Review: MSI GE72 Apache Pro

Introduction

The common reaction to seeing a gaming laptop used to be "why would you have that," whereas now people are more apt to ask, "where did you get that?" As components continue to increase in power and decrease in price, the trade offs in gaming on a laptop over a dedicated desktop rig are vanishing.

The MSI GE72 Apache Pro has a 6th-generation Intel i7-6700HQ and GeForce GTX 960M GPU, along with 16GB of RAM, giving it ample power for modern games. It can't compete with a comparably-equipped custom desktop when it comes to price, but the premium buys you a portable machine with a quality screen and excellent keyboard.

But there's more than just the allure of (albeit hefty) portability. The Apache Pro includes a 1TB hard drive (HDD) and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), along with a host of other appealing features for gamers. The laptop has a lot going for it, given its $1,299 (about £1,029, AU$1,999) price tag.

Design

As seems to be the trend in modern gaming laptops, the GE72 borrows its design cues from modern sports cars. The angular design looks aggressive, as though the laptop would be right at home tearing around the Nurburgring Ring in Germany. The MSI gaming badge on the lid adds to the sports car theme. In fact, when closed, the whole laptop looks like it could be the hood of some unannounced European sports car.

The laptop case is made of an attractive black, brushed aluminum, which does an adequate job repelling smudges and fingerprints. Though, as long as electronics come in either black or some shade of metallic grey, smudges and stains come part and parcel with the experience.

However, the plastic trackpad feels off, especially taken with the rest of the laptop. The plastic is designed to mimic the look of the brushed aluminum, but it has a cheap feel to it.

The SteelSeries, chiclet-style keyboard looks and feels excellent. Since it's a 17-inch laptop, the full-sized keyboard has plenty of room to breathe, and my fingers never trip over the keys as I type or play games.

An advantage to the computer's large size is the ample space for my palms to rest while typing, which makes using the keyboard super comfortable. The keys feel responsive and have just the right amount of travel and spacing. For someone with large hands like me, the GE72 is a real pleasure to use.

The keyboard is also backlit, something no respectable gamer would be without, and the included SteelSeries software opens up endless possibilities for customizing colors and displays. I lost more time than I care to admit changing the keyboard backlight configuration, adjusting sliders and experimenting with colors and fades until I got something I liked – only to change it again 30 minutes later, just because I could.

As far as cooling, the MSI GE72 does an excellent job of managing heat, even while under load. I play a lot of Fallout 4 with the laptop resting on my lap, and it never becomes so warm that I worry it is on the cusp of a shut-down.

There's an option to turn the fans on manually to help push heat away from the sensitive electronics. However, the only time I've turned it on was when I was playing around with it, not because it needed the cooling boost.

A 17-inch computer means there's plenty of room for all the ports you'd expect to find on a desktop gaming rig. The GE72 has an SD reader, two USB 3.0 ports and a single USB 2.0 port, headphone and mic combo jack, HDMI, mini DisplayPort, and even a USB-C. But perhaps the most wonderful (and increasingly rare) for a gamer is an honest-to-goodness ethernet port.

Specifications and performance

This is a big laptop. There's no denying it. But even at 5.95 pounds (2.69kg), it's downright svelte compared to the Asus ROG G751JY, which tips the scales at an astonishing 10.5 pounds (4.76kg). Its weight is even less an issue when compared to the 15-inch Gigabyte P55K V4, which weighs 5.51 pounds (2.49kg) in spite of being a smaller machine.

The GE72 measures 16.49 x 11.02 x 1.14 inches (419 x 280 x 29mm), making it considerably thicker than the ROG, which measures 16.3 x 12.5 x 0.79 inches (414 x 317 x 20mm) despite its hefty weight.

Here is the MSI GE72 Apache Pro configuration sent to techradar for review:

Spec sheet

• CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2GB GDDR5 RAM)
• RAM: 16GB DDR4 (2,133MHz)
• Screen: 17.3-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD, eDP, non-reflection matte display
• Storage: 128GB M.2 SATA SSD; 1TB SATA HDD (7,200RPM)
• Optical drive: DVD Super-Multi
• Ports: LAN, HDMI 1.4, mini DisplayPort, USB-C, 2 x USB 3.0, USB 2.0, headphone jack, microphone jack, SD reader
• Connectivity: Killer E2400 Game Networking, WLAN Intel 3165 Stone Peak 1 (1x1)
• Camera: 1080p FHD
• Weight: 5.95 pounds (2.69kg)
• Size: 16.49 x 11.02 x 1.14 inches (41.9 x 27.9 x 2.89cm; W x D x H)

For $1,299 (about £1,029, AU$1,829), there's an awful lot of machine that comes with the MSI GE72. Up against the ROG G751, the GE72 falls away, but the former costs $2,749 (£2,399, AU$2,999) fully-configured. The entry-level Asus ROG G571, the JL model, is $200 less than the GE72, but doesn't include an SSD, has a 5,400 RPM HDD, and an older i7 chip.

The P55K has a stronger GPU, but a smaller screen. The GE72 lags slightly in clock-speed, but has double the RAM of the $1,650 (£1,049, AU$1,799) P55K. Even with its shortcomings, the Apache Pro's 17-inch screen and price tag put it ahead of both its competitors in this case. It's almost a no-brainer, the GE72 hits a really sweet spot for price and performance.

