iBuyPower Battalion M1771 (MSI GS70) Gaming Notebook Review

It's rare that I'm legitimately sad to have to send back a review unit, but sure enough, that's where I'm at with the iBuyPower Battalion M1771 (nee MSI GS70.) This notebook practically exists on the opposite side of the spectrum as the MSI GT70 Dragon Edition I reviewed; where the Dragon Edition was almost all disappointment, the M1771 is a sleek and (mostly) efficient piece of gaming kit that I would only be too happy to cart with me to LAN parties. I still love my Alienware M17x R3, tricked out with a GTX 680M, SSDs, and 16GB of DDR3, but it's tough not to want to stray with this thing.

Repeatedly carting my 10-pound land monster M17x R3 to and from friends' houses has given me a newfound appreciation for the concept of a thin and light gaming notebook, something Razer pioneered with their original Razer Blade and have since been refining. MSI took the ball and then ran with it; the GS70 is ever so slightly thinner, ever so slightly smaller, and ever so slightly lighter, while still offering the same performance, a fully user-configurable RGB-backlit keyboard, and a more traditional keyboard and trackpad arrangement.

Where MSI misses the boat mildly is the keyboard layout, compounded by the unresponsive clickpad and poor battery life. They got essentially within striking distance of the Blade Pro, but what I wanted from them was a notebook that was definitively superior for anyone who doesn't care about the Switchblade UI. I got most of that notebook, with a better price and arguably better chassis, but the user experience needs to be refined a bit more. Whenever a notebook aims high and fires wide like the GT70 Dragon Edition did, it's an easy evaluation. When it's a narrow miss like this, it's much more heartbreaking.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the M1771's pricing; the two models available on iBuyPower's site are straddling the model I really want: 16GB of DDR3L and one SSD, possibly an SSD and mechanical drive. Incidentally, that's the notebook AVADirect is offering here. At $1,626 for 16GB of DDR3L, a 128GB SSD, and a 750GB HDD, it is an extremely attractive offering. You're still paying a premium for the form factor, but this is a lot of gaming power for being under six pounds.

What we're left with is confirmation that the idea of a thin and light gaming notebook is a sound one and an excellent, more affordable alternative to Razer's notebooks. If you put the Blade Pro and GS70 in front of me and asked me to choose, I'd actually be more liable to take MSI's offering. Put the Blade 14 in front of me, though, and it'd be more difficult; the Blade 14 has a lousy screen, but the rest of the user experience is better, and the notebook is even lighter to boot. iBuyPower whiffed a bit on available configurations, but AVADirect picked up the ball. If you were eyeballing the Razer Blade Pro for any reason other than the Switchblade UI, now you have a fantastic alternative.