MSI GF65 Thin 10UE with RTX 3060 | Review
To move the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE we find an Intel Core i7-10750H CPU, equipped with 6 cores / 12 threads, a TDP of 45W and capable of reaching a boost at a frequency of 5GHz, combined with an RTX 3060 Laptop with TGP of 75W. We are far from the 130W seen on the MSI GP76 Leopard, but the GPU inside the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE is still able to offer all the performance necessary to play in Full HD without too much difficulty in any modern, triple A or competitive title. that is.
To complete the hardware equipment we have 16GB of DDR4-2933 RAM and a 1TB SSD manufactured by Kingston. Connectivity is instead guaranteed by a Wi-Fi 6 network card with Bluetooth 5.1 and a Gigabit Ethernet port. In addition to the LAN, the port equipment offers two USB 3.2 Gen1 type C, two USB 3.2 Gen1 type A, a 3.5mm combo jack and an HDMI output. Except for the video output and power connector, all ports are located on the right side of the laptop.
Design and materials
The MSI GF65 Thin 10UE takes up the design of the previous model, with an all-black metal body with a brushed finish and the MSI logo on the lid, in red. The lower part is made of plastic and has a large ventilation grid, from which it is possible to glimpse the copper heatpipes of the Cooler Boost 5 cooling, the SO-DIMM modules, the PCIe SSD and the second M.2 slot, in which you can insert another NVMe SSD.The MSI GF65 Thin 10UE measures 359x254x21.7 mm, weighs 1.86 kg and overall offers good build quality and materials, without ever giving a feeling of fragility. The only flaw of the metal used on the lid and around the keyboard is the fact that it holds fingerprints a lot; if this bothers you, you will find yourself cleaning your laptop very often.
Display and audio
The MSI GF65 Thin 10UE is equipped with a 15.6 ″ IPS-Level screen with Full HD resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. To best evaluate the quality of the panel we performed some tests with Xrite i1 Display Pro colorimeter and Calman software, obtaining only sufficient results.In the grayscale test we detected a peak brightness of 254.6 nit and a contrast of 1172: 1, good values and in line with those of notebooks in this category. The colorchecker test instead found a deltaE of 6.1, very high and which makes the notebook completely unsuitable for those who do photo retouching or editing professionally.
Unfortunately, the coverage of the sRGB and DCI- P3 is not that great and settles at 63.6% and 47.4% respectively. In practice, the colors returned by the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE are washed out and in some cases inaccurate, another factor that leads us to advise against this notebook for professionals who require high accuracy. Overall, the screen of the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE is fine for gaming, but nothing more.
sRGB DCI-P3 The audio is entrusted to two speakers placed under the laptop, which do a sufficient job and allow to attend conferences or video lessons without too many problems. To listen to music, play games and watch streaming we recommend a pair of headphones.
Keyboard and touchpad
On the MSI GF65 Thin we do not find the keyboard created in collaboration with SteelSeries present on the range models taller, but a classic membrane keyboard with red keys and backlighting. The position of the volume and brightness control keys is very convenient, placed in second function on the directional arrows and near the FN key so as to facilitate its use, as well as the right column in which MSI has inserted the buttons usually positioned above the arrows .The stroke is about 1.4mm and the overall feedback is good. Writing will not be a problem even after typing for a long time, while during gaming sessions if you are used to a mechanical keyboard you may miss it; in this case, we recommend that you simply use your favorite keyboard by connecting it to one of the USB ports.
The touchpad is slightly offset to the left and offers a good surface, large enough even to use Windows 10 gestures. In the lower part it flexes a lot, especially in the corners, but the overall user experience remains good and better than last year's model.
Performance and autonomy
To evaluate the performance of the RTX 3060 Laptop we ran some benchmarks, selecting games from our suite dedicated to graphics cards. In the tests we have also included some titles with Ray Tracing and DLSS, so as to also evaluate the performance with active RT.As expected, this variant of the RTX 3060 Laptop offers lower performance than the 130W version of the MSI GP76 Leopard , however, they are more than enough to play most modern titles. As already seen on other occasions, Control is the heaviest game to manage and the card struggles to reach 30 FPS, but it will be enough to lower the level of detail to reach a framerate that allows you to play without problems.
Also with Ray Tracing active the card performs quite well, reaching a playable framerate in practically all titles, also thanks to the DLSS. Control remains the most difficult game to digest, but what was said previously applies: it is sufficient to reduce the graphics quality to obtain higher framerates and improve playability.
As for autonomy, the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE it is equipped with a 51Wh battery, which guarantees a battery life that varies between 5 and 6 hours of use and drops to just over an hour if you play. The value is average, but if you often find yourself using your computer while traveling, you should always remember to bring the charger with you.
Verdict
The MSI GF65 Thin 10UE is a good entry-level gaming notebook that currently does not have many rivals on the market, partly thanks to the global shortage situation that has plagued video cards for months and which has also affected the laptop segment, albeit to a lesser extent. The lack of direct competitors prevents us from making targeted comparisons, however we can make some general considerations.As we have seen, the 75W RTX 3060 Laptop guarantees good performance in games and allows you to enjoy most of the triple A modern with a medium-high level of detail, even activating the Ray Tracing. The card also performs well with competitive titles, offering high framerates and, considering that these are games in which graphics quality is often set to a minimum, making the most of the 144Hz panel.
The real weaknesses of the new MSI laptops are undoubtedly the audio sector and the screen, only sufficient. Playing games and making video calls and online meetings will be fine, but to listen to music or do professional photo editing, we recommend using the appropriate tools, such as a good pair of headphones and a suitable external monitor.
The MSI GF65 Thin 10UE it has a list price of 1799 euros, but at the time of writing this review it is available from MediaWorld for 1499 euros. The price is in line with that of the lists of other manufacturers, but frankly we would have expected lower figures for entry-level models like this one, especially taking into account the fact that during the presentation Nvidia had talked about "prices starting from $ 999. "; we will see if things change as the general market situation improves.
If you are looking for a new gaming notebook equipped with RTX 3060 and you have a budget of around 1500 euros, you may want to consider buying of this MSI GF65 Thin 10UE: it undoubtedly has flaws to take into consideration, but if your primary purpose is gaming you will not be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you want to spend a lower amount, our advice is to wait for prices to drop or for some particularly interesting offer.
