MSI GE62 2QE Apache Review

Specifications and Inside

The touchpad features separate buttons rather than being incorporated into a single rocking clicker. They're fairly easy to use, if a little large and ungainly and they're quite noisy too. The touchpad itself was responsive and generally pleasant enough but something that felt strange on occasions was the brushed metal-effect finish, which has left noticeable groves in the surface that occasionally catch your fingers. Apart from this its low-friction surface works well although as with the buttons, it's a little on the large side.


Build quality is very good for the most part with brushed metal fascias to the keyboard surround and lid, although it's let down in one or two places. For instance, the screen hinges are burly enough to prevent the odd drop spoiling your day but the screen itself is quite flimsy. This isn't particularly apparent at the top but despite the metal cover, the end nearest the base is very flexible indeed. Thankfully this shouldn't actually result in too many issues due to its location - but if it was this flimsy at the top it would have been a very different story.


The SteelSeries-made keyboard suffers the same situation - it's pleasant enough to use with chiclet key switches and great multi-colour backlighting but the split Enter key regularly caught us out. This won't be an issue for US users but it's not particularly well-suited to a UK layout. It's a minor niggle in what's otherwise a great keyboard.

The backlighting itself can be controlled using an included software suite that provides control over three equal portions of the keyboard - not key-by-key, so it has its limitations. However, you are able to select from numerous colours as well as apply the usual effects such as breathing, wave or audio-responsive, while you can adjust the brightness level between four levels including off.


Getting inside proved quite tricky as the single-piece base was clipped firmly in place and it took some persuasion to get it off. There's a fairly elaborate dual-fan cooling system with four heatpipes and the battery sandwiched between. There's a spare SODIMM slot if you fancy dropping another 8GB DDR3 module in plus a further two M.2 ports as well. There's also a small sub-woofer in a small enclosure behind the left cooling fan.

Specifications

• CPU Intel Core i7-4720HQ (2.6GHz/ 3.6GHz turbo-boost)
  
• CPU cores Four physical (quad core)
  
• Memory 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3 1,600MHz
  
• Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX965M
  
• Storage 1 x 128GB M.2 SSD, 1 x 1TB 7,200rpm hard disk
  
• Chipset Intel H87
  
• Screen 15.6in, matt anti-glare, non-touch.
  
• Optical Drive Hitachi GU90N DVD Writer
  
• Dimensions (mm) 383 x 260 x 27 (W x D x H)
  
• Networking 1 x Killer E2200 Gigabit LAN, Intel Wirelss-AC 3160 WiFi, Bluetooth V4.1
  
• Audio Dynaudio 8-channel - mic, headphone, SPDIF out.
  
• Keyboard backlighting Yes
  
• Battery 6-cell 60wh
  
• Webcam 720p, 30fps
  
• Operating system Windows 8.1
  
• Weight 2.4kg (with battery)
  
• Ports 3 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, SD card reader
  
• Warranty 2 Year Collect & Return (1 Year Global)