MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop: 15.6" 144Hz FHD 1080p Display, Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Win10, Black (11UGK-001)

I got this laptop primarily for gaming purposes. I had purchased an Oculus Quest 2 and wanted to try PCVR gaming. Out of the box I'd rate it a 4/5. I got some graphical VR glitching every now and then and some slowdown. Then I upgraded to 32GB of RAM and WOW that made all of the difference! No slowdown at all playing games like No Man's Sky VR in mostly Ultra settings. That is by far the most demanding VR game that I own. All other games play buttery smooth. I ended up needing more hard drive space as 1TB just is not enough anymore. Adding more space was super easy since there is an extra NVME slot on the motherboard. I recommend putting copper heatsinks on the NVME drives as well to keep them nice and cool. The other thing I recommend is getting into the BIOS into the advanced settings and ramping up the cooling. Your laptop will live longer. You have to do some magic to get to this hidden BIOS menu but there is documentation out there on the internet to get to these hidden options. Also for best VR performance, I bought a DLink VR Bridge (used with the Oculus Remote Desktop app for wireless VR). It creates a Direct WiFi 6 connection to the Oculus. I'm not gonna lie, I've got some money wrapped up in this laptop, but fully worth it! The only real downside is the heat. Since this beast has copper tubing running all through it to cool it, don't expect to do hard core gaming on your lap without a cooling station underneath it! Those fans just push that hot air out like a rocket....onto your lap. For VR gaming, I just set the laptop on its side and set it on the floor. That allows cooling to happen without roasting my legs.

This MSI is quite the little powerhouse, it runs any game I throw at it at a steady 60 FPS with max graphical settings. I initially stress tested it with Doom Eternal, and it was as though I was playing it on my desktop. If there were any differences they were so negligible I didn't notice.On top of that with the 16 gigs of ram as opposed to 8 gigs, which is usually put into gaming laptops, makes multitasking during gameplay a non issue. Whether you're recording gameplay, or listening to spotify, or both!The MSI is also built with metal casing unlike some of it's competitors, such as the Acer Razor, which is pure plastic. This gives it a sturdy feel, and adds a bit of protection.Now, I did say this is a powerhouse so it does suck battery life rather fast. Granted there are options to conserve power, but even then at the very, very most you may get half a dozen hours, but more likely closer to four, or five. This for me isn't a deal breaker since I generally have a power socket nearby, and when I do not it's only for and hour or two max.I will also point out that this machine gets hot, real hot the harder you push it. So I highly suggest using a cooling pad with it.Other than that it's been running magnificently over the last few weeks since I got it. If you're looking for a really good gaming laptop, this is worth the price, and then some.I highly recommend!

I know MSI haven't been in the gaming computer business that long, but they have a great reputation as a motherboard manufacturer, so based on that, I decided to try them out. I'm glad I did. I've been surprised at how very, very good this laptop is.Graphics - the RTX 3070 handles Cyberpunk (ray tracing off) at a consistent 75 fps, FFXIV on maximum settings runs at 140+ fps, GTA V on maximum settings runs at 80+ fps, Witcher 3 runs at 90+ fps, etc. all on max/ultra settings.Processor - I haven't run into anything that's slowed it down yet.RAM - 16GB has been fine. I haven't run into any need for more based on the games I play.Storage - the 512 GB turned out to be a little small for my needs, so I had to add a WD Black SSD and swap that to my main drive, though it's not MSI's fault that I didn't buy a big enough drive.Monitor - Has great blacks and contrast, but no touchscreen. I don't care about that, though.Build - the shell is made of a sort of brittle plastic that cracked with I was peeling the bottom off to add the new hard drive. Don't expect it to survive a drop.Battery - I honestly don't know. I wanted a laptop because I have a home base with a monitor and keyboard, but I also need to move from desk to desk where I always have a power supply. I rarely need to use it on the go, per se. I've read it can be low, though.So, based on my needs, I'm super happy with how this laptop performs. If you really wanted to spend an extra $2000+ to push those FPS into the 200+ range, I guess you could, but I don't really see the need. Very strongly recommended!