We have seen companies boasting about their thin and light gaming laptops during their presentations at Computex 18, there are indeed many capable laptops, but most of them are expensive to such an extent that a laptop at $2000 seems normal. Then there is MSI GF 63, with no boasting whatsoever from MSI. They only announced the device during their presentation, letting the device grab the attention of the consumers itself. I liked this stealthy approach, but it is not considered good for business purposes. Nevertheless, we were intrigued by the device and here is the early hands-on experience of the one of the most affordable gaming laptops of the Computex 2018.
Starting with the design of the device, one can see just by looking at the device that it has some resemblance with its more expensive sibling MSI G65 Stealth thin, in a lot of good ways.
The chassis of the device is made up of brushed Aluminum that feels very good in the hands; the slightly lustrous finish makes it a premium looking device. The lid has a slight texture other than this, it only has the MSI logo on it, no RGB lighting means no flashy waste of power.
RELATED: The MSI GS65 Thin – A great “Work and Play” laptop
In fact, it is one of the very few gaming devices that does not have any RGB lighting except the lighting on the keyboard. The keyboard is a SteelSeries one, which means the switches are more robust and better than the cheap tactile switches we have in our affordable laptops..
Overall build quality is better than the $1500 laptops we saw before, the screen has no flex, the palm rest area feels solid, and the overall brushed Aluminum finish adds to the quality of the laptop. AS it is the case with most laptops these days, it is also one of the thin devices with dimensions 359 x 254 x 21.7 mm while it weighs slightly more than the Notebooks at 1.86 kg, which makes it an excellent portable gaming laptop.
As it is one of the few affordable gaming devices, we did not expect the likes of Nvidia GTX 1080Ti or even GTX 1070 same goes for the newer Intel’s processors. But the saved cost from the other “flashy things” helped MSI to add the whole variety of Intel 8th gen processors up to the Core i7-H series processors which means it can be used as multifunctional device that will excel in multi-tasking, with the help of different configuration of DDR4 memory that is up to 32GB, clocked at 2666Mhz.
The Graphics processors to choose from include Nvidia GTX 1050 or the GTX 1050Ti, that means they are marketing the device towards eSports gamers and the vast community who still plays AAA games at 1080p. Lastly, the device is powered by a 51Wh battery, that is not much, but our early testing suggests that the device can last up to 7 hours of mild usage.
RELATED: The best graphics cards for gaming in 2018
The most important factor that takes part in deciding which gaming laptop a person should buy other than specifications is the display, many cheap gaming laptops of the last generation had to sacrifice a good screen so that they can house better specifications. But this is not the case with the devices nowadays because of the falling prices of the of the GPUs.
We have never seen a display of this caliber in an affordable gaming laptop, with only 4.9mm bezels on either side of the display such thin bezels increase the charisma of the device. The display is an IPS LCD 15.6 inches FHD panel, the refresh rate of which is not specified yet, but our guess is it is going to be a 120Hz display.
So many laptop manufacturers are announcing the devices in the range of $999, but due to the superior design and better aesthetics, our vote is for the MSI GF 63, it also starts at $999. Interestingly, due to the launch of so many affordable gaming devices during Computex 18, we expect the prices to drop during the holiday season at the end of the year, making it easier to buy a new mid-range gaming laptop.
RELATED: The Best and Affordable Gaming Laptops to buy in 2018