msiComputer GT80S Titan SLI-274;9S7-181412-274 18.4" Gaming Laptop

I love this computer. I ditched the stupid 128GB SATA drive, and did an NVME raid 0 for the OS and games. Now it is a proper laptop of this calibur. Not sure why MSI would do that, but I ended up getting this for an outstanding price, so I can't say much. Now I need to get 16gb of additional ram, and I should be all set. Going to re-paste it sometime in the next few days, and hopefully that helps. It helped my GT72 come down a couple of degrees.My GT72 already had the 6820Hk, so I knew what to expect there. It is plenty powerful for anything I will ever use it for, and has some good room for overclocking.The 980m is much more powerful than the 970m I had in my GT72. I was able to get an additional 200mhz at stock voltage, and that makes it about 75% stronger than my 970m was. And then it has 2 of these.The star attraction of this laptop is the keyboard, hands down. It has great feedback, and makes a very satisfying click when used. The screen is good, but should be a higher resolution as most say this computer. I think everything would look better at a higher resolution.Edit:So after using this laptop now for a while, I like it even more every day. I did a fresh install of windows 10, with the NVME raid, and it is even faster. Got rid of all that bloatware that MSI loves to package in. I am going to pick 2 ultra wide screen monitors, and going to do a surround config with this laptop. I am currently setting my office up for this setup. It will be pretty substantial to say the least. Powerful, somewhat portable, and excellent features. Wish I could get my hands on a GT83VR just to see the difference, but there is no use until they get 4k, or higher refresh rate.

Crazy fast and powerful for a portable. Too heavy to truly be a laptop, but is mobile and has all the go of a high-end gaming desktop machine.

Absolute trash. They work great for about two weeks to a month and then they start with all kinds of mechanical and electrical problems. Mine does this absolutely disgusting and nauseating thing where the SSD won't show up literally ninety percent of the time. To be clear, its not only NOT in "My Computer" but its invisible to everything else as well. Which means when I launch Steam, it just hangs until I check to see what the problem is. So that means I have to keep restarting over and over and over until the worthless thing decides to grace me with it's presence. I suspect there is a larger issue at hand involving the motherboard, but Micro Star International would NEVER admit it. This one problem alone renders the machine non-practical and functionally useless. What good is a machine that quits in the middle of a game because the drive just "disappeared"? There is also this flickering problem with the monitor that just presented on 1-15-18 where it looks like the screen is just kind of... pulsating, but only in one spot. And of course I can't capture it on video because it just looks normal on camera. I suspect this has something to do with refresh rates, but cannot perform or provide a better diagnostic. Just the light, though; not the actual screen image. It doesn't go ON-OFF-ON-OFF, no, the screen IS on the whole time and displaying both the desktop and Fallout 4, but its like there is something wrong with the way the graphics card(s) are drawing the image. Maybe, I'm not sure. Also, Windows 10 is AB-SO-LUT-ELY horrible. Literally 0/5. Would not EVER recommend to anyone. I installed FO4 again after getting my machine back from VT services in I think Illinois, and things were great. For like two days. I fired it up earlier this morning (1-17-18) and it was like "hurr durr where do you wanna install FO4?". I was SO. MAD. Furious, even. I checked the folders where it puts it's stuff and sure enough, they were all there. But it just wouldn't launch FO4 without "installing" it again. I am absolutely disgusted with Micro Star, and now? NOW I have to send my machine back AGAIN. AGAIN, MICROSTAR. After it was just gone for almost a month. Yeah, it came back STILL not fixed. This thing WAS my prized possession and now it has all the value of worthless scrap. Not only is it no longer more than the sum of it's parts, it's not even as powerful as SOME of it's parts. I can't believe you people are still allowed to do business in These United States, Oh, don't forge the mechanical drive developing this weird clicking noise after a year or so. That was the final touch that made me send it back. I don't even care if I'm without it anymore. I don't. The thing almost never worked as advertised, so what's the difference between having it and not? Nothing, that's what. I bought this thing as a birthday gift to myself after years of never having anything nice, and this is how it ends. I was STUPID to think I deserved anything nice. I was STUPID to trust you people. I was stupid to think that a UPS or Amazon employee wouldn't STEAL the first one I ordered during shipping.

The system gets 4 stars. MSI gets 1 star. Averages out to 3 stars.System is undeniably a powerhouse. At this price point it better be, right? 980's even of the "M" flavor, put out enough processing power to handle every game to date at high to ultra settings. But, expect A LOT of heat. Fortunately venting was done with some precision, as the system has grills along the back sides and rear, instead of below.Keyboard is an excellent Cherry mechanical. If you are used to spongy keys, this may take some getting used to. Also that the keyboard sits a lot closer to the front edge, make typing that much more fun. No more creasing your wrist as you reach well over the touchpad.And speaking of the touchpad, well this came off as somewhat gimmicky. I never really had an issue with the narrow surface for navigating on-screen elements, but that it took me several taps on the "NUM" spot to get the keypad to appear, was really frustrating. In the end I just used it as a touch pad and deferred to the top row of keys for any numerical input. Kinda sucks because I bought it specifically because it had a keypad, albeit not dedicated or mechanical.Screen is wide and bright enough to respect every pixel, whether from a movie, a game, or graphic design.Storage is the next generation. The days of 2.5 inch solid state drives are gone. The new form factor for storage, M.2 is similar in size and appearance to a notebook RAM module. Basically less wasted vertical and horizontal space. And these new drives cost less than last years 2.5 SSD's.Now to the bad apple in this fruit bowl...MSI. Oh my MSI. If you haven't read anything about it, there are several threads on the "Notebook Review" forums and to a lesser degree (for obvious reasons) the official MSI forums. In summary, MSI realized immediately after this model was released, the new generation of GPU's - 1000 series 1060, 1070 and 1080 - do not 'fit.' So instead of generating a lot of positive press, they back peddled and sent out emails quoting "trade-in" cost north of $1200. In my case the cost was estimated at $1400 not including shipping!Sooo, I paid about $2700 for this system in August, and MSI is offering to replace it with a newer GT83VR Titan Pro for more than $1400. My final out of pocket will be north of $4200, and I'm out of a notebook for likely two weeks as MSI inspects it and then ships the new system. On top of this hot mess, MSI gets to resell my trade-in! Why is this a big deal? MSI marketing for my current system never mentioned "trade-in." Instead it was supposed to be a kit that included the new components.Needless to say, I'm seeing "class action lawsuit" popping up on several forums.So you have been warned - do not buy an MSI system based solely on any upgrade marketing.With this mentioned, DO NOT BUY an MSI system with the MXM upgrade as your motivation. As I mentioned, MSI may be the new gold standard for deceptive marketing.