MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US Review: Great for Hardcore Gamers

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: At First Glance

Over the years, MSI has taken many steps to expand its presence and portfolio in the gaming laptop market. One of these steps is to create laptops that strike a balance between design and performance.

Due to its success in these areas, MSI has remained one of the most revered brands for gamers globally. Thus, to add to its long list of excellent gaming laptops, MSI released the GL62M 7REX-1896US in 2017.

The MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US is an exceptional gaming laptop that leaves nothing more to be desired in terms of performance and build quality. However, laptops of this caliber don’t come cheap.

Specifically, as of the time this review was published in March 2022, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US had a starting price of $1,999.11. Considering its expensive nature, I know you are wondering if this laptop can actually deliver a performance worthy of its price.

Well, there’s only one way to find out – read on!

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: Design, Dimension, and Weight

With the distinguished red-backlit dragon logo on its lid, there’s no mistaking that the GL62M 7REX-1896US is an MSI laptop. However, due to its semi-boxy shape, this laptop is not the most eye-catching laptop in the company’s collection of gaming laptops.

Nevertheless, when compared with some of its close competitors, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US is quite sleek with an elegant all-black finish. In fact, this laptop is not just sleek, it is also very sturdy due to its solid plastic body.

Talking about how sturdy this laptop is, its hinge is made of strong, high-quality plastic material. Hence, the hinge is very rigid, and it keeps the base and lid tightly attached together.

As a result, the lid hardly wobbles even when nudged with force. However, due to the rigidness and tightness of the hinge, it will be somewhat difficult for you to open the lid with just one hand.

On a positive note, this lid features a soft-touch matte-black finish that gives off an amazing sensation when you run your hands through it. Sadly, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US’s lid appears to be a fingerprint and smudge magnet.

Hence, to make the lid look nice and clean all the time, you might want to keep a wipe around while gaming.

Moving on to the interior, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US features a 15.6-inch display with FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Performance-wise, this FHD display is completely perfect for gaming, video streaming, and web browsing, as it delivers sharp and colorful images.

Besides that, the display is made with an IPS panel which makes it deliver wide viewing angles. Hence, viewing the laptop off-center shouldn’t be a problem as the display’s picture quality and colors will remain intact without losing accuracy.

In addition to its IPS panel, this laptop’s display also features an anti-glare coating. What this antiglare coating does is handle reflections by reducing the density of direct sunlight, and sun glares around the display’s surface.

Therefore, using the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US in bright environments or outdoors should be less bothersome and more convenient. However, as much as you will love this laptop’s display, it is surrounded by annoying thick plastic bezels.

Nevertheless, you will find a beautiful “MSI” inscription printed neatly at the center of the bottom bezel. Meanwhile, the top bezel houses an HD webcam that is ideal for video calls and regular skyping.

However, when it comes to taking selfies or groupies, this webcam is not to be considered as it delivers blurry and grainy images.

Coming down to the laptop’s deck, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US offers a chiclet-style keyboard. The keys on this keyboard are evenly spaced in a manner that looks and feels comfortable for typing.

Besides, the keys are not noisy or spongy. To make things even better, the laptop’s keyboard features a stunning RGB backlight.

As a result, typing or gaming in dark environments on the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US should be comfortable.

Looking below the laptop’s keyboard, you will notice a touchpad. This touchpad is quite spacious and features a set of integrated click buttons that are soft and clicky.

Moreover, the touchpad offers a smooth and responsive surface that makes navigation and finger-gliding easy.

For ports and connectivity, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US has more than enough ports divided between its sides. Specifically, on the right, the laptop features a USB 2.0 port, an SD card reader, and a charging port.

Meanwhile, on the left, you will find two USB Type-C ports, a USB Type-A port, and an HDMI port. Furthermore, an Ethernet port, a mini display port, a secure lock slot, and two audio jacks are also situated on the left side of the laptop.

Measuring 380 x 260 x 22-29 mm (W x D x H) and weighing 2200 g, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US is far from lightweight. However, when placed side by side with competing laptops, this MSI laptop is pretty light.

