the design too much when I first had the notebook out of the box, as time as gone on and I’ve had a good ol’ play around with it, I’ve come to like it, especially when it could be use in the way that a Ultrabook would be for the most part. Like everything there are one or two bits that could do with a tweak and a bit here and there that may not appeal to some users, but to offer up such a lightweight system, MSI have done really well.

Pros

• Lightest notebook to feature NVIDIA 800M series graphics
• Over 1GB/s read speeds from SuperRAID SSDs
• Anti-glare display
• Class leading performance
• Good battery life
• Carry case included
• Dual-cooler design improves running temperatures
• 3K panel available as an option (Ghost Pro 3K)
• Steelseries keyboard

Cons

• Battery, HDD & memory not user serviceable
• No optical drive
• Keyboard backlight could be improved
• Plastic chassis acts as a finger print magnet
• Speakers are not where they are advertised to be

“As the gap between the notebook and desktop markets is drawn ever closer in terms of performance and features, MSI’s GS60 Ghost Pro also draws the gaming notebook closer to the Ultrabook which is driving forward the mobile market at an amazing rate. The Ghost Pro’s slim and lightweight build leads it into a class of its own and whilst the design may be a deciding factor for some users, as an all round system that covers such a wide range of user groups, it is easy to see why this has the potential to be a top-selling product.”

Thanks to MSI UK for providing this review sample.