Pros And Cons Of Msi Gaming Laptops
MSI is known for their rugged and durable laptops. The gaming laptops from this brand are pretty amazing, not just in terms of the build quality but also the overall functionalities and performance.
In comparison to the other leading brands in the market, this one is likely one of the best. It is not the most affordable brand but you get what you pay for.
In case you do plan on buying a gaming laptop from MSI, we have a few options that you can take a look at.
Msi Crosshair 15 Gaming Laptop
It can be difficult to find a worthwhile gaming laptop in less than $1200, but the 15.6 MSI Crosshair 15 presents a good option.
This affordable computer is fueled by an Intel Core i7-11800H processor, 8GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics. This configuration can comfortably support intensive gaming and other multimedia pursuits.
It also has an immersive, thin-bezel display with a satisfying screen-to-body ratio. Nahimic 3 audio ensures that no compromises happen on the sound front.
A lightweight device, this laptop weighs only 5.07 lbsultra-comfortable for travel, outdoor gaming events, etc. It also has a long-lasting battery that can run for over seven hours, granting you liberty of use. The keyboard is backlit and offers anti-ghosting for smooth gaming.
Is Msi A Good Laptop Brand
MSI produces some of the worlds best gaming laptops, making it a premier laptop brand.;
Unlike other laptop brands, MSI puts special focus on developing and building high performance laptops with only the best components, designs and materials.
Your MSI laptop will boot quickly, display with amazing graphics, play AAA-title games seamlessly and perform other intense tasks with minimum hang-ups.;
These devices feature only the latest hardware components, and you can expect to own and use an MSI laptop for a few good years before upgrading or replacing anything.
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Msi: 2020 Brand Report Card
MSI made a big jump up in our rankings
MSI not only dug itself out of the double digits this year but it fully propelled itself into the top 5 best laptop brands. The company not only improved its gaming laptops, but also expanded its selection and reconfigured the design of its core flagship laptops.
MSI excelled with gaming laptops like the MSI GT76 Titan and the MSI GS66 Stealth, redesigning both, one looking as slick as a premium consumer laptop and the other packing the largest battery that the TSA would even allow. While MSIs tech support could be better and its selection could use more variety, MSI pulled off an excellent showing.
MSIs Key Strengths
- Great gaming laptops: MSI revamped its score of reviews from a flat 30 to 34 out of 40, with a strong collection of not only gaming laptops but also consumer laptops and even a workstation.
- Stepping up design: MSI earned itself a few extra points in design this year thanks to innovatively shoving a 99.9Whr battery in a thin gaming laptop and revamping one of its gaudy gaming tanks to look like an elegant piece of machinery.
- Accidental-damage protection: Yet again, MSI is still the only company to offer free accidental-damage protection.
MSIs Main Weaknesses
Top-Rated MSI Laptops
- Best Premium Consumer Laptop:MSI Prestige 14
Msi Ge76 Raider 360hz Gaming Laptop
Looking for an exceptional speaker system to complement your gaming experience? The 17 MSI GE76 Raider comes with the Dynaudio GIANT speaker system that delivers fantastic sound.
This laptop is a great all-rounder, with its Intel Core i7-11800H processor, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics.
The narrow-bezel screen has a refresh rate of 360Hz and a response time of 3msboth optimal for gaming.
The color gamut, too, is inspiring: 100% sRGB and 72% NTSC. Although this is a 17 laptop, it manages to be reasonably lightweight at 6.39 lbs. This makes it a great pick for anyone who wants a larger-than-life experience without being tethered to a spot.
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What Is Msi Who Makes Msi Laptops A Bit Of Brands Background
The term MSI is the short form of Micro-Star International a Taiwanese multinational IT corporation. Micro-Star International, like ASUS, is a tech and IT giant headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The company was founded in August 1986 by five consorts namely Joseph Hsu, Jeans Huang, Frank Lin, Kenny Yu, and Henry Lu Qilong.
The company deals in designing and developing loads of computer products and services. They include motherboards, video cards, laptops, PCs, servers, computer peripherals, and other related tech and infotainment-related products and services.
The company originally started as motherboards and video cards manufacturing enterprise. And, that ultimately led Micro-Star International to enter the gaming PC market and making some truly high-end gaming laptops.
Heres What You Need To Know About The Quality Msi Laptops:
MSI laptops are some of the worlds best gaming devices.;Their parent company tailors these devices specifically for high-performance on all gaming fronts, which also makes them ideal for other tasks such as content creation.
MSI laptops are easy to use, and theyll last you long with proper care and handling.;
You may not experience as many problems with it as other laptop brands, and thats why many people use them.
