NVIDIA Mobile GeForce GTX 10-Series Review: Pascal Notebooks Slay Benchmarks

Both machines, however, are targeted squarely at gamers. The MSI Apache Pro has subtle, understated flat black exterior skins and MSI's G-Series gaming logo, which is reminiscent of a sport car emblem. The machine we tested came equipped with a reasonably bright 1080p panel and a customizable, full-color backlit keyboard by Steel Series. The keyboard not only looks great, but key travel is relatively deep with good tactility, along with a full num pad, plenty of special function buttons, and a large trackpad area with two buttons. The aluminum wrist rest area also affords the machine a solid feel in this critical part. Overall, though perhaps the MSI GE62VR is a bit understated and utilitarian in spots (especially compared to the ASUS G752), it's a fairly well-built machine. 

The Apache Pro comes with all the IO options and expansion you could ask for, including a Killer Networks Gaming LAN port, 802.11ac WiFi, SD Card reader, one HDMI 1.4 port, one USB Type C port, two USB 3 ports, 1 USB 2.0 port, and a mini DisplayPort.  Also on board is a DVD Super Multi optical drive. As configured with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ Skylake quad-core CPU, Mobile GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB M.2 SATA SSD, and a 1TB 7200RPM HDD, the GE62VR retails for $1599. No question the machine packs a ton of horsepower into its 5 pound frame and is also reasonably priced for the features it offers. 

The ASUS ROG G752VS, on the  other hand is an in-your-face, burly, desktop replacement 17-inch notebook that absolutely screams performance at every angle, from its bright red rear exhaust grill to copper color hinge accents. 

In addition to its FHD IPS 75Hz display, this machine also supports NVIDIA G-SYNC adaptive refresh rate technology for smooth, jitter and tear-free gaming.   On board is an Intel Core i7-6820HK processor that will factory overclock to 3.6GHz in ASUS Extreme Mode, as well as 32GB of 2400MHz DDR4 RAM and a 256GB Toshiba NVMe SSD. It also has one USB 3.1 Type-C port, 4 USB 3 ports, one HDMI 2.0 port, one mini DisplayPort, one Gig-E port, 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and an SD card reader. It too has an optical drive and it's all backed up by a 96 Whr 6-cell battery. 

ASUS is also quick to point out that the G752VS sports the "world’s first 3D Vapor Chamber Cooling System" that originally debuted on the previous G752 model. It's a fancy way of noting that the cooling system's vapor chambers have heat pipes that are actually part of the vapor chamber and increase its total thermal capacity. We would offer that this is indeed the case and the G752VS showed little if any signs of throttling with either the GPU or CPU. 

They keyboard area of the ASUS ROG G752VS is similar to the traditional ASUS G750 series we've come to know and love. Unlike its bold exterior skins, the flat black, gray and red accented keyboard and palm rest ares doesn't stand out, but it is comfortable and very spacious. It too is a pleasure to type on, with bright red-accented W,A,S,D keys for quick reference that mouse and keyboard gamers can appreciate. 

Frankly, we wish we had more time to dig into these machines, but alas, with only a couple days to get elbow deep into the mobile GeForce GTX 10-Series, we'll have to return to these notebooks for a full, proper review at another time. 

Next, we'll look closer at NVIDIA's Mobile GeForce GTX 10-Series architecture and then we'll get to some serious meat and potatoes benchmarking...