MSI refreshes the GT72 Dominator gaming laptop with GTX 980

Sep 23, 2015 09:08 GMT  ·  By
The new GT72S Dominator joins the few GTX 980-equipped gaming laptops
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   The new GT72S Dominator joins the few GTX 980-equipped gaming laptops

Yesterday NVIDIA announced its new full-fledged graphics card dedicated to laptops, the GTX 980. Being the first full-sized graphics card ever that is introduced in laptops without any trimming to performance and processing cores numbers, MSI jumped the occasion and updated its main gaming laptop with the new graphics adapter.

Following yesterday's launch of the new NVIDIA full-sized GPU for notebooks, MSI joined the elite few manufacturers that announced new laptop models sporting the GTX 980 graphics card. Surprisingly, this isn't just an update of an existing product line, but also a limited edition GT72 Dominator gaming laptop that commemorates MSI's 29th anniversary.

There will be two versions of the laptop, apparently, that won't differ radically from each other. The first one is the worldwide version that has most specs revealed, as an unlocked Intel Core i7-6820HK CPU, a GTX 980 graphics adapter and a maximum of 32 GB of DDR4 RAM.

According to Tom's Hardware, the other version of the new GT72 Dominator will be dedicated to the American market, that will have similar specs, with only a few mysterious features added in that remain secret. MSI also revealed the specs of its limited edition GT72S Dominator Pro G that celebrates MSI's 29th anniversary. The laptop will come equipped with an Intel Core i7-6820HK processor as well, with a base clock of 2.7 GHz, 8 MB of L3 cache and an unlocked multiplier combined with MSI's thermal design.

The GTX 980 changes everything in the classic GT72 Dominator line

The GTX 980 version that comes with the unique laptop offers 8 GB of GDDR5, which is huge for a dedicated laptop graphics adapter, while the available DRAM memory modules can be configured to hold up to 64 GB of DDR4-2133 due to its four DIMM slots. Storage options include one 2.5-inch HDD and up to four "Super RAID 4." Additionally, the machine will have an optional dual-M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD setup in RAID 0, which MSI claims it can boost read speeds up to a massive 3300 MB/s transfer speed, or even higher.

Display-wise, this monster comes with a 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 75 Hz G-Sync display that can also connect to higher-resolution screens via an HDMI 1.4 port and with a much coveted USB 3.1 Type-C that can support 4K resolutions at 60 Hz. You can't expect all this firepower to be eco-friendly, so this new MSI laptop needs a 230-watt AC adapter to power the gaming notebook, and it uses a massive 9-cell Lithium-ion battery to help you stay unplugged for longer, although gaming without having it plugged somewhere is not really an option.

The MSI 29th anniversary edition will bring many hidden features
The MSI 29th anniversary edition will bring many hidden features

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The new GT72S Dominator joins the few GTX 980-equipped gaming laptops
The MSI 29th anniversary edition will bring many hidden features
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