Do you require a gaming laptop from MSI? In that case, you ought to read this review of the MSI gaming GS63 Stealth-010 laptop. The design, display, ports, and connectivity of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 will all be covered in this review article. Not only that, but I’ll also discuss the performance of the gaming laptop’s CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, and battery life. On a scale of one to ten, I will also rate the laptop’s performance and my personal opinion in various sections. In addition, I’ll provide the MSI GS63 Stealth-010’s benchmark test outcomes in various parts of this review article. Not only that, but I will also contrast the laptop with a few of its main rivals. As a result, after reading this review, you should be able to determine whether the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 is pricey or not.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Review: My Initial Thoughts
Powerful gaming laptops are made by the Taiwanese company Micro-Star International (MSI). The company produces smart robotic appliances in addition to gaming laptops and sponsors eSports competitions. As a result, MSI introduced the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 in 2018 to expand its lineup of gaming laptops. This laptop is an impressive gaming laptop with a long list of fantastic specs. However, it appears that MSI is not willing to compromise the quality of its gaming laptops in order to reduce their price. Accordingly, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 gaming laptop costs a lot of money, starting at $1,499.77. (as of May 2022). Even so, you will overlook the MSI GS63 Stealth-010’s high price due to the performance it offers. The remaining sections below can be read to find out more about this performance.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Design, Display, Ports, and Connectivity Review
In general, MSI laptops have a nice appearance. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 gaming laptop, thankfully, is not an exception. Undoubtedly, MSI uses top-notch components to build many of its laptops. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 has a lithium-magnesium case with a brushed metallic finish in terms of construction. In fact, the surface of this laptop’s case is smooth and pleasant to the touch.
The laptop’s body is entirely black, with the exception of some red linings that give it a striking appearance. Two vertical trims can be seen on the left and right sides of the lid, as well as small curves all the way around the edges. In addition to these trims, the lid’s center is adorned with a red MSI logo.
This logo, like those on the majority of gaming laptops, glows continuously while the laptop’s screen is on.
In addition, a white “MSi” inscription is tastefully positioned above this logo. Moving on, the edges of the laptop’s base house the two tiny hinges that hold the lid of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 in place. Users can open the lid with one hand thanks to the flexible and not-too-tight hinges. The lid can also open 180 degrees thanks to the hinges. As a result, if you’d like to, you can lay the laptop flat on a surface. You will see a 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution display when you open the laptop’s lid. There are many features on this display that should make your gaming experience immersive.
The display’s IPS (In-Plane Switching) panel allows it to deliver wide viewing angles of up to 178 degrees, so that’s the first thing to mention. As a result, the contents of the display will still look sharp and clear even if you are sitting close to 180 degrees from it. This display’s IPS panel and other features include a 120 Hz refresh rate and a 3 ms response time.
To be clear, the rate at which a computer display draws new images per second is known as its refresh rate. Furthermore, the refresh rate of the display may be just as crucial as the clock speed of the GPU. This is so that you can see how many frames per second your display can draw, not how many frames per second your laptop’s GPU can render. Consequently, the 120 Hz refresh rate of this laptop’s display ought to result in smoother, sharper images. thus enhancing the laptop’s overall gaming experience. On the other hand, response time measures how quickly each display pixel changes from one color to another.
Therefore, fast-moving content like racing games will be very smooth and appealing on the MSI GS63 Stealth-010’s display with a response time as quick as 3 milliseconds. The display of this laptop is surrounded by large bezels, which could be distracting while playing games. A white “MSI” logo is located in the middle of the bottom bezel.
Similarly, the top bezel’s center houses an HD webcam. Although it might not be ideal for selfies, this webcam works well for Skype and zoom video chats. This is as a result of the blurry images the webcam produces. Nevertheless, if the surroundings are well-lit, the webcam might be able to capture quality images. Moving on to the base, the keyboard of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 was brilliantly designed by MSI.
The SteelSeries Engine 3 powers this full-sized keyboard. This keyboard has a 3-zone RGB color customization feature and is fully backlit. This implies that you can choose any color you want for each zone to glow in, which is very impressive. The keyboard’s key travel is 2.2 mm as well. Key travel refers to the distance a key travels before striking the ground hard.
Therefore, typing on the keyboard of this laptop should be enjoyable and comfortable with key travel of 2.2 mm. Additionally, the keyboard ought to provide a good gaming experience. The placement of the Windows key on this laptop’s keyboard differs slightly from other keyboards.
The Windows key is typically located at the leftmost end of the keyboard’s bottom row of keys. However, it is located at the right end of the bottom row of keys on the keyboard of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010. This awkward Windows key placement is typical of MSI laptops, so it might not be a big deal. However, beneath the keyboard of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 is a large, slick-appearing touchpad.
