Review: msi gt70 dominator pro laptop

Technical characteristics

MSI GT70 2PE Exterior

The presentation can be defined as spectacular. A box of large dimensions and volume houses our beloved laptop inside. We found a very special bundle, since it includes several gifts:

GT70 laptop - Manuals, CD and instruction guide - Power charger - Steelseries Siberia helmets - Gift MSI mouse

The GT70 design does n't change much from its previous versions. I like it because it uses the black color and not the raucous red of its “Dragon” line with the powerful GTX780. It is voluminous, uses the brushed effect so that fingerprints do not remain throughout the laptop and its aesthetics captivates when you see it.

As we can see the logo is present on the cover of the laptop.

As we have previously explained it is a bulky and heavy laptop. Its dimensions are 428 x 288 x 55 mm and a weight of 3.9kg. It comes equipped with a 17.3 ″ 16: 9 screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and LED backlight anti-glare LCD technologies.

It incorporates the new 227m i7-4900MQ Haswell processor offering 5 to 7% more than its inferior model. The difference between i5 / i3 processor is more than 60% overall performance. Among its most important features we find its frequency of 3800 mhz (turbo activated), 4 cores with HyperThreading, 8MB of cache, TDP of 47W, internal HD4600 graphics card, AES, VT-X, VT-D, TSX-NI, SSE instructions 4.1 / 4.2 and AVX 2.0.

The graphics card chosen is the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M that offers an extra performance of 10% more than the old GTX 780M. If this power difference were not enough, it consumes less and at the same time works with a lower temperature. Like all nvidia, it has PhysX technology, which gives us a little more dynamism and realism in interactive environments.

One of its great innovations is the incorporation Killer DoubletShot. What is this? It combines the speed of the local network and the Wifi to increase the speed and reduce the online and streaming latency. This software uses algorithms quite intelligently and controls both networks. With the " Advanced Stream Detect " profile, it automatically classifies and prioritizes latency-sensitive applications for online games, high-quality HD Video Audio.

MSI continues to refine the sound system with Dynaudio and Audio Boost. Dynaudio is the company that has incorporated the excellent speakers (improvement in all the circuitry and materials to get the most out of their speakers. Our experience has been very satisfactory, clear sound and without distortion. While the Audio Boost are the small details that They make the difference: gold-plated jack, headphone amplifier and software that allows us to customize many aspects.

It's time to talk about all your connections… At the back we find a Kensignton lock very useful for when we are away from home and take the laptop with us. The power outlet, a Gigabit Ethernet plug, a VGA output, a Mini-DisplayPort ona and an HDMI. On the right side we have two USB 2.0 connections and a Bluray recorder. While on the left side it comes more complete with 3 USB 3.0 connections , SD card reader and 7.1 audio input / output

The equipment is equipped with the classic Chiclet keyboard manufactured by the best peripheral brand in the world: Steelseries. It completes it with a numerical zone and a great variety of function keys.

One of its features is its multicolour LED backlight system that allows us to choose the colors that we like the most (RGB). That last! I recommend you see the following photos in full size, just click on it.

MSI GT70 2PE Interior

Viewing the internal components of the notebook is as simple as removing the screws on the cover. But a lot of EYE, it has a guarantee seal. As we contact MSI Europe, it confirms that we cannot break it as long as only the internal hard drive or RAM is updated.

We have to take into account that the equipment comes configured with a last generation Intel Haswell processor. This means that when updating RAM memory we must install memory of 1.35v maximum. So a lot of eye when reusing RAM memory from some old equipment.

The first thing we look at is the hard drives we have. We have connected two mSATA SSD disks, which from MSI call it Super Raid 2. They are from the Toshiba THNSNH256GMCT brand that work in RAID 0. These two disks are very fast (1500MB / s read) and are destined for the operating system. The storage hard drive is a 1TB HGST (Hitachi) H2T10003272S running at 7200 RPM (SATA 6.0 gb / s). This combo is ideal to forget about desktop computers.

I really liked its Cooler Boost 2 technology dissipation system improving the cooling with 15% less noise.

It is designed with three copper heatpipes in charge of cooling both the GTX880M graphics card, the motherboard chipset and the much appreciated i7 Haswell processor. Although it may seem a bit noisy, like every top-performing laptop, the dissipation is pretty good.

Another look at the hard drive and the system.

Under the battery we have the code of our Windows 8.1 operating system, it also has a 9-cell battery that will shield us for almost 6 hours with basic or normal use or more than 2 and a half hours playing at the top without any cables connected.

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Software and tests.

The laptop includes powerful software that allows us to monitor the system: processor load, memory, battery status, and access to all temperature sensors.

A screen full of utilities: sound card, graphics card, keyboard control and being able to add more utilities. It also has an “instant play” to record our game while we play and the “hybrid power” utility.

We have a quick capture of the equipment's idle features. We can see the minimum speed of the i7-4900MQ processor, the excellent 4GB GTX880M graphics card and the 16GB CL9 of RAM memory installed.

Well, we pass you a graph with our synthetic tests as tests in games to get an idea of the excellent performance that this mega machine offers us.

Final words and conclusion.

The MSI GT70 Dominator PRO 890 is the most powerful laptop from the Taiwanese manufacturer right now. Equipped with the most: 3.8 GHz r i7-4900MQ processor, 16GB of RAM, Intel HD4600 graphics card paired with the dedicated 4GB Nvidia GTX880M, 256GB mSATA Raid 0, and 1TB internal hard drive 7200 RPM Hitachi. If we add all this to a 17.3 ″ HD screen and a 1920 × 1080 resolution with LED technology, it will cover all our needs.

In the performance tests that I have carried out, it has matched both at the synthetic tests level and in the gaming experience. It is true that its new design Cooler Boost 2 improves cooling, since it ensures that the computer in maximum performance does not burn and can be played without the need for a cooling base. Although I always recommend it for this use.

We have two quite strong points, the first is the implementation of the Killer DoubletShot technology, which combines both the network card and the wireless card (wifi) to increase and make the connection more stable. And the Audio Boost plus Dynaudio sound that will envelop us in its high definition and precision sound.

The only problem we find with this equipment is its high price of € 2, 200. If it were more in line with the current pocket of each person, it would surely be a top seller. But today few units can compete with this colossus.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ ELEGANT DESIGN, THANKS TO ITS BRUSHED TOUCH.	- HIGH PRICE.
+ STEELSERIES KEYBOARD CHICLET STYLE.	- FOR THIS PRICE COULD INCLUDE A GTX880M SLI.
+ I7 PROCESSOR AND 4GB GTX880M GRAPHICS CARD.
+ SOLID STATE DISK (SSD) AND ANOTHER 1TB MECHANICAL.
+ SON KILLER WIRELESS AND WIRED NETWORK CARD.
+ INCLUDES WINDOWS 8.1.