If you looking at upgrading your R5000 laptop to a more gaming orientated laptop, then MSI’s GP63 Leopard 8RE must be in your top 5 list to get. The MSI GP63 Leopard 8RE sports an Intel i7-8750H processor that runs at 2.2GHz(and boosts up to 4.1GHz), 16GB DDR4 ram and a Nvidia Geforce GTX1060 with 6GB DDR5 ram. The GP63 Leopard is a mid-level gaming laptop, and it does show in some places. The bottom of the laptop features a plastic bezel and to me not too many rubber contact points. Now, this is not a too big a deal, but it did sometimes move around unexpectedly compared to the more higher-tear laptops.
The GP63 Leopard also features a brushed aluminium LCD cover and the same finish is found around the keyboard. Steelseries once again supplied the RGB backlit keyboard for the GP63 Leopard, it also features MSI’s signature Silver Lining Print on the keys. The keyboard for me is always a really good selling point on any MSI Gaming laptop, it feels solid and there is very little ghosting on it.
Another good feature that the GP63 Leopard has is a system optimization feature, this lets you free up RAM and prioritize gaming applications when you play. But does it play games? Yes, Yes it does with flying colours. I fired up my trusty Rise of the Tomb Raider, Total War Warhammer II and The Witcher III. In all the games I got a full 60frames and higher on High settings. I did see a drop in frame rate when I switched ultra on The Witcher III, going as low as 45fps.
The heat distribution on the GP63 Leopard is also fairly good, seeing as most of your warm components sit at the back of the laptop. By doing this your front section of the GP63 is fairly cool and gets warmer closer to the back of the laptop. On normal settings, the laptop is slightly loud and goes a bit louder as soon as you activate the Cooler Boost. You can do this by just pressing a switch that is located on the top right-hand corner of the GP63 Leopard.
The audio output on the GP63 is powered by 2x 3 watt speakers compared to the more expensive models that do include a small subwoofer. So don’t expect massive sound from the unit. I would suggest getting a good pair of headphones to run with the unit. Another good thing about the laptop is that it only way in at 2.2kg with the battery inserted!
Overall I was really impressed with the GP63 Leopard. Out of the box, it features good performance in most games and the fact that is a bit future upgradable(changing the HDD to an SSD and installing another M.2 drive) makes it a worthwhile buy for most gamers looking for a mid level gaming laptop as an upgrade. The sound on the unit can be a bit low, but nothing a good pair of headphones can’t fix. I did feel that it needs a bit more rubber feet on the unit to support it better on any surface(but that is just me). This is your local mad scientist signing out…..must look at getting one for rAge