MSI GS70 Stealth vs. Razer Blade Pro - Battle of the Slim 17-inch Gaming Notebooks

It's Cool to be Slim

The future is mobile. Everyone wants a piece of the mobile pie. Microsoft recently acquired Nokia, Apple’s latest iPhone 5S has gone 64-bit and Chinese phonemaker Xiaomi recently signaled their intentions to go global by recruiting Google’s VP of Product Development for Android.

As a result, desktop computing has suffered of late. However, Intel is not relenting in its attempts to create more powerful and efficient chips. The new fourth Generation Core processors have been well received thus far and have finally delivered the kind of battery life that Intel has been promising us for the past couple of years. The new processors, codenamed "Haswel", has enabled Apple to create the new MacBook Air which is capable of astonishingly long battery life. These new processors have also enabled new slimmer form factors and therefore more portable notebooks.

Recently, we have seen this new development in the form of ultra-portable gaming notebooks. The recently reviewed MSI GE40, Razer Blade and Aftershock XG13 are all some examples of this new breed of ultra-portable gaming notebooks.

This time round we are taking a look at another two models that are closely related to the aforementioned three notebooks, and they are the MSI GS70 Stealth and Razer Blade Pro. Admittedly, with their massive 17-inch display, these two notebooks are not really portable in the literal sense. But if you were compare them to other traditional 17-inch gaming notebooks (usually weighing up to 4kg or more), they are practically featherweight.

The MSI GS70 Stealth

Along with the recent launch of Intel’s fourth generation Core processors, MSI has recently revamped its gamer-centric G-series offerings. We recently reviewed the MSI GE40 and found it to be a decent gaming notebook, offering good performance at an affordable price. However, we thought that its built quality suffered a little and could definitely be improved.

That said, the GE40 can best be described as an entry-level model to MSI's G-series, while the GS70 Stealth we are looking at today is decidedly more upmarket in its target audience and positioning. In terms of both specifications and features, it is on a higher tier. Let’s take a closer look at it now.

The Hardware

Underneath the proverbial hood, the GS70 Stealth is powered by the a fourth generation quad-core Intel Core i7-4700MQ processor (2.4GHz, 6MB L3 cache), which is complemented by a very generous 16GB of RAM and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 765M mobile GPU. Storage is one of the GS70 Stealth’s strong suits and it offers two 64GB mSATA SSDS in RAID 0 configuration and a separate 7200rpm 750GB HDD. This really is the best of both worlds, although the combined 128GB of flash storage can be a bit tough to manage considering the size of game installations these days.

The GS70 Stealth has a 17-inch Full-HD (1080p) display that has a nice matte finish, which, although is a TN panel like the GE40, looks much better in terms of visual quality and viewing angles. Colors are more vivid and do not look as washed out as they did on the GE40. That said, an IPS panel would perhaps be more fitting for a gaming notebook of this caliber and with this kind of specifications.

Design & Features

As we have mentioned, the GS70 Stealth is on a different level when compared to the GE40. Despite the higher specifications, the GS70 Stealth comes in at just 21.8mm thick, which is marginally thinner than the Razer Blade Pro. It also weighs at 2.66kg. In fact, MSI goes as far as to call the GS70 Stealth the world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch gaming notebook.

As befits a premium gaming notebook, the GS70 Stealth has a full aluminum chassis, which gives it a more upmarket touch and feel. However, if you were to press on the panels hard enough, the chassis flexes noticeably. Luckily, this issue of flexing is not really apparently when you are typing. Generally, the GS70 Stealth’s build quality is much improved over the GE40, but the flexing issue goes to show that MSI still has a bit of catching up to do in this aspect.

The keyboard is by Steelseries and is well-sized and feels marginally better to use than the Razer Blade Pro. It seems to have more key travel, which made it more comfortable and tactile to use. However, the layout of the keyboard takes some getting used to. For example, there is only one Windows key and it is to the right of the spacebar as opposed to the left. According to MSI, they did this to avoid the Windows key being accidentally hit during gaming. And oddly, there is also an additional backslash key to the right of the spacebar.

On the flip side, the GS70 Stealth’s keyboard features customizable backlights. Using the bundled "MSI Keyboard LED Manager", users can pick colors to suit their moods. In addition, the LED backlights also offer a couple of different modes to make it glow or morph from one color to another. Although the ability to change the color of the backlight has no real functional benefits, it does add to the aesthetic qualities of the GS70 Stealth - more so if you a big fan of LED lights.