For example, the Acer Nitro 5 measures 390 x 266 x 26.75 mm (W x D x H) and weighs a massive 2700 g. Another example is the Dell Inspiron 15 7577, which measures 389 x 274.7 x 24.9 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 2650 g.

In conclusion, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US features a sleek design and a fantastic display. Also, despite its all-plastic build, the laptop is very sturdy and lighter than most of its competitors.

Hence, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US deserves a rating of eight out of ten in this design review section.

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: Processor (CPU) Performance

When it comes to the processor, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US is powered by an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor. This CPU is a powerful high-end processor that is mostly found in gaming laptops.

Furthermore, the processor is a quad-core CPU that features 6 MB cache memory. That’s not all; in terms of speed, this processor offers a base frequency of 2.80 GHz and a maximum frequency of 3.80 GHz.

Hence, due to the specs of this CPU, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US should be able to effectively play high-end games. Also, the laptop should be able to handle demanding tasks like video editing and heavy multitasking.

To back up these claims, let us proceed to discuss the laptop’s performance on the Geekbench 4 test. Geekbench 4 is a benchmark test that measures the overall CPU performance of a computer while running heavy-duty tasks.

Moreover, a high score on this test implies good processor performance. So, according to the Geekbench 4 test results, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US scored 11817 points.

This score is so impressive and high that it beats the category average of 10000 points. In fact, compared to the Dell Inspiron 15 7577, which also employs an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US performed better.

Specifically, on the Geekbench 4 benchmark test, the Dell Inspiron 15 7577 scored 11572 points.

In summary, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US features an outstanding processor that delivers nothing but excellent performance. Furthermore, this laptop outperformed most of its closest competitors on a CPU benchmark test.

Therefore, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US is worthy of a nine out of ten rating in this processor review section.

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: Memory (RAM) Performance

In terms of memory, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US comes with two DDR4-2400 MHz memory slots. Also, this laptop offers a standard 8 GB RAM on one slot and supports a maximum of 32 GB RAM.

Hence, with the help of the second memory slot, you can easily upgrade the laptop’s overall memory up to 32 GB. However, that might not be necessary because most high-end games recommend about 8 GB of RAM to run smoothly.

Nevertheless, there are a few high-end games like World of Warcraft that require 16 GB RAM or more to effectively run without affecting gameplay. Well, since this laptop supports a maximum memory of 32 GB, you can easily upgrade it to the memory requirements of such games.

However, this review article is based on the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US with 16 GB RAM. Thus, with this amount of memory, this laptop should be able to multitask seamlessly.

For instance, the laptop will perform smoothly even when it has about 20 Chrome tabs and two YouTube videos running simultaneously. Besides, switching between these browser tabs and the videos should be completely hitch-free for the laptop.

To give more insight into the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US’s performance, I will now highlight its PCMark 10 test result. Briefly, PCMark 10 is an application-based test that estimates the performance of a computer’s memory by simulating everyday productivity tasks.

Similar to the Geekbench 4 test in the CPU section, a high score on this test signifies a good memory performance. Thus, at the end of this test, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US delivered a score of 5400 points.

Comparatively, this MSI gaming laptop surpassed most of its major competitors, such as the Dell Inspiron 15 7577, which scored 4406 points.

Hence, to wrap up this memory review section, I will rate the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US a nine out of ten due to its remarkable performance.

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: Storage Options and Performance

As regards storage, MSI was generous enough to equip the GL62M 7REX-1896US with two storage drives. To be more specific, the laptop comes with a 2.5″ SATA HDD and PCIe NVMe SSD.

The 2.5″ SATA HDD offers a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB. The PCIe NVMe SSD, on the other hand, offers a maximum storage capacity of 128 GB.

Without a doubt, the above-listed storage drives and capacities should be enough for regular users to store quite a number of files and applications. However, for high-end gamers, these storage capacities might be limited.

The reason is that most high-end games usually require a large amount of storage space before installation. A typical example is Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold war which requires 219.8 GB before installation.

Thus, if you download about five of such games, there’s every possibility that you will run out of storage space. Gladly, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US features an SD card reader for storage expansion.

