Laptop recommendation - moving on from MSI GE63 7RE

YaYaA

Member
Hi all,

My power supply cable for my MSI GE63 laptop has literally just frayed into oblivion a moment ago. I can put off a replacement no longer.

I want to buy a PCS laptop to replace it - specifically PCS because I want UK-based manufacturer support, plus I was impressed with the help a friend of mine got from PCS regarding their tower PC/RMAing a faulty part etc.

For context on what I've enjoyed (or put up with) for the past 6 years- My GE63 was purchased in early 2018. It has a GTX1060 GPU and an i7 7700HQ(?) CPU. It can handle most games OK, but it's getting to the point now where I'm missing out on almost all graphical fidelity to get decent framerates. The righthand hinge has been broken since 2020 (MSI use a particularly malicious poorly thought-out hinge design so I'm told).

Can someone recommend me a PCS laptop under the following context?

> I'll use it to 1. play games, 2. Internet/office tasks and 3. rarely render video.

> It will mostly be used around the house, but sometimes it'll be coming with me on trips, so assume it'll need to take a minor beating from travel etc.

> It will 99.99% of the time be plugged in.

> Weight and thickness is of no concern - in fact the thicker the better, for the sake of longevity and thermal performance. Kinda wish this hyperfocus on "as thin as possible" for laptop design would go away. Give me an unsexy plastic brick any day.

> A well designed hinge is a must.

> Good thermals are desired - would consider going for an "understressed" build if whatever GPU could give the same kind of long term reasonable performance that the 1060 is regarded as having given.

> Power delivery over USB-C would be very welcome, but I don't think any of PCS' offerings have that.

> 1080p resolution would be sufficient (1440p would be *nice* but not a deal breaker.)

> 60fps at high settings would be lovely (anything more would just be a nice bonus). Current target games are:
  • Gunner, Heat, PC!
  • ARMA: Reforger (and the future Arma 4 title)
  • Starship Troopers
  • Ready or Not
  • Cities Skylines 2
  • The future Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.
I've usually never enjoyed any graphical fidelity (over framerates) in my years of owning this MSI laptop, so I'd like to know what that actually looks/feels like for once.

> Budget = £1300, can probably go up to £1700/£1800.

> Lastly, I'm willing to wait. If some really good kit is in the pipeline for release over the next 12 months, I could probably source another power supply for this battered MSI I was daily driving and wait it out. That'll thicken the budget too.

Cheers.
 

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hi all,

My power supply cable for my MSI GE63 laptop has literally just frayed into oblivion a moment ago. I can put off a replacement no longer.

I want to buy a PCS laptop to replace it - specifically PCS because I want UK-based manufacturer support, plus I was impressed with the help a friend of mine got from PCS regarding their tower PC/RMAing a faulty part etc.

For context on what I've enjoyed (or put up with) for the past 6 years- My GE63 was purchased in early 2018. It has a GTX1060 GPU and an i7 7700HQ(?) CPU. It can handle most games OK, but it's getting to the point now where I'm missing out on almost all graphical fidelity to get decent framerates. The righthand hinge has been broken since 2020 (MSI use a particularly malicious poorly thought-out hinge design so I'm told).

Can someone recommend me a PCS laptop under the following context?

> I'll use it to 1. play games, 2. Internet/office tasks and 3. rarely render video.

> It will mostly be used around the house, but sometimes it'll be coming with me on trips, so assume it'll need to take a minor beating from travel etc.

> It will 99.99% of the time be plugged in.

> Weight and thickness is of no concern - in fact the thicker the better, for the sake of longevity and thermal performance. Kinda wish this hyperfocus on "as thin as possible" for laptop design would go away. Give me an unsexy plastic brick any day.

> A well designed hinge is a must.

> Good thermals are desired - would consider going for an "understressed" build if whatever GPU could give the same kind of long term reasonable performance that the 1060 is regarded as having given.

