The idea of thin and light gaming laptops has been bouncing around for years, with great machines from Asus, Dell, Razer, MSI, and many other manufacturers. The problem is that while many of these pack top-of-the-line components into ultra-thin chassis, they can be loud when really pushed.

However, there are a few exceptions, and one machine that stands out from the pack with whisper-quiet operation is the MSI GS65 Stealth. We loved the original MSI GS65 Stealth Thin we reviewed in May 2018, and we loved the refreshed MSI GS65 Stealth Thin (2019) that shipped last June. So when MSI offered us an engineering sample of the new GS66 Stealth, we jumped at the chance.

For the most part, this looks just like the previous GS65, but instead of gold highlights, it's all black. The star of the technical sample is a 10th generation Intel processor, the Core i7 10750H to be exact. This is a 6-core, 12-thread CPU with a base frequency of 2.6 GHz, a maximum frequency of 4.8 GHz for all cores, and a maximum single-core frequency that could reach 5 GHz.

Since this is an early engineering sample, it is difficult to say with certainty how fast this CPU will be, but the fastest we recorded in a few days of testing fell just short of the single-core Max Turbo frequency, but in line with the multi-core frequency. levels may have been held back a bit to keep them down, but this is perfectly acceptable. [Other specs are also attractive, including 32GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, a fast 512GB NVMe SSD, and a 240Hz 1080p panel The GS66 Stealth is available in several versions, with the graphics subsystem being one of the deciding factors. This engineering model had an RTX 2060 as a placeholder (it had older drivers that could not be updated), but the machines that will ship will have RTX 2060 Max-Q or RTX 2080 Super.

We are unable to print the results of the benchmarks we performed on this machine, first of all because it is an engineering sample and not yet complete, and also because both Nvidia and Intel have placed an embargo on performance results until April 15. The machine is also under an embargo from both Nvidia and Intel regarding performance results until April 15. In addition, the machine is missing a rather critical element, and that is the GPU. Therefore, we will revisit this machine as soon as it becomes available in production to check its performance.

While the performance and responsiveness of the machine is impressive, what struck me most was how quiet it was in use. Even when pushed hard, it keeps the noisy side down. It's not absolutely silent under load, but even when the fans are geared up you can hear them; I wonder how MSI can keep noise levels so low on such a high-end GPU.

So not everything shipped exactly as it should, and it was even more surprising that MSI had time to install Norton Antivirus on this gorgeous machine. msi's Dragon Center allows you to switch between various user scenarios. and basically compare noise and performance. We did a little experimenting here and found the "balanced" setting to be the most effective.

As for the rest, the Steelseries keyboard looks good and is responsive; whether a 240 Hz screen is actually necessary is another matter entirely, but it looks great from many angles. We were less impressed with the touchpad. Still, the chassis is sturdy, and we're definitely fans of the understated styling.

In short, the MSI GS66 Stealth is a very impressive laptop and, like its predecessor, has the potential to do very well. The biggest problem for MSI, and any manufacturer, is the new $999 RTX 2060 gaming laptop. We'll have to wait and see if the extra performance makes up for it.