MSI GP70-2PE ‘Leopard’ Gaming Notebook Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Part of the focus with the GP70 Leopard is pricing it right for the more budget focused user. At a shade under £800 we are moving towards the upper end of the ‘budget’ scale. Obviously this comes down to the choice of components that has been made, however as I’ll detail below, there is the potential to have a system that performs just as well, but perhaps for a slightly lower price point.

Overview

As a more cost-effective option in MSI’s gaming series lineup, the GP70 Leopard is a system that teeters on the point of being a cracking bargain. Whilst there are a number of areas where I can give this system some merits, there are a few areas that sadly don’t.

Starting off with the hardware side of things, NVIDIA’s 840M GPU is more than capable of giving the drive needed to run most of the latest games, although (as we would expect) you will need to drop the quality settings down a couple of notches in order to see frame rates that are consistently over the 30fps mark. Pairing the 840m with the same i7-4700HQ chip that we saw in the GS60 Ghost Pro however does leave me a little undecided. Whilst I am aware that an i5 option is available for a lower price point in the 15.6″ GP60 Leopard, we are only looking at a dual core processor rather than a quad-core i5 so you either have a more than capable processor with a lower end GPU or a combination with a dual-core chip and the same 840. Basically I would much prefer to see a quad-core i5 with an 850m on offer, giving a better balance of performance in price bracket that could be around that of the system that we’ve look at here.

The use of the higher performing processor also leads me to believe that the spec of other components has been cut in order to keep the price point within the reach of the more budget conscious user. One such detail is with the hard drive. MSI have opted for a 750GB 5400RPM drive here from WD’s Blue line of drives and once again there could have been a slightly better deal offered with perhaps a 1TB drive which seems to be the standard right now, even if it is a 5400RPM drive to keep a balance in cost. On the point of what you see when using the notebook, I can’t quite work out what MSI were thinking when they came up with the idea of a dimple covered track pad. Any of you that use a notebook system quite often will know that having a smooth pad to work on is more preferred, with a slick surface that your thumb or finger can glide along with ease, these dimples not only slow down your use of the pad, I found it to be less responsive. The lack of a keyboard backlight is also a little disappointing to see, but then again we can’t have every accessory available throughout the entire notebook range.  The only other thing that I have to say I hate is the bloat ware that MSI install before the system is shipped. I understand why some brand specific software is installed on a notebook, but having things pop up every 5 minutes from the moment you get it out of the box is rather frustrating – you have to consider as well that not everyone is going to feel comfortable uninstalling things fresh out of the box. If I click a box to say that I don’t want to be pestered again, please don’t do the same thing next time I reboot the system.

Putting these few items aside and looking at the good points, I have to say that I’ve not been put off by the systems design, granted we don’t have the nice backlit keyboard on offer as mentioned above and the track pad is not to my taste, the rest of the Leopard is well laid out and it does feel comfortable to use – both on my lap and on a desk. The large 17.3″ display is nice and clear with a good viewing angle and brightness. The only time that the display was particularly hard to see was when sunlight was beaming directly onto it, but then this is easily overcome by simply turning yourself around ever so slightly. The battery performance is not too bad for a gaming notebook, although the Powermark and PCM8 tests showed a typical run time of 2-3 hours, I was able to get just over four hours out of the Leopard while browsing the internet and writing part of this review.

As a whole the GP70-2PE ‘Leopard’ is not a total loss, granted the mismatch between the processor and the rest of the core components could do with some attention to bring up the spec in one or two areas a little more to give a well-balanced spec, performance and most of all cost. The touch pad will take a bit of time to get used to, unless you’re using a USB pointer that is and little creature comforts such as a backlit keyboard are not present; but as a basic framework for an entry-level system, MSI have got the right idea. Should the spec become more balanced for the price then perhaps I’d be more inclined to give it a thumbs up. Simply put, it’s good but it’s not quite perfect.

Pros

• Latest 800m series graphics
• Upgrade to a full SSD boot drive over the previous generation
• Clear display with a good level of colour and brightness for the price
• Good foundation for a budget gaming notebook

Cons

• Graphics detail will need to be reduced in order to get playable frame rates
• Less-than average battery life
• Horrible touchpad
• No backlit keyboard
• Too much bloat-ware installed by MSI

“Comparing the GP70 Leopard to its older brother, there are a number of key improvements such as the GPU upgrade and change to a full on solid state boot drive which are welcomed. What does let this system down is the over spec on the CPU front, leaving the rest of the system lagging to give the desired price point. If the CPU sped was to be brought down a shade to allow a small upgrade here and there around the rest of the system, we may then be looking at a cracking budget gaming notebook.”

Thanks to MSI UK for providing this review sample.