> Power delivery over USB-C would be very welcome, but I don't think any of PCS' offerings have that.

> 1080p resolution would be sufficient (1440p would be *nice* but not a deal breaker.)

> 60fps at high settings would be lovely (anything more would just be a nice bonus). Current target games are:
  • Gunner, Heat, PC!
  • ARMA: Reforger (and the future Arma 4 title)
  • Starship Troopers
  • Ready or Not
  • Cities Skylines 2
  • The future Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.
I've usually never enjoyed any graphical fidelity (over framerates) in my years of owning this MSI laptop, so I'd like to know what that actually looks/feels like for once.

> Budget = £1300, can probably go up to £1700/£1800.

> Lastly, I'm willing to wait. If some really good kit is in the pipeline for release over the next 12 months, I could probably source another power supply for this battered MSI I was daily driving and wait it out. That'll thicken the budget too.

Cheers.
Hi there, £1300 are not enough for any decent gaming laptop.

Ionico is probably the best you can get for about £1800 (if you retrieve the license from your Microsoft account), otherwise you could get a lower-spec DDR4 Elimina Pro for around £130 less. :)

1) Ionico

Chassis & Display
Ionico Series: 16" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 14 Core Processor 13900H (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
1 x Ionico Battery 73WH
Thermal Paste
VAPOR CHAMBER ADVANCED COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
IONICO MULTI COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
Clevo PE60RNE-G (8GB RTX-4070, i9-13900H, AX211, QHD 240Hz sRGB 100%, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 1 to 3 working days
Price: £1,780.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/ionico-16/KX4dJzRVAV/

2) Elimina Pro

Chassis & Display

Elimina Pro Series: 16" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 14 Core Processor 13700H (5.0GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 3200MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Elimina Pro Series Integrated 62Wh Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.2 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
ELIMINA 16" SERIES MULTI COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM6PG7X (8GB RTX-4070, i7-13700H, 240Hz QHD)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 1 to 3 working days
Price: £1,648.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/elimina-pro-ii-16/053WD7U609/
 
Last edited:

YaYaA

Member
Questions:

Is 32gb of RAM really necessary for my use case? I thought 16gb was the go to for gaming. (I can fish out an SSD from my current computer so no need for a second one.)

Do any PCS laptops have space for a regular HDD? Or is it SSDs only nowadays?

Can someone give a rundown on the various laptop models PCS are currently selling? There seems to be very little difference between the Ionico and Eliminia apart from the CPU and the webcam.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Is 32gb of RAM really necessary for my use case? I thought 16gb was the go to for gaming.
Yes, a lot of games now use over 16gb

I can fish out an SSD from my current computer so no need for a second one.
What kind of SSD is it? Modern laptops only support NVME drives

Do any PCS laptops have space for a regular HDD? Or is it SSDs only nowadays?
Laptops don’t support 2.5” drives anymore

The Elimina is a more budget chassis with lower end processor so needs less cooling. The materials of the chassis are also cheaper
 

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Can someone give a rundown on the various laptop models PCS are currently selling? There seems to be very little difference between the Ionico and Eliminia apart from the CPU and the webcam.

I'll just add that they are different platforms: the Ionico is a CLEVO while the ELIMINA PRO is a TongFang/Uniwill.

@SpyderTracks has already answered you for everything else (y)

I don't believe there are any other possibilities; the Recoil (which is more of a desktop replacement than a laptop) is out of your price range.
 

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I think I'll wait. Mobile 4070 seems like very poor value for money. Thanks anyway.
Yes, according to numerous reviews, that GPU performs very similarly to the previous 3070ti.

In any case, the 4070 is the best you can get for £1800.

A Recoil with a 4080 will cost £2500 or so.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I think I'll wait. Mobile 4070 seems like very poor value for money. Thanks anyway.
Yeah, the 4000 series under a 4080 are really heavily marketed to be used with DLSS 3 to boost frame rates, previous generation GPU's don't support DLSS 3, they've purely locked it out at a driver level to try to get people to pay more for the same performance. it's Nvidia at their worst really.

