MSI is one of those companies that can be counted on to release a new gaming laptop with every major hardware revision. It’s also generally very good value for money without being hampered by ODM designs like Rock or Novatech. When we looked at the company’s previous MSI GT627-246UK, the only real issues keeping it from a Recommended award were its somewhat unbalanced specification and unattractive design. Now let’s look at the MSI GT740-021UK, a similarly priced 17-inch gaming laptop, to see if it fixed these bugs.
A decent value at first glance. A powerful Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU, a generous 640GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive and nVidia GeForce GTS 250M graphics card are all provided for just over £1,300. MSI even includes a decent backpack and a 1600 DPI gaming mouse to further increase the value – more on that in our GT627 review.
MSI has also made some subtle changes to the exterior design. Gone is the ugly red hinge area of previous models, replaced with an all-black lid and red trim, making for a far more coherent, less distracting exterior. We also like the brushed metal finish, which is both stronger and requires less maintenance than the glossy plastic lids found on so many laptops.
Unfortunately, all that good work comes to naught when you open the laptop. MSI’s continued use of garish and cheap-looking bright red plastic really doesn’t add to the device’s looks, especially when combined with the discordant blue backlight for the power button and touch controls. There are a few comfort crumbs, like the slim, non-reflective display bezel and comfy palm rest with metal sockets, but overall the GT740’s design is more tolerable than admirable. 
This discomfort is well illustrated by the touch controls, housed in an unattractive bar above the keyboard. These buttons include the usual playback controls, as well as separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi switches and a handy custom application launch shortcut. There is also a shortcut to launch the 2.0 megapixel webcam. Despite the ugly looks, the blue backlit controls are well spaced and responsive, with no annoying beeps to spoil the experience.
We’ve never been big fans of MSI’s keyboard layouts and the GT740 does nothing to mitigate that. Even though it includes a full number pad, the layout feels cramped, which is entirely unnecessary as there’s plenty of free space on either side. Our real complaint, however, concerns the company’s insistence on having the “Fn” key outside of “Ctrl” – an anomaly that most manufacturers can avoid.
It’s a pity that the keyboard is excellent in terms of feedback. Each well-spaced key has just the right amount of travel with a nice, defined click, making both typing and gaming a really enjoyable experience.
Just as it harks back to earlier times with its non-chiclet keyboard, MSI also seems to be stuck in the past with the touchpad, which doesn’t support multi-touch. Mind you, it’s hardly an essential feature, and at least the ergonomy of the sensitive pad matches that of the keyboard. Its matte finish is very pleasant to the touch and its metal-etched keys, while a little stiff, have a defined click.
Connectivity is excellent. For internet and networking tasks there’s a 56K modem (still essential for a few unfortunate souls) and gigabit ethernet along with Wireless-N Wi-Fi and Bluetooth V2.1 plus EDR on the wireless side. Three standard USB 2.0 ports are complemented by a dual USB/eSATA port. There’s even mini FireWire for those who still use it.
The rear features both VGA and HDMI outputs for video, while no fewer than four 3.5mm audio jacks cater for 7.1 digital or analog audio. Thankfully, they’re now tastefully finished in black rather than the garish colors of previous MSI gaming laptops. A memory card reader and 54mm ExpressCard slot round out the picture, while the optical drive is taken over by the aforementioned Blu-ray ROM and DVD+/-RW combo drive.
However, despite the inclusion of this high-resolution DVD sequel, you cannot enjoy Blu-rays in Full HD (1080p) without an external monitor or TV, as the 17-inch screen has a 1,680 x 1,050 (16:10 aspect ratio) native resolution . A logical choice considering the relatively weak graphics.
Whatever your opinion on the matter, overall the screen is good. There is little to no sign of backlight bleeding or banding, color reproduction is punchy and consistent, and very sharp. Black details are also good, but at the expense of white purity. This compromise makes sense for a computer designed for movies and games. Viewing angles are also surprisingly good, almost on par with the Dell Studio XPS 16 and its RGB LED backlit display.
Although the GT740 has four speakers, they don’t quite match the performance of its display as they lack bass (despite a dedicated subwoofer) and tend to distort slightly at maximum volume. If you stay below this maximum, the speakers still produce a relatively deep and wide soundstage. You’ll get better quality with decent headphones or speakers, but they’re serviceable and occasionally impressive.
