General Analysis

The MSI GL62 6QF-628 is definitely an interesting notebook with a sleek design that gives it a bit more of a premium look than many other sub-$1000 units, which is due to it being a part of MSI's Gaming brand. Looks are not everything, however, and when it comes to build quality, I would say it's above average, but not great. The frame feels solid enough to handle typical abuse, but does have some flex, and while the screen's hinge feels solid enough to avoid becoming sloppy a year or so down the road, it certainly doesn't compare to those on high-end laptops with aluminum enclosures. Adequate venting keeps the laptop cool, which was a nice surprise as temperatures with this design were never an issue.

Sadly, MSI decided not to offer access hatches for the hard drive, RAM, M.2 slot, and battery. At an MSRP of $899, I would have expected access to such components to be easier. Worse yet, opening the laptop to swap any of these out voids the warranty. Granted, gaining access wasn't that difficult, but without access hatches, it is probably still beyond the scope of some users. Sorry to say, I am not impressed by the lack of readily available access to swappable components.


I will give MSI credit for keeping the bloatware to a minimum, though, and while some of the bundled software was unnecessary, it did not adversely affect my experience with the GL62. First, there is the "Cooler Boost" feature, which is nothing more than a simple toggle button near the keyboard. This little button lets users ramp up the speed at which the notebook's cooling fans spin. While I never had to do so, those in hot climates may find the feature useful since it dropped temperatures by nearly 15°C when gaming, going from 65°C to 50°C on the GPU. MSI also bundled their Dragon Gaming Center software with a system control interface with CPU and GPU power profiles that can be gotten to with a touch of a button or a click on the quick taskbar.


Among others, there are a pre-installed app to remind you to register your computer and one to help you setup a system restore disk or a USB drive. None were intrusive and most should prove useful to the average user. The only junkware I found was a trial version of Norton. Come on, MSI. Rather than pre-installing a trial version, give users something proper, even if it is freeware, like AVG or Avast. Give users something that will protect them without the annoying pop-up to buy it. Norton is the only piece of pre-installed software on the GL62 6QF-628 I consider bloatware. Norton itself is a viable security solution; however, trial software is usually replaced by freeware eventually. That said, every other pre-installed software was innocent enough or served a purpose without slowing the machine down.