I truly, freakin’ love gaming laptops. Yes, they are massively expensive. Yes, they will be outclassed by PC hardware within a year. And yes, you can build something more powerful for half the price. But gaming laptops are essentially the supercars of PC gaming hardware, wholly unnecessary but unbelievably cool to gawk at. And the latest offering from MSI has my mouth watering. Because the Titan most certainly looks like it can talk the talk and click the clack.
Now it’s the not the overall design of the GT80 Titan that has me drenching my slacks in a strange mouth fluid, but rather the keyboard. That’s always been the one drawback of these devices, as keyboards on gaming laptops haven’t been able to replicate the proper clang of plastic that more dedicated PCs can boast about.
The GT80 Titan on the other hand, has a proper mechanical keyboard inside of it built by none other than Steel Series. According to the hyperbole-laden press release from MSI, the keyboard “uses standard Cherry switches and a standard keycap with 27mm of thickness, nearly 5 times of traditional laptop keyboards.” MSI also claims that it’s “the world’s slimmest and lightest 18-inch gaming laptop, measuring 17% thinner and 22% lighter than its closest competitor.”
Other details haven’t been revealed yet, but I don’t see this device not having sufficient hardware inside of it to back up the keyboard. And there’s just something magical about a proper keyboard on these devices. I’m a pretty hard typist myself, with a morning session of pumping out news usually resulting in my neighbours yelling at me to stop practicing drum solos.
Hell, I even managed to send the CTRL key on my laptop flying out of the casing of my work laptop last week. I dig the idea that this gaming laptop is trying to implement some desktop ideas. Even if it doesn’t succeed, we need more portable hardware replicating the best bits of desktop PCs.
Last Updated: October 31, 2014
Matewis Jubilai
October 31, 2014 at 11:05
This makes me incredibly uncomfortable – am I the only one that prefer gaming on a laptop keyboard? Perhaps I’m too lazy to lift my fingers that extra 0.5cm upwards to reach other keys 😛
Norm (@e3zype3zy)
October 31, 2014 at 11:06
You are not alone!
RustedFaith
October 31, 2014 at 12:51
I also prefer it there are allot of keyboards out there that have the laptop key design. So pretty simple you can pay R125 and have the same kb for your desktop.
Hammersteyn
October 31, 2014 at 11:10
I’ll give someone else a go to see if they can see what I “saw” in the header.
Weanerdog
October 31, 2014 at 11:26
I see it I just don’t know what it is.
Hammersteyn
October 31, 2014 at 11:35
Leatherface
Matewis Jubilai
October 31, 2014 at 11:29
Uhm, that little man in the bottom left?
Hammersteyn
October 31, 2014 at 11:35
Leatherface yes 😀
Matewis Jubilai
October 31, 2014 at 11:37
Well spotted! Reminds me of that little panda that NAG used to hide in each issue. Never could find one 😛
Captain JJ the pout
October 31, 2014 at 11:41
I saw too. Not sure who it is though.
Hammersteyn
October 31, 2014 at 11:50
see below
Admiral Chief 0
October 31, 2014 at 11:59
10 points to hammer
Admiral Chief 0
October 31, 2014 at 11:14
KLAK-KLAK-KLAK
Kikmi
October 31, 2014 at 11:43
i like the little LCD mouse thingy on the edge, but a mechKB in a gaming laptop is flipping rad. Would have loved to see profile shots to scope out the height of the device. Cant imagine hiding a MKB is particularly easy when trying to be compact
Matthew Holliday
October 31, 2014 at 11:43
no touch pad.
i like that.
although it does make it look oddly alien without it, the keybaords right up front.
loftie
October 31, 2014 at 11:53
yeah, now I have place to put my coffee 😛