MSI GT83VR Titan SLI Hands On: Truly a Titan

One of MSI’s most interesting laptops unveiled today is the huge and powerful MSI GT83VR Titan SLI. Powered by not one, but two of Nvidia’s most powerful mobile GPU yet, the GeForce GTX 1080, this laptop is truly a gaming machine in every sense of the word. However, is it really all that good? We find out in a quick hands on session with the gaming behemoth.

First, let’s get the GT83VR Titan SLI’s specifications out of the way. As its name suggests, the GT83VR has two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPUs running in SLI under its hood. Needless to say, this makes it one of the most – if not the most – powerful gaming laptops in the market now. After all, Nvidia mentioned that the mobile GTX 1080 is almost equivalent to its desktop counterpart.

Other specifications of the GT83VR include an 18.4-inch 1080p IPS display, an Intel Core i7-6820HK processor paired with 32GB of DDR4 RAM, 512GB of M.2 NVMe SSD (complemented by a 1TB 7200rpm HDD), as well as a blu-ray drive. Evidently, these are very, very respectable specifications.

The 18.4-inch IPS display of the GT83VR is definitely the right size – if you’re looking for a desktop replacement, that is. It is big, bright, and viewing angles are good as well. That being said, I didn’t quite like the plastic bezels surrounding the display: it affects the overall premium experience of the GT83VR.

When the GT80 Titan was announced, what sets it apart from other gaming laptops was its mechanical keyboard. On the GT83VR, the very same mechanical keyboard is retained. The unit we tested was equipped with Cherry MX Brown switches, and the keyboard feels very much like a conventional mechanical keyboard, which is a very good thing.

To the right of the GT83VR’s mechanical keyboard is an unconventional trackpad. When I was testing out the laptop, I intuitively reached down below the keyboard to find…a non-existent trackpad. While this happened to me on more than one occasion, it did feel natural once I adjusted to the odd position of the trackpad. I also like how the trackpad doubles as a numpad as well, although I imagine not everyone will like the fact that there are no physical numpad buttons.

As a whole, the GT83VR Titan SLI is a gaming beast; this is evident from its list of hardware alone. However, this kind of firepower doesn’t come without sacrifice: the GT83VR is a huge and heavy machine; these were especially evident when I was moving it around to get some good shots of the laptop. Sure, it’s “portable” in the sense that you can get it from point A to point B, but it won’t exactly be a pleasant experience. There is also the fact that the GT83VR has a hefty price tag: it retails at a whopping RM20,999 in Malaysia.

However, if what you’re looking for is a gaming laptop with no compromises – and you don’t mind the weight and bulk of the laptop – the MSI GT83VR is worth a consideration or two. It’s huge, it’s heavy, but it is also very powerful. To some consumers, the high-end performance – not to mention the mechanical keyboard – may be worth these trade-offs.