MSI — Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese, multi-national electronics manufacturer, who are globally-renowned for their gaming-stationed laptops. MSI has been a very tidy player in the arena of gaming laptops and ever since, their inception, they have been provisioning the users with powerful, efficient, and reliable gaming laptops for affordable prices.
MSI has been in the industry for over 30 years now and is one of the initial companies to pack in so much gaming power in a laptop. The brand has been marking its presence in various segments such as budget, moderate, and high-end devices. It is not just receiving accolades from the users but is also banging various awards by the global tech communities.
All the MSI laptops run with gaming engine in them and are especially ideal for the gamers. The company has recently launched the latest iteration in its mid-range gaming segment, the MSI GL62M 7REX. The laptop has received various accolades in the global market and is one of the best sellers. Therefore, we decided to put the laptop to test, to know how it performs in real-time usage. Drill-down further to know more about this laptop:
MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US 15.6" Gaming Laptop
Features
- Display: 15.6" Full HD eDP 1920x1080 | Operating System: Windows 10 . Gb LAN
- Processor: Core i7-7700HQ (2.8 - 3.8 GHz). Visualize key system information so that its clear at a glance.Mini mode display system information on a small size window
- RAM: 8GB (8G*1) DDR4 2400MHz | Hard Drive: 128GB M.2 SATA + 1TB (5400RPM)
- Special features: Thin and Light Chassis | Steel Series Red Backlight with Anti-Ghost key + silver lining | Nahimic 2 Surround Sound System
Design
MSI is not just known for their powerful innards and gaming performance, the devices are globally-reputed for their beautifully crafted aesthetics and design which compliments gamers.
Speaking of our current device, the MSI GL62M 7REX uses the same case and design as most of its predecessors. The only difference being, the laptop is considerably slimmer and light weighed when compared to its predecessors.
However, the lightweight and portability are achieved on the cost of an optical drive, which the device lacks. The body of the device comes with a matte-finished plastic chassis with a bright red accent on the rear, which goes all the way to the dual fan grilles. The device comes with the dimension 15.1 x 10.2 x 1.1 inches which is pretty much the norm for 15.6-inched laptops.
On an overall note, the design of the device is pretty stylish, compact, slim, and easy to carry. Moreover, the device gives you that perfect mean-for-gaming hue by all the means. With this laptop, the company seems to aim at achieving portability by attaining the slim chassis and at a thickness of 1.06 inches with weight just over 5.29 pounds, the MSI GL62M 7REX gaming laptop is extremely portable.
Display
The MSI GL62M comes with a 15.6″ Full HD eDP matte-finished display. The display on the devices holds a resolution of 1920-by-1080 pixels which is powered by In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology. It is due to this, the display provides wide-viewing angles.
The device comes with 94% NTSC color range, which means, the device is capable of delivering very competent color reproduction which makes this laptop also an excellent choice for photo editing. Of course, this better color gamut complements the gaming on MSI GL62M 7REX, which we personally experienced and liked. The blacks are punchy and the panel is bright enough even for outdoor usage. We did not feel any fatigue even after using the laptop for prolonged durations, which is an excellent thing to consider for the gaming laptops.
Hardware
MSI GL62M comes with a very powerful and able set of specifications and hardware, which bolsters its brand reputation. MSI, being one of the world-renowned gaming laptop manufacturers delivers powerful machines with futuristic tech to meet the audience’s requirements.
Under the hood, the device is powered by an Intel Core i7-7700HQ quad-core processor, which can be clocked at 2.8-3.8 GHz depending on the load on the processor. For multitasking and handling applications, the device comes with an 8GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 2400MHz. The RAM is further expandable up to 32GB with the unused slot provided. For the graphics segment, the MSI GL62M 7REX comes with a 4GB of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti graphics processor, which runs the show on the laptop. All the games and other graphics-heavy applications are handled by the GPU with ease.
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Storage front on the laptop is also its add-on as it comes with a combination of both SSD and HDD. The device comes with a 128GB of SSD and 1TB of HDD to store huge files and all other user data.
Along with these regular set of specifications, the laptop also comes with gaming-specific hardware such as very thin and lightweight chassis, and the company’s proprietary cooler boost technology, to limit the heating in the laptop even when subjected to heavy usage.
Webcam
The built-in 720p HD webcam can cover the maximum resolution of 1280×720 pixels. The laptop’s webcam can although meet the basic requirements of video calling but provides pixelated images, when clicked. Thankfully, the device adjusts the picture on frame quickly and has a decent frame rate, when it comes to the videos being captured or streamed for a video call through the webcam.
Ports & Slots
Being a gaming laptop, the MSI GL62M 7REX is expected to house, enough number of ports, which will accommodate all its gaming essentials and peripherals such as joysticks, and other gaming consoles. Standing up to the same expectations, the MSI GL62M comes with a long list of ports, which will suffice almost everyone’s gaming and other needs. The device comes with a pair of USB 3.0 ports for faster, and efficient file transfers and peripheral connectivity.
It also houses one USB 2.0 port, an SD card slot, a power jack, a mini-display port, an HDMI port with 4K support and other audio jacks. The laptop also comes with an RJ-45 port which lets you connect to the wired internet connectivity.
