Some gaming laptops will promise to hit the highest frame rate, but animation and rendering are just as important. The latest MSI GL62 6QF-893 is a reasonably priced entry-level gaming laptop with a bright, 15.6-inch full HD screen. It is equipped with a sixth generation powerful Intel Core i7 processor, 12GB system memory, more than enough storage with a hybrid SDD and HDD, GTX 960M graphics card and a Steel Series Keyboard for gaming.
Drawbacks, like the short battery life and non-backlit keyboard are outweighed by good connectivity, a nice Full HD screen, and very good benchmark scores in our tests. And the big 15-inch screen puts those visuals front and center, glitch-free. All these make the MSI GL62 6QF-893 a solid laptop for users who want to start gaming on a serious level.
Design
The MSI GL62 6QF-893 certainly has the looks of a gaming laptop. Its sleek, black, aluminum chassis has red accents, including the MSI G series dragon logo on its lid. It’s not very huge, measuring about 1.06 by 15.07 by 10.23 inches (HWD), and weighs about 5.3 pounds. The large, 15.6-inch, 1,920-by-1,080-resolution display is your window to the online and virtual worlds.
The screen has an anti-glare coating, yet still produces bright, vibrant colors, particularly when you boost the brightness to near maximum. The system doesn’t have a touch screen. There’s a SteelSeries keyboard is non-backlit but is very responsive and comfortable although the keys on it are a little bit narrower than usual because they have to fit on a 15-inch laptop. The touchpad below the keyboard has physical mouse buttons, which are easier to find in the heat of gaming than on a one-piece touchpad.
Connectivity
Connectivity is excellent. A Mini-DisplayPort and an HDMI port support multi-monitor setups. It utilizes matrix display technology that supports up to 4K output to 2 external monitors. Using these ports, you can connect two more displays simultaneously so you can converse on IM, play a game, and surf the Web all at the same time.
An Ethernet port with Killer-branded networking, a headset jack, a microphone jack, and three USB 3.0 ports join the graphics ports on the left side of the laptop. Other connectivity options include a DVD-RW Super Multi Optical Drive for older game titles, Media Card Reader, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C port, Mic-in/Headphone-out. Wireless connections include Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Performance
The sixth generation (Skylake) Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and the dedicated GeForce GTX 960M graphics card work together well on the game grid. At clock speeds of 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz turbo speed, they helped the MSI GL62 produce smoothly playable frame rates of 50 frames per second(FPS) in famous games like Grand Theft Auto 5 at native 1920-by-1080 resolution. This is a heavyweight title so we expect even better FPS in other games like Assassin’s Creed.
When pushed to Ultra settings in more demanding games, those numbers drop to still respectable levels. The Acer Aspire V15 Nitro gives out almost the same performance in heavyweight game titles. That said, you’re unlikely to notice the difference between the Acer and the MSI models at the Ultra settings. The Lenovo Y50 Touch and Lenovo Y70 Touch are both in the same ballpark as well. You should be able to get this system play latest titles smoothly at native resolution, but it will involve some tweaking with anti-aliasing and quality settings.
The 12GB of system memory is plenty for multitasking while playing today’s game titles, and is likely to be sufficient for many years. It can be upgraded through two DIMMs on the board to a maximum of 32GB and so is the 128GB Solid State Drive placed through the m.2 slot. Likewise, with a hybrid SSD and HDD, you get snappy performance through the 128 SSD, while the 1TB 7,200rpm SATA hard drive has enough space for many downloads, games and videos. This is a bit lower than the 1TB hard drive and 256GB SSD and 16GB system memory on the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black gaming laptop.
Watching movies and playing games is a joy on the MSI GL62 6QF-893’s screen, and audio comes through loud and clear thanks to Nahimic Virtual Surround Technology. The system has stereo speakers with a subwoofer, which produce enough distortion-free sound to fill a medium-size room. Viewing angles are good, so a viewing party isn’t out of the question for you and a pair of friends sitting together on a couch. An anti-glare coating quells reflections on the screen. Both Netflix and YouTube looked fine from close up and at six feet away in our testing, with smooth gradients and good black levels.
Battery Life
Battery life usually isn’t a strong point for most gaming laptops, and it’s particularly true in this case. Competitors were able to outlast the MSI GL62 6QF-893, which could only manage 2 hours 16 minutes on our rundown test. The Acer Aspire V15 Nitro ran over an hour and a half longer (3:31), and the champ was the Alienware AW15R2-6161SLV, which finally gave up after 5:29. Yes, the large 15.6-inch screen used a lot of energy, but the system also has a lot of space for battery packs. Keep the power adapter handy.
The Bottom Line
Overall, the MSI GL62 6QF-893 is a good choice for anyone looking for an entry-level gamer looking for an affordable, yet potent, gaming rig that can pull through some latest game titles. However, if you’re on a very tight budget, our Editors’ Choice for budget laptops the Dell Inspiron I7559-763BLK comes handy. Also, if you’re content-creation hobbyist who likes to indulge in gaming once in a while, then the MSI GL62 is a recommendable choice.
The sixth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, brilliant screen, and clear speakers will definitely make creating the next multimedia masterpiece a pleasant experience. However, the Alienware AW15R2-6161SLV is better for the budding hardcore gamer, due to its better game performance and its expandability among other forward-looking technologies. That system remains our Editors’ Choice entry-level gaming laptop.
