MSI GT60 2PC Dominator Review: A Fast Notebook With Battery Boost

MSI GT60: Faster, Better Value, But Not Quite Perfect

Even before considering the added support for Nvidia's Surround technology, MSI’s GT60 2PC Dominator has all the performance needed to make it the perfect replacement for last-year’s GT60 2OC. The thing is that, in the month we've had this notebook, preparing its review, upgrading to this system from MSI's previous-gen offering is no longer free. The older version dropped $100 at the boutique builder that still carries it.

This means, at least for now, you can save a few bucks on last year's configuration. Of course, we don't expect it to last, and we're certain that once it sells out, it'll be gone for good. And that'll leave us with the GT60 2PC.

Would you even want to spend $100 less, though? No, actually. Even after the old system's price drop, the new model's internal components offer a large-enough performance increase to justify a higher cost. And the situation gets even better when you fold Surround support into the equation. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 870M is fast enough to play a great many taxing games at medium quality settings and a 5760x1080 resolution. That’s a big accomplishment for a notebook that weighs less than nine pounds including the power adapter.

Yet, in spite of its Battery Boost technology, you can't tap into all of that extra performance without sacrificing battery life. You can choose between giving up game detail, letting Nvidia's new feature bring frame rates down to a more modulated target for the sake of longer run time away from the wall, or play at more taxing levels, cutting into Battery Boost's available headroom. At least you're given a choice. Moreover, Battery Boost's frame rate target is configurable. And of course, because it's intimately tied to GeForce Experience, you can always lean on that software to configure your game settings for you.

Just remember: the technology works best in games that have high average, but low minimum frame rates, giving you full GPU power only when the game needs it and scaling back when the extra power isn’t needed. The tough choice you'll need to make will be whether to use high-quality settings for an hour of game time or lower details for two hours.

But the best part about the GT60 2PC Dominator is what it can do for you when you’re not gaming. For instance, I could write up all of my Computex coverage on the way back from Taiwan, catch a few hours of sleep, plug back into the wall when I get back, and game across three monitors at home. All of that from one machine.

While the GT60 2PC isn't fast enough to justify upgrading from the GT60 2OC (for those of you who already own that laptop), I can heartily recommend MSI's updated platform to anyone previously considering last year's configuration and still on the fence.

MSI doesn't escape my judgement unscathed, though. Two problems carry over from the GT60-2OC-022US. First is the single DIMM that seriously cuts back on memory bandwidth. This shouldn't be an issue. The chassis supports up to four DIMMs, so it'd be easy to use two 4 GB modules to maximize throughput. Second, the 1 TB mechanical hard drive feels amazingly slow after spending as much time as I do with SSDs. Fixing either shortcoming on your own would require opening the chassis and violating MSI's warranty.

For those reasons, I can only recommend purchasing the GT60 configured more optimally from a boutique builder that'll apply its own warranty to the system. MSI could earn more enthusiastic approval from us by finishing the GT60 2PC the way a Tom's Hardware reader would want it. Value-oriented or not, nobody wants to make noticeable compromises over trivial expenses.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • blackmagnum
    Cue the " I can build a faster desktop at half the price " argument...
    Reply
  • HT
    what about the noise ? This article needs a noise evaluation. The old GT780DX's fan was terrible.

    Once burned, twice shy MSI.
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    Does Battery Booster allow you have a set FPS goal, like instead of cutting back when the GPU is crunching more than 60FPS, have it cut back once FPS goes beyond 30FPS?

    The fan in this laptop is awesome. MSI is the only company I know of that puts a 12 volt fan in their laptop. This single fan can move about 25cfm of air (source; http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gt70-dragon-edition-2-core-i7-4930mx-laptop,3545-5.html)
    which may be more air flow than the Asus G750 can supply, who knows.

    The CPU in this laptop is socketed and fully supports all the way up to a 4940MX Extreme CPU 3.1/4GHZ and supports overclocking via Intel XTU.
    The CPU in the G750 cannot be upgraded so it is just a gaming laptop whereas this can be a workstation laptop.

    The screen can tilt back significantly more than the G750 (both the GT60 and GT70 MSI laptops) and weighs less with the same computing hardware.

    The 180w AC adapter limitation and the NOS crutch can be annoying if you are fully taxing the extreme CPU and the GPU for long periods of time, it may dip into the battery. Once the battery goes down to 30%, it'll stop sucking from the battery and throttle.
    Luckily I don't think NOS ever really activates unless you have an extreme CPU in it and everything fully taxed and may be quite hard to activate since this model isn't the -2PE model with the 880m.

    The new MSI GT72 has a 220w AC adapter so I guess they've figured that they need more power headroom).
    Reply
  • Plusthinking Iq
    msi still have issues with cooling and noise, a laptop must be silent and cool or its pointless....
    Reply
  • Crashman
    13529028 said:
    what about the noise ? This article needs a noise evaluation. The old GT780DX's fan was terrible.

    Once burned, twice shy MSI.
    The noise wasn't bad but the room was cool so I was concerned that it might not be realistic for normal users

    13529105 said:
    Does Battery Booster allow you have a set FPS goal, like instead of cutting back when the GPU is crunching more than 60FPS, have it cut back once FPS goes beyond 30FPS?
    You can set other FPS targets but I left it at the 30FPS default to get the best battery benefit.
    13529200 said:
    msi still have issues with cooling and noise, a laptop must be silent and cool or its pointless....
    Then you're not going to find a notebook you can game on...anywhere.
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    msi still have issues with cooling and noise, a laptop must be silent and cool or its pointless....
    The only issues I've seen are bad paste jobs from the factory. If it's done right the cooling systems work fine, from my research. What other cooling issues does it have? Thanks
    Reply
  • hex2bit
    Why the continued use of mechanical drives? Would not a SSD help with power, speed and cooling?
    Reply
  • Plusthinking Iq
    number of fans and heatpipes are a problem
    Reply
  • wtfxxxgp
    "Then you're not going to find a notebook you can game on...anywhere."

    I LOL'd at this. Well-said Crashman. I don't know how anyone that has ever used a laptop even for light gaming (I'm referring to something as simple as League Of Legends) could say something like "a laptop must be silent and cool or its pointless". The fact is: performance = heat = adequate cooling = noise. The amount of each of these is dependent on the other...as well as the build (obviously), but the confined space in MOBILE COMPUTERS (aka notebooks/laptops) will always be a challenge until technology can convert the effects of energy used into cold, instead of heat.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    13530242 said:
    "Then you're not going to find a notebook you can game on...anywhere."

    I LOL'd at this. Well-said Crashman. I don't know how anyone that has ever used a laptop even for light gaming (I'm referring to something as simple as League Of Legends) could say something like "a laptop must be silent and cool or its pointless". The fact is: performance = heat = adequate cooling = noise. The amount of each of these is dependent on the other...as well as the build (obviously), but the confined space in MOBILE COMPUTERS (aka notebooks/laptops) will always be a challenge until technology can convert the effects of energy used into cold, instead of heat.
    BTW, I came up with 40-50db at full load. Your mileage may vary.
    Reply