Msi Gl63 8Re 629 Review A Performance Over Looks Gaming Laptop

In this review, I have taken my time to analyze the design, processor, and memory capacity of the laptop. Not only that but I have also analyzed its storage, graphics, and battery life. I also went ahead to include benchmark tests results where available to further prove the laptop’s abilities. Additionally, I have made comparisons with some other laptops in its category. Finally, I have offered my ratings at the end of each section to tell you how I think the laptop performed. When you finish reading this review, I believe you will have all you need to make the right purchasing decision.

My Initial Thoughts

Laptops dedicated to gaming are not new to the market but, they have evolved over years. This is because more games are being developed most of which require strong graphics and vivid displays to enjoy. Hence, hard-core gamers are constantly on the lookout for laptops that can give the exciting gaming experience they desire. In November 2018, MSI a leading gaming laptop manufacturer launched the MSI GL63 8RE-629. This laptop is a mid-range gaming laptop for gamers who do not want to spend so much. That said, to find out what the design, specifications, and performance of this laptop are, read on.

MSI GL63 8RE-629 Design, Dimension, and Weight Review

As a result of its budget class, the chassis of the MSI GL63 8RE-629 does not particularly look or feel premium. However, most gamers do not even buy a gaming laptop for its looks or craftsmanship. MSI used brushed metal for the laptop’s interior and the lid while the sides and bottom are made of plastic. Meanwhile, a combination of plastic and metal chassis has been the design pattern of many MSI gaming laptops released in recent years. Thankfully, this design pattern gives the laptops a nice contrasting aesthetics. Similarly, the chassis of the MSI GL63 8RE-629 is well rounded and there have no sharp edges and corners. Additionally, the chassis has a matte finish. Coming to how sturdy the laptop is, there seems to be a fair amount of flex on the lid. Therefore, for preventive measures, endeavor to always put the laptop in a protective sleeve when carrying it in your backpack. Talking about the lid, it has a broad MSI logo at its center. The red logo gives the laptop away as a gaming laptop from afar. Having described the lid, now let us see what is under it. When you open the lid, the 15.6-inch screen will perhaps be the first thing you notice. The display is surrounded by relatively thin bezels. The bottom bezel has an MSI branding while the top bezel has a 720p HD resolution camera on it. The camera can be used for making video chats with friends via Skype if need be. Proceeding to the display, the first thing I will talk about is the display resolution. To that end, MSI used an FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution display for this laptop. Just before you feel disappointed that it does not come with a higher resolution display, you should understand that this display will do fine for daily use. The screen contents will be satisfactorily sharp. For display brightness, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 measures a maximum brightness of 340 nits which is quite decent. Due to the sufficient brightness of this laptop’s display, you will have no trouble using it indoors and outdoors. In addition to that, the display of this laptop also has a matte surface and not a glossy one. The matte surface of the display is also referred to as an anti-glare coating. The advantage of display surfaces with an anti-glare coating is that they prevent light reflections when using the laptop in sunny environments. Another interesting feature of the MSI GL63 8RE-629 display is that it has an LED backlight. This LED backlight shines bright and makes the display bright enough for use in bright environments. Next up, let’s talk about the display panel on this laptop. In that regard, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 uses an IPS panel which is applaudable for a gaming laptop. For better understanding, IPS panel displays are quite popular for having very good color accuracy. Most importantly, they also deliver better viewing angles than other display types such as VA (vertical alignment) and TN (twisted nematic) displays. Due to the impressive viewing angle of this laptop’s display, you will get to enjoy colorful display content from every angle that you view it. Finally, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 does not come with a touchscreen. However, most gamers do not really care about having a touchscreen gaming laptop. Having said so much about the display of this laptop, let us talk about the hinges. You will find a single long hinge below the bottom bezel. The laptop’s hinge keeps the display in a good position and allows it to bend back to about 160 degrees. However, the hinge is stiff as a result of that, you will require both hands to lift up the lid. So far, we have discussed all the features you will find on the upper part of this laptop, now let us move on to the palm rest of this laptop. Like I said earlier, the interior of this laptop is made of plastic and the palm rest belongs there. Although the plastic material feels cheap, it is a bit relieving that it does not register fingerprints. As for the keyboard, it meets the standard of keyboards you will find on most gaming laptops. However, as MSI will have it, this keyboard is known as the SteelSeries and you will find it on most MSI laptops. As a signature of most gaming laptops, the keys have red backlighting and an optional per-key RGB backlighting. In case you don’t know, RGB lighting means red, blue, and green LEDs which makes the keyboard colorful. The keyboard backlight is not the only interesting thing about it, the keyboard also has a well-structured layout. Most of the keys including the arrow keys are full-sized but, the dedicated NumPad has smaller keys. The Windows key is on the right as you will find on every other MSI laptop. There is also an option of switching the Windows and FN keys which can be done by using the included Dragon Center app. Another thing you should note about the keyboard is that the Delete key takes an odd position at the top of the NumPad, and not above the Backspace key. Nonetheless, the keys on this laptop feel soft to touch, they render good feedback and the keyboard is very quiet when typing. Now, let us talk about the touchpad. For mouse replacement, MSI employed a non-clickable touchpad with embedded right and left clicks. The touchpad has an average size and is also made of plastic. Overall, it feels smooth to touch, and gestures like swipes and taps work well. Unfortunately, there is no fingerprint sensor on this laptop. Therefore you can only secure your laptop by using passwords. At this point, let us discuss the speakers and audio performance of the MSI GL63 8RE-629. MSI calls the sound system here “giant speakers” because it produces a loud sound. The 2 x 3 W built-in speakers and built-in microphone deliver a sound that is enough to fill a medium-size room.Therefore for a medium-size room, you might not need an external speaker. Next up are the ports and connectivity of this laptop. Thankfully, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 offers almost everything you will need except a ThunderBolt port. Specifically, on the right edge of the laptop, you will find an SD card reader, two USB3.1 Gen1 ports, and a power jack. In addition to that, you will also find Still, on the right, there is also a USB3.1 Gen1 port, a USB Type-C Gen2 port, and a headphone jack. Meanwhile, on the left, there is a Kensington Lock slot, an Ethernet port, one USB 3.1 Gen1 port, HDMI, and a mini-DisplayPort. To round up this design section, let us talk about the weight and dimension of the MSI GL63 8RE-629. speaking of which the laptop weighs 2200 g. For dimension, it measures 383 x 260 x 29 mm (W x D x H). Considering its weight and size, I can say that this laptop has a decent form factor and weight for a 15-inch gaming laptop. Comparatively, the Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-572 which is also a 15-inch gaming laptop weighs 2700 g. For dimension, it meausres 390 x 266 x 26.7 mm (W x D x H). Hence, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 is 500 g lighter than the Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-572. Meanwhile, the Acer Predator Helios 300 is not the only 15-inch laptop that is heavier than the MSI GL63 8RE-629. As a matter of fact, many 15-inch gaming laptops are far heavier than the MSI GL63 8RE-629. After carefully considering the upsides and downsides in the design of the MSI GL63 8RE-629, I give it a rating of seven out of ten.

