Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Reasonably priced
- Decent 1080p gaming
- Well made
- Attractive purple keyboard backlighting
Cons
- Disappointing display
- Not essentially the most highly effective
- Poor battery life
Our Verdict
Despite surprisingly good 1080p gaming efficiency, the MSI GF63 Slim for 2023 is a bundle of compromises. Decide you may reside with them, and also you’ll get a good all-round laptop computer that may final an excellent few years, although its gaming potential will drop off sharply over time.
Price When Reviewed
$999
Best Prices Today: MSI Thin GF63 (2023)
$893.19
$969.99
Price is as huge a differentiator of laptops as specs are, and possibly the very first thing you take a look at when selecting a brand new machine. With many gaming laptops reaching into the 1000’s of {dollars}, this replace of the GF63 Thin stays low-cost, although not as low-cost because it as soon as was.
While you get a spec bump to an Intel 12th-gen processor and one in all Nvidia’s 40-series graphics chips, the laptop computer hasn’t been improved in different areas, and nonetheless rocks a 1080p display and solely 8GB of RAM. Still, it’s a stable gaming laptop for under $1,000.
Design & Build
- Plastic chassis
- Still appears to be like and feels good
- Decent port choice
MSI is aware of how one can put collectively a gaming laptop computer, and whereas the GF63 has been constructed with its funds value in thoughts, it manages to not present it an excessive amount of.
It’s not the slimmest laptop computer on the market, regardless of the identify, however neither is it the chunkiest. The purple keyboard backlighting is putting in opposition to the plain black chassis, although the display bezels are thicker than the present style for extremely skinny edges, which means the show has a big black body.
While the GF63 has been constructed with its funds value in thoughts, it manages to not present it an excessive amount of
The remainder of the laptop computer’s casing, regardless of being plastic, could be very properly made. There’s an excellent scattering of ports, with one USB-C, three USB-A, one HDMI and an ethernet connection. But it could actually’t cost through USB-C, so makes use of a devoted energy port that’s awkwardly positioned midway down one aspect of the system.
Ian Evenden / Foundry
Weight distribution is skewed in direction of the again of the laptop computer, which means it could actually go over backwards if it’s in your knees and also you’re not paying consideration, but it surely’s solidly constructed. And at 1.86kg, it’s nonetheless comparatively light-weight.
Keyboard & Trackpad
- Solid full-size keyboard
- No separate quantity pad
- Impressive trackpad
MSI has resisted the temptation to squeeze a quantity pad subsequent to the keyboard, one thing seen on many 15-inch laptops.
While having these further keys will be good, they’re usually so small you may’t use them precisely. Their presence additionally usually means the opposite keys really feel cramped, which isn’t a good suggestion on a gaming laptop computer, so MSI has made the correct choice right here. As it’s, you get a cut-down Return key with an enormous and largely superfluous # key above it, however the remainder of the keys are full-sized.
Ian Evenden / Foundry
The keys themselves are topped with MSI’s personal font, which appears unnecessarily huge however has the advantage of letting extra of the purple backlight by. They really feel good to press, and every key’s responsive, but offers sufficient journey for some respectable suggestions.
Each key’s responsive, but offers sufficient journey for some respectable suggestions
The trackpad is an efficient instance of what will be completed on a 15-inch laptop computer. It’s small measurement generally is a downside when gaming – attaching one in all the best gaming mice would rapidly type this – but it surely has an excellent clean floor and a responsive click on.
Screen & Speakers
- 15.6-inch, 1080p, 144Hz LCD show
- Underwhelming viewing expertise
- Disappointing audio system
Appearing bigger than it’s because of the thick bezels, the 15.6-inch 1080p display makes use of IPS know-how for a large viewing angle and sharp, responsive, efficiency. You additionally get a 144Hz refresh charge.
But about all we are able to say on the optimistic aspect of issues. Gaming laptops below $1000 are all in regards to the compromises made to hit that value level, and the display is a poor performer in the case of colour and brightness.
Ian Evenden / Foundry
In testing, it manages barely lower than 300 nits of brightness (for comparability, the M2 MacBook Air’s IPS show places out 500 nits) and solely shows 65% of the sRGB color gamut, and 49% of AdobeRGB and P3. The display’s poor colour accuracy is unhealthy information for avid gamers, with some titles missing vibrancy and looking out washed out at occasions.
