MSI’s WS60 Workstation Notebook Cuts Down on Bulk, Not on Performance

We don’t talk about mobile workstations too often around here, or workstations in general for that matter (I’m hoping that’ll change in the near-future), but MSI’s latest notebook series is well-worth talking about. Called WS60, MSI has sought out to make the thinnest, lightest mobile workstations going, and looking the specs that go along with the two available models, I’m downright impressed.

Most mobile workstations I’ve seen have been rather bulky, but that size has been understandable: These are meant to be powerhouses, after all. People are designing things on them, not just watching content or doing some simple office work. So it’s impressive then, that the notebook seen below is actually classified as a mobile workstation.

MSI is offering two variants of the WS60, one priced at $2,299; the other at $2,599. Both include a 15.6-inch display, with the lesser-expensive model offering a 1080p resolution, and the more expensive one bumping it up to 2880×1620 (adhering to the 16:9 ratio). Both also include NVIDIA’s Quadro K2100M, a GK106-based part that includes 576 CUDA cores, 2GB of GDDR5, and is clocked at 654MHz. For processing power, Intel’s Core i7-4710HQ quad-core @ 2.5GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) is called-upon. The final exclusive perk on the $2,599 model is that it includes dual 128GB SSDs in RAID as well as a 1TB mechanical drive, while the $2,299 model cuts down on the SSD to a single 128GB model while still retaining the 1TB mechanical drive.

Shared specs include 16GB of DDR3L-1600 memory, Killer Ethernet networking, Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3x USB 3.0 ports, an SDHC/XC card reader, an HDMI 1.4 port, a 1080p 30FPS webcam, Dynaudio speakers (with subwoofer), and a SteelSeries backlit keyboard.

For those curious, both models measure at 15.35″ x 10.47″ x 0.78″, and weigh 4.36lbs. A 4-ish pound workstation with this kind of power, is to me, nothing short of impressive.

It’s not entirely clear when the WS60 will hit the market, but those heading to Siggraph next week will be able to check it out at booth #853.