Msi ws65 9tk review in Spanish (full analysis)

MSI is one of the strongest manufacturers that is betting on Workstation laptops with up to six families of equipment to mount next-generation processors and Nvidia Quadro RTX. For this review we have with us the MSI WS65 9TK with Intel Core i7-9750H and Quadro RTX 3000, being the second most powerful in its series. We will have it available in 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch versions, if we opt for the WS75. It includes military certification of its components, true color technology for its screen and much more that we will see here.

Before continuing, we thank MSI for their trust in us by lending us this Workstation to do our review.

MSI WS65 9TK technical features

Unboxing

MSI WS65 9TK should come to you in a white box-like presentation constructed of thick cardboard with a sliding opening. This elegant box will in turn come inside a neutral cardboard box that acts as a package, with three molds of high-density polyethylene foam to protect the set from knocks.

Within the bundle we will find the following elements:

• MSI WS65 9TK Notebook Instruction Manual External Power Supply

To be a Workstation, this team does not have too many elements inside, if not none. The power supply comes in a separate box from the one included in the laptop, right next to it.

Exterior design

As we have already seen in the presentation, MSI is one of the manufacturers that has more Workstation laptops. And it is that its range amounts to about 6 families of equipment, in which they basically change their design and also part of the internal hardware. As in the gaming series, the one with the highest performance is the WT family, with real beasts in the form of very powerful laptops and with desktop graphics. And behind it, we find the WS series, to which this MSI WS65 9TK belongs.

This family includes three variants with a 15.6-inch screen and another three with a 17.3-inch screen, being the WS75 series. In our case we have chosen this equipment because it is one of the most balanced in terms of power and price, although perhaps for a professional the 17.3-inch variant is more comfortable for working. Above all, if you decide to CAD / CAM or BIM design.

That said, we have a laptop with a fairly bare, elegant and minimalist design. Versatility prevails here more than anything else, so on the outer cap we only have the MSI Workstration logo and a gold painted bezel on the edge of this cap. The entire laptop is constructed of aluminum and is MIL STD 810G certified, or military grade as we know it. This certification is given to notebooks that successfully withstand multiple resistance tests, such as shocks, sand blasting, high or low temperatures and high atmospheric pressures.

The hinge system is very simple, with these located at each end and allowing the rear area to be free to open two vents to expel the hot indoor air. The team is really compact, with its 15.6-inch screen and widely used edges, being 9 mm at the top, 7 at the side areas, and 28 mm at the bottom. In this way we have a team of just over 35 cm wide and only 18 mm thick, so it clearly falls within a Max-Q design.

In the interior area we find a keyboard configuration without a numerical pad for reasons of space and failing that we have huge keys, as well as its touchpad. Then we will see them in more detail, but we anticipate that they are a delight. At the top is an open band inside to allow the fans to catch air, just like for example the P75 Creator that we recently analyzed, we will see if we find the same cooling problems.

Despite having this military certification, we see that its screen is quite thin and too flexible. We recommend pushing from the central area to open and close, this way we will avoid twisting the ends and bleeding on the IPS panel. Another of the certifications that we have in this MSI WS65 9TK, is the ISV, which ensures that design-oriented applications and high consumption of hardware run with optimal performance and without failures.

Finally, in the lower area we have another perforated band that allows air to enter the three fans and the rest of the closed aluminum sheet. The legs are also quite peculiar recalling the old laptops, since they are two sausage-like bands that run the entire width of the equipment. Simple but very effective for stability.

Connection ports

We only have to stand on the sides of the MSI WS65 9TK to see what ports we have in this and the rest of the equipment of its family. But before, we can see that in the rear area we have two wide openings next to other two located on both sides. In each of them we have a small internal heatsink where all the heat reaches and is expelled out thanks to the fans.

Standing in the right area we find:

• 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 and DisplayPort1x HDMI port 2.01x Mini DisplayPort 1.4Jack AC power

The Thunderbolt 3 connector could not be missing in any case, surely necessary for professionals since it allows us to connect high-performance monitors, external GPUs and other elements used for this type of work. For the rest, we do not have great news, and both video ports support resolutions at 4K and 60 FPS.

In the left area we will have the rest of connectivity:

• Kensington lock slot1x RJ-45 Ethernet LAN2x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A2x 3.5mm jack for separate audio and microphone

Perhaps a fourth USB would have been a good idea to increase the capacity of the laptop, although we can always opt for hubs that are sold separately.