MSI GL63 8RE-629 Processor (CPU) Performance Review

Here, MSI employs an Intel Core i7-8750H processor to handle the data processing of the MSI GL63 8RE-629. This processor is a Hexa-core processor. Just to be clear, a Hexa-core processor is a processor with six processor cores. These six cores have the capability to work on different tasks independently. Hence, a Hexa-core processor will render faster performance and handle more tasks simultaneously than a dual-core or quad-core processor. In addition to its cores, the Intel Core i7-8750H processor has a 2.20 GHz base frequency and 4.10 GHz boost frequency. Not just that but it also has a cache memory of 9 MB. Performance-wise, I believe that the laptop can execute nearly any task you throw at it with relative ease. Multi-tasking and playing games will also be a delight on this laptop. However, let us ascertain its processing capability by considering its Cinebench R15 benchmark test result. Let me first state that the Cinebench R15 benchmark test estimates the overall processing power of a computer system. It achieves this by evaluating all the laptop’s processor cores. Therefore, the Cinebench R15 renders two results – the single-core test results and the multi-core test results. The single-core test is for determining the processing power of a single processing core. On the other hand, the multi-core test shows the processing ability of all cores (six cores in the case of this laptop). For easy interpretation of the test results, simply note that a higher score represents greater processor performance. According to the Cinebench R15 test results, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 had 170 points in its single-core test. Whereas it scored 954 points in the multi-core test. Comparatively, the Lenovo Legion Y730 15inch which also uses an Intel Core i7-8750H processor had 169 points in the single-core test. Meanwhile, in the multi-core test, it had 1168 points. In conclusion, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 features a high-end processor, and from the test result, it is a great performer. Hence, a rating of nine out of ten is good enough for the laptop.

MSI GL63 8RE-629 Memory (RAM) Performance Review

When it comes to memory, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 comes with DDR4 2666 MHz memory type. Furthermore, the laptop has two memory slots and its standard memory size is 16 GB. Thankfully, the maximum memory it supports is 32 GB, all thanks to the double memory slots. What this simply implies is that you can add another 16 GB of memory to the standard memory size to achieve a bigger memory of 32 GB. As expected, increasing the memory size means better performance. However, even with 16 GB of RAM, this laptop can perform multiple tasks satisfactorily at the same time. Coming down to performance, with the 16 GB of memory, you can comfortably open up to 20-30 Chrome tabs open at the same time. You can also be working on spreadsheets while these tabs are opened. For more performance verification, let’s see how this laptop performed on a PCMark 8 test. If you are wondering what a PCMark 8 test is, it is a benchmark test that assesses the memory performance of a computer. Additionally, a higher score on the PCMark 8 test shows the performance will be better. Talking about scores, in this test the MSI GL63 8RE-629 scored 4,415 points. Comparatively, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 which uses a 4 GB DDR4 3200MHz memory had a better performance with a score of 4,811 points. From the result above, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 proves its ability to handle multiple tasks and it has expandable memory. Therefore, I will be rating the laptop seven out of ten in this section of the review.

