MSI GE75 Raider Review: A Category-defining Gaming Laptop

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MSI GE75 Raider: At First Glance

The MSI GE75 Raider 10SGS is a 2020 release of the MSI GE75 series. The latest version delivers an overall better performance than the previous version – the MSI GE75 Raider 9SG. 

MSI has offered the laptop at a starting price of $2,479.00. Although the price is subject to change over time, the $2,479.00 price tag is valid at the time we published this article in July 2021.

Having discussed the price of the laptop and hinted at its performance, let’s get into the real business that this review is about – helping you decide if this laptop meets your needs.

MSI GE75 Raider: Design, Dimension & Weight

The MSI GE75 Raider 10SGS still maintains the stunning design from its predecessor. Its sturdy but yet aesthetic design focuses mainly on functionality rather than looks.

MSI has constructed the laptop out of black metal and plastic. Specifically, the lid and keyboard are made of metal while the bottom panel and display frame are made of plastic.

On the lid of the laptop, you’ll find the glossy dragon shield MSI logo which illuminates in red. Also, on both sides of the logo, there are two red raised strips which MSI calls the 3D dragon spines.

When you open the lid, although you need both hands to do that, you’ll find the 17.3-inch display. The hinges hold up the display allowing it to lean back to an angle of 160 degrees.

The display has slimmer bezels on its top and sides while it has a thicker bottom bezel. As you might expect, the top bezel houses the front camera.

Moving to the keyboard, the laptop has a Steelseries chiclet keyboard that is common to MSI gaming laptops. The keyboard has a full-sized keys layout as well as a Numpad.

The keys have a deep travel of 1.8mm and they require about 70g force to actuate. Consequently, the keys are responsive to touch and they offer good feedback.

Furthermore, the keyboard features a per-key RGB illumination. You can control the RGB lighting using the Steelseries Engine software.

It also has preset lighting profiles that you can change via a button on the laptop’s deck.

Next, let us talk about the touchpad – it is sufficiently sized with a dimension of 4.2 x 2.4-inch. The touchpad is made of matte black plastic with a red outline around it. 

Moreover, the touchpad is smooth, responsive, and supports precision drivers. This means that swipes, taps, and gestures work seamlessly on it.

The touchpad itself is not clickable. Instead, it has two large mechanical buttons, which give a strong clicky sound when pressed.

Moving on to the laptop’s ports, the MSI GE75 Raider has a rich selection of ports especially on its left side, you’ll find an RJ-45 ethernet jack.

Additionally, there is an HDMI port, a Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.1 Gen 2, and USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C. Moreover, there are separate headphone and microphone jacks and finally a security lock slot. 

On the right-hand side, there’s an SD card reader, a pair of USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, and a power connector. The 3 USB  ports on the laptop are illuminated in red with an intensity that you can control in the MSI Dragon Center software.

The MSI GE75 Raider is not the most portable 17-inch laptop when it comes to the laptop’s size. However, it is compact and lighter than most 17-inch gaming laptops.

Specifically, it measures 397 x 268.5 x 27.5 mm and weighs 2660g. The laptop is heavier than the Gigabyte Aero 15 X9.

The Gigabyte measures 355.6 x 248.92 x 17.78 mm and weighs 2,131 g.

In contrast, the laptop is more compact and lighter than the Alienware 17 R5. Specifically, the Alienware measures 424.18 x 332.74 x 30.48 mm and weighs 445.21 g.

Finally, the MSI GE75 Raider is an aesthetic and stunning laptop with a solid build despite being partly made of plastic. Therefore, I’ll rate it a nine out of ten in this aspect.

MSI GE75 Raider: Processor (CPU) Performance

The MSI GE75 Raider 10SGS does not only looks stunning but also packs powerful internals. The laptop is powered by a 10th gen Comet Lake-H processor which is a major update to the 9th gen Coffee Lake-H of its predecessor.

Specifically, the laptop ships with an octa-core Intel Core i9-10980HK processor. The processor has a 16 GB cache memory!

Additionally, the laptop has a base frequency of 2.40 GHz and a maximum frequency of 5.30 GHz.

With its powerful Core i9 processor, the model I tested is a reliable productivity machine. It is also capable of handling CPU-intensive tasks.

In order to evaluate the processor of the unit I tested, I carried out a Cinebench R15 benchmark test. Based on the outcome of the test, the laptop scored 1,347 points.

Impressively, the MSI GE75 Raider 10SGS performed better than the Lenovo Legion Y740. To be precise, the Lenovo Legion Y740 scored 1,225 points.

On the other hand, the laptop performed woefully in comparison with the Razer Blade Pro 17. Specifically, the Razer Blade scored 1,549 points.

In conclusion, I’ll rate the MSI GE75 Raider a seven for its processor performance in the benchmark test.

MSI GE75 Raider: Memory (RAM) Performance

When it comes to memory, the MSI GE75 Raider has two 3200MHz DDR4 RAM slots. The maximum capacity of memory the laptop support is 64 GB.

This implies that each slot can take a maximum RAM capacity of 32 GB. I tested an MSI GE75 Raider with a RAM configuration of 32 GB RAM.