Display and calibration

MSI does not provide too many details about the screen of the MSI WS65 9TK, something that would be quite positive for the user to know more in detail what is going to be found. However, for that we are, we will provide as much information as possible about it and its variants.

In the analysis team we are facing a 15.6-inch panel that has a native Full HD resolution at 1920x1080p. Imaging technology is IPS of course, with WLED backlighting. We do not have details about its maximum brightness or contrast. What we do know is that versions with this same diagonal are also offered in 4K resolution and 72% in the NTSC color space. In none of the cases do we have gaming features such as 144 Hz frequency or 1 ms response.

MSI has implemented its True Color technology so that the user can modify practically all the parameters regarding the representation of the image on the screen, we are talking about brightness, contrast, color levels, etc. That is something very interesting, since in very few laptops we can modify this type of aspects natively. It also offers us the possibility of connecting several monitors in Matrix Display configuration thanks to its thin frames and its dedicated GPU.

Along the way we have been left with the ability to view content in HDR or AMD FreeSync as dynamic refresh technology. Nothing is detailed about its calibration level, nor of course X-Rite, Pnatone certification or a comprehensive Delta E calibration. Nor do we have it in 4K panels, which would have been an extra guarantee of quality in these devices.

The viewing angles are 178 °, as we can expect from an IPS panel, without any distortion in colors. Thanks to having both sizes and Full HD and 4K resolutions, the user has a fairly large range of options available so that they can be adjusted to their needs. In all of them the quality is assured, and at least in the test unit, we have no trace of Bleeding, so it is something that is already well surpassed by the manufacturers.

Creator Center and True Color

MSI WS65 9TK is the ultimate laptop for great productivity performance. It is true that MSI has its own range of notebooks for design, such as the Creators. But these two programs have also been implemented in this family, which offer greater room for maneuver for the screen and the equipment.

The first program that we see important to mention is the Creator Center, being exactly the same as the Prestige range, with a white background and identical options. Because it has that ISV certification, on the first screen we see a list of possible applications that can be installed on the computer. From here we can access all of them in an optimized way for the specific team.

The following section is similar to that of Dragon Center, with a real-time performance monitor, although some different options. We will look at fan RPM, connection status, SSD, and basic hardware. We very much miss an option to be able to put the fans at maximum speed, and thus improve the efficiency of the system in temporary moments. An interesting option in the next section is to be able to change the DPI of the touchpad, and the color space of the screen. For the rest, we have the battery monitoring, and the support page.

The second program is MSI True Color, which will be very useful for the user due to the fact that it has integrated screen calibration options. We can modify the entire image representation system in different profiles such as sRGB or Rec.709, and other very interesting ways. In the tools section it offers us the possibility of calibrating the screen whenever we have a compatible colorimeter. We have predefined image modes or to modify them entirely by the user and save them.

Calibration

Now we are going to proceed to carry out some tests about the calibration of the screen of the MSI WS65 9TK. To do this, we have used our Colormunki Display colorimeter that is X-Rite certified and is giving us very good results in screen testing. Similarly, we have used the HCFR software with the GCD Classic color palette that we have been using in all the reviews for now. Finally we note that the results have been obtained with a screen brightness of 50% and a contrast of -2, which is the level where the colors are best adjusted to reality.

Hire and shine

This panel offers a contrast of practically 1000: 1, a very standard value in normal IPS honeycombs, although we are certainly a little below this measurement. This may be due to the particular test unit, or the construction of the panel.

Focusing now on brightness, we have maximized this display, thus obtaining a maximum of 253 nits or cd / m ² in the corner. This is striking, since almost always the maximum values ​​are located in the center of the screen. In any case, the uniformity is not optimal considering that it is a small panel, and a delta of 36 nits is an important figure.

SRGB color space

Since MSI True Color gives us the possibility to put the image settings in sRGB, we have activated it to carry out these checks. In them we see a Delta E = 2.54 calibration, which is a pretty good average result on the panel. In addition, we see that almost all the graphs fit perfectly to the ideal lines. An excellent RGB level in the three main colors and a D65 point that perfectly adjusts to the user's needs with the well-worked color temperature.

As for the sRGB color space, we see that it does not completely overlap, there being a shift towards warmer colors, which invites us to think that if we slightly modify this representation, we could be fulfilling the entire space.

