MSI GP62 Leopard Pro 7RD Gaming Laptop Review

A Closer Look

Once out of the box, understatement is the keyword. Nothing looks overly impressive or ornate. From a visual standpoint, however, it is the understatement that really highlights the laptops features. For example, a more glitzy layout could easily let that beautiful SteelSeries keyboard and colour layout get lost. It has a really nice, clean and tidy layout. The screen has a matte finish and generally speaking is really good at not reflecting the ambient room light. Therefore you shouldn’t have too much difficulty seeing whatever the environment you are using it in.

Full-Size Keyboard

The laptop is presented in a deep black. The MSI branding is found under the monitor and on the top of the laptop and it is nice and sharp while understated. The top edge of the monitor is lightly pitched and is matching at the front edge. When you lift the lid you are immediately struck by its sleek black design. The design includes a full-size keyboard including a number pad. While things do get a little cramped around the number pad, it’s nice to see everything there and (more or less) in the familiar places.

Connectivity

As for connections on the right-hand side, you will find a USB 2.0 port, a memory card reader and in addition, a DVD-drive. The latter of which is becoming a bit of a rarity in modern gaming laptop design, but in this instance, a welcome addition. On the left side, you are spoilt for connections. These include a USB 3.0, a micro DisplayPort, ethernet port, USB 2.0 as well as HD audio inputs.

The laptop also comes with a SteelSeries keyboard. With backlit silver keys and a very bold key lettering the extra touch makes is very attractive and at a glance, hints of something of real substance. Other features include excellent wireless connectivity, Killer Gigabit LAN and an m.2 SSD for swift loading times.

The operational lights are located on the underside of the front-lip. It should be noted that these are not easy to view when in operation and although I understand that you wouldn’t necessarily want the flickering interfering with your experience, at the same time, being more notable would have been nice.

Cooling

The underside of the laptop has several banks of intake vents with 2 large exhaust vents to the rear. While running under standard non-gaming usage, the laptop is quite notably quiet. This is surprising given its reasonably high specification. On the off chance that you think things are getting a little warm, however, the laptop also incorporates a fan boost button to really get the air moving. While it is rather noisy, it’s preferable to overheating.

Touch Pad

Front and slightly off centre there is a scratch pad for the mouse as well as separate left and right click buttons. I personally am no fan of scratch pads, particularly those that are centrally mounted (I prefer the corner designs), however, it is nice and responsive and in addition to the 2 buttons (rather than a poke/hold interface), the mouse is more than acceptable.

SteelSeries

Going back to keyboard again, the moment you turn it on and it lights up, it simply looks fantastic. The keys have a really nice solid feel to them and while great for gaming, their low profile can make typing a little difficult. This is particularly notable if you are a fast typer or perhaps used to mechanical keyboards. When staring at that gorgeous backlighting though, you generally tend to forgive and forget whatever it may lack in functionality.