Hence, you should have little or nothing to worry about concerning storage on this gaming laptop. Nevertheless, if you feel the laptop’s overall storage isn’t enough, you can easily purchase an external hard drive.

Moving on, using its PCle NVMe SSD storage, let us now discuss the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US’s file transfer test result. Briefly, the file transfer test measures the speed at which a computer’s storage drive copies media files and documents.

Furthermore, the higher the “MBps” value on the file transfer test, the higher the transfer speed of the computer’s storage drive. Besides, because its SSD is used for the file transfer test, the performance of this MSI laptop should be incredible.

This is because SSDs (Solid State Drives) are the fastest storage drives available. They are way faster than the typical HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Card).

Hence, on the file transfer test, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US’ SSD copied 4.97 GB of multimedia files at a transfer rate of 141.4 MBps. Comparatively, the Dell Inspiron 15 7577, which also uses SSD, copied the same quantity of files at a transfer rate of 106 MBps.

Therefore, to end this storage review section, I will rate the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US a nine out of ten. This is mainly because the laptop is equipped with two storage drives.

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: Graphics Card Performance

For graphics, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US comes with an Intel HD Graphics 630 graphics card. In terms of speed, this graphics card offers a base frequency of 350 MHz and a maximum frequency of 1100 MHz.

However, this GPU is an integrated graphics card, meaning it is embedded into the processor. Hence, the GPU shares the system memory with the CPU in order to perform graphics-related tasks.

For this reason, the Intel HD Graphics 630 might not be able to handle graphic-demanding applications or games easily. Bearing in mind that this is a gaming laptop, I know you must be wondering why an integrated GPU.

Well, this GPU comes by default since it is built into the laptop’s processor. However, for graphics-intensive tasks and hardcore gaming, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US has a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card.

This GPU offers a base frequency of 1290 MHz and a maximum frequency of 1392 MHz. Also, as a dedicated graphics card, this graphics card features 4 GB GDDR5 VRAM.

Hence, with this GPU, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US should be able to run title AAA games smoothly. For example, the laptop should be able to deliver a frame rate of 50.8 fps while playing Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Also, while playing Forza Horizon 5, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US should be able to deliver 93 fps (frame per second).

With that being said, let us proceed to discuss the performance of the laptop on the 3DMark 11 test. 3DMark 11 is an app-based benchmark test that evaluates the 2D and 3D rendering abilities of a computer.

Furthermore, as with other benchmark tests in this article, a high score on this test signifies good graphics performance. So, based on the 3DMark 11 test results, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US scored 8766 points.

In comparison, this laptop outperforms the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro, which uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M GPU. Specifically, the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro scored 5635 points on the 3DMark 11 benchmark test.

Hence, for its outstanding performance, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US deserves a nine out of ten rating in this GPU review section.

MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US: Battery Life and Performance Review

In terms of battery, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US comes with a 6-cell 41 WHr Lithium-Ion battery. According to MSI, the runtime of this laptop with this battery should be 8 hours.

However, we cannot always trust a manufacturer’s claim. Thus, to verify the claim, I will briefly highlight the laptop’s performance on a battery rundown test.

In case you are wondering, this battery rundown test involves surfing the web repeatedly via a WIFI network until the laptop’s battery dies. So, based on the battery rundown test result, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US offers a battery runtime of 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Unfortunately, this battery runtime is below the category average of 4 hours. Also, it is less than the 8 hours that MSI claimed.

However, when compared to most of its competitors, the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US has a slightly longer battery runtime. For instance, the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro lasted 3 hours and 38 minutes on the same battery rundown test.

After thorough consideration, I will rate the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896US a seven out of ten in this battery review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The MSI GL62M 7REX-1896 is an outstanding gaming laptop that delivers incredible performance not just for gaming but also for productivity tasks. Specifically, due to its remarkable high-end CPU and dedicated GPU, this laptop offers nothing but the best.

However, like most gaming laptops, the battery performance of the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896 is flawed. Also, the laptop is quite expensive.

Regardless, this laptop delivers a performance that is worthy of its price. Hence, if you need a laptop for hardcore or competitive gaming, you should definitely consider the MSI GL62M 7REX-1896.

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