The clickable trackpad, however, is finicky to use. Using it single-handed was fine and the trackpad works as expected, but for two-handed users (one hand for clicking and the other for tracking), the trackpad often encounter problems recognizing your tracking inputs.

The notebook features MSI’s Audio Boost technology which claims to improve sound detail and sound stage by 30%. In our testing, we found that the GS70 Stealth’s audio performance was decent and maybe even slightly above average. It sounded loud, direct and sufficient clear with little distortion even at high volumes.

The GS70 Stealth also offers a wealth of connectivity options. To begin, it has four USB 3.0 ports and it can also drive up to four displays simultaneously (including its own native display) using its dual Mini-DisplayPorts and single HDMI port. The inclusion of the Mini-DisplayPorts is much welcomed as it lets the GS70 Stealth easily drive large monitors with resolutions beyond Full-HD. Finally, it has both Killer DoubleShot technology (helps ensure the best latency whenever you play games online) for superior multiplayer gaming performance over Ethernet and Wi-Fi.

The Razer Blade Pro

When Razer introduced the Blade for the first time, we were amazed by its svelte dimensions. It didn't seem possible for a gaming notebook to be this thin (even if it had dated specifications). Now with the introduction of the 14-inch Blade, the original 17-inch Blade is now known as the Blade Pro and this is what we've be reviewing today. The Razer Blade Pro has not changed much in terms of form factor since its release over two years ago, but it still remains to be one of the slimmest 17-inch notebooks around. Now let’s see how it measures up against its rival.

The Hardware

Like its competitor, the Razer Blade Pro has recently been refreshed with Intel’s fourth generation Core processors. Specifically, the Blade Pro is equipped with the quad-core Core i7-4700HQ processor (2.4GHz, 6MB L3 cache). This is complemented by 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Razer also offers the Blade Pro in other SKUs, with the difference only being the amount of storage, so apart from 256GB there’s an additional two models with 128GB and 512GB of storage. Graphics processing is handled by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M discrete mobile GPU - same as the one in the MSI.

While processor and GPU are identical, the Razer Blade Pro is handicapped by having less RAM and lesser storage. 8GB of RAM is pretty sufficient these days unless you are a multi-tasking pro, but having just 256GB of storage can be problematic especially since game installations are only getting larger.

As for display, the Blade Pro has a 17.3-inch Full-HD (1080p) matte display, which looks sufficiently vivid and presented decent viewing angles. Although it is not an IPS panel, it is a marked improvement over the 14-inch Blade’s display, which looks more dull and washed out in comparison. Nevertheless, an IPS panel would perhaps be more apt for a notebook which such high levels of build quality.

 

Design & Features

Despite the updated specifications, the Razer Blade Pro retains the same anodized aluminum chassis as the generation before it, so it comes in at 22.3mm thick. Fortunately, weight has been slightly reduced so it manages to tip the scales at just under 3kg.

In many ways, the design of the Blade Pro makes it look like the darker, evil and Windows-running cousin of the MacBook Pro. Like the MacBook Pro, the Blade Pro is built solidly and it feels like an well-crafted premium product. If anything, it’s much harder to build a larger notebook, because the panels are larger and this affects structural rigidity. However, despite this, there’s also no noticeable flex in the chassis or over the keyboard.

The keyboard features anti-ghosting technology and is one of the best to use. It even makes a slight 'click' noise - reminiscent of mechanical keyboards - when you type. If we had any gripes, it was the cursor keys, specifically the size of the "up" and "down" keys, which, are far too small to be used comfortably. We also felt that the keys could use a little more travel to increase tactility. Like the smaller 14-inch Blade, the keys also feature green backlights, which is really cool in the dark. On the other hand, thanks to the larger size of the Blade Pro, the palm rest area is larger and more spacious. It also helps that there is no trackpad in the way.

No trackpad? That’s because a regular trackpad is too plebeian for Razer. Instead, the Blade Pro gets Razer’s own Switchblade UI. The SwitchBlade UI is a highly customizable interface consisting of ten keys and a 4.05-inch LCD screen which doubles as a touchpad. As a touchpad, the SwitchBlade UI worked well and is accurate and responsive to use.

Admittedly, the SwitchBlade UI is not new, but it is a very cool and useful feature. With it, users can quickly check Facebook, Twitter or even their emails without leaving their game. It can even double up as a clock and a chronograph, useful for RTS games. Additionally, "mirror" mode lets you duplicate a selected portion of the screen on the SwitchBlade UI display. And on supported games such as League of Legends and Team Fortress 2, the SwitchBlade UI can double as a secondary display for additional game statistics and statuses.

