Powerful graphics, gorgeous displays, great audio, sleek design, gaming laptops tick all the boxes. It’s time to take your gaming to the next level.
MSI GS66 Stealth is a well-built and a potent high-end gaming laptop that offers you a smooth gaming experience to cherish for your lifetime.
It’s kind of a trade-off when you play your favorite game on your desktop or laptop. You have to compromise on things when you need a smooth gaming experience. Will this be the case with MSI GS66 gaming laptop?
The answer will surely be served in today’s review about MSI GS66 Stealth gaming laptop. This compact gaming machine comes with an RTX 3080 Max-Q graphic card and an IPS 1440 (QHD) display that runs at 240Hz. The particular configuration is all set to give you an amazing gaming experience.
Let’s have a look at what it offers.
MSI GS66 Stealth Specifications
- Model: MSI GS66 Stealth 10UH-290US
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q GPU (16 GB GDDR6 VRAM)
- Display: 15.6-inches IPS 240Hz at 2,560 x 1440
- Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7-10870 processor (8 core/16 thread, 5 GHz Boost)
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
- Memory: 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz
- Storage: 1TB Western Digital SN 730 NVMe SSD
- Webcam: 720p
- Audio: MSI Duo Wave Stereo Audio
- Connectivity: 2.5 GB Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2
- Ports: 3 x USB 3.2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C,1 x Thunderbolt 3, 1 x Headphone/ Mic Combo Jack, 1 x HDMI 2.0,1 x Ethernet, 1 x A/C Power.
- Dimensions: 14.2’’ x 9.7’’ x 0.7’’
- Battery: 99Wh
- Weight: 4.6lbs
MSI GS66 Stealth Features and Design
You may find MSI GS66 Stealth quite different from other gaming laptops. The dark grey color catches a gamer’s eye at the instant. It sports a sleek all-black design. This is a handy computer that you can carry with yourself at afternoon classes and evening fag enemies. As far as the weight is concerned, it’s a bit heavier, but considering the configurations, the size is respectable.
Admittedly, the MSI GS66 is a Gen-Z laptop. The 1440p resolution leaves you with an excellent visual fidelity – a feature that pro gamers love to the core.
Until the launch, gamers have to force choose between the 1080p or 4K resolution display to play games. With RTX 30-series Max-Q graphics card, the preferences are actually drifting.
The extraordinary features make this laptop stand out from the lot. It also comes with 16GB of DDR4 memory along with 3200 MHz and a 1TB SN730 NVMe SSD ensuring write and read speeds of 3,100 MB/s and 3,400 MB/s respectively.
The heat factor influences the performance of gaming laptops, so it’s better to consider it when it comes to hardware rundowns.
Moreover, with impressive features, it comes with a DUO Wave audio system. Hence, instead of planting mini speakers to the palm ends of the keyboard, now it offers spaces for the ventilation. For front-firing speakers, it uses the sides of the laptop. They have not actually replaced the speakers with some lower audio quality, but you can use this laptop to binge-watch Netflix.
What makes the speakers worth is their positioning that works best even if you play your impromptu Warzone game.
MSI GS66 Stealth: Software Review
The software of this laptop is based on ‘Stealth’ theme. Apart from configuration, the software just works fine to give you an amazing gaming experience. The important tool that works for it is MSI’s Dragon Center, which may sound and perform clunky somewhat, but does the job perfectly with few performance modes and minor changes in settings.
However, Dragon Center may not be the favorite for most gamers, but your preferences are surely going to change this time. To make it more productive, switch between the balanced, silent, and extreme performance modes. It may compel you to disable Windows key functions for a better experience. MSI GS66 particularly hides some handy tools from the start menu, however, provides the option to disable options that you may not use while playing the game to prolong the battery life, so it’s better to drive through all the selections it offers.
Other than the Dragon Center, customizing PC setting options through a range of different system programs can also be handled easily. SteelSeries Engine 3 enables you to personalize your keyboard, while KillerLAN and MSI staples let you tweak the audio settings to modify the network optimizations.
You can also find a few editing CyberLink apps that allow you to edit photos, audio, and videos.
MSI GS66 Stealth: Gaming Performance
It is essential to note here that the performance of the Nahimic gaming laptop may vary depending on the manufacturers, model, and hardware configurations. This variance has all to do with the management of thermal units inside the hardware, whether the manufactures balanced the noise or heat levels appropriately or not.
You must compare gaming machines to ascertain their performance. It’s hard to do this because gaming machines are being launched with a variety of features and even our desktops won’t be moving anywhere (as the room for software and hardware upgradation persists).
But playing demanding games on MSI GS66 Stealth is actually a treat. The pixel density on the IPS color-rich screen provides you with an extraordinary gaming experience. Coupled with G-Sync ultra-display technology, it creates a fluid-like experience even in the power-intensive shooters like Valorant and Apex Legends.
This primarily shows how important Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology is. With DLSS, you can play ray tracing games in real-time with ultra-display settings. The only exception is Total War: Three Kingdom, which primarily is CPU bound.
The only drawback of the processor is that it heats up quickly during the gameplay. According to Intel’s documentation, the maximum limit of safe temperature for a processor is 100°C, but the processor spikes from 95°C to 99C in no time.
Despite this, you may get surprised by the intensity of noise. It’s quite low. With amplified settings, it could get louder. We recommend having your headphones ready when the pitch of the sound gets louder during the gameplay.
MSI GS66 Stealth: Battery Consumption
The MSI GS66 comes with a large 99Wh battery. This is the legal limit in terms of capacity and it’s impressive that it fits in such a slim chassis. In PCMarks 10’s Modern Office Battery life test, it turned out to last for 5 hours and 44 minutes.
Most of the gaming laptops come with low battery life. And MSI GS66 Stealth is no exception.
When testing for web browsing, streaming videos and open browser-based OpenGL with a brightness level of 150 units and with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity switched on, the GS66 Stealth lasted for 6 hours and 36 minutes, thus giving it an edge over Aero 17 HDR (which lasts till 6 hours 28 minutes) and Alienware (that lasted for 4 hours and 54 minutes).
Purchasing Guide
The MSI GS66 Stealth is available in 1080p resolution with a different set of configurations. You can get MSI GS66 Stealth with RTX 3060 and 240Hz configuration for just $1,799. A 300Hz model that comes with RTX 3070 is available for $ 2,399. RTX 3080 variant is available for $2,999. The price of MSI GS66 Stealth with 1080 Hz display configuration, is available for $2,999.
Conclusion
Of course, the MSI GS66 Stealth is undoubtedly an amazing gaming machine that comes with QHD display and G-Sync technology. The high refresh rate provides you with a scintillating gaming experience. It will not come easy on your pocket, but if you want to have an extra-ordinary high-end gaming experience, then MSI GS66 Stealth is the best option to opt for.