Keyboard
For any gaming laptop, keyboard and the trackpad plays a vital role in the gaming, as they stand as the secondary controllers. The MSI GL62M 7REX comes with a Steel series red backlit keyboard and anti-ghost keys. The keyboard comes with a silver lining making it not just handy to use during low lights but also makes it stand out of the segment.
Getting a bit more technical about the SteelSeries keyboard, even the very minute detail in the keyboard is especially calculated and designed for professional gamers. This keyboard comes with pure color backlighting to give the perfect gaming hue to the users. It is not just designed to look good but is meant to feel good during usage. Therefore, it is ergonomically designed with 1.9mm key travel for better responsive and tactile feedback, optimum WASD zone and support of anti-ghosting for up to 45 keys.
On top of this, the keyboard comes with a mechanical-level shielding solution which makes it one of the most sturdily built keyboard.
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Software
MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US gaming laptop runs on Windows 10 out of the box. Windows OS is the most widely used PC operating system, it has its own perks when compared to other OS. They have a huge user base, and also has a long list of applications makers who are tied up with Windows OS.
Almost all the apps are available in Windows and therefore, it is being one of the favorites for gamers around the world. Apart from being a tougher gaming device, the MSI GL62M is also a very productive machine, due to its Windows OS. On top of it, the device also packs in various toppings over the Windows 10, which makes it an ideal OS for a gaming laptop this caliber. It also comes with the mini mode display system to display the resource usage and other information on a small size window on the screen.
MORE: The Best All-Purpose Laptops Under $1000 of 2018
Performance
Before we dive into the gaming performance of the laptop, let’s first speak about its everyday-performance. Thanks to its powerful innards, the laptop can pretty much handle everything you throw at it. However, RAM at times might be a hinder for heavy applications. On the other hand, the graphics processing abilities of this laptop are simply impeccable and here is what we felt after an extensive usage of the device.
During our usage, we didn’t feel or notice any considerable heating issues neither did we face any connectivity issues. The laptop was able to handle heavy applications such as Photoshop, Maya, and more. We also put the laptop to extensive multitasking which was also very well handled by the laptop.
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For any gaming laptop, the GPU is probably the most crucial aspect. Accordingly, our current contender packs in a latest Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB of GDDR5 memory. This series of graphics cards from NVIDIA is the top-of-the-line pascal architecture graphic processors. Although being the latest in the iteration, the graphics card isn’t the best of the gaming processors out there. Keeping in mind that the laptop falls under $1000 price bracket, MSI GL62M 7REX will satisfy most of the professional gamers.
This mid-range gaming laptop is powerful enough to handle almost any high-end game you throw at it. However, you might have to at times, set the graphics quality to mid-range for the better experience. We ran a couple of benchmarks on the device and all the numbers satisfied us. We ran 3D Mark on this device, to which the laptop responded well and scored over 9300 points. We also ran a bunch of top games to provide our readers with the real-time usage scenarios. In its ultra-mode, which is especially meant for power gaming, the device managed to achieve commendable frame rates in various games, which are as follows:
| Game Tested | FPS in Ultra Settings |
| Overwatch | 75 |
| COD: Infinity Warfare | 60 |
| DOOM Eternal | 68 |
| Gears of War | 61 |
| Battlefield V | 60 |
On a conclusive note, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US ticks all the boxes right and does well in the segments in which it is primarily meant to serve in.
MORE: The Best Gaming Laptops Under $1500 – Top 10 High-Performance Laptops
Audio & Video
The MSI GL62M’s audio is pumped by the company’s proprietary Nahimic 2 technology. This is an Audio Enhancement tech, which provides powerful audio without compromising on the details. During our review, the audio from the laptop generating was great. Especially, the depths of audio, while playing games made us feel the gaming environment around us. With this laptop, the users can get the most of 3D sound enhancement of the virtual 7.1 surround sound while reducing external noise.
As far as the videos are concerned, thanks to its bright display and graphics abilities, the laptop can play all formats of video content with ease.
Battery Life
Battery life is vital. However, in the case of gaming laptops, battery life cannot be expected to provide any wonders. That said, the MSI GL62M lasted for about 4 hours on our rundown tests, which included continuous heavy usage and multitasking. Although this is pretty much what we get of a gaming laptop, we certainly expected that the battery would last longer at least by an hour. The addition of heat pipes and dual cooling systems might be the reason for the high battery usage.
The laptop takes about two and half hours for it to get completely charged form 0 to 100. Again, if we’re speaking about this in a gaming laptop’s perspective, then the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US gaming laptop will satisfy most, if not all.
Conclusion
On a conclusive note, the laptop at this price is definitely a very decent buy. However, if you’re not a complete gamer, then we’d recommend you to switch to another other device in the price range to get a better RAM, and battery backup. All the gamers, need to keep in mind that this device is a mid-range gaming laptop to keep their expectations in check. That said, the laptop still has a lot of amazing specs and features such as a bright display, powerful audio, very sturdy performance, and amazing look and aesthetics.
MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop
$929.00
Pros
- Bright and vivid display
- Sturdy performance
- Lightweight design and portability
Cons
- Low RAM - however upgradable
- Mediocre battery life
Hey just a quick question. When was this MSI Laptop released? I’ve been trying to find out for sometime now but the reviews I’ve seen so far are not consistent and are misleading.
Hi the MSI GL62M 7REX was launched back in August 2017.