Performance

On a day-to-day basis, the GE72 works wonderfully. The first thing I did when I set it up was download my copy of Fallout 4 to it and continue my cloud save. When you first install Fallout 4 on PC, it analyzes your rig and sets the graphics accordingly. There's a brief five or so seconds of waiting to see where Fallout 4 wants to set itself, and I was a little disappointed when it decided to run the game on "Low".

However, the GeForce experience software that comes with Nvidia's cards was a little more optimistic about the hardware, and turned up many of the settings the game itself had decided were too much. I was perfectly happy wandering the wastelands using this laptop, even if it couldn't hit Ultra, like my personal desktop.

Streaming movies look sharp and vibrant on the big screen, but one of the nicest and most surprising features I found while using the GE72 is its sound quality. This is easily the best-sounding laptop I've tested. The Dynaudio speakers produce a surprising richness of sound, whether I am in-game, watching a movie or listening to music.

It's not most perfect sounding system – I won't be trading out my stereo, but anything below 90% volume sounds exactly how I want it to. At full volume, it sounds undistorted but it still seems like it's stretching itself a little outside the peak performance curve. Still, the audio quality was surprising and welcome.

While the computer has no trouble playing games for hours, I do have a real problem keeping it on my lap. It's so bulky, after a while I can't find any comfortable way to keep it resting on my lap while I play. Since I'm using an Xbox One controller (gasp!), I am able to put the machine on my coffee table and still play, but for general surfing, it's a laptop in name only.

The only real performance problem I encountered with the GE72 was its 128GB SSD. Between the included software and a fully-updated Windows 10, the SSD fills up fast.

I don't know for sure whether games like Fallout 4 are improved by living on an SSD, but I did eventually uninstall it because the machine kept hitting me with pop-ups to tell me I was near-capacity. For programs like Lightroom or Photoshop, which see a huge performance boost when installed on an SSD, the lack of space is a bummer you might want to upgrade pronto.

Benchmarks

Here's how the MSI GE72 Apache Pro performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 17,078; Sky Diver: 13,126; Fire Strike: 4,079
• Cinebench CPU: 678 points; Graphics: 48 fps
• GeekBench: GeekBench: 3,645 (single-core); 13,454 (multi-core)
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 3,371 points
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 1 hours and 55 minutes
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (1080p, Ultra): 31 fps; (1080p, Low): 78 fps
• Metro: Last Light (1080p, Ultra): 17 fps; (1080p, Low): 78 fps

When it comes to benchmarking, the GE72 falls behind both the Asus ROG G751 and the P55K in most tests. Up against the P55K specifically, a smaller machine that costs more, the performance difference is only around 5% on 3DMark tests, but the GE72's newer i7 just beats both its competitors in the Cinebench CPU test. The ROG G751, however, turned in a Cinebench Graphics score of 101 frames per second (fps), far surpassing the 48 fps of the GE72.

Even the battery life can't stack up to its competitors. Our real-world battery test, watching Guardians of the Galaxy on repeat at 50% brightness and volume, yielded 2 hours and 57 minutes of battery, which is still a bummer. But again, those other two machines as-tested cost significantly more than the GE72, which helps make up for any performance shortcomings it has.

Bundled software

• Xsplit Gamecaster: The GE72 includes a year subscription to this streaming service, making the laptop Twitch-ready right out of the box.
• GeForce Experience: As is the case with all Nvidia-equipped systems, this software will optimize game video settings and keep the GPU updated.
• Norton Anti-virus: this intrusive piece of software comes pre-loaded on the machine and really made the first day or so of use somewhat unpleasant.

Verdict

The GE72 is a sharp-looking machine that falls behind its competitors in some regards, but really shines when taking price into consideration. The large display is welcome for the screen real estate, and it easily handled streaming content and had no problems with new game releases like Fallout 4. The keyboard is as attractive as it is comfortable, and the laptop just sounds fantastic. For $1,299, there really is nothing that compares to the GE72.

We liked

It almost doesn't seem like a 17-inch laptop should do as much as this one does for the price. MSI's latest Apache also looks everything the part of a modern gaming laptop, but it does so in a way that makes it look like a finely tuned performance machine – not some garish display of LEDs and cooling vents.

We disliked

For all the benefits of extra screen real estate, the bigger size makes it unpleasant to carry around. The short battery life is similarly an unfortunate knock against its portability. Plus, Norton Anti-virus is more like a virus itself.

Final verdict

The MSI GE72 Apache Pro just loses out to its competitors in terms of power, but being larger than the Gigabyte P55K V4 and lighter than the Asus ROG G751JY is a worthy trade-off. The minor shortcomings are also trivial, given the GE72's approachable price tag.

For gamers who want to untether themselves from the desktop, but still value great sound and a larger screen, the GE72 is a fantastic choice. It's not going to dazzle with new games set on Ultra, but with a 6th-gen Intel i7, its 960M graphics card, and 16GB of RAM, the GE72 can beat the console graphics for years to come.

Plus, this mobile rig can give new life to older titles usually heavily discounted during Steam sales. If you don't mind the abysmal battery life and have no qualms about a computer that needs to be lugged rather than carried, this is the mobile PC gaming machine for you.

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