MSI GT80 Titan – gaming laptop behemoth with a mechanical keyboard

MSI has unveiled arguably the most eye-melting laptop in the history of computing – the MSI GT80 Titan SLI-009.

Before we get into the details, some of you may be wondering why there is an “SLI” in the laptop’s moniker. Well, that’s because it has two Nvidia GPUs running in SLI. Two Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M units to be precise.

Besides the powerful graphics processing power, the GT80 is the first laptop to come with a built-in Cherry MX Brown mechanical keyboard by SteelSeries. This, as you can imagine, means the Titan is not what one would call ‘small’.

Weighing 4.4kg and sporting an 18.4-inch screen, this unit was not made for playing games on the bus.

MSI GT80

Below are the specs for the top-of-the-range Titan SLI-009. There is a less-powerful SLI-001 version, but that is for peasants and is of no interest to us.

MSI GT80 Titan SLI-009
CPU	Intel Core i7-4980HQ 2.8GHz
RAM	24GB DDR3 1600MHz
GPU	2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M SLI (8GB x2)
SSD/HDD	2x 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
Display	18.4-inch Full HD 16:9
Battery	9-cell
Dimensions	17.95 x 13.02 x 1.93 inches
Weight	4.4kg

The GT80 also includes an HDMI port, Blu-Ray drive, 5 USB 3.0 ports, and the usual LAN and Bluetooth capabilities.

With impressive specifications comes an impressive price, though. The suggested retail price of the SLI-009 is $3,799.99. A direct rand conversion puts the SA price at ±R44,600, but we all know it will cost a bit more once taxes and duties are added.