MSI GP66 Leopard 10UG-217 15.6″ 240Hz 3.5ms Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7-10870H RTX3070 32GB 1TB NVMe SSD Win10 VR Ready

Bought this laptop to allow me to do some relaxed gaming/simming on the couch while watching TV with the family, mainly MSFS2020, Elite Dangerous, No Mans Sky etc, this laptop is so great at it that it easily beats out my much more expensive simming rig tower PC in TimeSpy benchmark this got 10,321 compared to my i7-7700k/1080Ti 8,470.
Pros:
Great value for 8 core, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD
3070 Max-P with MUX
Great keyboard
High FPS screen
Runs MSFS2020 on max settings at 30FPS+
Runs CP3077 RT settings at 60FPS+
Nice understated case that doesn’t scream gamer
Has a decent webcam for Zoom
Cons:
Touchpad is fairly basic and small compared to competitors
Battery doesn’t last long enough
Fans can be loud at full speed
Overall I’m very satisfied with this laptop as a gaming/simming PC, great value and it runs everything I’ve tried at top settings without missing a beat, put my twice as expensive desktop/tower sim rig PC to shame.

An honest consumer review of the MSI GP66 Leopard 10UG-217.

OVERVIEW:

I recently replaced my venerable MSI GE620 laptop (10 years old) with the GP66 Leopard, so understandably the performance gain is massive. What I particularly like is that the GP66 is the more understated sibling to the GE66, but packs as much punch for less money. It retains the same ‘Stealth Fighter’ style rear vents and a similar chassis design, but loses the RGB lighting to the front of the unit – a move that I prefer. The SteelSeries 3 per-key RGB keyboard remains, and is excellent to use with a positive keypress and reasonable software to use. The only gripe I have with it is that it sometimes drops a config if I use the Fn key to turn off the trackpad.

SCREEN and GFX:

The 240Hz 1080p panel is manufactured by Sharp (SHP14C5) and is a very nice example; there is a little bit of light bleed but overall, its not that noticeable. It can be used with the NVidia RTX3070 in either an optimus setting, or as a dGPU. The latter allows the GFX to bypass the CPU based iGPU and results in better framerates in game. This setting is controlled via the Dragon Centre App that comes preinstalled.

HDMI out works upto 4K @ 60Hz and I’ve not had any issues connecting to either a monitor or TV. It should also be possible to output via the Thunderbolt 3 port but I have not experimented with this yet. That same port should allow VR to be used.

The RTX 3070 is rated at 115W at stock, but can dynamically boost to 130W if the CPU load is lower. There are various videos explaining this feature so I’ll not explain further. Of the limited testing I’ve done so far, it has handled everything I’ve thrown at it at 1080p in Ultra settings or similar.

CPU:

The intel i7-10870H (2.2 – 5.0GHz, 8C/16T) acquits itself well, despite the inadequacies of the Comet-Lake die when it comes to TDP and heat dissipation. The 870H is a down clocked version of the 875H by about 100Mhz; I’ll be honest I doubt that the difference would be that noticeable. While there is lots of hype surrounding the AMD Ryzen 5000 series of mobile CPUs, the supply issues means that those laptops are hard to come by, and sell out fast. Intel’s 11th gen is still sometime away, so this represents good value for money right now.

Noise or Heat – the choice is yours! The Cooler Boost 5.0 does an excellent job of getting rid of the heat, but at a cost. At full pelt the fans are noisy, and headphones are a must. Silent mode is relatively quiet, although the fans will kick in every now and then, their intrusion isn’t overbearing. However performance will suffer as a result. For me, the Balance profile is just that – balanced between the two, and delivers acceptable results. Don’t be surprised if your CPU temps reach as high as 100 deg C; my previous laptop (yep, that 10 year old one) did that too, and it lasted twice the average lifespan! The design limit is 105 deg C so some people get squeamish, but that is what the thermal throttle is there for. In realtime play, I didn’t notice any noticeable affect.

M.2 SSD:

Ok, so there isn’t much info on what is installed – I anecdotally saw WD SN730’s on the GS66 and was curious as to what I’d find here; turns out its a Samsung PM991 in the 2280 form factor with 1Tb of storage. It is rated at 2300Mb/s read and 1350Mb/s write, although my testing yielded 2170 read and 1442 write. It may be beneficial to replace this with a faster M.2 in the future.

RAM:

This model shipped with 32 Gb of Samsung 3200MHz ram, and it appears to be running at that speed from the factory. 32 Gb is probably more that I need, but is a welcome boost at this price point.

I/O PORTS:

What I like aboiut the GP and GE series is that there are I/O ports to the rear of the chassis (PWR, HDMI, Ethernet, USB C (TB3)). At 5.25lbs and 0.92in thick its not a true light and thin, so is more likely to be sat on a desk; rear ports allow the essential cables to be kept out of the prime real estate to the left and right of the deck. The headphone jack is to the left as is 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A with the other 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A to the right.

Despite the MSI USA site stating the GP66 features an SD/XC card reader, there is NO slot for this – not a problem for me as I already have a USB 3.2 Card reader for my DSLR as uses CF cards, but might put some content creators off.

SUMMARY:

A great laptop for the mid-range market, which is serious enough to keep up with the big boys, but subtle enough to relax in a Cafe or Library without screaming ‘Gamer’. The 10th gen i7 processor is a little old now, but still provides enough grunt for the AAA titles out there. The RTX3070 is really the center of attention here, and rightly so – 3dMark benchmarks at factory settings easily match that of a RTX2080 desktop card, so as an upgrade from the GeForce 540M its like going from a horse and cart to a Mustang.

Yes there are other laptops at the same pricepoint that offer true ‘thin and light’ capability, but the performance penalty is quite large, and there are stronger performers out there, but for a subtle understated look with real power hidden behind its matt shadow black exterior, the GP66 is worth every dollar – and is considerably cheaper here than I’d have to pay in good ol’ Blighty for the single SKU that MSI are releasing there. I’ll even put up with a US keyboard.