MSI Launches New 10th Gen Core Laptops With NVIDIA RTX Super And Mini LED

To coincide with today’s launch of both the latest 10th generation Intel Core H-Series parts, as well as NVIDIA’s launch of their new RTX Super laptop GPUs, MSI is announcing a trio of new models to cover a wide-spectrum of the market, with two gaming-focused models in the GS66 Stealth and GE66 Raider, as well as the content-creator focused Creator 17.

GS66 Stealth

Gaming laptops tend to be flashy affairs, and there is certainly a segment of the market that would prefer the same performance and capabilities, but with a more understated look. Meet the MSI GS66 Stealth. Featuring a sandblasted finish, the all-black GS66 Stealth features a design which does its name proud. This is the ultimate sleeper from MSI. At 4.63 lbs and 0.71-inches thick, the 15.6-inch laptop is also very portable, and despite the small size, MSI has crammed in a 99.9 Wh battery, which is the largest allowed as carry-on in an airplane. The chassis still features the SteelSeries per-key RGB keyboard, which is one of the best in the gaming market, so you can still turn on a bit of bling if you are in the mood.

The GS66 Stealth offers up to a Core i9-10980HK and up to 32 GB of DDR4, expandable to 64 GB. On the GPU side MSI has tapped the brand new NVIDIA GeForce RTX Super lineup as options, with the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q at the top end, RTX 2070 Super Max-Q, RTX 2070 Max-Q, or RTX 2060 options as well. Due to the thin and light design, Max-Q is a necessity despite the new Cooler Boost Trinity+ system which MSI has designed with 0.1 mm fan blades.

MSI has also stepped up to the new 300 Hz display territory with the GS66, although the base model offers “just” 144 Hz, and mid-tier features a 240 Hz 1920x1080p IPS-Level display.

Rounding out the features, MSI offers NVMe storage up to 1 TB, Wi-Fi 6 thanks to the Intel AX201, Ethernet featuring the Killer E3100, USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3, and three USB 3.2 Gen2 ports.

The new GS66 Stealth is available for pre-order today starting at $1599, and will be shipping on April 15th.

GE66 Raider

If the Stealth was too laid back in the styling department to suit your tastes, don’t worry. MSI has you covered. The new GE66 Raider is a larger, heavier, and flashier version of the GS66 Stealth. The cool-touch aluminum chassis features the MSI Mystic Light panoramic RGB light bar on the front, offering 16.7 million colors. The bottom of the laptop showcases dragon armor carving with hexagons, offering more grip and style, and MSI has tweaked the GE66 Raider’s hinge as well to make it more durable.

If you like really flashy laptops, MSI will be offering a Star Wars themed “Dragonshield Edition”, designed in-part with Industrial Light and Magic veteran Colie Wertz. This theming isn’t just skin deep either. The design is actually laser etched into the laptop, providing contrast and texture.

The GE66 Raider offers much of the same internal offerings as the GS66 Stealth, with up to a Core i9-10980HK, and up to 32 GB of RAM, but thanks to the chassis being a bit thicker (0.92” vs 0.71”) and slightly heavier (5.25 lbs vs 4.61 lbs) MSI was able to skip the Max-Q on the RTX 2070 and RTX 2070 Super, although the top-end offering still needs the Max-Q thermals for the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q.

The 15.6-inch laptop offers either a 240 Hz 1920x1080, or a 300 Hz on the higher-tier models.

This laptop offers the Killer Double Shot feature with the Killer E3100 Gigabit Ethernet coupled with the Intel based Killer AX1650 wireless, and although it offers USB Type-C, unlike the Stealth, there is no Thunderbolt 3 support. This laptop also ships with the same 99.9 Wh battery, so despite the powerful internals, battery life should be reasonable.

The GE66 Raider will be available on April 15th starting at $1799.

Creator 17

MSI has seen a large growth segment in the creator market, and has found that many content creators have been purchasing their gaming laptops to get access to the more-powerful CPUs and beefy GPUs that gaming laptops offer. The company has started to offer models targeted at this crowd now, and their latest model is the Creator 17, which features the first Mini LED display in a laptop.

The 17-inch Creator 17 offers a 144 Hz 1920x1080 IPS panel offering sRGB on the base models, but the top models step up to a 3840x2160 resolution mini LED display, offering P3 color gamut, and HDR1000. The mini LED display offers 240 zones of local dimming, 1000 nits brightness, and a 100,000:1 contrast ratio thanks to the new backlighting. The laptop somewhat surprisingly offers user-choice of both the DCI-P3 as well as the P3 D65 color space. The majority of devices marketed as DCI-P3 are actually P3 D65, whereas the DCI-P3 color space is the one used in digital cinema, so offering both on a device like this is a smart move. In addition to the True Color gamut selection, the laptop will feature per-unit factory calibration which is verified by CalMAN – the same software we leverage for our laptop reviews.

On the CPU side, MSI is only offering the Core i7-10875H, which is an eight-core, sixteen-thread processor which can turbo up to 5.1 GHz. This should offer plenty of muscle for most content tasks, and for GPU-accelerated workflows, MSI will offer the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, RTX 2070 Max-Q, RTX 2070 Super Max-Q, and RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, so you can pick your performance level depending on your GPU needs. The base model ships with 16 GB of DDR4, and MSI offers 32 GB on the higher-tier units, and all models support up to 64 GB.

Creators need storage. MSI is shipping up to 2 TB of NVMe storage, along with micro SD, and for external storage there is a Thunderbolt 3 port. The Thunderbolt port can also be used to charge the laptop in a pinch, and provides 27-Watts of power for charging external devices.

Despite the impressive performance inside, the Creator 17 still comes in at a starting weight of 5.29 lbs, although the mini LED model adds another 0.22 lbs to the total, and the laptop is just 0.8” thick. For a 17-inch laptop, that is quite reasonable.

The MSI Creator 17 will be available on April 15th starting at $1799.

Source: MSI