MSI GS70 Proves Gaming Laptops Can Be Thin and Light, Too

MSI is apparently on a mission to shatter stereotypes in the PC gaming world starting with the size and weight of its newest laptop. Announced today by MSI, the GS70 is supposedly the world's thinnest and lightest 17-inch portable gaming "powerhouse" designed to give gamers plenty of pixel pushing power without resorting a chunky desktop replacement-style chassis.

The Ultrabook-like GS70 is a mere 0.85 inches at its thinnest point along with with 16.47 inches wide and 11.29 inches deep. It weighs 5.73 pounds, or about half that of a typical desktop replacement. It's not exactly featherweight, but at the same time, you're not going to throw your back out carrying this thing around.

MSI's GS70 is also the first dual-fan laptop with a unique thermal solution that pulls heat from the top side of the notebook and dissipates it at a 45-degree upward angle, the company says.

MSI GS70

There are two configurations available. The first starts at $1,800 and comes with an Intel Core i7 4700HQ quad-core processor, 17.3-inch display with a 1920x1080 resolution, 16GB of DDR3L-1600 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M graphics, 128GB mSATA solid state drive (SSD) + 750GB hard drive, Killer E2200 Game Networking, Killer N1202 2x2 Wi-Fi, SD card slot, headset amp, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4 output, 720p webcam, 6-cell battery, and Windows 8.

The second option is a $2,000 configuration that's the same as above but with a Super RAID setup (two 128GB mSATA SSDs in RAID 0 + 1TB hard drive).