MSI GT683R: A Powerful Desktop Replacement With Funky Lights

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Cool LEDs
Sturdy and not too heavy

Cons

Touchpad is small, tight to apply
Only four USB ports

Our Finding of fact

The GT683R is a powerful machine, but it'd equal nice if foreign peripherals matte like an option, rather than a necessity.

MSI's latest gaming notebook, the MSI GT683R, will catch your eye with its tasteless LEDs, but it'll save you interested with its speedy performance. This gambling powerhouse is one of the first laptops to send off with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560M graphics card, and it features all sorts of boosts much as MSI's Turbo Take Engine technology (for overclocking) and Cooler Encouragement technology (for dominant the fans with a single touch).

Our review articl model, priced at $1450, came packed with a second-generation Intel Core i7-2630QM mainframe, a walloping 12GB of RAM (upgradable to 32GB), an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M graphics batting order, and 1TB of hard-drive quad spread over 2 drives. The GT683R also features a constitutional 720p HD webcam, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a DVD-RW drive, and 64-routine Windows 7 Abode Insurance premium.

The GT683R performs quite a intimately, even for the desktop switc category. This should come as no surprise, considering the GT683R is designed for gamers. In PCWorld's WorldBench 6 benchmark tests, the GT683R scored an impressive 146. This is one of the fastest background replacement laptops we've tested, though not the fastest (that distinction goes to the Origin EON 17-S). It is perhaps best compared to the Dell XPS 17 3D.

The Nvidia GeForce 560M graphics card gave the GT683R a boost in our graphics tests. In our Far Cry 2 test (high-topped-quality settings, 1920 by 1080 resolution), the GT683R managed a frame rate of 47 frames per second. By comparison, the Dell XPS 17 3D managed sole 30.8 frames per second with the same settings.

The GT683R is housed in an average-looking black chassis. The notebook computer's cover is made of shiny black impressionable and features some aerodynamic-looking molding with an MSI logo in the middle. It looks a little cheap, but it does grow happening you. The machine International Relations and Security Network't exactly svelte: The system weighs around 7.5 pounds and is 2.16 inches thready.

The inside of the notebook is more beautiful. The keyboard is choke-full-size, with a number pad and island-vogue keys. The deck is shiny and gray, and features a honeycomb texture. Above the keyboard is a unsubdivided power clitoris, along with individual touch buttons: Turbo, additive cooling, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles, Eco mode, and Light-emitting diode controls.

That's a pretty typical flesh, right? Until you turn the machine on, that is. The GT683R adds pizzazz with funky orange LED lightstrips–one is along the cover, plus two happening either side of the screen and two on the front (below the keyboard) of the automobile. The lights are bright, but are thankfully situated out of the right smart, and then they won't bother you spell you're functioning or gaming (though they will look pretty awful to masses sitting around you). MSI includes software package for tweaking the lights (choosing different performance modes, say), only when I tried to use IT, all I managed to get was an error message stating, "LED light manager not supported."

Left-sapiential, the GT863R is rear like the gambling machine/screen background-replacement that IT is. Several of the key ports, such as ethernet, VGA, eSATA, and HDMI are located on the back of the machine, while the sides are consecrate to USB ports, card slots, and audio jackstones. Information technology has alone four USB ports, though two are USB3.0, which is dainty. In that respect's a multi-in-uncomparable card reader (SD/MMC/MS/XD) on the socialist side, and microphone/headphone/line-in/line-out jackstones on the right side.

The GT683R's keyboard is, as mentioned in the beginning, full-size with a number pad and island-expressive style keys. The keyboard is mostly comfortable to type happening–the keys are wide spaced and feature a prissy number of perception feedback. Still, it's a little flimsier than I usually same, and therefore not ideal for prolonged typing Sessions.

Below the keyboard and slightly off-centre is a moderate-sized touchpad with a clad matte surface. The touchpad isn't nearly American Samoa comfortable as the keyboard. It's ever so-so-slimly to a fault small, and the matt turn up makes information technology difficult to motion the mouse swimmingly crossways the screen. Add a brushed aluminum cradle bar that's hard to press–instead of separate mouse buttons–and it's generally not a fun go through.

The GT683R sports a lustrous 15.6-in full HD sieve, which has a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The covert is overnice and bright, and throws dorsum surprisingly few reflections despite beingness satiny. Colors tend to look a bit washed out, though–a little Thomas More direct contrast and darker blacks would be good. The concealment is also a little too bright, even at the last-place smartness scope.

Because the GT683R is billed American Samoa a play machine, its speakers are slightly better than what you'll find in most laptops. Only slightly, though. The two HD speakers and the subwoofer make for decently yelled and full sound, but it's even so non loud enough to compete with diarrheal desktop speakers. However, remember that the GT683R has line-in and line-out jacks, along with microphone/sound jacks, so you'rhenium not dependent connected the built-in speakers.

MSI's GT683R is decidedly a powerful machine, simply its peripherals (built-in as they are) leave something to beryllium desired. This is a desktop replacement, so it's likely you'll have an external mouse, keyboard, and even speakers, but it'd be pleasant if these felt same an option rather than a necessary.