Featured

MSI GT72S 6QE Dominator Pro Gaming Laptop Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The MSI GT72S 6QE Dominator Pro is currently available from Scan for £1962.20 which includes next day delivery and a standard 2-year warranty. Clearly, this is a huge investment and requires a great deal of consideration. The price is competitive when you take into account the build quality, specification and wide array of features. For example, the Nahimic audio software, XSplit license, and Killer network prioritization adds to the unit’s value.

To the best of my knowledge, the only similar specification out there is the Alienware 15 R2 HID46-AUK1 which retails for £2057.56. Granted, the Alienware machine opts for a 4K display, but I actually see this as a disadvantage due to massively reduced frame rates and greater battery demands. Ideally, the sweet spot for the MSI GT72S 6QE is £1899 but its current market price is good value if you’re looking for this specific configuration.

Overview

The MSI GT72S 6QE Dominator Pro caters to high-end consumers requiring the absolute pinnacle of performance. My only major qualm is the chassis’ finish which collects an absurd amount of fingerprints and makes it almost impossible to keep clean. From an aesthetic standpoint, this is very irksome as the rest of the system features beautiful contours, and a premium finish. Additionally, the trackpad suffers from a similar fate and almost stores every inch of grease from the user’s palms. I was pretty surprised by this as someone with dry hands. As a result, consumers who perspire easily might struggle to maintain the trackpad’s original finish.

Thankfully, the system’s performance makes up for this slight visual annoyance and provides an experience which rivals many custom desktops. During our intensive gaming benchmarks, the laptop consistently remained above 60 frames-per-second and achieved numbers very close to a GTX 970. This is incredible and greatly assisted by the fantastic 1920×1080 G-SYNC display. As you might expect, the 75Hz refresh rate works in tandem with NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology to create fluid, smooth gameplay. Even when the system drops suddenly to 50 frames-per-second from 80-130, it’s difficult to detect and seems more responsive than the frame-rate suggests. On another note, the vivid colours, wide viewing angles enhances the core experience, and the display didn’t exhibit any noticeable backlight bleed. The panel is capable of a surprisingly bright maximum luminescence which encourages you to use the laptop more in poorly lit rooms.

MSI’s Cooler Boost 3 system is groundbreaking and results in the most impressive noise to temperature ratio we’ve seen from a laptop by some way. The cooling technology utilizes 6 heatpipes and includes a button to toggle between various fan modes. On the default setting, which I recommend you leave on, the laptop is almost inaudible during idle states. Even more ridiculous, the decibel rating under load only increases by a slight amount and I would describe its operation as silent. The noise levels undoubtedly sets a new standard and exemplifies how efficient premium gaming laptops can be with a skilled engineering team at the helm.

Furthermore, the laptop doesn’t compromise on running temperatures just to maintain low audible levels. I was astounded with the CPU temperatures which never exceeded 75C. Even more astonishing, the thermals are extremely consistent and remain within a very small range. This reduces the chance of sudden spikes in CPU temperatures and emphasizes how capable the cooling apparatus is. In theory, you can overclock the CPU to around 4.0GHz, but this dramatically increases both the load temperatures and noise.

In terms of storage, the M.2 NVMe drive’s performance numbers are sublime and makes a mockery of traditional SATA drives. Sadly, the capacity is fairly limiting, but this isn’t a shocking revelation and keeps the price under £2000. It’s not a cause for concern, as the majority of user data doesn’t require transfer speeds anywhere near 2000MB/s.

Other impressive features include the comfortable RGB keyboard, huge array of upgrade options, MSI’s ‘Super Port’ and Dynaudio speakers. The speakers are sensational and produce a balanced, warm sound. Furthermore, they can output a decent amount of volume without distortion and the sub-woofer enhances the audio reproduction during intense games.

Pros