MSI GS60 Ghost/ Ghost Pro Thread

MSI Global GS60 2PE Ghost Pro

 

MSI Global GS60 2PC Ghost

 

Hey guys. So I'm coming from an ASUS UX51 which I've found to be my perfect laptop, with a beautiful keyboard, trackpad, display and build quality. After reading this thread I've gone ahead and got the GS60 Ghost Pro with GTX870m. I have a couple of question about what to expect.

1) How does the trackpad feel, is it nice and slippery with no friction, is there some friction. What's the texture like? Do you get uncomfortable using it after a while??? What is the clickiness of the trackpad like, is it hard to depress or is it really really easy to get it to click?

2) How much, if any flex is there really in the keyboard?

3) On full charge, if you leave the laptop idle at say 30% brightness, how much time does the battery meter read? (leave it for a good minute so the results can update).

4) I like using my laptop on my lap (I know, crazy) and I've had very little problem with my UX51, is the ghost pro going to be a big problem with some gaming (probably some DayZ, Path of Exile).

Thank you in advanced! I also can't wait to try out the modded vbios.

 

I've not done a lot with my new GS60 (860M), but so far I am pleased.

If people hadn't pointed the fan noise out I never would have noticed it. I do not find it at all distracting.

The webcam was a bit annoying at first. It wouldn't respond to the FN+F6 shortcut until I had restarted it, but it does work. It believe it is 1080p.

I'm impressed with the keyboard. It's comfortable and responsive. I see that there are dim areas that some users complained about, but when I'm using it at night I'm not particularly trying to have the brightest keyboard in the world. I can see everything fine at the lowest settings.

I haven't experienced any disconnect issues so far. I'm connected to public WiFi at 2.4GHz on N.

The touchpad is currently the only issue I'm having with it. It is responsive for normal point and click movements, but some gestures do not work. Most importantly, scrolling. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the ELAN drivers, but that has had no effect. Does anyone have a fix for this?

 

i can confirm that i am not experiencing the disconnect with guild wars 2 playing from the same spot connecting WITHOUT the wifi extender to 2.4ghz channel

 

Hi, I'm considering buying an MSI GS60 Ghost Pro, but I want a good warranty if my laptop breaks. I want to buy the laptop from Newegg, but I dont want to have to ship my laptop away for 3 weeks if it breaks. Ideally, I would buy my laptop from Best Buy and bring it to the store if it breaks, but Best Buy does not carry the GS60. 2 Questions:
Will Best Buy offer the GS60 anytime soon?
How much of a hassle is the Newegg warranty?

 

I looked at Square Trade. It looks to be a decent warranty and a 5 day turnaround. Maybe look at 3rd party warranty offers, like Square Trade.

 

1. Trackpad is crap, but it's not as bad as some that i've used. Nothing beats an Apple trackpad though, I like many others can't understand why PC OEM's can't replicate the Apple trackpad.

2. No flex whatsoever on the keyboard. In fact it's one of the best laptop keyboards i've used outside the old Thinkpads. Remember though everything is subjective, and other people might disagree with me, but for my use it's perfect.

3. I show 2:30 on Battery Bar with the powersaver profile and screen at 30%. I know it'll get more, I think I may have an issue with my battery as I can't even run the calibration tool that comes with the laptop. Might have to take that up with MSI.

4. I can not stress enough how much of a BAD IDEA it is to use this laptop on your lap while gaming (or any gaming laptop for that matter). You will cause some serious burn damage to yourself when this thing is running full bore.

 

I game with mine on my lap regularly without issue... the good thing is it draws the air in from the top above the keyboard (that area that looks like speaker grilles), so blocking the bottom isn't terrible as it only uses two small areas for passive cooling. Just be sure to keep the rear sides and corners clear, as that's where the hot air exits. Just be wary of the bottom rear panel warming up.

EDIT: Well, based on MrD1sturbed the 870m must get the bottom panel noticeably hotter; my experience is based on the 860m so your mileage may vary... For what it's worth, temperature was the sole reason I went with this model and couldn't be happier. I had a couple hours to kill yesterday while waiting on a county inspector on one of my jobsites, fired up Dark Souls 2 and had no complaints while on my lap. I'm sure with tinkering/framerate limits the 870m would do fine as well.

No idea if Best Buy will be getting them any time soon, as they never carried the GT60/GT70 series either, but if you are going to buy an extra warranty, I'd definitely check out Square Trade like jiffy mentioned... I purchased one with accidental damage as well and like them for their fast turn around if needed, easy transfer when I sell the laptop, and or give me a pro rated credit back if I terminate the warranty early. I've used them for years without complaint.

Look online a bit and 30% off coupons are fairy easy to get that drops the price quite a good bit.

 

I see newegg has some in stock again, I'd prefer to order from the reseller and love Xotic's extra warranty coverage they include, besides the cash discount. But is there any idea on a ship date?

 

What about browsing/office tasks?

