MSI GL62M 7REX Review: Power is nothing without control

15/04/2018

With the surge that has experienced the gaming industry in recent years, more and more users are looking for devices that can provide good performance, possibly with an eye to the wallet. A sort of oxymoron, since most of the time it is necessary to spend some money considerable figures to have a lending notebook. This does not mean, however, that there are no options budget-friendly: this is the case ofMSI GL62M 7REX. I'll talk about it in more detail in our review.

MSI GL62M 7REX review

Design and construction quality

L'MSI GL62M 7REX shows up with aaesthetics fair but targeted gaming, with some small "extravagant" accent, such as the red trim on the back profile, in correspondence of the fans, and for the keyboard. In order to keep the costs low, the company opted for some compromise to the detriment of the goodness of the assembly.

La plastic shellIn fact, flexes at different points, between the lid and the keyboard. Not to mention the applied glossy finish, which it keeps very dirty and fingerprints. Even the hinges of the lid are not the best: in short, a touch and feel not really premium. But it is a stumbling block in which to run necessarily if you want to maintain a good quality / price ratio.

Even if we talk about a gaming notebook, size and weight are not exaggerated, indeed, with a footprint of 38.3 x 26 x 2.2 / 2.9 cm e 2.2 kg. At the bottom there are 4 rubberized feet, which guarantee optimal grip. The lower body can be removed to gain access to the hardware compartment, with 15 screws to be removed.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard was made in collaboration with SteelSeries, Danish company in the sector. THE island keys are Wheeled and they have a run rather soft (1.9 mm) but at the same time reactive and from adequate feedback. Personally I'm not a fan of this type of keyboards: however comfortable, I still prefer stiffer keys. To be noted, then, the presence of the US layout.

In addition to the classic keys, there is also the numeric keypad and different shortcuts using the function keys. Support is not lacking Anti-ghosting up to 45 keys. At the top right we have the Power button with status LED, flanked by that Cooler Boost (to set the fans to maximum) e Dragon Center (gaming software suite).

La red backlight, adjustable on 3 levels of intensity, it is effective and accentuates the attitude to gaming (with all the pros and cons of the case). The touchpad It is made of rough plastic and has one good reactivity and a sufficient surface, in addition to integrating 2 physical keys, preferable in gaming mode.

Display

This handset integrates a display from 15.6 Full HD Thumbs, with a density of 141 PPI. The frames are quite abundant, being a low-cost product for its category. Although its main use is indoors, the discreet handling anti-glare it will allow you to use it even outdoors, just in case.

Being a panel IPS, the chromatic range reproduced is average, offering gods good viewing angles. Intelligent the idea of inserting rubberized thicknesses in the frames, in order to avoid scratches on the display and the body when closed.

Performances

Let's start by saying that this, like all notebooks from Asia, comes with a legitimate copy of it on board Windows 10 but in version Chinese. You will not be able to set up other languages, except by deleting and reinstalling Windows 10 in Italian. That said, here is the hardware configuration of this model:

processor quad-core Intel Core Kaby Lake i7-7700HQ to 2.8 GHz (3.8 GHz in Turbo Boost);
NVIDIA GeForce video card GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB GDDR5;
8 GB of RAM DDR4-2400 (support up to 32 GB);
hard drive 1 TB from 7200 RPM (+ M.2 SSD slot).

From the first start I immediately noticed an excessive slowness, either for Chinese software, or for a hard drive rather slow. In addition to changing OS, we have easily solved by installing a SSD Samsung 960 EVO from 250 GB.

As anticipated, this MSI GL62 7REX mainly arises as machine for the Gaming, given the presence of the NVIDIA GPU dedicated. With respect to other proposals with MX150, the boost is quite visible, allowing us to play even recent titles like GTA V, Watchdogs 2, The Witcher 3 o Far Cry 4 with medium / high settings and a frame rate that oscillates between i 30 / 90 fps depending on the game. It is true that a GTX 1060 would have been preferable, especially in the future (and VR), but it would have obviously affected the price.

Thanks to the presence of a i7-7700HQ, this laptop also presents itself as a discrete alternative for multimedia editing. This on paper, however, since the general performance is affected by a thermal throttling difficult to ignore. This, in fact, is at the expense of the performance of CPU and GPU, both in the gaming phase and during video editing. It is possible to partially compensate through overclocking, a practice that, however, given the temperatures, I do not feel strongly recommend.

Temperatures and noise

During the stress test, even when activating the Cooler Boost mode, there are peaks not from poco, both as regards the temperature that the noisiness. Even in everyday use the fans are heard and in the gaming phase you will find yourself having to play with headphones. In phase of browsing online it has an average of 50 ° C for the CPU and a noise around the 30 db. By loading the CPU, instead, it switches to peaks of 90 / 92 ° C e 40 dB, Up to 50 / 55 dB activating the Cooler Boost.

Fortunately le fans they have been positioned on the back: doing so the heat dissipated will not in any way interfere with your work. On keyboard and mouseinstead, the heat is felt during intense use around the 40 ° C.

Connectivity and audio

Rather fed the I / O sector. On the right side we find the SD slot, together with the door USB 2.0 and the power supply connector, but it is on the left that focuses everything. Here, in fact, we have the door Ethernet Gigabit, That HDMI (4K to 30 Hz), 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB Type-C 3.0, a door Mini-DisplayPort and two audio inputs for microphone and headphones. Also present the Kensington block.

Speaking of wireless connectivity, this is supported by the modem Wi-Fi ac Dual Band and from Bluetooth 4.2, both correctly functioning. There HD webcam it's in the upper frame, so no bizarre angle. The quality is not the best but it is anyway sufficient for video calls, thanks also to two microphones integrated.

The body includes four speakers da 8W overall. Unfortunately, even if the space available allows it, the audio quality is quite controversial: the low frequencies are almost non-existent and the rest of the range results poco defined. Fortunately the volume è quite supported to watch streaming videos and make gaming, but I personally recommend to pair headphones or a decent speaker.

Autonomy

We conclude with what is a bit 'the Achilles heel of this but also several other gaming notebooks. Inside there is a battery from 41 Whr that, together with this hardware, there is no good choice for portability. But given the size, this is certainly not his goal. During medium / intense loads autonomy does not go beyond 1.5 / 2 hours, going up to approx 3 hours with more mild use. As regards the recharge, this happens in about 2.5 hours.

MSI GL62M 7REX Review - Conclusions and price

In light of all this, you will surely have understood what I meant with compromise for this MSI GL62M 7REX. It is undoubtedly a valid machine and that it carries out its task, that is to offer good performance in gaming. However, this is to the detriment of the constructive quality, without considering the insufficient thermal management, as well as the autonomy. If this compromise can do for you, then the purchase is recommended. This is because, even if you buy from GearBest, you can still take advantage of the MSI guarantee.

MSI GL62M 7REX - 1252 Gaming Laptop