Costco Members: MSI GE75 Raider Laptop: 17.3" 1080p 144Hz, i7-10750H, RTX 2060 EXPIRED

I returned this laptop. Screen is terrible. FHD on 17 inch screen look so bad. Texts and images don't look crisp and sharp at all.

Quote from jadephan : I returned this laptop. Screen is terrible. FHD on 17 inch screen look so bad. Texts and images don't look crisp and sharp at all.

Hey, what you smokin?

If 1080p looks bad on a 17" display, I guess the 24" I'm looking at must really suck...

Or maybe I'm just blind... It is a good panel for a 17.3" 1080P display anyhow.

Quote from rruff : https://www.costco.com/msi-ge75-r...68605.html Sign of the times. This was $50 cheaper back In Feb (though that was without Outrider). But with most new generation laptops MIA and deals drying up, this is still a good deal. Unlike most 10th Gen Intel laptops, MSI allows undervolting. I bought one and did the UV and OC and will try to answer any questions you have. UV makes a big difference on the CPU (runs faster at 45W than it did at 55W stock), and you can run it maxed out at 4.3GHz on all cores indefinitely if you have some workloads that need it. I boosted GPU performance >10% as well, using Afterburner. https://www.techpowerup.com/forum...75.279412/ As always from Costco: 90 day free returns. 2 year warranty (4 if you use their card). Specs here (this is the 008 model): https://us.msi.com/Laptop/GE75-Ra...cification Some things I like: 1) 17.3" 1080p display, 144Hz, >300nits, 3ms response, high contrast, 100% sRGB. 2) RTX 2060 is 115W, which means it's ~15% faster than 80W 2060s and 1660 Ti, and faster than many 2070 and 3060 laptops that are throttled to a lower wattage. 3) MSI supports UV on Intel CPUs which makes them much more competitive vs Ryzen. With the UV it's faster than a 4600H in Cinebench. 4) It has great speakers for a laptop 5) You can install two NVMe drives as well as a 2.5" drive. 6) Costco warranty and return policy! Review: https://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI...416.0.html

This same laptop was $1,100 a month ago. Subsequently, Costco had the version with RTX 2070 for $1200 that completely sold out at that price. So MSI and COSTCO figures that $1149 for the laptop in this thread will also sell out.

Reviews on COSTCO are fabulous with a product 4.7 to 4.8 star rating out of 5.

I bought this model in the summer of 2020. It's been great for the price. The screen looks great to my eye in terms of color and antiglare. I don't miss 4K at all. The graphics chip performs well for my needs but I'm a casual gamer (more Rocket League, less Cyberpunk).

My main concerns are:
- Battery life isnt great. I have to plug in my device after an hour or so, though to be fair, I tend to only charge up to ~60%. The AC adapter is a giant chonker. If you use this mainly as a desktop/stationary PC though, you'll be fine. If you buy a second AC adapter, pay attention to the plug size. I accidentally bought the same model of adapter, with the wrong plug. My bad.
- Fans are noticeable when they're cranked. Luckily it's more of a soft wooshy sound, and the fans rarely kick into high gear unless I'm playing a very graphically demanding game. Rocket League is A-OK. Wreckfest keeps the fans busy.
- Dragon Center software is clunky, and resets some of my settings (like USB port LED settings) each time a new update of Dragon Center is installed.
- No Thunderbolt, so I have to plug in ~4 cables to dock it instead of one. But I can accept that given the cost savings.
- Had to replace the extra HDD with a larger SSD, but again, I was comfortable doing that myself given the cost savings.
- MSI's CEO fell to his death shortly after I bought it.

That said, it's a great value and I'd buy it again today given the current market. It's replaced my desktop PC for home recording studio use, programming, and gaming.

Quote from Plat : - Dragon Center software is clunky, and resets some of my settings (like USB port LED settings) each time a new update of Dragon Center is installed.

I went into the processes and disabled MSI software. I control the CPU with Throttlestop, and GPU with Afterburner. The Steelseries app lets you control the keyboard colors. I also installed "Silent Option" which gives you fan control.

If you haven't UV and OC yet, you should definitely give it a try!

Only consistent complaint I see is that thing has fans that are loud when idle and *very* loud when gaming. Anyone with this model or similar have an opinion based on previous experience? Curious just how much of that is exaggerated and if it's something that would be unusable in an area where you're around other people due to noise.

was talking to an associate and he said first week of june they are getting 2021 laptops in. I think I can wait 8 weeks.

Is this faster than pentium?

I got this more than a month ago for $1000 open box and it is worth every penny.

It is very fast and quick. I have no complaints. Open box was spotless and clean, not scratches, nothing. I guess no one was checking it out on the display section.

Quote from rruff : Hey, what you smokin? https://static.slickdealscdn.com/ima.../emot-LMAO.gif If 1080p looks bad on a 17" display, I guess the 24" I'm looking at must really suck... Or maybe I'm just blind... It is a good panel for a 17.3" 1080P display anyhow.

The screen is trash. 300 nits? That is original Macbook Air level.

Very informative post, thanks OP . I didn't realize MSI notebooks allowed for UV and fan silencing--awesome features.

Today, this seemingly excellent deal from Costco dropped:
https://www.costco.com/msi-gf75-t...79310.html . That's $800 + tax before a $200 costco cash card, for net $600 + tax if you value the costco rebate at par.

My question is can all these same tricks (UV, fan silencing, etc.) be used on this cheaper MSI gaming laptop product? TIA.

Quote from moctezumax : The screen is trash. 300 nits? That is original Macbook Air level.

300 nits is the typical premium gaming laptop brightness level. It's plenty bright. Probably not suitable for outdoors in the sun, but is that a use case you really care about?

Other factors like response time, contrast, and color accuracy are very good as well. This is a big step up from the crappy displays on budget laptops.

Quote from jadephan : I returned this laptop. Screen is terrible. FHD on 17 inch screen look so bad. Texts and images don't look crisp and sharp at all.

I have this laptop. Screen looks great. Are there better screens put there??? Yes. Is this "terrible". Not even close. Everything looks crisp and I have no complaints. The only issue at all is the loud fans when I'm gaming but I've gone the route of going into Dragoncenter and running in silent mode for my gaming. I run Division 2 smoothly in silent mode, max settings. Tbh... it runs the same for Division 2 in performance mode with the fans full blast. It also plays AC Valhalla well in silent mode. Yes... I shouldn't have to switch to silent mode but at least there's an option and it does work well. The 115w 2060 is great.