Traditionally, PC makers tend to upgrade their premium product series with the latest CPUs or GPUs first and only then expand usage of new chips to more affordable product lineups. This was not the case with MSI this month, which is introducing a variety of relatively inexpensive laptops running Intel’s Coffee Lake-H CPUs with up to six cores. Many of these models are already available

We have already observed MSI’s premium GT Titan, GS Shadow, and GE Raider gaming laptops updated with Intel’s six-core Core i7 and Core i9 CPUs, but MSI also installed new chips into considerably more affordable GP-, GL-, GF-, and GV-series notebooks. These mobile PCs are basically “working horses” tailored for gaming and multimedia applications aimed at those who would like to have some extra CPU and GPU oomph (when compared to mainstream designs), but who are not ready to invest massive amounts of money in premium machines. For example, MSI’s GV62 8RD-034 laptop based on Intel’s six-core Core i7-8750H and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050-series GPU is now available starting at $1,099.

Buy MSI GV62: 15.6-inch/60Hz, i7-8750H, GeForce GTX 1050-Series for $1099 on Amazon.com

MSI’s GP-, GL-, GF-, and GV-series notebooks use very similar 15.6-inch/17.3-inch chassis and platforms, so their differences are mostly cosmetic and limited to exact configurations (e.g., different GPUs, storage options, USB 3.1 Gen 2 support, etc.), keyboard backlighting, battery capacity, weight and so on. The new MSI GP, GL, GF, and GV laptop families are based on the Intel HM370 PCH and therefore support the key features of Intel’s 300-series mobile platforms (e.g., integrated USB 3.1 Gen 2 support, etc.) albeit not on all SKUs. The systems can house up to 32 GB of DDR4-2666 memory, one or two M.2 slots for SSDs, a 2.5-inch bay for DFF storage devices and so on. Premium versions of MSI’s GP-, GL-, GF-, and GV-series notebooks with Intel’s six-core Core i7 processors feature 15.6- or 17.3-inch IPS FHD display panels with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a 3 ms response time, others come with standard FHD LCDs. Check out the spec list in the table below.

Buy MSI GP63: 15.6-inch/60Hz, i7-8750H, GTX 1050 Ti, 16 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD on Amazon.com

MSI’s new GP-, GL-, GF-, and GV-series laptops are starting to hit the market in the U.S. right now, availability of their configurations will expand in the coming weeks and months. Their presence on other markets depends on MSI’s plans for these markets, supply of components, and other factors.

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