The SwitchBlade UI can be customized with the preloaded Synapse 2.0 unified configuration software, which lets you rebind keys or assign macros on both the Blade and any other Razer peripheral. That aside, the Blade Pro is also preloaded with Razer Comms, Razer’s own communication software which lets you and your team-mates chat via voice or text. You can read more about the Razer Comms software here and here.

Audio performance was nothing to shout about. The built-in speakers did the job adequately enough, but sounded veiled and hushed. In fact, the smaller 14-inch Blade actually sounded a tad better because of its superior stereo separation.

Unlike the MSI GS70 Stealth, the Razer Blade Pro is equipped only with Killer Wireless-N 1202 connectivity for better wireless performance and not Killer DoubleShot, which also includes wired Ethernet.

Test Setup

To test the two notebooks, we will be putting it through our slightly revised benchmarks. We have removed older benchmarks such as PCMark 7, 3DMark 11 and Far Cry 2 and have added in a new game in the form of Tomb Raider. You can see the full list below. New also to our evaluation of gaming notebooks is a temperature test, where we take readings from three spots on the notebook and also from GPU-Z. As for comparison, apart from each other, the MSI and Razer notebooks will be compared against recently reviewed ultra-portable gaming notebooks such as the Aftershock XG13 and Razer Blade.

This is the full list of benchmarks used:

• PCMark 8
• 3DMark 2013
• Crysis 2
• Tomb Raider

Here is how the MSI and Razer notebooks stack up against comparable notebooks.

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PCMark 8

PCMark 8 is the latest benchmarking utility from Futuremark and was designed to measure the performance of Windows 8 systems. We will be testing the system using four different scenarios, Home, Creative, Work and Storage, which simulates different workloads that a user might subject the system to.

Bearing in the mind that both the MSI GS70 Stealth and Razer Blade Pro have nearly identical specifications, it was not surprising to see that their scores on PCMark 8 were nearly identical. Clearly, the additional 8GB of RAM did not have any obvious benefits insofar as PCMark 8 is concerned. Overall, the scores of the two notebooks were also pretty comparable with the recent bunch of 14-inch ultra-portable gaming notebooks we have reviewed, although the Aftershock XG13 did manage to garner an amazing lead on both the Microsoft Office and Adobe apps workloads.

3DMark 2013

Scores between the MSI and Razer notebooks were once again very close, which is no surprise because they have identical GPUs. However, we noticed that their scores on "Cloud Gate" were around 15% poorer than that of the Aftershock XG13 and Razer Blade. This was not expected considering they all depend on the same NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M GPU for graphics processing. We will be investigating this further. Scores on "Fire Storm" were within our expectations.

Crysis 2

With the exception of the MSI GE40, which has a GeForce GTX 760M GPU, the rest of the notebooks are powered by the GeForce GTX 765M (same cores as the GeForce GTX 760M, but higher clock speeds). Unsurprisingly, their recorded frame rates were all closely matches and it was impossible to pick a winner. 

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider is a new game that we are introducing to our notebook testing. The game utilizes Crystal Dynamics’ Crystal Engine and also introduces a new effect called TressFX which is used to render Lara Croft’s ultra-realistic hair.

Scores were once again very comparable, considering both the MSI and Razer notebooks are powered by the same GPU. Also, as far as our benchmarks are concerned, it is clear that the MSI’s extra RAM does not produce a measurable increase in performance.

Temperature

In our temperature test, we let the notebooks run Tomb Raider for 30 minutes so that they get sufficiently warm and then take a couple of readings. We measured the temperature using an infrared thermometer at the palm rests area and also the top two corners of the notebooks - the areas that get the warmest. We also recorded the temperature of the GPU using GPU-Z.

Looking at our results, we can see that the Blade Pro is significantly warmer. GPU-Z indicates that its GPU was around seven degrees Celsius warmer and the palm rests were around 5 degrees Celsius warmer. We concur with these findings as we could feel the difference too just by touching the two notebooks, the Blade Pro felt warmer to touch. The top right corner was particularly hot.

Battery Life & Power Consumption

17-inch displays are massive energy sappers, but thanks to the large displays, manufacturers can also fit larger batteries. In our battery test, both the MSI G70 Stealth and Razer Blade Pro managed well enough, clocking around two and a half hours in our a battery tests. The Blade Pro managed 163 minutes, 12 minutes more than the GS70 Stealth, but then it has a significantly larger battery - 74Wh vs. 60Wh.

In terms of actual power consumption, we found the GS70 Stealth to be more frugal than the Razer Blade. Its power draw of 23.84W is actually lower than even the smaller Razer Blade and Aftershock XG13. The Blade Pro recorded 28.83W and this could have been due to its SwitchBlade UI, which is really a second display.

