Below are the side panels of the GS60, on the right is the USB 3.0, SD Card Reader, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort and RJ-45 (LAN) port.
On the left are the power port, USB 3.0 ports and audio ports. Interestingly the power connection is at the middle. This arrangement allows the cooling system to be placed at the rear of the GS60.
Here’s a view of the GS60’s rear portion, that’s where the exhaust is.
The GS60 comes with large rubberized feet for sturdy grip on any surface.
Being the 2QE 4K Edition, the GS60 comes with the GS Elite Pack – a keyboard protector, mouse pad, mouse and headset.
Below are the specs for the GS60 as seen on the official product page.
Here are the CPU-Z and GPU-Z capture of the key components.
User Experience
The 4K screen has to be one of the selling point of the GS60, it looks great but unfortunately not every software in the market scales well with it.
With 4K worth of pixels crammed into a 15.6″ screen, the user experience is very different than that as viewing 4K resolution on 30″ or larger desktop monitors. Here’s what Adobe Photoshop CC’s interface looks like on the GS60 – TINY!
Another issue with having 4K screen is that you need a sufficiently powerful GPU to run games at 4K resolution, in my experience a desktop GTX 970 graphic card would be the minimal to get the job done. The GTX 970M of course does not work like the desktop GTX 970.
Here’s a Unigine Heaven 4.0 test to get the point across.
Unigine Heaven 4.0
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| 4K | 8.1 |
| Full HD | 37.6 |
Unigine Heaven ran very disappointingly at 4K resolution, and that’s not even the maximum settings. At Full HD, the benchmark shows acceptable framerate and that framerate is around 75% that of a GTX 960. While I think the GTX 970M is a great mobile graphic card, I think 4K resolution with GTX 970M is a great mismatch.
Hopefully users who acquire the GS60 with 4K resolution will know how to down-tune the settings to Full HD before gaming. That aside, the overall experience of the GS60 is satisfactory.
One neat feature of the GS60 is the keyboard with RGB backlights. The lights are divided into 3 segments and you are able to change them to ANY color available via the SteelSeries software.
That aside, the GS60’s battery life is expected to be around 4 hours for the average user. Bear in mind that the GS60 sports a Core i7 with 4 cores and 8 threads which is an awesome powerhouse when it comes to getting work done when on the go. It also has a 4K screen that’s great for appreciating photos.
Overall this is a very capable notebook, definitely something worth considering even if you’re not a gamer. After all, gaming-spec notebooks get work done fastest. 🙂
The Verdict
MSI GS60 2QE Ghost Pro 4K Edition Gaming Notebook retails at RM 9,399 – definitely beyond the grasp of many consumers BUT for those who can afford it – you get a system with excellent specs, including SSD, Killer LAN, DynaAudio system and many more great stuff.
The MSI GS60 2QE 4K comes with 2-years warranty and don’t forget, it’s inclusive of the GS Elite Pack.
