MSI GS40 Phantom 6QE Review: MSI's latest 14-inch gaming laptop

[Scorpus]

The hardware inside the GS40 Phantom isn’t going to pull any surprises. It’s loaded up with a 14.0-inch 1080p display, an Intel ‘Skylake’ Core i7-6700HQ CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M discrete graphics card, 16 GB of RAM, and a combination of a 128 GB SSD with a 1 TB hard drive. It also packs the latest connectivity, including a USB Type-C port sporting Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 gen 2.

The Phantom isn’t a flagship gaming laptop, but it does include a handy list of other features, such as Killer DoubleShot Pro networking, a SteelSeries keyboard, and a brushed aluminium chassis. All of this is available for a decent price of $1,599, with no configuration options available.

The aspect to the GS40 Phantom that I was most impressed with is the design. Having used gaming laptops from Alienware and Gigabyte previously, among others, the understated design to MSI’s 14-inch laptop is appreciated. Yes, there are still some elements of ‘gamer’ style to this laptop, including various contours on the laptop’s lid and around the keyboard, but it’s far from others' over-the-top designs.

Read the complete review.

 

[oldikes]

Another fine laptop made ugly via the decision to, for some reason, throw a massive "GAMING SERIES" logo on the lid.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

So, lots of information on outside temperatures, but no mention of how hot the internal parts got? What are we looking at for CPU and GPU temps in this thing?

 

[cldmstrsn]

I actually just got the Gigabyte P37XV4 (the hell is up with these names haha)And I couldn't be more blown away by the specs and the price. It was 1549 with a free game and it has a 5700HQ and a GTX 980m with 8GB of RAM and it also has the bigger 17 inch 1080p screen. So far Im really impressed and this laptop looks about to be really close but that 14 inch screen to me at least doesnt justify that price.

 

[Technician]

I found that for gaming 18" is a good starting spot, smaller loses too much detail and distant objects are just too tiny.

 

[m4a4]

If you're looking for a serious gaming laptop (and willing to fork out for it), definitely go for the bigger screen. Under 17" just isn't worth it.

If you can't afford that, then you probably shouldn't be looking at a gaming laptop

 

[teddy]

Poor right hand gamers, like me :/ heat coming right on your mouse hand, when gaming heavy.

 

[khuffmanjr]

Everyone talking about 17" and 18" gaming laptops being the minimum...Holy crap. I want a portable computer! If I wanted an 18" screen then I would just pack my PC in the car like we used to do.

You guys are funny....and you're going to have bad backs later in life.