DCI-P3 color space

The previous space was oriented to graphic design, while this is more for creating multimedia content. A much wider space and that this panel will not be able to fulfill in more than 85%. In fact, the Delta E calibration amounts to 4.22, worsening the previous one, which is normal.

The graphics still fit pretty well, especially at less demanding black and white levels and a D65 spot just as good in the space above. There are parameters like this or RGB levels that are kept constant in all the color spaces we use.

In general we have had a good feeling with the calibration of this screen. We have a little low contrast and brightness, but very good adjustment in color and image graphics. Except for very demanding users, we believe that a recalibration of the panel is unnecessary.

Web camera, microphone and sound

We briefly review what this laptop offers us in terms of image and sound capture. And starting with the webcam, we have it located in the upper area as in most MSI laptops and it offers us a resolution of only 1280x720p for both photos and videos, recording these at 30FPS.

In it we find a fairly standard image quality, although a little better than others of the same resolution that we have tested. At least the image for a video call in good lighting conditions will be acceptable. During the capture tests, we have not experienced a too bothersome LAG, which is appreciated. We do not comment on incorporating Full HD sensors, since it seems to be the task of another galaxy.

The sound system is also the standard that all manufacturers offer us, with a double microphone array on both sides of the camera to capture sound in stereo. They have the ability to capture sound from quite a distance and with a more than acceptable quality whenever we use it in calls.

Finally, the sound system is at a slightly lower level than gaming laptops. We have a 2W double speaker configuration (not to be confused with the specs given by MSI, since the information has been doubled, it seems that we have 4 speakers). It plays at a high enough volume, although with clear distortion reaching the maximum and in the treble, while the bass is quite discreet. In short, if we are going to edit sound, it is better to place headphones or external speakers. In this case , Nahimic 3 system for capacitors and software is not included.

Touchpad and keyboard

In this MSI WS65 9TK model we do not have a numeric keyboard, nor is it necessary, since we have a somewhat reduced space to put in so many keys. We then have a compact configuration with somewhat larger than normal island keys and a bubble gum membrane system. It is not a gaming keyboard, but it could well go through one of them, since the activation path is very, very small, reaching just 1 mm.

The quality of this membrane is for my phenomenal taste, it almost feels like a mechanical keyboard with very soft, light keystrokes and a direct click feeling. Typing is very fast when we get used to the size of the keys, since I warn you that they are much larger than those of a normal and ordinary keyboard. Just done unless the enter key is full size. We have double function in some "F" keys, the navigation pad and some side keys, and the truth is that I would have preferred to have them all closer together in the fixed "F".

This keyboard can be considered a Backlight style, widely used by MSI for its gaming configurations because it has lighting and transparent keys on its edges to let you see more light. The only difference is that we only have the fixed white color available, without the possibility of changing or disabling it.

The touchpad is exactly the same as the one used in the Creator series, and a complete delight. It highlights the great width we have, in a panel made of glass with a very smooth finish and a spectacular displacement. It is 65 mm high and no less than 140 mm long, perfect for moving around the screen comfortably. And what good is such a wide touchpad? Very simple, to improve the precision of the pointer by increasing the travel of the fingers, thus being able to carry out design work more comfortably.

This keyboard comes from Microsoft, and it already comes with the pre-installed Windows Precision Touchpad drivers, which support up to 17 gestures with two, three and four fingers. MSI has not forgotten about the integrated fingerprint detector, so we can configure biometric authentication using Windows Hello. And it is not all, because a TPM 2.0 chip has also been included, which integrates hardware encryption in our authentication. This means that the keys are stored directly under hardware and not software, so they are much more secure.

Network connectivity

In this section we do not have too many news regarding previous generations. And we must say that, for a Workstation laptop like this and its brothers, we would find it quite useful to have a double LAN port. But this has not been possible, so we only have an RJ-45 controlled by the Qualcomm Atheros AR8171 chip that offers a bandwidth of 10/100/1000 Mbps.

And in Wi-Fi connectivity we also repeat with an Intel Wireles-AC 9560NGW that works under the IEEE 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) standard and not in Wi-Fi 6, a pity, for such a productivity-oriented laptop. In any case, we have support for Bluetooth 5.0 + LE and 5GHz bandwidth of up to 1.73 Gbps.

