If like myself you choose to read purely negative reviews and you stumbled upon this I implore you to read on, I will cover the negatives. Research: I did maybe 3-4 weeks of research before I chose this laptop. I was sporting an ASUS G74SX, the hardware was a bit dated and it was too large and heavy for my university needs. I considered the Lenovo y50-70 touch but there was a design flaw with the hinge, the y50-70 & y70-70 normal was a risk for that reason as well; though not as many people reported the issue. I considered the MSI GE60 & GE70 as well as the GP60 & GP70 and the PE70 and the 'Fangbook' version but minor throttling issues had been reported and MSI isn't known for it's excellent build quality anyways. I was looking for a practical 17" laptop that wasn't going to be too bulky or heavy. I'd looked into a few Asus & Gigabyte notebooks too but they just didn't appeal to me visually. If I'm already spending £1,000 why not get something thin and light too? Decisions: I was torn between the silver MSI GS60 with the same spec as this GS70 and of course this. Both had excellent reviews, the GS60 had a minor improvement regarding thermal management but I knew I'd only regret not getting a 17" as I intend on gaming without peripherals excluding a mouse. I bought this for one reason over the GS60; it is red. The GS70 has support for 3 external displays so eyefinity/nvidia equivalent is possible too, something the GS60 lacks. Unboxing: There's literally hundreds of unboxings, needless to say the box is fancy and well packaged and it comes with an MSI laptop sleeve which was well received. First thoughts: It is red, really really red. The first thing everyone has said about this laptop upon seeing it is: "It's red". Obvious I know but I love the colour! The build quality is superb! Everything is aluminium (doesn't catch fingerprints) excluding the screen bezel and the top of the lid which seems quite cheap like french dashboard plastics. The glowing MSI Dragon logo is marvelous! I am somewhat confused by the choice to stick the nvidia & windows logo underneath the laptop and not aside the intel logo but that's just a case of easily accessible bragging rights. The power port isn't in the best location because the wire blocks the CPU vent but I find that balancing the ferrite bead on the screen bezel to arch over it prevents this from being a problem. The GOOD: -The i7 4720HQ doesn't thermal throttle too much (87 celsius on prime95, forced to run 3.6GHz on all 4 cores, ran at 3.4GHz @ 87 celsius, 57-60 celsius idle) -The NVIDIA 965m GTX is great for running every modern game at 60fps, hasn't reached beyond 77 celsius whilst stressed. (Don't expect max settings & max AA, in every game) -The SSD is INSANE! After pressing the power button I didn't have enough time to take a bite of my snickers bar and put it down before it was on and ready to go! -There is no bending or flexing, it is a quality built machine. -It's plays GTA V on medium/high settings with a constant, continous smooth 60fps a grand experience for a game that was imo worth the wait. -There is plenty of ventilation! A strip by the hinge, a large strip above the keyboard and 2 vents on the underside so don't brick yourself about it overheating on your lap whilst doing general tasks or even light gaming for that matter. -Fans & Fan control + noise? The GPU fan remains off whilst it's not in use, the CPU fan remains at a minimum speed, forget the high idle temps! Your CPU will be fine, I'm so happy it's not loud when just in general use as I will use this for lectures. (the hard drive is louder than the fans whilst idle) -The battery life... I said it! People complaining about 3+ hours of battery life on a gaming laptop. My Asus managed 45minutes! Be thankful, be amazed! ITS THE FUTURE!!! -The webcam, Full HD 1080p @ 30fps, impressive quality for what I see as mostly a gimmick with smartphones... you know... existing... but still, worth mentioning as it's unusual. -The screen is great for gaming, has great viewing angles and is bright enough for indoor use. -Volume & brightness + keyboard backlight brightness keys are logically placed -Speaker volume, I was not expecting much from but despite it being so thin and light I am simply amazed by how loud this laptop is! MSI does this well. -Speaker Quality is, for a thin and light laptop quite astounding (with particular SBC2 settings) -It has a felt grip on the underneath so it doesn't slide off your lap when using it. -Keyboard (No stupidly placed buttons like switched fn & ctrl I've had on the GX740) -Keyboard backlight is fully RGB adjustable -Keyboard is fully configurable so the #/~ key can be used as a full return key in games. -The Keyboard didn't require me to get used