The integrated click buttons on this touchpad are incredibly responsive. The touchpad is sensitive and precise as well. As a result, using the touchpad for navigation and cursor control should be very simple. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 has a respectable number of ports, so let’s move on. One USB 2.0 port and one USB Type-C port that also doubles as a Thunderbolt port are located precisely on the right side of the gaming laptop. One HDMI port, a Mini-Display port, and a charging port are all located on the right.
An Ethernet port, a 3-in-1 card reader, a microphone jack, a headphone jack, and three USB 3.2 ports can be found on the left side of the device. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 gaming laptop has Bluetooth 5.0 and a WiFi 5 card for wireless connectivity (802.11ac). These two wireless modules are among the newest wireless technologies for data sharing, which is impressive. You won’t feel the need for a newer version any time soon, even though they have successors. A number of air vents for venting hot air are located at the bottom of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010.
The laptop’s two GPU cooling fans and lone CPU cooling fan are responsible for dispersing the hot air. This laptop should therefore maintain its cool even during lengthy gaming sessions. Having said that, let’s discuss the laptop’s size and weight. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 has the following dimensions: 379.9 x 248.9 x 17.5 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 1986.7 g.
Although this laptop is quite heavy, most of its rivals are heavier. For instance, the ASUS ROG GL502VM weighs 2240 g and has dimensions of 390 x 266 x 23.50 mm (W x D x H). Additionally, the Lenovo Legion Y720 weighs a hefty 3061.8 g and has dimensions of 380 x 280 x 30 mm (W x D x H). In this design review section, I’ll give the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 a score of nine out of ten.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Processor (CPU) Performance Review
A 6-core Intel Core i7-8750H processor with 9 MB of cache memory powers the MSI GS63 Stealth-010. For your information, the cores are simply various central areas on the CPU where various tasks can be carried out.
In the meantime, the processor’s cache memory, a storage unit, temporarily stores data to speed up task execution. A CPU with more cores and cache memory should typically process tasks more quickly. As a result, the processor in this laptop ought to perform better than processors with fewer cores and cache memory.
Aside from that, the CPU of the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 operates at base frequencies of 2.20 GHz and boost frequencies of 4.10 GHz. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 should be able to handle the majority of demanding tasks like video editing and high-end games in terms of performance with this CPU. Let’s talk about the Cinebench R15 test result for the laptop to get a better understanding of its performance. In case you’re unaware, Cinebench R15 is an app-based benchmark test that evaluates how well a CPU performs under pressure.
Additionally, the workloads for this test are processed by the CPU’s cores. While doing so, the test continues to measure how quickly the CPU can complete the workloads. In the end, the CPU is given two numerical values; the higher the values, the better the performance of the CPU. The single-core score and the multi-core score are among these values.
To be clear, the single-core score is obtained when only one core of the CPU is employed to handle the workloads. The multi-core score is obtained when the workloads are processed by each core of the CPU. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 finished the Cinebench R15 test with a single-core score of 115 points.
A multi-core score of 667 points was also provided. This MSI gaming laptop performed worse than the ASUS ROG GL502VM with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ. This ASUS laptop specifically scored 148 on the single-core test and 680 on the multi-core test. Because of this, I will give the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 in this section of the processor review an eight out of ten.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Memory (RAM) Performance Review
With two RAM slots and 16 GB of standard memory installed in one of them, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 has two RAM slots. It uses DDR4 RAM. Additionally, the laptop can support up to 32 GB of memory.
As a result, you can increase the default memory to 32 GB. Undoubtedly, such an upgrade will improve the laptop’s performance. However, I think the laptop’s standard 16 GB of memory is sufficient for it to run the majority of high-end games smoothly. Additionally, the laptop’s ability to multitask will be seamless with the standard memory.
In relation to that, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 should be able to run 40 Chrome tabs at once without experiencing any lag. In order to further confirm the laptop’s performance, I will now share the results of a PCMark 8 test. The PCMark 8 test, in short, is used to assess a computer’s overall performance when handling productivity tasks like web browsing.
As would be expected, a high test score denotes proficiency. As a result, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 received a score of 3999 in the benchmark test. The ASUS ROG GL502VM performed better in comparison, earning 4741 points on the same test. In this section of the memory review, I will give the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 an overall score of eight out of ten.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Storage Options and Performance Review
The GS63 Stealth-010 from MSI is available with either an M.2 SSD or a SATA HDD (Solid State Drive). However, two factors—speed and storage space—will determine which storage option is selected.
In general, HDDs offer more storage capacity while SSDs are faster. Speaking of storage, the SSD in the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 can only support a maximum of 256 GB. The HDD, on the other hand, supports up to 1 TB of storage. It is obvious that the HDD option provides more storage space than the SSD option.
