For general use, the Gateway 15.6" offers an attractive price and decent performance with moderate battery life, making it budget-friendly. The MSI Stealth GS66, being a premium product, costs more but provides much stronger performance, especially for 3D, machine learning, gaming, and engineering tasks. It's also equipped with a high refresh-rate display ideal for fast action, and a powerful GPU that's good for gaming and creative applications. The MSI is slightly lighter, but its battery life is lower, which may affect portability. Both have the same screen size, share common features like backlit keyboards, but the MSI Stealth GS66 has additional perks like RGB keyboard lighting and a range of high-speed ports, enhancing connectivity and customization. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Gateway 15.6"
Good battery life
Advantages of the MSI Stealth GS66
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Very good overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Very good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.0/10
7.7/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
250.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
280.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.5 Hours
5.3/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
7.3/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.5/10
The MSI Stealth GS66 and Gateway 15.6" are both good for general use, though the MSI Stealth GS66 is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
6.0/10
7.8/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.8/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
The MSI Stealth GS66 is good for gaming and AI, while the Gateway 15.6" is only fair.
The Gateway 15.6" offers modest gaming and 3D performance with its integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, which are less powerful than dedicated GPUs, and a standard refresh rate, making it fair for casual use. In contrast, the MSI Stealth GS66 features a high-end Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics card and a much higher screen refresh rate, providing smoother and more detailed visuals which are good for demanding gaming and 3D applications.
Engineering and Design
6.2/10
8.2/10
4.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.8/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The MSI Stealth GS66 is very good for engineering and design, while the Gateway 15.6" is only fair.
The MSI Stealth GS66's higher performance in engineering and design tasks is attributed to its more powerful Intel i7 CPU and advanced Nvidia RTX GPU which are superior to the Gateway 15.6" which has an Intel i5 CPU and an integrated GPU; combined with its high-quality IPS display that covers a wider range of colors, it offers a more robust experience for intensive tasks. Despite the Gateway's satisfactory for everyday use and lighter tasks, the MSI's higher RAM capacity, CPU and GPU capabilities make it better suited for demanding engineering software, although it is slightly heavier and has a shorter battery life which affects portability.
Content Creation
7.0/10
7.7/10
4.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The MSI Stealth GS66 and Gateway 15.6" are both good for content creation, though the MSI Stealth GS66 is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
6.7/10
7.5/10
4.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
5.3/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The MSI Stealth GS66 is good for software development, while the Gateway 15.6" is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
6.1/10
8.1/10
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
250.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
280.0 nits
The MSI Stealth GS66 has a better screen than the Gateway 15.6" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Gateway 15.6" laptop has a fair screen offering adequate resolution and brightness for everyday tasks and work applications, yet it lacks the wider color range and superior brightness desired by engineers and designers. The MSI Stealth GS66 provides a crisp, vivid display with good color accuracy and brightness that suits both general usage and detailed engineering work, though its refresh rate isn't high enough for the smooth visuals demanded by gaming and 3D applications. Both laptops fall short for gaming and 3D because their screens do not have the high refresh rates required to render fast-moving images fluidly.
Battery
8.0 Hours
5.5 Hours
The Gateway 15.6" has 8 hours of battery life. The MSI Stealth GS66 has 5.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Build Quality
5.1/10
8.0/10
The MSI Stealth GS66 has very good build quality, while the Gateway 15.6" has poor build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$380
$1,000
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
The Gateway 15.6" has a price of $380 and the MSI Stealth GS66 costs $1,000.
"Some concessions have to be made when shopping for a budget laptop. Walmart's Gateway Ultra Slim laptops succeeds on the affordability front and delivers serviceable specs and good battery life, though it's hard to claim it's the best (or even particularly good) at any particular aspect. Its build quality, especially the touchpad, is mediocre, and its performance is decent but doesn't lead the way. The Gateway does undercut the cost of some competitors and offers ample storage with good connectivity, so it's not to be ignored."
"The MSI Stealth GS66 is powerful enough for QHD. The Core i7-12700H and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti found in the 12UGS model that we tested run all modern games smoothly in the native QHD resolution. The 15-inch display is very fast with its 240 Hz refresh rate, and it also offers a great color space (almost 100% DCI-P3) on top of that, which should please gamers as well as content creators, although we would have still wished for a higher brightness. Case, input devices, and connectivity (Thunderbolt 4) are at a good level. However, among other things, the GS66 loses points due to the high temperature development in 3D mode and its poor webcam."
Get a great deal on the Gateway 15.6" or the MSI Stealth GS66
About Gateway
Gateway is a laptop and tablet brand owned by Acer which sells budget-friendly laptops exclusively through Walmart. It was previously an American computer company until its acquisition by Acer in 2007, who then revived the brand in 2020. Gateway laptops are manufactured by Chinese company Shenzhen Bmorn Technology, which also makes EVOO-branded models.
About MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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