The new MSI GS66 gaming laptop has just arrived for testing and it’s got some nice improvements
over the older GS65. Let’s check it out in this initial first look and see what’s
on offer.
I’ve got an engineering sample here as the GS66 hasn’t officially launched yet, so
things could be a little different compared to the final product which isn’t yet available
at the time of making this video.
The GS66 is all matte black with a metallic finish. The design is cleaner looking compared
to the older GS65 in my opinion. The lid just has a subtle MSI logo in the center near the
top, and the interior is all matte black too. Underneath has the same metallic finish with
air vents towards the back.
Unfortunately I’m not able to go in depth into the specs or share performance numbers
at this time, so make sure you’re subscribed for the upcoming videos that will cover all
of that information.
Looking inside though there’s some great news, unlike the older GS65 the motherboard
is not upside down, so it’s much easier to access the memory and storage for upgrades.
There are two NVMe M.2 slots, two memory slots for dual channel and it comes with Killer
WiFi 6.
For cooling there are 7 heatpipes and 3 fans, I’ll probably do a whole dedicated video
to GS66 thermals to cover this in depth, so again make sure you’re subscribed.
My unit does have a MUX switch, so it’s possible for the user to disable or enable
optimus, which is great to see.
The bottom has the large 99.9Wh battery, which is the largest legal limit for a laptop and
something I hope we start seeing more of going forward. As I’m still in the early days
of testing and because battery tests take multiple days to complete, I won’t know
how well it goes until the upcoming full review video.
MSI also noted the hinge improvements that have been made with this generation. Many
people in the comments of my previous video mentioned hinge issues in the past with older
models, so it’s great to see they’ve made some improvements. Again, it’s still early
days and without using the machine long term it’s difficult for me to say how well these
changes help, but as far as I can tell it looks like we’ve got some solid metal hinges.
The screen in my unit is a 1080p 300Hz panel, but there’s also a 4K presumably 60Hz option.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s also 144Hz or 240Hz with 300Hz at the top end,
but we’ll have to wait and see. Colours and contrast seem good with this panel, however
brightness is down a little from the 300 nits I’d like to see. Even with top end hardware
though we’re probably only going to see frame rates high enough to utilize this 300Hz
in esports titles. There’s a camera above the screen and it’s got Windows Hello support.
The keyboard has been nice to type with so far, however my engineering sample apparently
has an older design. The GS66 that will ship to customers will have a wider left control
key with the function key on the right.
There are front facing speakers just below the keyboard on either side, and so far they
sound quite loud but otherwise pretty average quality-wise. The precision touchpad is quite
wide and so far has worked well.
Ports on the left include power input, Type-C Thunderbolt 3 with 4 lanes, HDMI 2.0 output
and USB 3.2 Type-A port. The right has a 3.5mm audio combo jack, second Type-C port, though
just USB 3.2 for this one, two more USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and 2.5 gigabit ethernet facing
the preferred way. The back just has air exhaust vents, with more on the side that has the
two fans.
I wasn’t able to charge the GS66 while running with Type-C, however it does have up to 100
watts of power delivery for charging other devices.
MSI list the weight as 2.1kg, though mine was closer to 2.2, and with the 230 watt power
brick and cables for charging the total rises to over 3kg. The dimensions are on the slimmer
side for a 15” gaming laptop, however it’s a couple of millimeters thicker than the older
GS65, which I think was a good move as the chassis seems more solid as a result, and
realistically I think under 2cm is still a great place to be, gotta have some room for
cooling after all.
Aside from specs, I’m sure you all also want to know pricing and availability. Unfortunately
I don’t have that information at this time, but should have more details by the time I
put together the full review.
So far the GS66 is looking like a nice improvement over the older model in terms of the features
on offer, again I can’t share any performance numbers at this time, but I’ll have videos
on the channel covering gaming performance, thermals, and more once that’s possible,
so until then make sure you’re subscribed for future tech videos like this one.