Having a PC to play is, in my opinion, the best gaming option. Nevertheless, buying a tower requires space; shortages of graphics cards do not make the task easy or economical. That’s why the option of a laptop and the best compromise. MSI offers powerful gaming-oriented laptops to counter these different concerns. This MSI GP76 Leopard is an example of an excellent big gaming laptop, which runs very well!
| PROS | CONS |
| 17.3-inch 144Hz display | No Thunderbolt |
| Powerful gaming performance | No SD reader |
| RTX 3070 GPU with a maximum 140 TGP | |
| Sleek and sophisticated design |
General Info
| MSI GP76 Leopard | |
| $ | CHECK PRICE |
| Released | January 2021 |
| Brand | MSI |
| Model | GP76 Leopard |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-10870H 2.2 GHz (8-core, 16 MB cache, up to 5 GHz) |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 |
| OS | Windows 10 Pro |
| Weight | 2.9 kg (6.39 lbs) |
| Display | 17.3 inches |
| Colors | Black |
| Dimensions | 397 x 284 x 25.9 mm |
| Type | Laptop |
MSI GP76 Leopard is made of good quality magnesium and black plastic. However, the hull takes fingerprints and dust too quickly, which means that you have to wipe the cloth often.
The top of the shell is black with the MSI Gaming logo in its center; discreet and straightforward, well-encrusted. The two hinges on the bottom stand out in reinforcements with a rather lovely geometric design.
Just below this part, you will have the ventilation part of the lower shell of the PC, or you will find the ventilation grilles on both sides. In the center and on the left and right sides, you will find the different ports, which include:
- 1 USB Type-C / DP 1.4 port
- 1 Gigabit Ethernet port
- 1 HDMI 2.1 port
- The power port
- 3 USB-A 3.0
- 1 Jack 3.5 port
On the sides, you will also find additional ventilation grilles and the ports that will allow better airflow in this MSI GP76 Leopard, but I will cover this in detail a little later.
You will see a black plastic strip that reveals the MSI logo just below the screen on the front of the screen. The screen is borderless; it only leaves room for integrating the webcam on the top part. In itself, a reasonably standard format but pleasant.
The trackpad keyboard part is also quite simple. The keyboard is backlit by SteelSeries and configurable in Full Layout format, placed in a slight recess in the shell. In addition, the font of the keys on the keyboard is signed MSI. I’m not a big fan because I have a hard time getting used to it, yet it’s pretty well integrated. The trackpad is not centered; it is placed more to the left, which I don’t like; I’m used to large Dell XPS type centered trackpads.
The MSI GP76 Leopard is a reasonably large laptop PC. It sits on a 17.3-inch panel, 384mm wide, 284mm high, and 25.9mm thick, so it’s not a notebook with its size and weight of 2.9 kg. In my opinion, it is not an easily portable PC; I do not see myself carrying it everywhere, given its size.
This MSI GP76 Leopard laptop PC is a gaming laptop with an elegant and sober design. Nevertheless, it remains very imposing by its size and weight, making it especially a PC to play at home.
Display
| Display Type | IPS LED |
| Display Size | 17 inch |
| Touchscreen | No |
| Display Resolution | 1920 x 1080px, 127 PPI |
| Display Feature | 144 Hz, 16:9 Ratio, sRGB 100% |
The screen of the MSI GP76 Leopard has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Until then, it is banal, plus the refresh is 144 Hz, so very classic. I must admit that I would have liked a QHD 1440p panel given the configuration that this PC embeds.
Talking about the performance of this screen, however, it is a flat slab, ideal for playing without having reflections of the sun, which are reflected in the screen. The screen is IPS LCD, no OLED or other more advanced technology here, not necessarily necessary anyway. However, it is still an excellent compromise. The colors are beautiful, very fair.
Of course, it is a gaming screen, so it is not a slab of Dell XPS or MacBook Pro 15. Although, it is perfect and will allow you to enjoy your triple-A or your competitive games in an optimal way. The screen covers 100% of the sRGB range, which is classic but very good for gaming.
The brightness is good, which in addition, coupled with the IPS panel and the contrast of it, offers an optimal rendering for the use that is intended for this computer, that is to say, gaming.
Performance
| Processor | Intel Core i7 10870H |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 1 TB |
[infogram id=”6d181f82-c1ac-4b44-b2cf-e3260cd1ad59″ prefix=”kgf” format=”interactive” title=”Copy: Performance test results”]
From a performance point of view, this MSI GP76 Leopard is no exception. It comes equipped with a more than solid hardware configuration that will allow you to run the most recent games at peak performance without experiencing any slowdown issues. The configuration is as follows:
- Intel Core i7-10870H processor
- GDDR6 RTX 3070 8GB
- 16 GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200 MHz
- 1TB NVMe PCIe storage
This PC is quite good in most areas, especially video games which is his favorite field. The graphics card is powerful, although it is not equivalent to the dedicated version you might find in a tower. The SSD might be its weak spot, but we’ll get to that later. As you can see from the PassMark result, the overall score is quite good, although not the best either; it shows perfect capabilities for 1080p Gaming and worry-free productivity.
In addition, coupled with its 144Hz screen, you can enjoy a perfectly optimal gaming experience. Its processor is a Core I7-10870h with 8 cores and 16 Threads, offering good performance in all areas. Indeed 8 CPU cores can be clocked at 5GHz under heavy load; it is a godsend for a laptop PC, it offers a rather satisfactory GeekBench score, it will defend itself very well in whatever you ask of it.
As for the RAM, we have 2 × 8 or 16 GB of DDR4 clocked at 3200 MHz, which is the performance found in most stationary PCs dedicated to Gaming. I must admit that I am more comfortable with 32 GB, but it is perfectly sufficient for Gaming. Note, however, that it is possible to expand the RAM to 64 GB if you wish.
