General Analysis Continued

While bloatware and add-on software is kept to a minimum, the number of control panels is a bit much. I feel MSI could easily roll the keyboard software into the Dragoncenter software, simplifying and reducing the number of running programs. The few other apps that are otherwise installed are in some way, shape, or form useful. Xsplit Gamecaster, for instance, is useful for more casual streaming of live gameplay, and performance remained the same even after removing what I would consider unnecessary applications, which means the only downside is the precious space these take up on the SSD.

Price to performance with this unit isn't half bad considering the MSI GE72VR I reviewed previously sports a GTX 1060 with a similar configuration. The GE63VR sports a far faster GPU for just a $100 premium. The Gigabyte AORUS X5 V7-KL3K3D unit with a similar configuration is nearly $700 more expensive, which means a more enterprising individual could potentially reconfigure the MSI GE63VR to eliminate its weak points, and it would be a great deal cheaper as well.

When it comes to battery life, well, it's pretty bad. While enabling every possible battery-saving feature will likely extend battery life a great deal, the fact remains that lowering the screen's brightness makes for a hard-to-read display depending on your lighting conditions. Using the system with settings that are comfortable to use day in and day out with FPS limits via GeForce Experience doesn't change the fact that the 51 Wh battery left me searching for an outlet a bit more often than I would like. Gaming on the battery is, well, to put it kindly, stupid, but the MSI unit did surprisingly well here with GeForce experience helping with an FPS cap. Day-to-day tasks, however, just don't have the battery last as long as I would like. A longer-lasting battery would be a welcome addition here. As for power usage, the unit has a power brick rated at 230 watts with the unit pulling 200 watts at maximum load, according to my kill-a-watt meter.

To put it bluntly, MSI's GE63VR is a mixed bag. It has some issues one can compensate for. The real problem is that these issues should have never made it into the consumer model. Cutting costs to offer a good deal isn't bad, but going with single channel memory, but a higher-tier GPU makes no sense. In fact, not doing so should be common sense. These 25% performance drops or worse in select titles may be outliers, but Fallout 4, for instance, is a very popular title, as is Dota 2, and both perform better with dual-channel memory. A few changes would see the GE63VR be of exceptional value; however, right now, it takes user intervention to make it shine.