MSI, known for putting out a wide variety of gaming gear ranging from graphics cards to systems, has revealed a slew of new gaming notebooks carrying a range of asking prices, from the sub-$1,000 part of the pool to going rates that travel north of $2,000. So there’s something here for mobile PC gamers of almost every budget. Here’s a rundown of what MSI has in store for notebook gaming in 2014.
MSI will also introduce two new GT Dominator laptops. One will ship with a 15.6-inch display, while the other will sport a 17.3-inch screen. Both will include 4th-generation Intel Core i7 processors, though the 17.3-inch version of the GT Dominator will allow you to outfit it with beefier specs than the 15.6-inch model. The 17.3-inch unit can pack up to an obscene 32GB of RAM and, like the GS Stealth, a trio of 128GB SSDs operating in RAID 0 while accompanied by a 1TB mechanical hard drive. The 15.6-inch model will include of up 16GB of RAM and a storage setup that tops out with a pairing of a 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. As is the case with the GS Stealth, MSI is planning on packing the GT Dominator notebooks with next-gen Nvidia graphics. However, because its unclear when Nvidia will make these announcements, MSI can’t peg an exact release date for any of these notebooks, indicating a general timeframe of Q1 or Q2 of this year for release dates. Prices for MSI’s Dominator notebooks will range from $1,499 to $2,999.
If you’re on the hunt for a gaming notebook but you want to hold onto as many pennies as possible, perhaps you should consider the MSI GX Destroyer laptop. Unlike the GS Stealth and GT Dominator lineups, the GX Destroyer wields AMD components, and will be driven by an AMD Richland A10-5750M processor, AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics with 2GB of RAM, as much as 750GB of hard drive space and up to 8GB of RAM. The GX Destroyer includes a 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 display, and unlike with the Dominator lineup, there are no plans to introduce a smaller 15.6-inch model. Because MSI isn’t hamstrung by Nvidia’s release schedule due to the fact that they’re employing AMD components in the GX Destroyer, they’re able to be a bit more precise with the target release timeframe, aiming for launch by the end of this month. The GX Destroyer will have an asking price between $1,199 and $1,299.
In terms of offering wallet-friendly gear, MSI isn’t stopping with the GX Destroyer. It also plans to release a pair of GE Leopard notebooks measuring 15.6 and 17.3-inches, both of which offer 1920 x 1080 resolution. In fact, aside from dimensions and screen size, the GE Leopards are identical. They both include Intel Core i7 processors, storage maxes out at 1TB on both of them, and they can be equipped with a maximum of 12GB of RAM. Like the Dominators and the Stealth, the Leopard notebooks will also include next-generation Nvidia graphics. The keyboards on both Leopard laptops are back-lit, multicolored, and made by Steelseries, as is the case with all of the other notebooks MSI showed off during CES 2014. The GE Leopard notebooks will be run you anywhere between $899 and $1,199, and launch either in Q1 or Q2 of this year.
What do you think of MSI’s latest lineup of gaming laptops here at CES 2014? Sound off in the comments below.