The performance of the RAM is satisfying. We find speeds of 38,740 MB / s in reading and 44,062 MB / s in writing with a latency of 66.7 ns, which is sufficient for this PC, especially in games, but also in productivity, or he will be able to do what you ask him to do. It is a portable PC, therefore less powerful than a tower.
As I mentioned earlier, the SSD is undoubtedly the weak point of this MSI Leopard GP76; it remains more efficient than a SATA SSD. Nevertheless, I admit to having been disappointed with the performance for NVME, CrystalDiskMark did not output the scores that I could have hoped for from this PC.
As you can see, with 1970MB / s read and 959MB / s write, this is not exceptional. He makes the coffee, but I must admit that I am a little disappointed on that side. The vital point is that there is a second port to install a second NVMe SSD like a WD Black 750, for example, if you want excellent performance and boost your PC thoroughly.
Finally, the centerpiece of this MSI Leopard GP76 remains the graphics card. It is his central argument and not the least. An RTX 3070 Laptop with 8GB GDDR6 will allow you to play all your favorite games without worry. Note that this is not a fixed PC card, but a laptop PC; the performances will not be absolutely the same, which is in itself normal.
However, we tested it on different games, and, unsurprisingly, everything works wonderfully at 1080p. We tried DOOM Eternal and held 144 FPS the entire way without any issues; we tried Dark Souls 3 in 4K on the MSI Summit MS321UP display, and no problem, the game is consistently at 60 FPS in super high quality. To test what this MSI Leopard GP76 was capable of, we put it under the stress of good old 3DMark, and I must admit that it did very well.
All in all, results that meet our expectations for a configuration like this one. Indeed, these are not the highest results that I have seen personally; nevertheless, it is correct because of the configuration that this PC embeds. Don’t expect results from an RTX 3090, be aware of that, but to do what this MSI GP76 Leopard is made for is clear enough. In addition, as this is an RTX 3070, you will, of course, be able to take advantage of Ray Tracing and DLSS to have the most optimal gaming experience possible. A top configuration.
Multimedia
| Webcam | 720p, 30fps |
| Audio | 2.0 |
| Audio Jack | 3.5 mm |
| Network | 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz: a / b / g / n / ac / ax |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Ports | 1 USB Type-C / DP 1.4 port 1 Gigabit Ethernet port 1 HDMI 2.1 port The power port 3 USB-A 3.0 1 Jack 3.5 port |
| Keyboard Numpad | No |
| Keyboard Type | Island |
The keyboard of the MSI GP76 Leopard is a backlit LED keyboard key by key with Silver Lining Print typing technology, all done by SteelSeries, which offers good typing feedback and excellent writing comfort. Indeed the backlight is assignable key by key, which allows you to customize thoroughly and to your taste.
The keys of the keyboard are, as I said, excellent in black ABS, nevertheless do not expect a real mechanical keyboard as you could have on a real desktop keyboard like the Logitech G915; for example, nevertheless, it remains good in this use.
On the other hand, the font of the keys is quite disturbing; as I said before, I am not a fan, I have trouble finding my way around. In addition, the arrangement of the FN keys is quite strange, there are many, and they are not placed as on most laptop keyboards that I was able to test; it requires a time of adaptation.
On the side of the trackpad, it is not exceptional; it is fundamental anyway. We do not expect wonders on a gaming laptop. It makes coffee but is not optimal for productivity.
The sound of this MSI GP76 Leopard uses the Hi-RES 96 kHz 24-bit standard, which allows a better sound immersion in the game as in movies, videos, and music. It also uses cd standard as well as MP3. The speakers are two in number and offer a power of 2X2 Watts, which is more than enough for a laptop.
The concern at stake is the omnipresence of the ventilation that I would deal with a little later, which spoils the sound immersion; it makes far too much noise, which pushes me personally to wear a headset. On the other hand, the speakers do their job well; the sound is clear and pleasant.
Of course, don’t expect high-flying Hi-Fi, but it’s honest for a laptop. They will essentially make coffee for the use of this pc.
Connectivity
This MSI PC is exceptionally well supplied; it offers most of the ports beneficial to a gaming PC. Moreover, they are pretty well implanted in the chassis, which is advantageous for ergonomics. So we find as I quoted above:
- One DP1.4 USB Type-C port
- One 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port
- One HDMI 2.1 port
- The power port
- Three USB-A 3.0
- One Jack 3.5 port
The USB Type-C port and HDMI port allow you to connect two displays to resolutions up to 8k, which is pretty good for content creators. The rest of the ports are pretty classic for a PC Gamer.
For wifi, it works in wifi-6 and offers stable and optimal network performance for online gaming and streaming.
I must admit that I would have liked to have had a Full Displayport 1.4 port in addition to USB Type-C because not all monitors have USB Type-C, and I’m not too fond of the idea of having to take an extra adapter. Nevertheless, the PC is well supplied with connectivity and will allow you to connect all your devices without worries.
Battery
| Battery Type | Li-Po |
| Battery Capacity | 65 Whr |
| AC Adapter | 230 / 280 W |
On the side of battery life, it has a capacity of 4160 mAh four cells for consumption of 65Whr; it is not exceptional, but anyway, who plays on battery.
Although the battery did not need, in my opinion, to be powerful in a Gamer laptop given the weight and size of it, I do not see the point of carrying it in a bag. If it’s your everyday work PC, the battery is still pretty good.
Conclusion!
The MSI GP76 Leopard is an excellent gaming laptop with a robust and modular configuration. Although, it is difficult to transport and makes a lot of noise.