As a highly productive machine, the MSI GE75 Raider will mostly be saddled with a lot of multitasks. Impressively, the laptop is a competent multitasker.

Its multitasking ability was apparent when I had about 20 chrome browser tabs running at the same time. One of these tabs was streaming a Youtube video while the others were all performing different tasks.

Despite these tasks running concurrently, the laptop didn’t lag or stutter, giving the assurance that it can even take more if you need it to. Moreover, switching between these opened tabs was easy.

In addition to the multitasking test, I also carried out a PC mark 10 benchmark test. The PC Mark 10 test is a standard benchmark test that measures Windows 10 PC performance.

In the PC Mark 10 test, the MSI GE75 Raider tops the performance chart among the competitors I pitched it against. Specifically, the laptop scored 6,268 points.

In comparison, the Razer Blade Pro 17 scored 5641 points while the Lenovo Legion 740 scored 5,894 points.

In conclusion, I‘ll rate the memory performance of the MSI GE75 Raider a nine for its impressive score in the benchmark test.

MSI GE75 Raider: Storage Options & Performance

On the storage front, the MSI GE75 Raider has an M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD slots and a 2.5-inch SATA III slot. The model I reviewed shipped with a 1 TB PCIe SSD.

The MSI GE75 Raider copied 4.97GB of files at a rate of 727 MBps in 7 seconds. That’s faster than all the competing laptops I pitched it against.

To further determine how the SSD of my test model faired among competitors, I performed an AS SSD benchmark test. Based on the test result, the laptop recorded a sequential read speed of 2,036.44 MBps and a sequential write speed of 1,834.63 MBps respectively.

In comparison with the Razer Blade Pro 17, the MSI GE75 Raider had a better performance. Specifically, the Razer Blade Pro 17 recorded a sequential read speed of 1,809.65 MBps and a sequential write speed of 1,796.5 MBps.

The laptop also has a spring-loaded SD card reader which you can use for expanding the storage space. The SD card of my test model recorded a transfer speed of 24.7 MBps which is critically slow compared to the competitor’s performance.

Speaking of the competitors, the Razer Blade 17 Pro recorded an SD card transfer speed of 187.2 MBps. Additionally, the Dell XPS 15 9500 recorded an SD card transfer speed of 198.5 MBps.

Finally, I’ll rate the MSI GE75 Raider an eight for its impressive performance in the benchmark test.

MSI GE75 Raider: Graphics Card Performance

As you would expect, the MSI GE75 Raider is equipped with a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics card. The graphics card has an 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM.

Additionally, the GPU has a base frequency of 1650 MHz and a boost frequency of 1815 MHz. Undoubtedly, the laptop packs a very powerful graphics card subsequently, beating all the competitors I pitched it against.

I performed a 3D mark graphics benchmark test that had the laptop record an impressive 24,623 points. Meanwhile, the Asus Zephyrus scored 21,515 points in the same test.

Moreover, the MSI GE75 Raider also outperformed the Acer Predator Triton 700 which recorded a score of 18,120 points.

Moving on to the real-life gaming performance of the laptop, it recorded an extraordinary frame rate. This is evident from playing Shadow Of The Tomb Raider at the highest preset and a resolution of 1980 x 1080.

At ultra settings, the game played at a frame rate of 109 fps. Also, at high settings the game played at a frame rate of 115 fps.

Furthermore, at medium settings the game played at a frame rate of 120 fps. Finally, at low settings, it played at a frame rate of 146 fps.

In conclusion, the MSI GE75 Raider has proven to be a capable gaming machine for playing the latest AAA games. Therefore, I will rate it a nine for its impressive graphics performance.

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MSI GE75 Raider: Battery Life & Performance

The battery is definitely not one of the strong points of the laptop. However, this is not surprising as most gaming laptops are guilty of this as well.

The MSI GE75 Raider is powered by a 65 Whr Li-ion battery which promises you up to 4 hours of battery life. I performed a battery rundown test to determine if the battery truly last 4 hours as claimed.

The test involves continuous browsing of the web over Wifi at 150 nits of brightness. Based on the test result, the laptop lasted just 2 hours and 49 minutes.

This is not impressive at all, as its performance falls below an average class battery life of 3 hours 16 minutes. Furthermore, the MSI GE75 Raider also underperformed when compared to its competitors.

For instance, the Alienware 17 R5 lasted 3 hours 47 minutes. Meanwhile, the Gigabyte Aero 15 X9 lasted 3 hours 34 minutes.

As a result of its unimpressive battery life, you cannot use the laptop for a long time without the need to charge it frequently. Moreover, it is recommended to plug the laptop into power while in use.

Therefore, I’ll rate the MSI GE75 Raider a five out of ten for its below-par battery life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The MSI GE75 Raider is a powerful gaming laptop that boasts impressive performances. Its gaming performance is especially category-breaking, beating all the competing laptops we pitched it against.

However, the laptop is not cheap, specifically, it cost a whopping $2,378. Therefore, if this price is above what you have budgeted for, you can purchase the Lenovo Legion Y740 instead.

I hope you found this MSI GE75 Raider review helpful. If you found the review helpful, we would love to hear from you.

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