The GX600 Keyboard

MSI caters this laptop for the gaming crowd, the inclusion of the wired game-mouse already makes this message quite clear, the keyboard is adapted for gaming comfort while retaining a maximum of keys.

You get a full sized numeric pad, and special attention to the wasd (or zqsd in azerty) area.


(click to zoom)

The blue function key allows for quick access to increase/decrease screen brightness and sound level, put the PC in “sleep” mode, select video output as well as disable the onboard touchpad (this came in very handy!).



The touchpad is quite sensitive and consist for two areas, the left side works as normal touchpad while the right side with the two arrows allows you to quickly scroll up/down in a document/webpage. The left/right buttons are large and responsive, if you find yourself without an external mouse, the touchpad will certainly work adequately, it’s sad they didn’t opt to include the “mini-joystick” in the middle of the keyboard, as found on some business laptop models from HP/Dell/IBM.

As mentioned you get a nice ZQSD (WASD) marked with red letters on the keyboard:



However if you are more a fan of using the arrows on the keyboard, you’re out of luck, their size is ridiculously small. Also suffering is the enter key, which is missing the top half, this isn’t a change for the best if you plan to type a lot of text on the onboard keyboard.



At the top right of the keyboard area you’ll find the Turbo button, which boosts CPU speed, next to it is a “hot start” key, which proves its importance when you start manually overclocking the CPU. At the left side there are the power button, webcam and wireless/Bluetooth hotkeys. The red racing grill is situated at both ends and helps cooling too, but we’re guessing it’s there more for looks.



When powered on the LEDs at the bottom right light up, in function of what is accessed, and what is enabled, the lights will change.



A look at the screen, noise and connectivity next ->