Category: Reviews

MSI GS66 Stealth review: Simplicity meets power

The MSI GS66 Stealth presents itself as a device that caters to the demands of today’s generation. Offering desktop-like performance and portability but in a toned-down design. With that in mind, should power-users consider this for their next laptop? I decided to take the MSI GS66 Stealth out for a spin by using it as my primary computer for working and for gaming. Being a power user myself, I exposed the device to various everyday tasks of mine such as editing, motion graphics work, and, of course, gaming. Just a quick disclaimer. MSI did send us an engineering unit that may be different from the retail version. We’re not quite sure how different so our experience may or may not be exactly the same when using the retail unit. Nevertheless, if you want to know how it fared in our hands, read on! Design Needless to say, the GS66 Stealth’s design is pretty straightforward. Its chassis is decked out in an all-black color with a sandblasted finish that’s very nice to the touch and does well in resisting fingerprints. Its only embellishment is a barely-there, laser-etched dragon emblem upfront that sports a semi-gloss finish. Personally, I normally like designs with a little extra pop of color but I really took a liking to this minimalist blacked-out body. Apart from its color, the GS66 Stealth maintains simplicity in its other aspects. There are no out-of-the-box design choices here which just makes sense considering its ‘stealth’ concept and maintains a classic look that will never go out of style. Opening the device reveals a matching black keyboard with per-key RGB by Steelseries. Using the SteelSeries 3 Engine, you can customize the keyboard’s colors in a variety of ways. The program offers different preset styles as well as very flexible manual controls for detailed personalization. In terms of performance, I found the keys to be a tad bit shallow compared to other laptops I’ve tested and it also felt clunky when typing. But despite that, usage was comfortable even through extended periods of work. The overall build is undoubtedly sturdy and durable. It is quite heavy at 2.1 kilograms but it’s an acceptable weight considering all the powerful internals it’s packing and when compared to others in its class. It also has a 180-degree hinge if you ever want to share your screen with the person in front of you. As for ports, you won’t find yourself lacking as the device houses plenty of them. You’re given one USB Type-C port on the right side along with two USB Type-A ports, an Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the opposite side, you have another USB Type-A port, Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI, and the AC jack for power. Display and Multimedia Now, onto its display. Again, playing on the concept of stealth, the display looks relatively plain but this 15.6-inch Full HD display is actually capable of a high 240Hz refresh rate. The close to 100% sRGB color space produced rich and vibrant images whether we were working, playing, or watching. With Genshin Impact, for example, lines were crisp and sharp and colors were very vivid. Green fields were wonderfully saturated while more shadowy areas like cliffs exhibited impressive contrast. Color performance carries over when watching movies or shows or even when just browsing or editing photos. Where we found the screen lacking, however, was in its brightness. It wasn’t as impressive and you end up wanting more than it can offer. The device also offers an 84% screen-to-body ratio with most of its bezel focused on the bottom. Hiding in the top bezel is a Windows Hello-enabled IR camera that made logging in a breeze. To round out the entertainment experience, the device houses front-firing speakers that are situated on either side of the device. Audio quality wasn’t exceptional but performance was pleasant overall. It was a bit lacking in bass and volume, though, but the built-in equalizer can help remedy this. And besides, when you’re gaming, you’re most likely wearing headphones anyway. Performance Now on to the good stuff. We know it looks cool and has a fast display but what exactly can the GS66 Stealth do? Well, a lot. Let’s talk specs first. We’ve got a 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor mated with an NVIDIA GeForce 2080 Super with Max-Q design. Our unit came with 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD for storage. On paper alone, the device looks to be highly capable of handling heavy loads. Additionally, the device is easily upgradeable and has extra slots for both memory and storage. On the gaming front, we are able to run Genshin Impact at its highest graphics settings with a stable 60 frames per second. Lag was close to inexistent through hours of gameplay. We also ran Doom Eternal to get a feel of the display’s high refresh rate. True enough, the gameplay was buttery smooth and the 3ms response time was incredible. We were able to achieve upwards of 200 frames per second on average as well. It should be noted, though, that we were playing with the laptop plugged in and set to Ultimate Performance. We tried to play without being connected to the charger but the performance was quite inconsistent. Alongside its gamer-ready specs are some software-based features that further enhance the gaming experience. MSI’s Gaming Mode 2.0 is a one-click optimization feature to easily get the best settings for your game. When activated, it optimizes and prioritizes system resources, frees up memory, automatically switches to pre-set keyboard lightning if available, change Nahimic’s audio settings to Game Mode, and lastly, switch to True Color Gamer mode all in one go. Temperatures rise quite fast but luckily MSI’s Cooler Boost Trinity+ can quickly cool things down. The cooling system uses three fans that work very well at reducing temperatures almost immediately. At the highest fan speed though, it gets really loud but I didn’t mind since it meant better performance. It’s definitely not something you’d want

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