I heard a story like that one day. Person A borrowed a laptop from Mr. B, an employee of the same company, to go on a business trip abroad, but the problem was that the laptop he borrowed was a large and heavy 17.3-inch high-end gaming laptop. There was no other option. In the end, Mr. A left for a foreign country with a huge high-end gaming laptop, and the business trip was stained with pain. In the end, Mr. A went to visit Mr. B following returning home. Mr. B is actually the benefactor who lent the laptop. still… still… A might not stand it. In the end, Mr. A said his true intentions. “You tried to kill me!”
When I see a high-end gaming laptop, I sometimes think of that story. Can I carry this? Of course, if you are an adult male, as long as you distribute the weight well, you will be able to carry it with you. It won’t be easy though. So, should a high-performance 17.3-inch laptop be kept on the desk every time? Isn’t there a 17.3-inch high-end gaming laptop that can be easily carried around? So MSI introduced a 17.3-inch high-performance gaming laptop that is easy to carry.
20.8mm thick with Core i9-12900H and RTX 3080 Ti
Making a high-performance gaming laptop thin is not an easy task. Thick laptops are relatively easy to heat up, but thin laptops are just the opposite. Only with the support of the manufacturer’s technology can a thin and high-performance gaming laptop be created.
So what regarding a gaming laptop with the RTX 3080 Ti on a Core i9 processor? Can you make it thinner? Of course, you can make it, but the problem is completeness. At best, high-end laptops are made thin, but if the cooler runs with a roaring noise to withstand the heat, it doesn’t really mean much. If the user suffers from actual use, it is not a well-made laptop.
MSI introduced a thin high-end notebook MSI GS series Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K (herefollowing, Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K). It is an ambitious slim high-end gaming laptop. Core i9-12900H, RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU GDDR6 16GB (105W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost), DDR5-4800 64GB, NVMe M.2 1TB, 17.3-inch UHD 120Hz Display (Anti-Glare, 100% DCI-P3, 500nits) is composition.
The Core i9-12900H is a 14-core, 20-thread processor. It operates with 6 high-performance P-cores and 8 high-efficiency E-cores. The high-efficiency E-core has the same performance as Skylake, so the performance improvement is very large compared to the previous processor. It operates at up to 5GHz (P-core up to 5GHz, E-core up to 3.8GHz). The total cache is 24MB and the TDP is 45W.
The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti laptop GPU is the most powerful laptop GPU available today. It has ample GDDR6 16GB of memory and has 7,424 CUDA cores. In terms of CUDA cores, for reference, the RTX 3080 6,144 and RTX 3070 Ti 5,888. In addition, the RTX 3080 Ti mounted on the Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K operates at a maximum of 105W.
Specification
CPU: Intel Core i9-12900H
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU GDDR6 16GB (105W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost)
Display: 17.3-inch UHD anti-glare (3840×2160) display, 120Hz IPS type panel, 100% DCI-P3, 500nits
Memory: DDR5 4800MHz 64GB (2 x 32GB installed, 2 slots/maximum 64GB can be recognized)
Storage: 1TB M.2 NVMe
Webcam: IR FHD type (30fps, 1080P/face recognition, Windows Hello support)
Keyboard: Steelseries keyboard (Per Key RGB backlight)
Speaker: Stereo speaker (2W x2) / 4x 2W woofer
Audio & Sound: 1x microphone/headphone output combo jack
Battery: 4 cells 99.9WHr
Size: 397.6×283.5×20.1~20.8mm
Weight: 2.8kg
Network: Killer Gigabit LAN (up to 2.5G), 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: Type-C USB4/Thunderbolt 4 with PD charging (display output support), Type-C USB 3.2 Gen2 (display output support), Type-A USB 3.2 Gen2 x2, RJ45 x1, SD Express x1, HDMI x1 (8K @60Hz/4K@120Hz)
Equipped with a high-quality display
The Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K has an angled design and looks slim from the first impression. It’s actually thin. It is made of metal and the thickness is regarding 20-20.8mm. It is manufactured using the CNC manufacturing process and has excellent durability. It doesn’t even ask for fingerprints.
However, it is definitely a gaming laptop. It is distinct from a business laptop. It weighs 2.8 kg, which is average for a 17.3-inch gaming laptop. However, since the thickness is reduced, it is better to carry around. It is also suitable as a professional laptop.
Connection ports are Type-C USB4/Thunderbolt 4 with PD charging (display output support), Type-C USB 3.2 Gen2 (display output support), Type-A USB 3.2 Gen2 x2, RJ45 x1, SD Express x1, HDMI x1 ( 8K@60Hz/4K@120Hz) configuration.
