The MSI GT80 Titan Review: The Broadwell Gaming Laptop Your Desktop Envies
by Brett Howse on June 26, 2015 8:00 AM ESTI was lucky enough to be on-hand when MSI launched the GT80 Titan at CES. It was a big event for them, and all of the MSI people were quite excited about the unique device they had come out with. Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of traction in the enthusiast market for mechanical keyboards, and MSI decided it was time to put a fully mechanical keyboard into a gaming laptop.
MSI turned to SteelSeries for the keyboard, and wedged one of their Cherry MX Brown keyboards into the GT80 Titan, creating one of the more uniquely designed laptops in quite some time. The keyboard is placed right at the front since a mechanical keyboard requires a lot more vertical depth than traditional notebook keyboards. This poses a slight problem for the standard trackpad placement, so MSI shifted it off to the right side and have made it both a trackpad and number pad. The layout works better than you might suspect, but since this is a desktop replacement, using it with a mouse would likely be the preferred option.
What’s behind the keyboard is equally as important, since this is first and foremost a gaming laptop. Here MSI has not disappointed either. Intel has finally released quad-core Broadwell parts, and MSI has shipped us the just recently updated version sporting the Intel Core i7-5700HQ processor. This is one of the new breed of 47 watt processors on 14 nm, with a base of 2.7 GHz and a turbo of 3.5 GHz. MSI pairs this with 16 GB of memory, and not one but two GTX 980M GPUs in SLI.
This plentiful processing power pushes polygons to a 1920x1080 pixel panel with proportions past the purview of most portable PCs (and try saying that five times fast). Alliteration aside, the display is right at the upper bounds of a notebook computer, with an 18.4-inch diagonal, making this one of the largest laptops around. It seems like the push for high PPI displays has been slow to come to the larger 17-inch panels, and the even rarer 18.4-inch one like in this device likely means sourcing one is even tougher. This display size at 1080p only results in 120 pixels per inch. At a point we hope that MSI might look into a 4K display at this size, although sourcing 18.4-inch 4K displays might be tricky. The device also does not support NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology, but at least there should be fewer worries about frame rates dropping under the refresh rate of the panel.
MSI GT80 Titan | |||||
As Tested, Core i7-5700HQ, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD + 1TB HDD, 1920x1080 PLS display | |||||
Processor | Intel Core i7-5950HQ (4C/8T, 2.9-3.7GHz, 6MB L3, 14nm, 47W) Intel Core i7-5700HQ (4C/8T, 2.7-3.5GHz, 6MB L3, 14nm, 47W) |
||||
Memory | 16GB-24GB DDR3L-1600 MHz | ||||
Graphics | 2 x NVIDIA GTX 980M 8GB each 2 x NVIDIA GTX 970M 6GB each 2 x NVIDIA GTX 965M 4GB each |
||||
Display | 18.4" 1920x1080 PLS Matte | ||||
Storage | 128GB SSD x 2 (RAID 0) boot drive 1 TB HDD |
||||
Networking | Killer e2200 Gigabit Networking Killer N1525 Wireless-AC plus Bluetooth (2x2:2 866 Mbps max) |
||||
Audio | Dynaudio Premium Sound Technology Four Speakers plus subwoofer Microphone |
||||
Battery | 80 Wh Battery 330 Watt A/C Adapter |
||||
Right Side | 2 x USB 3.0 | ||||
Left Side | 3 x USB 3.0 Ports Headphone Jack Microphone Jack SD Card Reader Blu-Ray Burner Line-in Jack SPDIF |
||||
Rear | 2 x Mini DisplayPort v1.2 HDMI 1.4 A/C In |
||||
Dimensions | 456 x 331 x 49.0mm (17.95 x 13.02 x 1.93 inches) | ||||
Weight | 4.50 kg (9.90 lbs) | ||||
Extras | 1080p Webcam Backlit Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches |
||||
Pricing | $2500-$3800, as tested $3400 |
There are a couple of different configurations available, with the processor, memory, GPU, and storage options determining price. On the low end, you can get it with SLI GTX 965M GPUs, SLI GTX 970M or just a single GTX 980M card. All of the upper tier models though are SLI GTX 980M. Memory is 16 GB as the base and 24 GB on the top model, but the laptop can support up to 32 GB if you want to add it. Ultimately the versions that end up for sale will be determined by the SIs that decide to stock the device. For our review, we have the Core i7-5700HQ processor, 16 GB of RAM, and GTX 980M SLIs graphics cards.
103 Comments
View All Comments
n13L5 - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I'd rather carry around my Sugo SG08 case and buy a 40" TV to hook it up to at the destination if there isn't one on the wall already.Makes me think of Bishop in Alien II, sitting outside somewhere trying to remote control the second drop ship on some humungous looking laptop...
D. Lister - Thursday, July 23, 2015 - link
- Impressive temps for a dual gpu setup, nevermind the dimensions.- The 1080p/60Hz screen may be great for battery life (compared to a 4K/60Hz screen, for example), but considering the graphic muscle, a 1080p/120Hz or 1440p/60Hz would be a more even compromise.
128GB (2x128 RAID0) for the system/App drive is just ridiculous in this day and age, where a lot of AAA titles can take up to ~50GB or more space. So that is 30GB for Windows + updates + temp folders, 20GB for apps and user files, and you are left with around 70 gigs for your games. They should have instead offered a choice between 1x512GB or 2x256GB RAID0.
nukenight - Thursday, December 3, 2015 - link
After months of waiting to buy my GT80, I'm just totally devastated by the total lack of support from the manufacturer! Simple things seem to take forever to get a response, they don't seem to be dealing with Windows 10 in any sort of progressive manner, and the features of the computers are great, WHEN they work. Have problems with black screen for first 5 to 10 minutes of log-on, keypad/touchpad that doesn't work properly, and recommendations from the support department are to blow off the whole thing, and then reload everything piece by piece, so you will know when the 'bad' program is done. I've got a friend who works at Microsoft, and while he is in awe of the tech specs, he is equally appalled at the poor support and lack of knowledge. His opinion, which is now mine, is that 'you bought it, it's your problem!' sure seems to ring true.I would give this whole company a DON"T BUY recommendation based on the bad experience I have had. They may have some great features, but when parts only work at times, that can't make up for the rest of the whole. Buy elsewhere, and don't inherit the problems that so many have talked about in so many posts!