But on the subject, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is starting on the 9th January until the 12th, and this is where new laptops are announced.

I expect refreshed models to be released, so I would expect current chassis prices to reduce at the very least, and possibly new processors from both Intel and AMD. It's possible there may be new super series cards released which are basically just refreshed cards, but I have no idea what the expectation of that is in the mobile space.

But it's worth holding off buying anything until CES has shown what's due to come out.

And I'm seriously hoping we may see some more AMD chassis as well because they're good for competitive pricing in the laptop realm.
 

YaYaA

Member
Me again. After some more thinking and researching what the marketplace has got to offer, I think I could stomach a 4070. Anything I buy is going to be such a massive upgrade over what I'm using now that it's not going to matter. How about this:

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 14900HX (5.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED IR+FHD Hybrid Webcam Windows Hello 4.0
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7IX7N (8GB RTX-4070, i9-14900HX, 240Hz QHD)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Price: £1,665.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-VIII-17/vm25Aa76Wq/
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
New CPUs? Something better than a 14900HX? What does end of life mean? PCS won't be supporting them?
Oh, hold on that is the new chassis, oooo, it's early! My apologies, I didn't realise they'd come out, they normally don't hit until march.

Oh, yeah, definitely a good bet then.

The only thing I'd amend is the drive setup, you always want to split the OS and game drives, so have one dedicated just for OS and separate just for your games library. The if you need to reinstall windows, you don't have to redownload your games, just point the platform libraries to your existing folder on the games drive.
 

YaYaA

Member
Oh, hold on that is the new chassis, oooo, it's early! My apologies, I didn't realise they'd come out, they normally don't hit until march.

Oh, yeah, definitely a good bet then.

The only thing I'd amend is the drive setup, you always want to split the OS and game drives, so have one dedicated just for OS and separate just for your games library. The if you need to reinstall windows, you don't have to redownload your games, just point the platform libraries to your existing folder on the games drive.
I appreciate that. I'm already using a second M.2 NVME SSD in my current machine, so I think I want transplant that in and spend the cash on a longer warranty, then save up again for a bigger 2nd SSD to install in the future.

What about this? I bumped down the size of the SSD and bumped up the R/W speeds, and went for Gold Warranty.

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 14900HX (5.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED IR+FHD Hybrid Webcam Windows Hello 4.0
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7IX7N (8GB RTX-4070, i9-14900HX, 240Hz QHD)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Price: £1,723.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-VIII-17/6Hq50HNRF5/
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I appreciate that. I'm already using a second M.2 NVME SSD in my current machine, so I think I want transplant that in and spend the cash on a longer warranty, then save up again for a bigger 2nd SSD to install in the future.

What about this? I bumped down the size of the SSD and bumped up the R/W speeds, and went for Gold Warranty.

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 14900HX (5.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED IR+FHD Hybrid Webcam Windows Hello 4.0
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7IX7N (8GB RTX-4070, i9-14900HX, 240Hz QHD)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Price: £1,723.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-VIII-17/6Hq50HNRF5/
Yeah, I'd agree with those changes, the extra speeds are worthwhile for the OS drive, and 512Gb is a decent size.

Gold warranty as well on a laptop is well worth it. The GPU is soldered onto the motherboard, so if there's a GPU failure, the whole board has to be replaced, so it's quite pricey. Normally failures will happen in the first year from a factory defect, but it's well worth it to cover yourself as long as possible on a laptop.
 

DavidClarke597

New member
Look forward to seeing your build and your review of it. Looking to get myself a recoil model when funds are better, looking at getting 14900HX, 4080 & a 2tb + 4tb ssd (music production/djing) with 32gb Ram 5200mhz.. What are the timings like on the Corsair 32gb 5200 rams? And how do they affect daily usage for myself with music programs
 
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