With a good display and an ergonomic keyboard, the GT740 has the key outside ingredients for a decent slot machine, but how does its inside hold up? Like every other Core i7 laptop we’ve looked at, the GT740 features the relatively low-end 720QM, which has a core clock speed of just 1.6 GHz. However, depending on the load and how many cores are being used, this CPU will clock up to 2.8GHz, so the stock speed is a bit misleading. In fact, the 720QM won’t have the slightest problem with any game currently on the market or in the near future.
It’s backed by the usual 4GB of DDR3 RAM, although unfortunately MSI still ships a 32-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium that won’t take full advantage. On the other hand, the hard drive equipment is unusually generous with a single 640 GB drive. We suspect this is a new addition to this laptop as the MSI website still lists the maximum capacity of the GT740 range as 500GB. Unfortunately, however, this means that the drive spins at 5,400 rpm and not the faster 7,200 rpm that’s common on gaming laptop hard drives.
As always, the most important consideration with any slot machine is the graphics card. Unfortunately, in most manufacturers’ minds, plugging in a Core i7 CPU seems to excuse the use of a relatively low-end graphics card – the most popular choice being a 1GB nVidia GeForce GTS 250M, as also found in the Toshiba Qosmio X500-10T . 
As we’ve seen on several occasions, the GTS 250M doesn’t really offer the gaming performance that one would want from a gaming laptop. This shortcoming is reflected in the price, of course, but in some respects the GT740 is more of a multimedia gaming laptop than a thoroughbred gaming machine.
But that doesn’t mean it’s incapable. Our entry-level gaming test, Trackmania Nations Forever, presented no particular hurdle and registered 117 fps in our standard run. The more demanding STALKER: Call of Pripyat benchmark, on the other hand, returned a reasonable average of 46.8 fps across its four tests. However, so that we can compare the results, these tests are run at a lower resolution than the GT740’s native and only at medium detail settings, highlighting the compromises required to play modern games.
To support this point, we tested the GT740 with Crysis and it didn’t fare well. In DirectX10 with medium details and the native resolution of 1680×1050, for example, the GT740 only managed a barely playable 23.5 fps – we had to reduce this to 1280×1024 to get over 30 fps. To put things in perspective, the Scan 3XS i3 OC-PC, which was almost half the price when we tested it in January, offered such frame rates at high detail and anti-aliasing enabled. If you’re looking for gaming, laptops still offer poor value for money.
If gaming performance is only okay, the GT740 surprises with excellent battery life results. In fact, it offers some of the best performance we’ve seen from a gaming laptop, lasting almost three hours in MobileMark 2007’s Productivity segment thanks to its 7,800 mAh (85 Wh) nine-cell battery. DVD playback at 100 percent brightness was less impressive, but still more than enough to watch most movies at an hour and a half.
Ultimately, that’s not the yardstick by which we judge a gaming laptop, and despite the extras (backpack and mouse) and generous two-year warranty, even MSI can’t boast of superior value. A new version of the Qosmio X500 we reviewed, the Qosmio X500-11M is now available for £1,399 and offers comparable overall specs and a faster GTS 360M GPU. It might have a smaller hard drive and its screen probably won’t be as good, but if you can get over the glossy overall finish, it offers a Full HD resolution and an extra inch of viewable screen, a backlit keyboard with a superior layout, and a multi -Touch touchpad, not to mention the best laptop speakers.
If you don’t mind a smaller display, you should also consider the 15.6-inch Novatech X70. The faster GTX 260 graphics card and Full HD screen only cost £50 more, although the battery life, speakers and keyboard will be far inferior to the previous two machines.
verdict
While the MSI GT740-021UK offers decent value for a mobile gaming machine and an excellent screen combined with impressive battery life, it is let down by a cumbersome keyboard layout, underperforming graphics card and 32-bit operating system.
How we test laptops
Unlike other websites, we thoroughly test every laptop we review over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to properly compare features. We will always tell you what we find. We never accept money to rate a product.
Learn more about how we test in our Ethics Policy.
Used as our main laptop during the period
Tested for at least a week
Consistent benchmarks used for fair comparisons to other laptops
Verified against recognized industry benchmarks and real-world usage
points in detail
performance 7
draft 5
value 7
functions 9
battery life 7