MSI GF63 Thin 8SC-030 15.6″ Gaming Laptop, Thin Bezel, Intel Core i5-8300H, NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650, 8GB, 256GB NVMe NVMe SSD

UPDATE: (this update is more than 2 years after the purchase) The battery has swollen so much that I couldn’t click the trackpad and the case near the DC jack is now broken due to the pressure exerted. Luckily I have the know-how to remove said battery so I pulled it and am now in search of a replacement. Overall the laptop still performs really well. Upon realizing that it only had one fan I was concerned about cooling but so far it hasn’t overheated or anything like that. The product page is misleading though, I assume the GF75 has two fans and the marketing says that the GF63 also has 2 fans. This isn’t a huge deal to me but it is misleading to anyone who wants a 15.6″ laptop and is worried about cooling or buying under the impression that there are two fans.
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I recently bought this laptop, the MSI GF63 8SC model with the i5 8300H.
I ordered an 8gb stick of Samsung DDR4 2666MHz since this model only comes with 8gb preinstalled.
The 8th gen i5 exceeds performance of an i7 from 6th and 7th generations, making it a perfect fit for my usage.
Using Intel XTU I undervolted the CPU to -0.130 mV to help keep temperatures to a minimum, only hitting about 84C during gaming. Idle it sits about 40C, not bad for a single fan in the “Sport” setting.
The MSI Dragon Center is a handy piece of software that allows you to customize the laptop’s performance and sound to your needs.
The 1650 is perfect for my use, which is basically Overwatch. I’m able to stay above 60fps on the epic settings at all times.
The webcam is trash but then again I didn’t buy this to use a webcam.
The speakers sound decent, but they lack bass. They don’t distort too much at 100% so I’m fine with it.
The screen is really sharp and viewing angles are amazing.
Thin bezels really make this laptop’s screen stand out a lot, given that this is basically a 14″ chassis.
The keyboard is absolutely terrible, but with a few days of use I got accustomed to the short travel. For a student this should be fine since the keys don’t make much noise typing.
I wish the Function row at the top doubled as brightness controls, media controls and volume controls instead of having to use the combination of FN+arrows. I can get used to this layout, however.
This laptop is LIGHT. Sooooo much lighter than my last Dell Inspiron 7559. It’s really just hard to believe that the build quality of this machine allows for such portability.
Overall, I am very happy with this laptop and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a budget gaming machine.

good but weak battery performance.

I ordered this laptop for school and to have some extra “oomph” for light gaming. It came in way earlier than expected and I’ve had it for a couple of days now even though expected arrival was this upcoming Tuesday. So far it is performing wonderfully and I love it. I don’t love the trackpad (it’s very accurately responsive but I don’t like the tactile feel) but to be honest I’m not a fan of laptop trackpads in general so I ordered a mouse the same moment I ordered the laptop.
I will update my review after I’ve had it a while longer but I’m not expecting to change my mind. It’s a wonderful upgrade from my past laptops.

*first look*
Received it a day earlier than expected. The packaging was VERY nice and everything was organized. The first couple boots were slow and the device had some “bloat” apps because of windows 10. I deleted few useless “bloat” apps and now the laptop starts within 4-5 seconds. What I don’t like is how easy it is to get finger/grease prints on the touchpad and on the surface of the laptop. The only tricky issue I faced was that the camera wasn’t functioning until I figured out that it had to be turned on using fn+f6 (typical MSI newby) the camera and mic quality is 5/10. Sound was pretty decent and loud. Brightness and screen colors are very good. I will be testing it’s gaming abilities shortly and give an update on that!

*******A YEAR LATER********

I still love this thing! I’ve started my Twitch streaming career on it and we’re still going strong. I have not upgraded anything mainly because I have no experience in doing so but what I’ve heard is that upgrading can turn this thing into a beast.

Ok now quick pros and cons:

Pros:
– I can run most games with no problems
– Super lightweight
– Has a good enough webcam for streaming/recording gameplays etc. (make sure you got a good lighting)
– Is overall more than enough for gaming on the move
– 3 USB ports

Cons:
– 60 hz screen
– Screen colors are too dark in my opinion
– Speakers are not that great (but I never use them anyways)
– Fans can be loud in performance mode