AMD launched their Richland mobile parts months ago but thus far, design wins have been few and far between. The situation has led to Intel’s expensive Haswell architecture virtually taking over the notebook and ultra-portable markets. The last place many would have expected Richland in within a gaming notebook but that’s exactly what happened when MSI chose the A10-5750M for their new GX70.

MSI’s notebook family may not be the most widely recognized around and it certainly doesn’t receive the press coverage of Dell’s Alienware line or ASUS’ Republic of Gamers G-Series notebooks. However, their gaming notebooks are known as being well priced and feature packed. The GX70 is no different in this respect since it boasts some serious specifications and only costs $1300. When compared against comparably-equipped systems using Intel processors, that’s a huge savings. But do you get less by going with a Richland-based notebook? Not necessarily if gaming is the system’s primary purpose.