MSI GP60 2OD, an entry-level gaming laptop

The MSI GP60 2OD is an entry-level gaming laptop from MSI which targets the budget consumers. I have the base variant of the MSI GP60 which has the Intel core i3-4000m processor and 4GB RAM which is priced at Php 32,995 at PC Corner (SRP Php 36,995). Before anything else, let's take a quick look on its specifications before heading to the full review of it.


MSI GP60 2OD specifications:

• 15.6-inch Full HD display (1920 x 1080 resolution) with Anti-Glare screen
• 2.4GHz Intel Core I3-4000m 
• No Turbo Boost
• Intel 4400 HD
• 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 740m
• 1TB 5400 rpm HDD
• 4GB DDR3L 1600MHz RAM 
• DVD Super Multi Optical Drive
• 2 Speakers with Sound Blaster Cinema
• Giga LAN 10/100/1000, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth
• HD Webcam (720p)
• I/O Ports:
• 2 x USB 3.0
• 1 x USB 2.0
• 1 x VGA
• 1 x HDMI 1.4
• 1 x Mic-in
• 1 x Headphone-out
• SD (XC/HC)
• 5.29 lbs
• 6-cell Li-Ion battery
• Windows 8

Hardware


Chassis 

The MSI GP60 2OD is made up of reduced shiny plastic with brushed aluminum finish. The top part of the laptop tends get fingerprints and smudges when you have wet hands. It's quite sturdy although the edge near at the flex area is somehow lifted up (you can hear cricking sound once you press it down).

On the left side you'll find the Kensington lock, AC output / charging output, large vent, HDMI, 2 USB 3.0 ports, mic-in port, and the headphone port.

On the right side you'll find the DVD multi optical drive, 1 USB 2.0, VGA output, and Ethernet port.

On the front side you'll find the status LED, card reader, and the 2 other vents.

Flip over the laptop and you'll find the release button, battery pack, battery lock/unlock button, and another 3 vents. Unfortunately, I can't open the bottom of the laptop for you guys to see the fans of it because there's a warranty sticker that was placed at the opening of the bottom of the laptop *bummer*.

Flip the screen up and you'll find the 15.6-inch anti-glare screen, webcam, and mic. You'll find the keyboard with Quick Launch buttons which we will talk a bout later, power button, 2 stereo speakers and the touchpad with touchpad switch button.


Display

The MSI GP60 2OD has 15.6-inch Full HD display (1920 x 1080 resolution) with Anti-Glare screen. Texts looks crisp and sharp. Thanks to the anti-glare screen, playing games outdoors is pleasant to do. Color reproduction and viewing angles are okay.

Since it has a 15.6-inch Full HD display, watching movies on this laptop will give you great experience specially when you're watching a 1080p movies.

Keyboard

The keyboard of the MSI GP60 2OD is made by SteelSeries. Typing on this laptop is a joy because of its good sized well spaced keys. The power button has 2 colors, orange and blue. If the color of the power button is orange, it means that it uses the Nvidia chip while the blue on the other hand means the Intel HD Graphics. If you're going to notice it, we often see the Windows key is place on the left side of the keyboard, but on this one it is placed on the right side which is a good thing for gaming. Since this is a gaming rig, I hope it comes with backlit on its keyboard.

The Quick Launcher buttons, they are the 5 buttons before the power button (from left to right). The first button is use as an option to open the optical drive. The second button is use to turn the screen off. The third button is use to activate the cooler boost technology which will make the fan of the laptop to spin faster. The fourth button is use to turn on/off the Wi-Fi. And the fifth button which they called the "G-Panel" is use to launch a certain application depending on the user. It's like a hotkey. You can also launch the G-Panel by pressing Fn+F4.

Touchpad

I'm not a fan of the touchpad of the MSI GP60 2OD mainly because of the texture of it. Swiping your fingers on it is smooth but it has a rough texture which I don't like. It's also a bit small for this laptop but since it's a gaming laptop, you'll not going to use it when you're on gaming mode.

