It’s not every day I get a laptop thrown at me, but when I do, we push the beast to its absolute limit. So I’m very excited to have had the chance to dive into the MSI GE72 Apache Pro laptop. Join me as we take this beast for spin!
We all know you came here to know what this thing is made of, how it works, and operates. So without further ado, here are the MSI GE72 Apache Pro specs:
- 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Skylake)
- 16GB of 1600 MHz DDR4 RAM
- 1TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive + 256GB SSD
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M GPU (3GB GDDR3)
- 17.3″ Full HD eDP Display
- 1920 x 1080 Native Resolution
- SuperMulti Blu-Ray/DVD Burner
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0
- Nahimic Sound Technology
- SteelSeries Gaming Keyboard
- Windows 10 (64-bit)
If that doesn’t get you up like coffee in the morning, well, I know what will: the price point. This beast is hitting the market at around $1,899 CAD. The laptop comes with your standard features such as airplane mode, turning the mouse touchpad off, volume up/down, and turning the laptop screen off for presentations. All pretty standard.
At the top right you have your power button, fan turbo button, and SteelSeries keyboard lighting change button, which were all conveniently placed.
The Apache Pro doesn’t slouch with its ports either. Filling up the left side is a nice selection of ports starting with one USB 2.0 port, an SD (XC/HC) card reader, 1 x Killer Gigabit ethernet port, 1 x USB type C connector, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x HDMI, 1 x mic in, and 1 x headphone out jack. It of course comes loaded with all the standard driver software for the ethernet and graphics cards.
This beauty has an elegant aluminum casing finish, and with the MSI dragon emblem on the lid, it looks slick. The bottom has a flat black plastic finish to allow for proper venting.
Surprisingly, it is not an overly large laptop for the performance capabilities and overall it feels very well made and sturdy. It’s a very similar size to other non-gaming 17.3” laptops on the market today. This definitely keeps the ease of use within reason when you need to find things like carrying bags or other accessories for day-to-day needs.
There wasn’t much of a learning curve with the software and it was very easy to jump right into with no bloatware to speak of (depending on your opinion of Norton Anti-Virus), so it was a seamless process to install various programs like Steam, uPlay and Origin. Throughout my testing I was unable to update the NVIDIA drivers to the latest revision for some strange reason but all tests ran fine with the installed 353.74 version. Even on that version the games I threw at it for benchmarks ran quite well.
I was impressed by the MSI GE72 Apache Pro. The GTX 970m paired with the I7 6700 Skylake gives this beast the performance of the desktop gaming PCs that builders strive for, without compromise. The battery life was average at around 2.5 hours when running games, but it is strongly recommended to keep the laptop plugged in if you’re playing more demanding titles. I would definitely recommend the Apache Pro at the price point of $1,899 CAD.
Steve Noel is a Senior Editor for AYBOnline.com, Team lead for Streaming & Video Content & Producer of the Level One Scrubs TalkShow.
When he’s not working behind the desk you’ll find him spending time with his cat “Jeff Bridges”
