MSI Pulse GL66 Vs Asus TUF f17: Which One Is Better?

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MSI’s GL66 Pulse gaming laptop, which will be released in 2021, will feature Intel “Tiger Lake-H” processing and Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series graphics. More information on this model can be found in our one-on-one interview with MSI.) Our $1,499 test unit is difficult to recommend because the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro costs roughly the same and includes a faster AMD Ryzen processor and GeForce RTX 3070. Despite this, our test unit performed well in gaming. The Predator Helios 300 remains our best buy for 15.6-inch laptops with comparable frame rates, more than double the battery life, and more features. Overall, the GL66 Pulse is only worth a quick glance if you can find a good deal.

After more than two years, Asus updates the series with an Alder Lake CPU and DDR5 RAM, as well as an RTX GPU, in this case, an RTX 3060 with 140 W TGP. In our review, we discovered a few flaws with the TUF Gaming F17, so keep in mind that not all good things come in a shiny package. The chassis, as previously stated, is in excellent condition.

MSI Pulse GL66 VS ASUS TUF f17: Comparison Table

Features	MSI Pulse GL66	ASUS TUF f17
Launching Year	2021	2020
Brand	MSI	ASUS
Series	Pulse GL 66	TUF F17
Available Colors	Black	Black
OS	Windows 10 Home	Windows 10 Home
Display	15.6’ Full HD	15.6’ FHD IPS
Processor	Intel Core i7	Intel Core i7
RAM	16 GB	32 GB
Online Price Ranges	Rs. 1.39,958	Rs.64,899
Customer Ratings	4/5	4.4/5

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MSI Pulse GL66 vs Asus TUF f17: Detailed Analysis

Design

The gunmetal grey aluminium lid of the GL66 Pulse is a welcome change from MSI’s usual black gaming notebooks. The laser-etched shield logo and angled lid corners give it an elegant, modern appearance. The new MSI logo lettering can be seen just below the screen.

Except for the lid, everything is made of plastic. Pulse’s base price of $949 is reasonable, but $1,499 is a little more difficult to swallow. Despite weighing slightly more, the Acer Helios 300 is made of more metal and has a more solid feel (4.83 versus 4.63 pounds). The MSI is slightly larger than its competitors in this price range, such as the HP Omen 15, at 0.94 by 14.1 x 10.2 inches (HWD) (0.89 by 14.1 by 9.4 inches).

The updated Asus TUF Gaming F17 is available in the same colour schemes as the original. A much smaller protruding imprint in the centre of the metal display lid has replaced the large TUF logo. The corners of the “fake screw” remained unchanged.

A physical notch at the top of the device houses the camera and microphones and also serves as a latch for opening the display cover. You can’t open the laptop with one hand tied behind your back.

A small star-shaped LED panel visible when the display lid is closed indicates whether the laptop is charging or in airplane mode.

Output and Input

On the sides of the GL66 Pulse, there are five ports: two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one legacy 2.0 port, a headset jack, Gigabit Ethernet, and an HDMI 2.0b video output (good for 4K at 60Hz). It’s plugged into the bottom left 180-watt power adapter. To connect the device to the Internet, a well-known Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 card is used.

On the Asus TUF Gaming motherboard, one USB-A port was converted into a USB-C port, resulting in two USB-C ports, one of which is connected to the Thunderbolt 4 controller.

Furthermore, due to the additional fan vents on the backsides, the ports have been moved slightly forward. The right side of the device only has one USB port, which is good for right-handers but bad for left-handers. Furthermore, we discovered that the headphone jack was too close to the USB-A port. Aside from that, the port spacing was adequate.

CPU

With the GeForce RTX 3060’s 6GB of dedicated memory and 144Hz refresh rate, you can expect triple-digit frame rates on a laptop with a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution. (See the following section for benchmarks.) The result is a picture with adequate brightness and contrast, if not overly colourful. The less expensive GL66 Pulse models have a more vibrant 72 per cent NTSC colour coverage, compared to MSI’s 45 per cent. The only model that will likely disappoint is the $949 model, which has a 60Hz screen and a 4GB GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. All of the screens, in addition to having wide viewing angles and anti-glare treatment, have IPS panels with wide viewing angles.

With a few exceptions, the Asus TUF Gaming has a powerful Intel Core i7-12700H processor and Nvidia Geforce RTX 3060 graphics card, but it lacks the 16 GB of DDR5 RAM required to run modern games at their best in native FHD resolution.

The processor is the same across all SKUs, but Asus offers four different GPUs: the RTX 3050, the RTX 3050 Ti, and the RTX 3060 and 3070.

Performance Ratios Of MSIGL66 and GL66

We have only tested one MSI GL66 Pulse with a 6GB GeForce RTX 3060 (model 11UEK-034). Windows 10 Home, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid-state drive with Windows 10, and a 1TB hard drive are all included. One year is the standard warranty period.

The SSD, on the other hand, adheres to the PCI Express 3.0 specification rather than the newer 4.0 standard, which is questionable in terms of real-world gaming performance. The hard drive has enough space for today’s games. This notebook has two SO-DIMM slots under the bottom panel, allowing for a total of 64GB of additional memory (two 32GB modules).

The Processor of Asus TUF Gaming F17

The Intel Core i7-12700H is a member of Intel’s Alder Lake processor family, with 20 threads and six P-cores. The system includes an Intel Xe Graphics GPU with 96 EUs and a clock speed of up to 1.4 GHz.

The Core i7-12700H of this generation initially performed similarly to the Core i9-12900HK in the MSI GE76 Raider, but it quickly dropped to a level more in line with the Core i9-11900H of the previous generation. This becomes abundantly clear when the TDP of the CPU is examined. The CPU’s power consumption drops steadily to 45 W after peaking at 111 W during the first few seconds of the first two runs. The peak power is reduced to 75-80 W after the third iteration, and then to 45 W in a short period of time.

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MSI PULSE GL66 Vs ASUS TUF 17: Quick Result

Particulars	MSI PULSE GL66	ASUS TUF 17	Which one is the best?
Battery Life	Good	Good	Any
Display	Good	Average	ASUS
Performance	Good	Better	Any
Processor	I7	I7	MSI

MSI Pulse GL66 vs Asus TUF f17: Final Verdict

MSI’s GL66 Pulse appears to be a gaming laptop with 1080p gaming frame rates that are smooth. Aside from the lack of special features and a single-zone keyboard lighting, the laptop’s other drawbacks include its mostly plastic construction and a tested price of $1,499 USD. A significant discount would alleviate the Pulse’s high operating temperatures and short battery life, but you’d still have to deal with the Pulse.

On the other hand, the outstanding gaming performance of the Asus TUF Gaming F17 is undeniably one of its strongest points. In our testing, it was clear that Asus had set the RTX 3060 GPU to its maximum power consumption of 140 W. The F17’s battery life is exceptional for a 17-inch laptop, allowing it to be used while travelling.