MSI GL66 11UGK-001 Review: Excellent Gaming Laptop For Under $1000

What’s the best laptop for gaming? If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you know you don’t want to spend over $2000 on your new portable entertainment center, but you don’t want to buy something too cheap and end up with terrible quality. MSI GL66 11UGK-001 Review: Excellent Gaming Laptop For Under $1000 might just be what you need!

Overview

MSI is a popular manufacturer of gaming laptops, and its GL series is one of its most popular lines. The MSI GL66-011UK-BW1 laptop (the GL stands for Gaming Laptop) is one of their better models; while it's not quite as expensive as some high-end gaming laptops, it's got enough to offer most gamers. This review will discuss whether or not you should invest in an MSI laptop if you're looking for your first one, or are looking to upgrade from a lower-end model.

Specs

The MSI GL66 gaming laptop features an Intel Core i5 7300HQ processor, coupled with a dedicated GeForce GTX 1050 4GB graphics card. Topping off the specs is 8GB of DDR4 RAM and a 1TB hard drive for storage. In terms of dimensions, it’s about 13 x 10 x 1 inch and weighs about 5 pounds.

Design

The MSI GL66 11UGK-001 is a gaming laptop that uses both high performance and stylish design to fit any budget. While many gaming laptops cost over $2000, you can get an excellent one for less than $1000. However, don’t let its low price fool you—the laptop’s sleek look of dark grey with blue accents is designed to complement its lightning-fast performance. The performance is made possible by its 7th Generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive, and Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics card. The built-in Dolby Digital Plus Audio Technology allows users to enjoy high-quality sound no matter what kind of music they are listening to or movie they are watching.

Display

You can probably use headphones to play, but if you want to bring your gaming system out of your room and onto a real stage then you’ll need a good sound system. The GL66 has two 9-watt stereo speakers that come with Dolby Advanced Audio technology and NXP Smart AMP technology. That means you get clear, crisp audio from these tiny laptop speakers—no more tinny sound, no more having to turn up your speakers loud enough to cause hearing damage. If you have a decent pair of headphones, though, I’d recommend using them instead because they’re easier on your ears.

Audio Quality

The audio is as loud as I’d expect from a laptop but is definitely not booming or tinny. The mids and highs are clean, clear, and crisp; on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being an expensive sound system), I would rate it an 8. It has Dolby Home Theater Sound software installed out of the box. To be honest, if you’re looking for bass (like in rap music), there isn’t any noticeable presence—at least to my ears.

Battery Life

4 hours 45 minutes. This is a gaming laptop, so it’s not surprising that battery life isn’t top of mind for MSI. Still, an additional hour or two on a charge would have been welcome and would make it easier to get work done away from an outlet. If you want to do work while on the go, look elsewhere; you’ll need to find an outlet to use MSI’s excellent keyboard and trackpad, or else settle for far less impressive equipment. Fortunately, its bright display with solid viewing angles means you can play games in coffee shops without attracting much attention—though there will be some jealous glances if you turn up with your own WiFi router.

Performance

As we’ve come to expect from MSI, their gaming laptops are powerful. That is what you would expect for under a thousand dollars and for that price, it was an excellent choice. The laptop comes with 6GB of DDR4 RAM and a 4th generation Intel i7 processor which makes processing speed up to 3.8 GHz and helps with speeding up applications. Not only that but it also has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M which allows you to play popular games like Overwatch, League of Legends, and others in beautiful 1080p resolution. There isn’t much more you could ask for under a thousand dollars!

Gaming tests (GTA V, Doom)

During our gaming tests, MSI’s laptop performed well. In Grand Theft Auto V at 1920 x 1080 with all settings on high, we achieved around 60 FPS (frames per second). This is a respectable score for laptops in its price range. Similarly, Doom saw 90 FPS on high settings and 75 FPS on ultra settings. Our test benchmark includes popular games like Hearthstone, Overwatch, Battlefield 1, and many more. If you're looking to get into PC gaming without breaking your budget, it's hard to do better than MSI's laptop.