MSI GL63 8RE-629 Storage Option and Performance Review

Coming to storage, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 offers two storage options. There is an MSI GL63 8RE-629 model available with a 1 TB 2.5″ 7200 RPM SATA HDD storage. Also, there is an MSI GL63 8RE-629 model with 128 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD storage. As you can see, the HDD storage type has a bigger storage capacity than the SSD storage type. However, the SSD offers a faster storage speed than HDD storage. This means files will open and save quickly on the SSD storage. In this MSI GL63 8RE-629 review, our focus will be on the performance of this laptop. Our focus for this performance test is a model of this laptop with a 1 TB HDD storage. Now let us analyze the storage performance of this laptop on the CrystalDiskMark benchmark. Firstly, the CrystalDiskMark benchmark is a test tool that calculates how the laptop’s storage executes tasks. To deliver on that, the CrystalDiskMark benchmark assesses the read and write speed of the storage. For better understanding, “read” speed tells how fast a computer opens files. Whereas “write” speed tells how fast a computer can save a file. In addition to that, higher read and write speeds in the CrystalDiskMark test represent faster performance. Moving to the results, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 had 503.5 MB/s as its sequential read speed. It also had a sequential write speed of 462.89 MB/s. In comparison, the Lenovo 330S had a better sequential read speed of 885.6MB/s. However, it had a lower sequential write speed of 158.2MB/s. It is important to note that the Lenovo 330S uses a 1 TB SATA HDD storage. In addition to its primary storage capacity, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 also has a slot for a 3-in-1 card reader. Therefore, if you need more storage space, you can use an SD card for that. In conclusion, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 offers two storage options and an SD card slot. Hence, I will be rating it eight out of ten in this section.

MSI GL63 8RE-629 Graphics Card Performance Review

The MSI GL63 8RE-629 is available in two graphics options. The first is an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 which is only useful for performing light graphics tasks. This graphics card has a 350 MHz base frequency and 1100 MHz boost frequency. Because the MSI GL63 8RE-629 is a gaming laptop, there is a need for a more powerful graphics card than the Intel UHD Graphics 630. Hence, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 could also ship with a dedicated graphics card for the purpose of gaming and other intensive graphics works. The dedicated graphics is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card. This GPU has a 1506 MHz base frequency, 1708 MHz boost frequency, and a 6 GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM. With its dedicated VRAM, you can trust the MSI GL63 8RE-629 to handle gaming and other demanding graphics tasks with ease. In fact, the gaming performance of this laptop is excellent as it recorded a frame rate that is 10% higher than average. For example, when used to play The witcher 3, it recorded 138.7 fps while the Lenovo Legion Y720 recorded 118 fps. Let’s also consider the graphics rendering ability of the MSI GL63 8RE-629 using the 3DMark 11 benchmark test. In the 3DMark 11 test, a higher score means better performance. Hence, from the 3DMark test, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 scored 15,411 points. Thankfully, it outperformed another laptop that uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card. The laptop I am talking about is the ASUS FX503VM which scored 14550 points in the same test. Again, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 performed better than the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 which scored 13075 points and also uses the same graphics. From the result above, it is evident that the graphics card on this laptop has sufficient power to play modern games at medium or high settings. Therefore, a rating of nine out of ten is appropriate for it.

MSI GL63 8RE-629 Battery Life and Performance Review

The MSI GL63 8RE-629 is powered by a 6-cell 51 WHr battery but, MSI didn’t include the laptop’s battery life. However, I have to include the battery life of this laptop to enable you to make better decisions. Therefore, from a test conducted by notebookcheck.net, the battery lasted for 7 hours and 31 minutes while idle. Additionally, during a web surfing test where the screen brightness was set to maximum, the laptop lasted for 4 hours 46 minutes. It is well-known fact that gaming laptops do not have exceptionally long battery life. However, the battery life of the MSI GL63 8RE-629 from the tests above proves that its battery life is decent. In comparison with the Dell G7 15 which uses a 3-cell 56 WHr battery, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 performed slightly better. Specifically, the Dell G7 15 lasted seven hours in the idle test. Considering all I have said in this section, I will rate the MSI GL63 8RE-629 eight out of ten in this section.

My Final Thoughts

The MSI GL63 8RE-629 has a lot of things to admire about it. However, the quality of its chassis isn’t one of those things as some parts are made of plastic. Nevertheless, its good display quality and backlit keys are things that I give the laptop credit for. Also, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 offers an impressive number of ports and its touchpad does its job excellently. In the aspect of performance, I don’t find any fault with the MSI GL63 8RE-629. Its, Hexa-core CPU and GTX 1060 graphics card guarantee a speedy performance and an enjoyable gaming experience. Additionally, its battery life is on the good side even though I expected more. Finally, the MSI GL63 8RE-629 is a good choice for anyone who prioritizes performance over looks. Hope you found this MSI GL63 8RE-629 review helpful. If you found the review helpful, you may take a moment to share your views with our community members at Itechguides Community Forum. You can also ask several questions regarding this review at Itechguides Community Forum. Our community staff will be glad to provide you with answers without delay. Finally, for more laptop reviews, visit our Laptop Reviews page. You may also find our Laptop Specs page very helpful.