General Analysis Continued

Taking into account all aspects of the GS73 Stealth Pro 009, I would say it is a good laptop overall. The Intel i7 7700HQ is way more than is necessary in terms of performance for games and productivity. It will plow through those workloads with ease. Meanwhile, the Nvidia GTX 1050Ti will handle most current games fairly well at medium settings or higher. Add in the 256 GB Samsung M.2 SSD and 1 TB Seagate 5400RPM HDD and you end up with a nice balance of speed and storage. When it comes to memory, the 16 GB of 2400 MHz DDR4 from Kingston proved to be more than adequate with the GS73 staying near the top of the charts in terms of memory bandwidth and latency. CPU performance is exceptional, being on par in PCMark 8 with a 6700K and IGP combo. The trend continued in Cinebench R15 with the 6700K desktop part just edging out the 7700HQ. CPU Queen was the only test where the 7700HQ just flat out falls behind. In terms of GPU performance, the GTX 1050Ti provides adequate gaming performance, but it won't have you max out today's AAA titles. At medium to high settings, it will give you exceptional results, but ultra quality will prove elusive in more demanding titles. That said, for pure gaming, the GE72VR proves to be the better performer and option at nearly the same price. Meanwhile, the GS73 is over half a pound lighter, so there are trade-offs to consider.

Storage performance is acceptable with the Samsung PM871 M.2 SSD turning in just a touch below a Crucial MX200. The hard drive is, well, a hard drive - there's nothing mind blowing to see here. Still, performance proved good overall, but the 5400 RPM 1 TB HDD is going to be a good bit slower than a proper 7200 RPM model. Meanwhile, battery life is a bit of a mixed bag, but not in the way you might expect. At 30 and 60 FPS in Unigine Valley, the GS73 Stealth Pro 009 proved better than the other models, offering similar or better graphical capabilities. In PCMark 8 Conventional, the MSI laptop was middle of the pack. I expected better in this test, but came away confused as testing in VLC with Ted running in a loop had the unit perform exceptionally well, lasting 204 minutes, nearly 3.5 hours. Better performance can of course be had by changing various power settings and reducing screen brightness.

When it comes to audio, the MSI GS73 had no issues driving my KRK KNS6400 headphones, with sound quality via the Realtek and Nahimic enhancer proving to be quite good. The laptop's speakers are alright since the addition of a subwoofer adds a bit of punch to the generally lacking bass department. Just keep in mind that the audio is not going to wow you, but it is better than average. While the Nahimic software proves interesting and can greatly improve the audio experience when configured properly, it can also prove problematic. Battlefield 1 does not seem to like the software, but Battlefield 4 had no issues whatsoever. Seems to be a software conflict, which is too bad. Other than that, I have to say that while I feel it's nothing more than an over-glorified audio equalizer, it does actually work and can be used to improve sound quality in ways to better suit your personal taste.

Generally speaking, the GS73 Stealth Pro 009 is a solid all-around offering. It's not quite as good as the GE72VR I reviewed previously from a raw performance aspect. That said, it still gets the job done. Streaming content from the main system was a breeze, and its battery life is decent enough so that I wasn't constantly seeking an outlet to plug into when I was out and about. With a few changes to the configuration, I feel MSI could really have a fantastic offering on their hands. Namely, it would be better served with an i5 7300HQ, which has the same clock speeds as the 7700HQ and just lacks HT. Since costs are lower on the CPU, an upgrade to a GTX 1060 6 GB would provide for some extra grunt, making better use of the 120Hz 1080p display. Granted, MSI does offer other configurations of the Stealth Pro, and one features an i7 7700HQ, GTX 1060 6 GB, and 120Hz 1080p screen. The price tag for that configuration is much higher at $1799 vs the Stealth Pro 009 at $1599. Dropping back from a 7700HQ to a 7300HD should get that price back down, which would make this a true sweet-spot system for gamers.