Design:
The design of the GS70 is simply a work of beauty. Most of the laptop is constructed of lightweight aluminum with some plastic. On the bottom there is some felt to provide a little more comfort if you have it set directly on your lap. Metal has the unfortunate property of getting quite cold or hot depending on the environment. During use the bottom of the laptop can get quite warm and having bare metal on your lap is hardly comfortable. The felt allows you to keep the laptop in your lap without being in pain.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the GS70 is how incredibly thin it is, considering its size and specs. My previous laptop was an 11″ Chromebook and a 13″ portable Dell before that. Initially I was in the market for another 11-13″ laptop but ultimately decided that I use my laptop way more than my desktop anyway so I needed to go bigger. A MacBook was my first consideration but due to the low price:performance ratio I kept searching. Then I found the GS70, it was perfect. Coming in at 21.8mm thick (less than an inch) and 2.66Kg (just under 6 pounds) I was not disappointed at all the day the GS70 arrived.
The layout of the I/O ports are convenient for the most part. The exception being the power input. The plug is set at a 90 degree angle and either way you have it turned while connected to the laptop is blocks other I/O ports. It’s not a huge deal but it would have made more sense to put it at the end.
Once you open the laptop you’ll notice that the bezel is quite thick – over an inch in some places. As there is pretty thick border of aluminum surround the keyboard I suspect that MSI was limited by how small they could make the internal hardware. It’d be more aesthetically pleasing if the bezel was thinner but considering how thin the laptop is I don’t have too much to complain about. It does bother me however that when the GS70 is closed, it doesn’t appear to close the entire way and doesn’t sit very securely. Unlike a MacBook that almost ‘seals’ when you shut it, the GS70 is very loose.
The keyboard is backlit and can be adjusted to display almost any color you’d like via an MSI program. The keyboard itself was designed by steelseries – a big name in the gaming keyboard market. MSI definitely didn’t cheap out here. Overall the keys feel solid and the keyboard is quite comfortable to use. I use a mechanical keyboard on my desktop and I’ve found that for work I actually prefer the keyboard on the GS70. The TouchPad on the other hand isn’t my favorite. I think it’s a tad too big, my palms often are hitting it while in the default position on the keyboard. Oddly the touchpad stopped working after six months and upon installing the latest software I was able to fix it – however multi touch features never came back. The pad itself is outlined beautifully on a positive note. Above the keyboard is the power button which doubles as an indicator to let you know which GPU is being used. If the Intel integrated one is active, it shines white. If the Nvidia 765M is active, it will shine orange.
It is worth nothing that aluminum – although sexy – is a soft metal. In a few months I had accumulated many dings and imperfections in the finish. I dropped my phone on the top left section above the keyboard and it left a bit of a dent. I also had a problem with the rubber feet, all nine of them came off, quite quickly I might add. Luckily I found six and was able to re-glue them – which haven’t come off in many months. Does it really cost that much to use a little bit extra glue, MSI? Lastly the LEDs that indicate a variety of things such as caps lock, num lock, disk activity, etc are awfully bright and some continue to blind me when the laptop is closed. I ended up putting some electrical tape over them so I could sleep.