Internal features and hardware

Perhaps the biggest novelty that implements this MSI WS65 9TK is the fact of having inside a dedicated Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000 graphics card. This is one of the new creations of the green giant oriented to CAD, CCD, BIM, visualization and medical applications. Its graphics chip is based on the 12nm FinFET TU106 that carries the RTX 2070 although with drivers and VRAM optimized for rendering and mining tasks. It implements Ray Tracing technology in real time and Depp Learning Super Sampling, as well as the entire new generation RTX range.

Since it is new, we must know that it has a frequency of 945 to 1380 MHz on its GPU with 2304 CUDA Cores compatible with DirectX 12, 11, Vulkan, Open GL, Nvidia G-Sync and Virtual Reality. In addition, it has 6144 MB of GDDR6 memory working at 14000 MHz on a 192-bit bus. Alongside this model, we have the Quadro RTX 4000 in the WS65 9TL and the slightly more basic Quadro T2000 in the WS65 9TJ. While it is true that it is optimized for rendering and image and video processing tasks, it offers us excellent gaming performance, almost as much as an RTX 2070, we will see later.

Leaving behind this novel dedicated GPU, we have inside the well-known Intel Core i7-9750H that works at a base frequency of 2.6 GHz and 4.5 GHz in turbo boost mode. A 9th generation CPU that also has 6 cores and 12 processing threads under a TDP of only 45W and a L3 cache of 12 MB. In fact, the manufacturer also gives us to choose a configuration with the Intel Core i9-9980HK, the most powerful processor of the blue giant for laptops, with 8 cores and 16 processing threads.

The motherboard features the most powerful chipset available for notebooks, the Intel HM370. In this case, we have a total of 32 GB of RAM installed on two 1666 MHz 2666 MHz DDR4 SO-DIMMs built by Samsung. The maximum capacity will be 64 GB. For storage, an NVMe SSD connected via a 1 TB storage Samsung PM981 M4 PCIe x4 has been installed . In addition, we have a second M.2 slot with the same interface for a second SSD.

Heatsink

Being such a powerful team, we must talk about the heatsink, which in this case is a triple fan configuration very similar to the Trinity used in Creator equipment, although with a slight modification in the diameter of its fans. And it is that we have a somewhat larger size in part to cool this powerful GPU and CPU that may even be an i9.

In the photo we can see absolutely nothing of it, since it is located on the opposite side to the area accessible by the user, needing to completely remove the motherboard to access it. As with the P75 Creator, this option is not going to be too good for optimal cooling. And it will also put enough heat on the keyboard as we will see later.

Autonomy and food

To finish the hardware section, we must refer to the battery and its duration. MSI WS65 9TK promises us in its specifications about 8 hours of battery, thanks to a battery that is exactly the same as the one mounted by the MSI P75 Creator 8S series. This then has 5280 mAh in its four cells, delivering a maximum power of 80.25 Wh.

We have obtained an approximate autonomy of 4 hours and 15 minutes by editing this article, browsing and watching videos with sound activated, and a brightness of 40%. Of course with a battery profile in economy mode. Recall that this battery on a 17.3-inch screen lasted us under the same conditions for about 3 hours and a half, so the descent of the panel has significantly increased this autonomy. It is also true that the GPU is more powerful and the 9th gen CPU. It will never be 8 hours, but at least 4 hours.

Performance tests and games

Now we are going to proceed to carry out the corresponding performance tests on the MSI WS65 9TK, which will be the same as we did for gaming laptops, in terms of benchmarks and games.

It is true that we have an Nvidia Quadro inside it, but providing data about the renderings of a video or image without having clear previous references, is information that offers little guidance to a user.

SSD performance

We are going to use the CristalDiskMark 6.0.2 program to test the performance of the only Samsung SSD that we have installed. On paper, it should give us a performance of 3200 MB / s in sequential read and 2400 MB / s in sequential write.

And in view of the results, it has approved with note, since we have exactly what it promises us, at least someone who complies. Superb performance for this SSD of no less than 1TB, which has been a very good choice for MSI.

CPU and GPU benchmarks

This time we wanted to compare the results of this MSI WS65 9TK with those of another laptop with RTX 2070 to see the difference between the two cards by having the same chipset inside.