There's a touchpad switch button at the top left of the touchpad. The use of it is to turn on/off the touchpad. The touchpad will automatically turn off once you plug-in a optical mouse but you can turn it on manually. You can also launch this by pressing Fn+F3.

Overall, it works as it should do.

Speakers

The MSI GP60 2OD has 2 speakers which has an audio boost which they called Sound Blaster Cinema. This application serves as an equalizer. Both speakers are loud but I noticed that it tends to muffled when it reaches 90-100% volume.

Battery life


The MSI GP60 2OD has 6-cell Lithium Ion battery which is equivalent to 4400mAh. I'm a bit disappointed on the battery life of the MSI GP60 2OD. On a power saver mode with 30% brightness and volume at 40, I only managed to had a 2 hours and 17 minutes of usage while on gaming, I only had an hour and 11 minutes (playing Remember Me) with 0% brightness and volume at 40 while on a balance mode. 

Temperature & Noise level 

left to right: idle , when gaming

The MSI GP60 2OD doesn't have any issues in terms of heat management. I only got 53°C max at idle state while I got around 62°C on gaming mode. I don't use usb cooling pad when I've done the temperature tests.

left to right: idle, when gaming

So since that this laptop has a big vent on its left side, you can hear it running when you're in a quiet room even you just started it but you're not going to notice it once you're not listening to it. When it comes to gaming, you're really going to hear it as the vent blows warm air.

Performance

This MSI GP60 2OD packs Intel Core i3-4000m processor, 4GB DDR3L RAM, and Nividia GeForce GT 74om 64 bit. This laptop can handle all of day to day tasks like web browsing, watching videos, doing emails and coding.

In terms of editing stuffs, editing pictures using Photoshop CS5 is smooth. I didn't saw any stuttering. As far as video editing is concern, it's a bit taking too long when you render a video.

Here are screenshots of the CPU and GPU description of the MSI GP60 2OD.

I ran Cinebench R15 on this laptop, I got a score of 240 on CPU test. Unfortunately, I can't do the OpenCL test. A dialog box pops out that the test failed.

There's nothing special on this entry level gaming laptop when it comes to gaming experience. This laptop has the Intel Core i3-4000m with Nvidia GeForce GT 740m 64 bit. I hope that MSI used the 128 bit version instead the 64 bit version for better gaming experience. So the games that I'd played on this laptop is Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls, Remember Me, and Titanfall.

from left to right: Minimum, Average, Maximum FPS

Settings

Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls

Resolution: 1920x1080                   Texture Quality: High
Antialiasing: off                              Radial Blue Quality: Medium
Anisotropic Filtering: off                  Shadow Quality: Low
Detail settings: High                       Decal Quality: None

TitanFall

Display mode: Full screen               Lightning Quality: High
Resolution: 1280x720                     Shadow Detail: High
Antialiasing: None                          Effects Detail: High
V-sync: Disabled                            Model Detail: High
Texture resolution: Medium             Impact Marks: High
Texture Filtering: Anisotropic 2x      Ragdolls: High

Remember Me

Display mode: Full screen Antialiasing: off
Resolution: 1920x1080 Graphics Quality: Medium
V-sync: off Shadow Quality: Low
Supersampling: off Gamma: 50%

Overall, playing on this laptop is good. Even though I'm only using the i3-4000m processor, I still managed to have a decent frame rates.

FYI
Intel Core i3-4000m processor has the same performance as the Intel Core i5-2410m processor.

Verdict

So to whom this laptop is for? This laptop is for gamers who wants a gaming rig that can play the latest games on medium-high settings but on a tight budget (though Php32,995 is still a hefty price point) and also for media people who wants to edit pictures and videos on the go. I really like this laptop because it can handle the things that I do well and it has a good 15 inch screen.

Pros:

• good build quality
• good ventilation
• well sized & well spaced keyboard
• speakers are loud

Cons:

• No backlit
• small touchpad
• poor battery life

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