How regarding a cooling solution? Because the thickness of the laptop is thin, a cooling solution is important. The cooling fan performance and number of heat pipes should be checked. The Cooler Boost 5 consists of two fans and six heatpipes. In particular, the cooling fan is a 0.1mm fan blade. Cooling effect is maximized with fan blades that are reduced in thickness by up to 0.1mm.
Actually, this is important. If just such a cooling fan is installed, there is no choice but to raise the RPM to an extreme to dissipate the heat. Then the noise becomes so loud that it interferes with the game. In that respect, the Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K is a good compromise. It has 2.3 times more air intake than the previous generation product line.
First of all, the display has a thin bezel, so you can immerse yourself in the screen well. But more important than that is the display quality. A 4K UHD (3840×2160) high-quality display with a 120Hz refresh rate is installed. The brightness is also 500 nits. Compared to the existing 250nits laptop, it is much brighter.
The color gamut satisfies DCI-P3 100%. So, it is suitable for video work. Of course, sRGB 100% is also satisfied, so you can see colors close to reality even when viewing general content. For reference, up to 3 external displays can be connected when working. The resolution supported by the maximum output is 8K.
Colors can be changed with True Color technology, jointly developed by MSI and Protrait Displays. It can be changed to various colors from sRGB to office, movie, anti-blue light (eye protection) and gamer.
It is also noteworthy for its 3840×2160 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. In the past, it was nonsense to play games on a laptop at 4K 120Hz, but now with the advancement of technology, it is possible to aim at it to some extent. In addition, the Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K is a high-end gaming laptop, so the performance is good. By fully utilizing the DLSS function, you can enjoy high-refresh-rate games with high resolution.
The keyboard is a Per key RGB keyboard. You can use the right number pad in a full arrangement method. In addition, the Steelseries backlight LED effect is supported. If you apply a disco effect, etc., it will be incredibly colorful. You can also set the desired color for each key. It also supports anti-ghosting, so there is no problem with simultaneous input. In addition, the touchpad is regarding 50% larger than the previous generation.
The battery is 99.9Whr, which is the maximum carry-on capacity. If it is set to power saving mode, etc., it can be used for quite a long time outdoors. For this reason, if you need to use a high-performance 17.3-inch laptop on the go, the Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K is best.
The speakers are equipped with 2x 2W speakers and 4x 2W woofers. Audio supports Hi-Res audio standard DAC (192KHz/24bit) and Nahimic audio. In particular, when narhimic sound is applied, the sound reverberates forward as surround sound. It sounds a little clearer. In addition, a sound tracker that allows you to visually check the location of sound during an FPS game, and Nahimic Sharing, a wireless sound sharing function, are supported.
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) is supported for wireless LAN. Bluetooth is v5.2. It is wireless, but it can be used at high speed. The storage device is an NVMe M.2 SSD 1TB, which has a large capacity and a fast experience even when loading games. Security features include Windows Hello (face recognition login) and a fingerprint sensor.
Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K is equipped with Intel Core i9-12900H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti laptop GPU (max graphics power 105W), DDR5 64GB 4800MHz memory. What is the performance of this laptop? During the test, the performance was changed to extreme performance in user mode through the MSI center before proceeding.
When running the Blender benchmark, the CPU is under full load. At this time, the CPU package temperature records a maximum of 96 degrees and then stabilizes at an average of 84 degrees. All-core clocks are confirmed as P-Core 3.7GHz and E-Core 2.8GHz.
Then, the laptop temperature was measured while the game was running. Cooling is a state in which a cooler boost is applied to ‘extreme performance’. The temperature of the laptop is 34.3 degrees at the top of the keyboard and 42.9 degrees at the back. Heat is not transferred to the keyboard, so it is cool. In the cooler boost state, the average noise is 49.9dB.
I checked the performance through Overwatch, Battleground, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Resident Evil Village, and God of War. Frames were measured using Fraps (DX11) and Nvidia Frameview program (DX12). In addition, the resolution was fixed to 3840×2160 and proceeded.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Resident Evil Village
You can enjoy the game with high resolution and high refresh rate
Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K was able to enjoy games with high resolution and high refresh rate following compromising options. Although the thickness is thin, the performance is measured high. In addition, it manages heat well, so it doesn’t get hot even when playing for a long time. If you are looking for a high-performance 17.3-inch gaming laptop that is easy to carry, the Stealth GS77 12UHS-i9 4K is a good choice.