 

It'll be just fine and doesn't get very hot doing basic tasks. Gaming is totally doable as well, see my previous post... that might require some tweaks but that's up to your heat tolerance

 

Should have no problem with less intense tasks. And as far as gaming is concerned like be77solo said, YMMV and it may be perfectly fine to you to game on your lap. Personally whenever I use the laptop on my lap I use a lap desk anyway as I just don't like trying to balance a laptop on my knees, lol.

 

Awesome! I'll do that, thanks for the help!

 

That was the idea behind an undervolted vbios, lowering voltage in inspector/afterburner does nothing. You can up the voltage, but not undervolt

 

Does the voltage slider actually work in Inspector for increasing? I know it appears a functional slider, but sits on the far left and honestly I've been too chicken to actually try and move it

 

Many users in this forum thread including myself had great results with improving trackpad feel/performance by unistalling the default trackpad software. It's no Apple trackpad for sure, but man is it better.

 

The slider IS functional as far as adding voltage, but the card runs hot as is, I would NOT recommend it.

 

Thanks!
I just ordered one, and I think I'm going to be in notebook heaven when it arrives

 

If you uninstall the trackpad drivers don't you loose things like multi-touch gestures (scrolling, page back/forward, etc)?

 

Amazon now has a listing for the 3K pro version.

Amazon.com: MSI Computer Corp. GS60 Ghost Pro 3K-097 15.6-Inch Laptop: Computers & Accessories

Funny thing is their product comparison has the processor listed as an Apple A4 with 3GB of memory lol. But if you look at the product description below the i7-4710HQ is mentioned again.

 

$2500???!!!!


I'll stick with my $1800 1080p Pro, lol.

 

wow 700 premium for 3k screen

 

I'm running the 860m that's 10-15C cooler than the stock 870m... so I get to tinker the other direction

Speaking of temps, I do gotta say, I was shocked to see the temps the CPU runs in the new Razer... 98C

 

I wouldn't put too much stock in that price considering they couldn't get their specs right. I'd be shocked if it was more expensive than the blade.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Agreed, but still it's expensive considering what you are getting. The 3K screen is nice, but this generation of GPU's still can't really push all those pixels without sacrifices. I can plow through any recent release on my Ghost Pro @ 1080p and full settings with no problem. 3K will probably be attainable within the next generation of hardware. Not to mention the fact that windows 8 still has a horrible time with HiDPI settings.

 

Ok great. In the past with hotter laptops I just used a stiff piece of cardboard to put the lappy on. It suspended it off my legs and gave better air flow, while the cardboard is still soft to the touch and comfortable.

Please, can you guys more descriptive of the trackpad, saying it's crap is just not enough for me. It seems a lot of the problems are software related and seeing as linux generally has far better trackpad software for elan touchpads that's not a worry for me. I need to know about its physical characteristics, how hard or stiff is it to click, is the clicking down force required uniform across the surface areas, does the surface area have a good texture and is it relatively frictionless.

 

did anyone get nvidia codes in their box?

 

i would like to confirm that battery life on the 860m version is about 4 hours web browsing

30% screen brightness
stock power saver profile
optimus controlling dgpu (blue light)

the cpu fan is VERY QUIET AT 2800RPMS

 

Ok so the trackpad hardware is not that bad. It has a good stiff feel, but the buttons are still easy enough to click (even though there is no delineation between them). The size is perfect for a laptop in this size range. The surface Feels Very smooth, to me it's very Apple like. And the software isn't that bad, after playing around a bit I have it setup where it's much more usable than out the box. I don't use Linux so I can't comment on how it operates on that OS.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk

 

Wasn't aware that any were supposed to come with it.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk

 

Thank you so much , that's exactly what I was looking for. I much prefer two-finger right click and find disabling the right hand side for right clicking fixes a lot of touchpad software issues.

 

I had a full day with my GS60. Here are my observations. My other laptop is the Alienware M11x so I will be comparing it to that.

Sound:
It is louder than the m11x. Distortion at maximum level but the soundblaster software helps

Trackpad:
I don't think it is terrible, just not great. Can't say if it's worse or better than m11x. But i do hate that there isn't a dedicated right and left click button. I love the gestures on the trackpad though, scrolling down webpages with gestures will change your life. They work perfectly and I use double finger tap for right click, so that helps a lot.

Battery Life
Been streaming the playoff games for last 2.5 hours with remaining showing 1 hour and 5 minutes. This is with 40% brightness. The screen is beautiful by the way, and 40% is easily bright enough.

Fan noise.
It is nothing compared to the m11x. I can barely hear it. Was thinking of flashing the fan since there were a lot of complaints about it, but really don't think i need to.

I was also able to play 30 minutes of B4 on ultra, smooth like butter. No buyer's remorse here. Great laptop! Thanks XoticPC. BTW i have the 860m version.

 

Whoa! That's too much! And you have to consider the Blade packs a 4702HQ which is 200MHz slower than the 4700HQ in the GS60, I'm so glad I canceled my pretty order for the blade

Codes for what? I haven't even opened the bag with the driver CD any goodies?

