MSI is famed for their fantastic gaming laptops which are built to sate the needs of the mobile PC gamer. We’ve taken a look at, and loved, the MSI GT73VR and now we’re stripping down the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro.
Design & Hardware
The GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro is the classic gamer’s laptop when it comes to looks. It measures 383 x 260 x 29 mm at its thickest and 27 mm at its thinnest. The whole rig weighs 2.4 kilogrammes without the bulky charger, which is quite a bit to lug around. However, for all its size and weight, it’s one of the sleekest gaming laptops out there.
The MSI Dragon Logo burns brightly on the front lid of the laptop thanks to some LED lighting but it’s not till you lift the lid up do you appreciate the appearance of the laptop.
The jet black brushed aluminium lid and black plastic chassis combined with the red LED backlit keys are beautifully eye-popping, especially with the “breathing” effect on the LED keys. Barring the LED lighting and a thin red bit of plastic on the front, it’s mostly a dominant black all around, which quietly exudes power. Black speaker grills at the front of the laptop cement the idea of looking at a nuclear powerhouse.
However, the overall build quality isn’t the sturdiest. The top monitor lid is very flexible so you’d want to be careful about putting too much weight on it for fear of bending it and destroying the structural integrity. Meanwhile, the bottom plastic chassis feels and sounds as if a few screws are missing. This won’t be an issue when you have it placed firmly on a desk but expect a bit of rattling when moving around. The lid is also a bit stiff, and as a result is a bit difficult to open one-handed.
On the left-hand side, you have a smattering selection of I/O ports including a microphone jack, headphone jack, two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port, an HDMI port and a mini-display port. Meanwhile, on the right-hand side of the laptop, you have an SD card reader, a USB 2.0 port and a DVD super multi-drive tray.
As I mentioned above, the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro comes with backlit keys. But this isn’t an ordinary laptop keyboard. Instead, this gaming laptop (and others in the MSI brand) features a keyboard by SteelSeries and by far it has to be one of the best laptop keyboards I’ve come across. The ergonomically designed keys have a travel distance of 1.9 mm which allows for quick actuation speeds. The result is a very comfortable and quick gaming experience. When it comes to typewriting, the keyboard performs exemplary. You can light the keyboard with a variety of colours, however, the colouring is in zones and not per key.
Sitting below the keyboard is one of the most confusing trackpads I’ve ever tested. Yes, MSI provides a SteelSeries mouse with the laptop, but you would think that the trackpad would at the least be as good as a normal laptop’s would be. Instead, the trackpad has a rough texture that is meant to match the brushed aluminium. However, this provides friction when swiping left and right. Meanwhile, there is no friction swiping up and down. It’s an altogether mediocre trackpad. However, the left and right click buttons are quite good, they aren’t too noisy and require just the right amount of actuation force.
Display
The MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro features a 15.6-inch Full HD 1920 x 1080p panel that has a refresh rate of 60Hz. It lacks the supreme refresh rate of, and the G-Sync that is available on, the MSI GT73VR that we’ve reviewed but it still holds up well. Viewing angles are great though colour drop-off does become a factor when viewing at angles more than 45-degrees. However, MSI also gives users the option to have an IPS panel for a more richer colour scheme and better viewing angles. A 4K panel is also available.
MSI have also bundled their True Colour software technology into the GE62VR. True colour allows users to select one of five scenarios they’re currently using their laptop in: Designer, Gamer, sRGB, Anti-Blue, Office Movie, each with subtle alterations to hue and colour. The MSI GE62VR will also let you hook up two external displays via the HDMI and mini-display port, which in tandem with the “Designer” profile, makes this a great workstation when editing movies and such.
Software
As with all branded gaming laptops, there is a fair share of bloatware in the MSI GE62CR 7RF Apache Pro. Opening up the taskbar will instantly show you at least eight icons of the programs running in the background. You have things like the Killer Control Centre, which helps you monitor your internet performance; Nahimic 2 which will let you adjust audio settings; SteelSeries Engine 3 for monitoring SteelSeries peripherals, including the onboard keyboard and so forth.
It may feel slightly daunting to keep a track of so many apps but that’s why you have the MSI Dragon Centre. MSI’s Dragon centre collates all the extra apps, letting you access them with a click, or tune certain settings from the MSI Dragon Centre itself. Thus, while I can’t fine-tune audio settings, I can choose Nahimic audio presets from the Dragon Centre or change up the colour scheme of the keyboard.
System settings can be monitored from the Centre, including internet speeds, memory usage and CPU/GPU temperature. You can even change the speed of your fans from there. The operating system is Windows 10.
Performance
The MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro is virtually similar to its predecessor, the MSI GE62VR. They both even have the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060. Where the Apache Pro version differs is the CPU. While the previous iteration had a 6th generation Skylake CPU, the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro features a 7th generation Kaby Lake CPU, the i7-7700 HQ. The off-the-shelf clock rate is 2.80GHz but this can be bumped up to 3.80 GHz. The CPU is backed up by 16GB of DDR4 RAM which will let you run a number of applications in tandem. Meanwhile, on the graphics front, the Kaby Lake CPU comes with an HD 630 Integrated graphics card, just in case something happens to the GeForce GTX 1060.
Those three components of the GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro transform the gaming laptop into an absolute behemoth. Running light-to-moderately taxing games such as Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2 often gave an excess of a 100-FPS at Ultra graphics. However, testing out Witcher 3 on Ultra dropped the FPS down to 50 FPS.
Thankfully, MSI has dropped two relatively fast storage drives into the GE62VR 7RF. One is an HGST 1TB 16MB 7200RPM hard disk drive and the other is a Toshiba 128GB solid-state drive. The operating system is by default installed on the SSD, allowing for quick boot times.
Thanks to the quick drives, the powerful CPU, GPU and 16 gigs of RAM, the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro is virtual reality ready, letting you don your VR-headset of preference to slay virtual creatures.
Audio performance is stellar on the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro thanks to Nahimic 2 Audio Software which you can use to tinker with the equaliser settings which helps augment the dual speakers and the subwoofer.
We ran a benchmark on 3DMark and PCMark, the results of which can be seen below:
Battery
Bad battery life is ubiquitous with gaming laptops and the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro is no different. Three hours of battery life is what you can expect on the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro, and as a result, you’re relegated to gaming within a few metres of a power outlet. The reasoning for the battery life can be attributed to the heavily taxing CPU and GPU, but it’s also due to the small size of the battery. And that’s because MSI had to make space for the Optical Drive, which in my opinion isn’t something the majority of PC gamers or laptop users even utilise.
Absolute Verdict
The MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro is a great refresh of its predecessor, with the 7th generation Kaby Lake processor and GTX 1060 giving a stellar performance when it comes to demanding tasks or games. The SteelSeries keyboard is one of the best laptop keyboards I’ve ever tested and it’s absolutely beautiful with the RGB backlighting. While it’s a beast under the hood and while the hood itself is aesthetically pleasing, it’s not the best build quality I’ve seen on a gaming laptop. For the price of AED 6,999, it’s well worth taking a look at if you’re looking to upgrade to a great gaming laptop that isn’t too over the top.
