MSI GS75 Stealth: A Gaming Laptop That's Thin, Light, and Powerful

While I appreciate powerful gaming laptops like MSI's GT75, the thought of carrying around a 10-pound notebook with two massive power bricks for optimal performance makes my back ache.

MSI Heard Our Pleas

Thankfully, MSI heard our concerns and utilized Nvidia's recently announced Max-Q RTX GPUs to create the GS75 Stealth. This laptop delivers close to 90 percent of the GT75's performance in a body that weighs barely over 5 pounds and measures just 0.75 inches thick. It's a blazing-fast yet practical gaming notebook.

MSI GS75 Specifications

Display: 17.3-inch 144Hz 1920 x 1080 non-touchCPU: Intel Core i7-8750HRAM: 32GBStorage: 512GB SSDGraphics: Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-QNetworking: Killer N1550i 2x2 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0Ports: 1 Thunderbolt 3 port, 2 USB-A 3.1 ports, HDMI 2.0, mic in, headphone jack, microSD card slotSpeakers: Dual 2-watt Dynaudio speakersBattery: 82 WhrWebcam: 720pDimensions: 15.59 x 10.22 x 0.75 inchesWeight: 5.02 pounds

Performance

The GS75 is a downright thin-and-light slayer. At its native 1920 x 1080 resolution and graphics turned all the way up, the GS75 hit 121 FPS and 91 FPS in Rise of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry 5, respectively. In comparison, the 10-pound GT75 hit 140 FPS and 106 FPS in Tomb Raider and Far Cry, mostly due to its beefy six-core Intel i9 chip. That's a difference of only around 15 percent in raw numbers, which is well worth the GS75's much sleeker dimensions.

The real treat is playing new titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Battlefield V, which can take advantage of the ray tracing capabilities built into new RTX GPUs. On Shadow of the Tomb Raider with the graphics set to "highest," the GS75 hit 87 FPS, well above the typical 60 FPS target. Meanwhile, in Battlefield V with the graphics set to ultra including the option for DXR Raytrace Reflections Quality maxed out, the GS75 hovered around 58 to 62 FPS. RTX enabled reflections off ice look amazing.

With more than enough horsepower to keep frame rates above 60, the GS75's 144Hz screen really shows its stuff. You can hit 100+ FPS for the smoothest action or turn on every graphical bell and whistle for a truly immersive experience. Sadly, the GS75 lacks support for G-Sync, which seems odd considering it has essentially every other high-end gaming feature you could want.

Battery Life

One surprising aspect of the GS75 is its battery life. When set to a balanced battery profile with a few energy savings features enabled, the system lasted 5 hours and 33 minutes on our standard rundown test. Even with those features turned off, we still saw times just north of five hours, which is a feat for a system this big and power-hungry. Just don't expect the same level of longevity while gaming without a power cord, which ends up being closer to two to three hours, depending on the game and graphics levels.

Price

The only real downside to the GS75 is its price. Our review unit costs $3,000 for an i7-8750H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. However, 32GB of RAM is overkill, and depending on the games you play, the RTX 2080 GPU might be too. By moving down to an RTX 2070 or RTX 2060, you can save $600 to $800, making the GS75 a more reasonable purchase.

Conclusion

The GS75 is a slim and powerful gaming laptop that's ideal for gamers or creatives who need a portable machine. It'll fit in your bag, and it can play almost any game to the max. And if you're not ready for that much power right now, the GS75 will be ready and waiting to ray trace your next big game when those settings come to more than just Battlefield V.