 

Yes, scrolling and swiping are the only reason I didn't uninstall. Best compromise at the moment is to leave Élan software installed, increase trackpad sensitivity to max (not mouse speed which is separate), and turn off some of the "delay" options.

But with the software on, you'll sometimes find the trackpad stops responding for a few seconds once in a while, very irritating

 

Do I hear 860m custom vbios?

I cross shopped the new razer before getting the gs60 and it's a fine machine. Those cpu temps are technically within spec, though I'd be using xtu for sure

 

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered a GS60 Pro.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for upgrades as I WILL be upgrading it right away. I have a 512GB Samsung Pro SSD that I'll probably throw in there, but I am tempted to order a 1TB Samsung Evo, just don't want to spend the extra money yet and I can always migrate later. Kind of has to do with how I decide to sell my Sager NP8150 and what drive I throw in there. I still have a spare 256GB C300 sitting around too but that probably isn't big enough for most people. I just can't stomach selling it with a spinning disc but I'll probably just throw in the 1TB spinner that comes with the GS60 Pro.

For RAM I'm looking at: Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 2133 Laptop Memory Model F3-2133C11D-16GRSL

 

Does anyone know if the layout/size of the keyboard on the GS60 is identical to the GS70?

I'm trying to buy a skin for the keyboard (I have a dog that sheds a lot) and I've found one for the GS70 but not sure if that also fits the GS60.

Thanks!

 

thanks for everyone input.

I'm really feeling the gs series si the way to go for me. However, I really need something that is inaudible when im typing documents and websurfing.

Would it be possible to use svet's program to really undervolt cpu+gpu and severely cut the fans profiles at idle? i.e. use something like 20-30% fan speed (im reading teh default is 450%) up until to ~70c then rapidly increase it to 100% by 90c. Thoughts? Goes this gpu throttle at 80c like desktops?

My thinking is that if im doing something that is intensive (i.e. gaming), i wont care about the fan noise, but i'd like it to be quiet while working.

Also would probably re-paste both cpu/gpu.

Lastly, would this screen benefit form color calibration? Not going to photo edit or anything, just really enjoy a good screen.

 

Check some more stores besides Best Buy.

I live in nyc and B&H has the ghost. I agree, it's so much nicer being able to return something to the store instead of mailing it. The main reason I'd want to buy it online though is to configure it at a store like xoticpc or gentech. You dont really get as many choices when you buy from other places.

 

If you dont do photo editing you probably dont need it to be calibrated. The color is still really good.

 

For RAM, I would consider this instead: Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GRSL
You should see same performance since the lower clock rate will be made by by the lower CAS (9 vs 11), and this way you'll get to save some money.

 

Double post, ignore

 

Thank you for the recommendation but from what I have seen the lower latency does not make up for the lower speed. I actually have some low latency DDR3 1600 RAM I was running in my NP8150 so that is a 3 year old laptop. Really with how much I'm spending I want to push as high as I could. I understand the performance increase is not relative to the cost difference. I am however a little worried that it will handle it at the 2133 speed with 16GB but from the reply I previously received I should be fine.

 

Hey, do you happen to know if the 1800 ram is noticeably faster than 1600 ram that xotic or gentech offers?

 

You can lookup benchmarks, truth be told, the faster RAM will not make much of a difference and to answer your question, no it will not be NOTICEABLY faster. Unless you are running CPU intensive tasks all the time. The biggest benefit is to integrated GPUs which is not a concern with the GS60 and even then it isn't huge.

Myself I will be using this laptop for gaming, coding, and possibly video conversion and transcoding. This laptop is going to hopefully last me 3 years as my last did, I'm guessing closer to 2. And like I said it really is just the fact that I want to run some of the newest and best stuff, my concern is compatibility. G.Skill seems to be responsive in issues with timings and speed though so if I do have issues hopefully I could quickly resolve them or do a refund and go to something that'd work better.

 

I wonder if it will be noticeable for zbrush. I guess I need to look into it. But zbrush caches the millions of polys into the ram and when you switch lvls of polys it swaps stuff. I know ram is important for it but just not sure how much of an improvement 1800 is over 1600..

 

I'd say it comes down to your budget. The difference is almost insignificant but could be worth it if you have some disposable income or there is little to no price different. 1600 to 1800 is a pretty small difference, to 2133 even isn't a big difference so I figure I might as well get the most I can thus going 2133. If budget is an issue get the most RAM you can for your budget, then get the fastest you can for that capacity. You can also look at the difference timings for a speed, and from what I have researched faster RAM is most of the time better than lower latency RAM that is a slower speed. Food for thought.

 

Don't forget the better service/support! It's one thing to be able to return it within the return period they allow. Quite a bit different when you're outside of that and just need something fixed or troubleshot with you. Going with online sellers you'll typically have a quick one shot contact to fix the majority of problems that can happen without ever needing to return anything.

 

Derek, I'm sure you're sick of hearing it, but any idea on when you'll have stock of the GhostPro?

It would be nice if the XoticPc site showed that it is a preorder and at least some estimate around the shipping timeframe.