to it and I've been using a Full size keyboard the last few months. -Power button is a visual indicator for whether the integrated or the dedicated gpu is being used. White for Integrated, Red for Dedicated. -The 3 audio jacks have enough distance between them for thicker 3.5mm jacks (also has spdif out if you still use that) and can do upto 5.1 surround. -Ethernet port isn't so stupidly low down in the chassis it requires a small hinged flap to operate, so that's nice. -It has the minimum 4 USB ports (all USB 3.0) -Can display to 3 external monitors at once (each at 4K) -There is a reset button for if all goes tits up, I've yet to require it. -The power brick is a reasonable size. -The Chassis feet are the perfect height for comfort and practicality (vent wise) -It is Red. The BAD: -When the fans kick in, they are loud, to give you an idea, picture a hairdrier on full whack in the middle of the room next door with the door closed. That's what it sounds like, the internal speakers are more than loud enough to compensate but in the midst of others you need headphones. -The touchpad doesn't have dedicated buttons but it works as though it does... I don't like change... Really it's fine but I just wanted to jump on the 'this is a negative' bandwagon because I disagree with this being on a gaming laptop but omg it's sooo fancy! 10 points to gryffindor! -Laptop Subwoofer is on the right side and due to the high crossover frequency, stereo is non-existent, use some external speakers or headphones if you need stereo effect. -No fn media keys despite there being room for that on the keyboard. -When picking it up from the back whilst closed, the hinge cover clicks and budges slightly like it isn't securely fit onto the laptop. Will update if this becomes an issue. -DO NOT PLAY GAMES ON YOUR LAP! Through jeans it took about 5 minutes before pain was felt from the heat. (GTA V) -Has a tendency to start games with the integrated card and not the NVIDIA -The webcam doesn't like rooms darker than the surface of the sun, which in the UK makes it useless. I wasn't expecting much anyways but the quality is surprising... Damnit I'll add a good point about this too. -The rear of the chassis doesn't look like it is properly connected as there is a 1-2mm gap but this could be part of the design, I'm not really sure, the laptop seems solid. -The mechanical hard drive is a bit noisy but only really noticeable in quiet rooms or at night. -The home and end keys require use of the fn key which if you're a programmer or a word processor? processorer? can get very annoying... There's probably a way to fix that in the keyboard manager but I really don't have much bad to say about this that would prevent me from buying it all over again. A FEW EXTRA DETAILS: -I recorded my temps with an ambient room temperature of 20celsius (convenient right?) -My SBC2 settings are: 0% surround, 60% crystalizer, 80% bass, 0% smart volume, 20% speech I have it set to "stereo" not "internal speakers" with a crossover of 100Hz, the speakers are setup as though they are 0.7m away. (keep it below 60% volume, not a limit, a suggestion) -There is a LinusTechTips video on this exact laptop (well, the 970m version) but it has everything you need to know and a better view of the thing than the images seen here. -Games can be forced to run using the dedicated graphics card so don't fret that it's stuck to integrated. -Don't worry about high temperatures, laptop components are designed to work at these temperatures, you'll probably upgrade it before the components die, I plan on keeping it for a modest 5years or so before selling it and upgrading. -No it doesn't have a removable CPU or GPU. -The Battery isn't removable either. -The screen is a TN panel not an IPS (the viewing angles are great though) -The touchpad can be easily disabled when using an external mouse. -Thermal throttling is not an issue. -Anything I wrote to slander this laptop should in no way be taken as a reason to not buy it, this is an absolutely astounding laptop and I am absolutely overjoyed with my purchase. You read reviews of people who bought something and it was broken when it arrived so oh no "don't buy it" they say. Screw those people! If it came broken, I'd replace it. I love it that much and I imagine you will too. SIMPLE FIXES TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF IT (Hardly Necessary Though) -No media keys? Use an external keyboard. -Don't like the touchpad? You're probably using a mouse anyway. -Don't like the internal speaker quality? Use headphones or external speakers. -Don't like the noisy fans whilst under load? See above. -Don't like playing games on your lap? Limit the temperature with MSI's throttle software or use a desk or both.