However, compared to a laptop with an HDD, the laptop with SSD will undoubtedly load and save files much more quickly. We’ll talk about how the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 with M.2 SSD performed in a CrystalDiskMark test to demonstrate this. This benchmark test determines how quickly a computer’s storage drive can read and write data. In case you’re unaware, read speed refers to how quickly a computer’s storage drive can access a file.
However, write speed refers to how quickly a file can be saved on the computer’s storage drive. Additionally, the CrystalDiskMark test shows that the storage drive of the computer has faster read and write speeds the higher the “MB/s” value.
As a result, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 finished the benchmark test with read and write speeds of 2141 MB/s and 1621 MB/s, respectively. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion Y720 (which also makes use of an SSD) offered read and write speeds of 1144 and 2196 MB/s, respectively. Since the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 takes longer to open files, this Lenovo laptop will do so quicker. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010, however, will save files more quickly.
The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 has a 3-in-1 media card reader, which is worth mentioning before we wrap up this storage review section.
With this card reader, storage can grow. I’ll give the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 an eight out of ten, for that reason.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Graphics Card Performance Review
The dedicated graphics card in the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 is standard for a gaming laptop. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 is the brand name of this graphics card. The GPU’s maximum frequency is 1670 MHz, with a base frequency of 1404 MHz. Additionally, this laptop’s GPU has a dedicated VRAM of 6 GB of GDDR5 as a dedicated graphics card.
The graphics card should be able to successfully handle graphics-demanding apps thanks to this dedicated VRAM. It should also be able to play AAA games without any issues. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010, for instance, achieved 65 frames per second while playing The Witcher 3 at high graphics settings when using the GPU.
Additionally, the laptop produced a frame rate of 88 fps while playing Dragon Age: Inquisition at high graphics settings. I’ll now take a look at this laptop’s performance on a 3DMark 13 Fire Strike test to further demonstrate how well it handles graphics. The 3DMark 13 Fire Strike test evaluates a computer’s capacity to create and fill 3D shapes in 3D games.
Furthermore, passing this test with a high score demonstrates strong graphics performance. Thankfully, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 dominated the 3DMark 13 Fire Strike test with a score of 9648 points. With a score of 9263 on the same test, the Lenovo Legion Y720 underperformed the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 in comparison.
These laptops use the same graphics card, incidentally. As a result, I will give the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 in this section of the graphics card review a score of nine out of ten.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Battery Life and Performance Review
Three 3-cell, 65-Wh Li-Po batteries are included with the MSI GS63 Stealth-010. How long the laptop could run on this battery, though, was not mentioned by MSI.
I will therefore highlight the laptop’s performance on a battery rundown test in order to give you information about its battery life. In this test, an HD YouTube video will be streamed nonstop until the laptop shuts down.
Additionally, the laptop is configured for the test in “Balanced Mode” with a 40% brightness level. As a result, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 had a battery life of only 4 hours, 36 minutes, at the end of the test.
The battery life of this laptop is almost identical to that of the Lenovo Legion Y720. In particular, the Lenovo Legion Y720 achieved a battery life of 4 hours, 36 minutes on the same battery rundown test. Due to its average battery life, I will give the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 a seven out of ten in this category.
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Review: Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 have Bluetooth?
Yes, Bluetooth is available for wireless connectivity on the MSI GS63 Stealth-010.
2. When Did the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Come Out?
The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 was launched in 2018.
3. Does the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 have Thunderbolt 3?
Yes, the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 comes with a Thunderbolt 3 port.
4. How Much Is The MSI GS63 Stealth-010?
The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 had a starting price of $1,499.77. (when I wrote this review).
5. How Much RAM Is Found On The MSI GS63 Stealth-010?
The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 comes with a standard 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and has two RAM slots. Additionally, using the available RAM slot, you can increase the laptop’s memory up to a maximum of 32 GB.
Read: 23.6″ MSI OPTIX MAG241C Curved Gaming Monitor: Gamers Love It?
MSI GS63 Stealth-010 Review: My Final Thoughts
One of the well-known brands in the market for gaming laptops is MSI. So it should come as no surprise that the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 has excellent performance and specifications. This laptop has a potent Intel Core i7 processor and a dedicated NVIDIA GPU, to name a few of its specifications. In addition, the laptop has a nice keyboard and a sleek appearance. The MSI GS63 Stealth-010 offers an average battery life, like the majority of gaming laptops on the market. Additionally, the laptop is not cheap. Nevertheless, you should take the MSI GS63 Stealth-010 into consideration if you’re looking for a strong gaming laptop from a reputable manufacturer.
