Review: MSI GV62 7RE Gaming Laptop

We’ve already seen some high end devices from MSI like the GTX 1060 Stealth Pro, Raider Pro with GTX 1070, and even a budget laptop with the GTX 1050 Leopard Pro. Today we have with us another budget notebook in the form of the GV62 7RE which comes with a GTX 1050Ti, putting it on the higher end of the entry level spectrum. Let’s find out how much of an improvement it brings to the lineup.

Tech Specs

The MSI GV62 7RE packs an Intel Core i7-7700HQ Kaby Lake processor along with a GTX 1050Ti inside, accompanied by 8GB of DDR4 RAM. Along with this, there’s a 128GB SSD for your OS and booting while a secondary 1TB hard drive takes care of all your storage needs. The display is a full HD, 15.6-inch anti-glare panel, which sadly is not an IPS one. But more on that later.

On the design front, the GV62 doesn’t look or feel as premium as a higher end MSI notebook, but the angular shape and grey and red highlights mean business. The black matte plastic finish on the lid looks quite nice, though it’s easy to leave fingerprints so you may need to be a little careful. It can be a bit wobbly at times, and even though that doesn’t affect the display at all, it seems a little flimsy. Apart from that, the laptop is quite sturdy and feels very light, you can easily carry it and take it anywhere you need to. As this is a budget device, you can’t expect the same finesse like you would from a more expensive laptop, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive.

When it comes to connectivity, the laptop covers all the options you need. On the left side, there’s an Ethernet LAN port, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB Type-C port, one HDMI port, one MiniDP port and two 3.5mm ports. On the right side, you can find one USB 2.0 port along with the SD Card Reader and the charging port. I do find the existing inclusion of a USB 2.0 port a bit strange, but considering that it’s mostly going to be used as the mouse input, there’s no problem. On the back you can find two exhaust vents for airflow, while the speakers are present on the front side on the bottom.

Instead of the black like on the rest of the laptop, opening the lid will greet you with a grey brushed metal finish surrounding the keyboard, which provides a nice aesthetic feel. The keyboard in itself is the full-size SteelSeries keyboard that’s standard for all MSI laptops, and one of my favourites, so needless to say, there are no complaints here. The keys are big and well-spaced, including the numpad, and there are no compromises even when you compare it to a higher end model. The LED backlight, however, only lights up in red, but you can adjust the brightness. The trackpad is decent too, with multi-finger gestures being responsive and the buttons not too hard to press, it gets the job done.

Performance & Benchmarks

With the Core i7-7700HQ and the GTX 1050Ti at its core, the MSI GV62 7RE is pretty good for an entry-level device. You may not be able to play all the latest games at ultra settings, but with a little bit of tweaking you can run most of them without any hassles. Check out the numbers for a better idea. (Note that AA and VSync were turned off for all the games during the tests.)

First we decided to test Rise of the Tomb Raider. Running the game at the High preset, the laptop was able to provide an average framerate of 52 FPS in DX11 and 54.1 FPS in DX12.

Next up was Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Here we saw a decrease in the performance while switching, with the device running the game at an average 37.9 FPS in DX11 on High settings, dropping down to 33.9 FPS after switching to DX12. Ashes of the Singularity showed an opposite result, where we got an average framerate of 39 FPS when running the game on the Standard preset in DX11, which went up to 42.7 on DX12.

For open world titles we tested GTA V with most settings on High. The laptop performed quite well here, with an average framerate of 88 FPS in the in-game benchmarks. The general performance of the laptop is impressive too, making it a good choice for students and gamers who need to work and play on the same device.

The display on the GV62 is a Full HD panel, and probably the only thing I didn’t like about the laptop. It’s responsive and doesn’t show any problems as such, but the contrast levels are disappointing, thanks to which the colours don’t look good. It works well enough for a budget laptop, but I personally would like to see even the affordable laptops opting for IPS displays in the future. On the plus side, the brightness levels are decent and it’s easy to use the laptop in well-lit areas. The speakers, on the other hand, don’t disappoint. The front facing speakers are loud and clear enough for a good experience, whether it’s gaming or videos you’re interested in. Hardcore gamers may still want to use headphones, but it works great for the times you don’t have one lying around.

You may want to be careful with how long your gaming sessions are, as the laptop does tend to heat up over long hours and the fan noise is discernible. The max temperature I observed was about 84 C. The battery life is quite average like most gaming laptops in the market, and we were able to use it for a little over 3 hours with regular usage (including web and multimedia). But then again, when you’re packing powerful components under the hood, some compromise with battery life is expected.

The Verdict

The MSI GV62 7RE is a pretty well-rounded device that makes a great option for gamers who are on a budget leash. It’s light and easy to carry around so you can take it on the go, and the specs are capable enough to take care of most of your needs. At a price point of INR 1,05,000, it doesn’t put a huge dent in your wallet, and while there are some compromises under the hood, you still end up with a good gaming laptop.

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