Connecting to an exterior show will repair this downside – there’s a full measurement HDMI port to do exactly that – but it surely reasonably defeats the purpose of getting such a transportable machine.
The display’s poor colour accuracy is unhealthy information for avid gamers, with some titles missing vibrancy and looking out washed out at occasions
The audio system are precisely the form of weak performers you’d count on in an affordable laptop computer. There aren’t any grilles within the prime of the chassis, in order that they’re downward firing, tinny and missing in bass or excessive notes.
There’s Bluetooth 5.2 on board and a 3.5mm jack on the sting of the case, so I wouldn’t suggest utilizing them for something past Windows alert sounds. Grab one of many best gaming headsets to pair with this inexpensive rig.
Specs & Performance
- Intel Core i5-12450H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU
- Sufficient for 1080p gaming, however nothing extra
- Can run sizzling
For this type of cash, you’re going to compromise on the specs, so it’s no shock to see the GF63 hitting a low-to-mid-range degree when it comes to efficiency.
The GeForce RTX 4050 is the underside card in Nvidia’s current-gen hierarchy, however offers a good value/efficiency ratio, fits the 1080p display on the GF63, and is rather a lot higher than the Intel UHD graphics chip built-in within the CPU can be.
Ian Evenden / Foundry
It’ll drive a 1440p exterior display too, if you happen to hook it as much as the laptop computer’s HDMI port, although you’ll see a drop in framerates because of the elevated pixel depend. If you wish to play current video games at 1080p, this chip will handle it, however you might end up turning down the element ranges, and you may overlook about ray-tracing in follow although the GPU helps it.
Starting with the 12th-gen chips, Intel started mixing ‘performance’ and ‘efficiency’ cores in its CPUs, and also you get 4 of every right here. Performance cores can hyper-thread, however effectivity cores can not, so the i5-12450H within the GF63 can course of 12 software program threads concurrently, at a max turbo pace of 4.4GHz on the P cores.
If you wish to play current video games at 1080p, this chip will handle it, however you might end up turning down the element ranges
This makes it a quick processor, but it surely’s held again by choices made elsewhere. The GF63 solely has 8GB of RAM, and it’s DDR4 reasonably than the sooner DDR5. Most gaming laptops provide extra on this regard.
At least the SSD makes use of PCIe 4.0, but it surely’s not a pace demon: testing exhibits a bandwidth determine of 360MB/s, which isn’t notably spectacular. And at 512GB, it’s not going to take lengthy earlier than you fill it with video games.
When taking part in at 1080p, Far Cry New Dawn surpasses the 60fps mark, whereas in Cyberpunk 2077 the framerate averages 57fps. These are good outcomes for the worth, and the machine holds its personal in opposition to different good-value gaming laptops such because the Asus TUF Gaming A15, which is barely dearer however a step up in nearly each means.
The cooling fan begins up quickly after you gaming, producing a powerful hiss and emitting plenty of warmth from the back-left of the laptop computer’s base. You’ll definitely discover it, particularly if you happen to’re attempting to make use of the laptop computer in your laptop computer.
To compensate, you might want to show up the audio system or use a pair of headphones.
Price & Availability
At $999/£799.99, the GF63 is affordable for a gaming laptop computer, and there are sometimes offers accessible. You should buy one from Amazon within the US and Amazon or Scan within the UK.
Our roundup of the best gaming laptops under $1,000 accommodates the most effective alternate options at this value level.
Verdict
The MSI GF63 Slim for 2023 isa good worth low-end gaming laptop computer that’ll nonetheless be taking part in video games in a number of years’ time, although they received’t essentially be the newest ones at extremely settings.
It will work properly as a general-purpose laptop computer if that’s what you want, although the display is disappointing and the audio system flat and missing at each the highest and backside ends.
On the intense aspect, it’s a handsome machine that’s highly effective sufficient for on a regular basis use in addition to gaming, and it’s additionally good worth for cash.
Specs
- OS: Windows 11
- CPU: Intel Core i5-12450H
- RAM: 8GB DDR4
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 (6GB)
- Screen: 15.6in 1080x1920px, 144Hz, IPS
- Storage: 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.2, 1x USB Type-C (USB3.2 Gen1 / DP), 3x USB Type-A (USB3.2 Gen1), 1x HDMI, 1x RJ45 Ethernet
- Dimensions: 359 x 254 x 21.7 mm
- Weight: 1.86kg
This assessment initially appeared on techadvisor.com.