And we see that indeed the RTX 2070 will perform more in benchmarks than this Quadro, since it has a greater bus width and more memory. However, we already indicated in its data sheet that it is optimized for rendering tasks. As for the rest of the test, we have just what we expected from the CPU with scores exceeding 1000 points in Cinebench R15 and from the overall performance of the notebook with good scores in PCMark 8.

Gaming performance

Again we are going to see a comparison between both graphics cards to be able to more or less evaluate where this Quadro is located, although it is not intended for gaming. To establish a real performance of this equipment, we have tested a total of 6 titles with fairly existing graphics, which are the following, and with the following configuration:

• Final Fantasy XV, standard, TAA, DirectX 12 DOOM, Ultra, TAA, Open GL Deus EX Mankind Divided, Alto, Anisotropico x4, DirectX 12 Far Cry 5, Alto, TAA, DirectX 12 Metro Exodus, Alto, Anisotropico x16, DirectX 12 (without RT) Shadow of the Tomb Rider, High, TAA + Anisotropic x4, DirectX 12

As expected, we have a performance that puts this MSI WS65 9TK in the middle of the table, less powerful than the RTX 2070 and more powerful than the RTX 2060 of the MSI P75 Creator. The truth is that it is a very good graphics also to play and being optimized for rendering, why ask for more.

Temperatures

MSI WS65 9TK	Repose	Maximum performance
CPU	53 ºC	95 ºC
GPU	48 ºC	63 ºC

As we already anticipated, the temperatures with the laptop subjected to maximum stress through Furmark and Prime95 are quite high, especially that of the CPU staying at those 95 ° C almost constantly and with a Thermal Throttling of between 15 and 20% that it is not little. This malfunction is exactly the same that occurred in the P75 Creator, and we blame the heatsink situation more than its design, because we know that MSI works very well in its cooling systems.

It is also true that this stress is a bit exaggerated, pushing the laptop to the limit, generally a user should not reach such records. We have a tutorial to lower the laptop temperature step by step, and avoid throttling without sacrificing much performance.

Final words and conclusion about MSI WS65 9TK

The MSI Workstation range is one of the safest bets that can be made by a professional who needs extra performance on a laptop for travel or work. This MSI WS65 9TK has excellently met their respective performance, but also design with a full aluminum chassis and clean, simple lines.

We have inside an Intel Core i7-9750H, the CPU par excellence of gaming equipment. Along with this, the great novelty Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000. A powerful card optimized for rendering, mining, and design tasks that inherits the TU106 chipset from the RTX 2070. Its performance has been spectacular in games and benchmarks. In addition, we find other models with RTX 4000 even more powerful, and Quadro T2000 slightly lower.

The screen has also offered us a great image experience, in this case 15.6-inch and 1080p, being able to opt for 4K resolution or a 17.3-inch panel. We do not have HDR, but it has an excellent calibration for the sRGB space, and thanks to True Color, we can modify its image output to the smallest detail.

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We have also been very happy with its keyboard and especially its touchpad, with high quality glass and a sensational touch in a wide design to work very comfortable. The keyboard has some pretty big keys that we will have to do, but it is very comfortable and with minimal travel. And another plus point is storage, with a standout 1TB Samsung PM981 and a second available slot.

As for aspects to improve, clearly its temperatures. The heatsink itself is not the problem, but its situation, since this system in other gaming equipment has worked fabulous. Nor can we work on the hardware from behind since we must remove the entire motherboard and it is something very unprofitable. Its autonomy is acceptable with more than 4 hours, but it is not the 8 that are promised.

This MSI WS65 9TK can be found for a price of 2700 euros in Spain, a little more expensive than expected considering that we still have much higher specifications available. In fact, the most powerful version, the W65 9TL stands at 3, 600 euros, the same figure as the WS75 9TL.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ NVIDIA QUADRO RTX 3000	- ITS PRICE
+ AWESOME HARDWARE SECTION	- UNCOMFORTABLE HARDWARE EXPANSION SYSTEM
+ PERFORMANCE IN PRODUCTIVITY AND GAMING	- HEATS ENOUGH
+ VERY GOOD TOUCHPAD AND KEYBOARD
+ TRACK AND FOOTPRINT READER 2.0 INTEGRATED

The professional review team awards him the platinum medal:

MSI WS65 9TK

DESIGN - 91%

CONSTRUCTION - 93%

REFRIGERATION - 83%

PERFORMANCE - 95%

DISPLAY - 91%

91%