The MSI Pulse GL66 and its stylish gray top really do stand out from other models on the market right now. This particular configuration I have here is really good, although some are going to complain about the 85 W RTX 3070, which can be out-classed by an RTX 3060 that isn't power limited. However, with those power limits in place, we do get that added performance within a tighter power envelope, thereby extending battery life. A 130 W GPU just isn't going to give you more than an hour of untethered gaming.

The price of my particular configuration is fairly high, but I did manage to find a similar spec on Amazon for just US$1500, making this one of the most affordable laptops with an RTX 3070-class GPU; gray top, numpad, RTX3070, good price? Seems like a win all around.

You do have to keep in mind those power limits, but that's OK. If we do a bit of research, we find that most of the marketing materials MSI has for the Pulse GL66 and Pulse GL76 only include RTX 3050 to RTX 3060 Ti GPUs, so perhaps a way around some of those silicon restraints was to put the RTX 3070 GPU in place, and that choice couldn't be better. The performance matches the 144 Hz 1080p screen really well, but I did find the color capability of this IPS panel to be a bit lacking. Its alright for gaming, but is definitely a far step from a panel for editing pros.

The MSI Pulse GL66 has a decent keyboard for gaming, but it's not a top-level mechanical variant as on other models. This laptop includes a trackpad, camera, and other things a laptop should have, but that's not where the focus lies. You get an RTX GPU, dual-channel memory, and a decent screen as well.

The 512 GB storage drive is small. You can't fit your whole gaming library on here, but can add another M.2 device, or could even play those games off several USB-C drives you could purchase additionally, too. That helps keep the overall price of the Pulse GL66 down so more gamers can get their hands on it. Matched with 16 GB of RAM in dual channel, the MSI Pulse GL66 is a great option for those looking for decent gaming performance and good battery life in the same unit for a reasonable price.