I wasn't particularly impressed by the last 14-inch gaming laptop I reviewed. The performance from the Gigabyte P34W v5 was decent, but it was let down by a drove of problems, including a banal design, poor thermal performance, and a subpar keyboard and trackpad. So I reached out to MSI to see if their latest 14-inch gaming machine, the GS40 Phantom 6QE, is a truly better option.

The hardware within the GS40 Phantom is well-rounded but won't pull any surprises either. It's loaded up with a xiv-inch 1080p display, an Intel Skylake Cadre i7-6700HQ CPU, a GeForce GTX 970M discrete graphics card, xvi GB of RAM, and a combination of a 128 GB SSD with a one TB difficult drive. It also packs the latest connectivity, including a USB Blazon-C port sporting Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 gen 2.

The Phantom isn't a flagship gaming laptop, just it does include a handy listing of other features, such every bit Killer DoubleShot Pro networking, a SteelSeries keyboard, and a brushed aluminium chassis. All of this is available for a decent toll of $1,599, with no configuration options available.

The aspect to the GS40 Phantom that I was virtually impressed with is the blueprint. Having used gaming laptops from Alienware and Gigabyte previously, amidst others, the understated design to MSI'due south xiv-inch laptop is appreciated. Yes, there are still some elements of 'gamer' style to this laptop, including various contours on the laptop's lid and around the keyboard, but it'due south far less than you'd get from some other over-the-top designs.

Despite the understated design, MSI has succeeded in giving this reasonably expensive laptop a premium look and feel. Both the laptop'due south hat and the keyboard surround are made from brushed black aluminium, which is visually appealing and a slight fingerprint magnet. There are some areas of plastic, although it'southward express plenty to non backbite from the otherwise bang-up metal chassis.

MSI has also done a fantastic job of not making this laptop just a black slab of materials. The bulk of this laptop is black metallic or plastic, just there are some slight red highlights found effectually the pattern that requite information technology a bit of much needed interest. The shiny ruby rim around the trackpad is peculiarly nice, as is the surprisingly subtle scarlet backlighting to the keyboard that'due south barely visible in natural light.

The design of the GS40 Phantom 6QE isn't perfect though. MSI has made no effort to make this laptop exceptionally thin or lite: at 22.8mm thick and 1.6 kg heavy, information technology'southward pretty average for this size and grade of device. That's not to say the 6QE is bad in this respect – information technology'southward around the same weight as a 13-inch MacBook Pro – but it'south not as compact or portable as some top-terminate gaming laptops of a similar size.

In that location are quite substantial bezels around the 14-inch brandish as well. Measuring in at 16mm or higher on all sides, MSI could take comfortably fit a larger display in this chassis. Luckily the display is matte-finished, rather than glossy, which significantly reduces reflections and cuts downwards on accidental fingerprints.

The GS40 Phantom comes with a typical option of ports for a gaming laptop. On the left side y'all'll find Ethernet, a proprietary power connector for the 150W ability brick, a USB 3.0 port, an SD card slot, and two 3.5mm audio jacks for headphones and a microphone. On the right is a HDMI 1.4 port, a USB 3.0 port, and a single USB Type-C port that provides Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 gen ii.

Like with the Gigabyte P34W v5 and the new Dell XPS 13, the inclusion of Thunderbolt iii is great for a number of reasons. Information technology provides 40 Gbps of bandwidth, which is plenty for multiple 4K lx Hz displays or multiple extremely fast external drives. It as well supports USB iii.1 gen 2 for ten Gbps connections and power commitment through an established protocol, and the reversible USB Blazon-C port is the future of USB connections.

On the back of the GS40 you'll find 2 large vents, each with fans for the CPU and GPU respectively. The GPU also gets a 2nd vent along the right-manus side, as its higher TDP requires extra cooling. The back panel features a mini-DisplayPort 1.2 connector every bit well, which is in a convenient location for those who might exist docking the GS40 into an external display.