Portability Index

Our Portability Index factors in battery life, weight and volume so you can see which notebook is the most worthwhile to carry around - the higher figure, the better. Both notebooks ranked quite similarly, with the MSI GS70 Stealth netting a slightly better ratio - 0.361 vs. 0.325. On the upside, this is significant better than the scores achieved by other hulking 17-inch gaming notebooks such as the MSI GT70, Alienware M17X R4 and ASUS G75VW. In fact, they can rival smaller multimedia notebooks like the HP Pavilion dv6, Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 and others. If it's outright portability you are after for a gaming machine, the new 14-inch Razer Blade is tough to beat.

A New Challenger

Considering both notebooks have very similar specifications, we were not surprised to see that both recorded very similar scores on our benchmarks. In terms of outright performance, there’s really no separating them. They are both as fast as the other. However, there are certain other factors to consider.

One key factor worth considering is storage. The Razer Blade Pro comes with only flash storage and it is not user upgradeable. This means that you are stuck with the configuration you pick. The Blade Pro comes with either 128GB, 256GB or 512GB. In our opinion, considering the size of game installations these days, 128GB is far too little to even be considered. 256GB works, but only if you are a disciplined gamer and have little need for additional storage requirements for other media such as music, photos and movies. Obviously, 512GB is most ideal, but that comes with a hefty price which we will talk about more later.

On the other hand, the MSI GS70 Stealth comes with the luxury of having both flash and traditional hard disk storage. On test system has just 128GB of flash storage, which is a little meager in our books, but happily MSI provides another SKU that offers double the amount, but at a higher price of course. The addition of a 750GB HDD (and a 7200rpm one at that) is definitely a nice touch and shows that MSI clearly know what its target audience want. Furthermore, even with all this storage options, the GS70 Stealth still manages a super-slim profile.

Which leads us to price. The top spec Blade Pro with 512GB of flash storage costs a not inconsiderable $3999.90. Our test unit with 256GB will set you back $3599.90. Back when the Razer Blade Pro was the only super-slim and portable 17-inch gaming notebook around, the premium was more or less justified. However, they are not alone in this segment anymore.

In comparison, our GS70 Stealth unit costs $2499 - a whopping $1100 less. The model with 256GB of flash storage costs $200 more at $2699, which is still a considerable $900 less than the Blade Pro. The difference in cost, as you can see, is very significant.

All in all, the Razer Blade Pro is a very well-built machine and has many things going for it. Obviously, its slim and compact dimensions necessitated slightly less powerful hardware in comparison to full-fledged 17-inch desktop replacement systems notebooks, but overall performance is still good and is more than capable of handling the latest games at high resolutions and at decent graphics settings.

In terms of overall build quality and finishing, the Razer has the upper-hand, and easily feels and looks more expensive and polished. Also, the SwitchBlade UI is easily its unique selling point and it is one of those few gadgets and implementations that are is both cool and actually functional. However, now that MSI is offering something that is equal is both dimensions, performance and, to a certain extent, build quality, is the Blade Pro worth the hefty premium that Razer is charging?

The MSI GS70 Stealth is a bit of a coming of age product for MSI. The company has had a tradition of offering value for money products with good specifications that often sacrificed on build quality, but not so with the GS70 Stealth. The all-aluminum chassis is a step in the right direction, even if it is not of the same high quality as Razer.

The GS70 Stealth also blows the Blade Pro out of the water with its storage options, numerous connectivity choices and features. The decision to offer both flash and traditional hard disk storage is a winner in our books and shows clearly that MSI is giving gamers what they want. As for connectivity, four USB 3.0 ports is much welcomed and the ability to drive up to three external monitors simultaneously via two Mini-DisplayPorts and HDMI is also cool, though maybe a bit overkill. Still, Mini-DisplayPorts are a much better choice as opposed to HDMI given the fairly powerful GPU that resides within. It will let users easily drive monitors with resolutions in excess of Full-HD.

All in all, taking account of everything , it is hard not to recommend the GS70 Stealth over the Blade Pro. It offers similar levels of performance, better storage, better connectivity options and at a much lower and palatable price point. The Blade Pro remains to be a very good gaming notebook and the SwitchBlade UI is cool and innovative. However, Razer needs to acknowledge that it is not the only ultra-slim and portable 17-inch gaming notebook around now, and needs to be priced accordingly to remain competitive.

	Click here for detailed results break-down
	Click here for detailed results break-down

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