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Customer Support And Warranty
Customer support is another letdown of MSI. They need to work on their website as it can be difficult to navigate around and look at laptop features. The striking red color over the website can be distracting.
Contacting them on their social channels means waiting for days to get a reply. You do not have to hold on when contacting their customer service team via phone but the replies to the problems were ineffective.
They are able to answer 2 of 5 questions we asked them during our testing.
The only upside is that MSI laptops come with a year of free tech support. Plus, unlike any other brand, MSI gives you one incident accidental damage where all replacement and repairs will be free .
Benefits Of Msi Laptops
MSI laptops are very high quality and durable.
MSI laptops can have a variety of different speeds and processors so they can be catered to any users need, even the most hardcore gamer or video editor.
MSI offers great customer service for their laptop customers in case anything goes wrong with your device.
MSI is also known as one of the most stylish laptops out there today.
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Gaming Essentials: Minimum Features To Look For
Before checking out our list of the best MSI gaming laptops, take note of the minimum configuration you should look out for. While several MSI computers are highly customizable, ensuring that they meet these basic criteria will help you settle for a good deal.
Note: Another crucial choice that will be involved in your purchase decision is the screen size. MSIs offerings are abundant in both the 15 Inch and the 17 Inch sizes. The latter definitely has an edge in display and available real estate to dive into an alternate world.
But the 15 size can be a good choice as well to strike a balance between visual splendor and practicality. Plus, MSI employs a thin-bezel design which ensures you get the maximum bang for your buck.
Msi Gl66 Gaming Laptop
A good all-rounder gaming machine that balances performance with audio-visual excellence is the 15.6 MSI Pulse GL66.
Inside the processing compartment is an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. This is a fantastic configuration for anyone seeking to enjoy AAA games at moderate to high settings.
The FHD display, which delivers a refresh rate of 144Hz, employs a thin-bezel design to limit external interference.
You also get an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card, complete with real-time ray tracing and artificial intelligence at work.
This helps create engaging multimedia experiences for both gamers and creative professionals. Add to that a response time of 3ms and a color gamut of 72%NTSC, and you have visual nirvana. Nahimic 3 audio and GIANT speakers steer the sound department.
On the downside, this is a rather heavy computer at 4.63lbs and 0.94. But it offers an array of connections to keep you sorted on the move, including a Type-C port and an HDMI.
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How Many Cores Do I Really Need
How many cores do you need in a gaming laptop? For most people on a budget, a 4-core CPU with Hyper-Threading will function just fine in most games, especially when combined with a lower-cost and lower performance GPU.
Still, if you have the extra cash, a 6-core CPU with Hyper-Threading is likely the sweet spot for today and tomorrow. If you plan to stream your gaming live or edit it, investing in a 6-core is recommended.
Intels top-end 8-core CPUs will deliver the greatest benefit to those who might do other graphics-intensive tasks, such as 3D animation or video editing. If you also plan to record and stream video, the 8-core will offer a performance benefit there, too.
If youre thinking, great, let me buy a 4-core Core i5 CPU with a luxury laptop to save money, you usually cant, because PC makers typically only offer budget CPUs with other budget parts. Why? Well, most budget shoppers cant afford any luxury items, and most PC makers like to add in the extras to increase the profit.
Nvidia
How To Pick A Cpu For A Gaming Laptop
There may be real competition between AMD and Intel when it comes to gaming CPUs in desktops now, but in gaming laptops, the world is still very much 95-percent Intel.;Thats not necessarily a bad thing, as Intels laptop CPUs are excellent. Still, there are a few things you need to consider about the CPU for your gaming laptop.
A typical Intel laptop CPU will pack from four to eight processor cores. Most will feature Hyper-Threading, which lets the CPU offer virtual CPUs to use its resources more efficiently.
Gaming laptops today mostly give you a choice of 8th-gen H or 9th-gen H high-power CPUs. Thats led to a lot of confusion for consumers. We recommend that you not sweat the difference between 8th-gen and 9th-gen laptop CPUs. Outside of security mitigations, the change is mostly a clock speed bump on Core i7 and Core i5 models.;The key difference is at the high end, where the 9th-gen Core i9 gives you two more cores than the Core i7.
If youre shopping in that zone of do I buy 8th-gen gaming laptop? or do I buy a 9th-gen gaming laptop? weve broken out each models differences. For contrast, we also break out that the biggest performance improvement was going from Intels 7th-gen to its 8th-gen chips.
IDG
Its pretty had to live up to the huge performance boost the 8th gen chips gave us, but 9th gen Core i9 gives it a good try.
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Computers And Laptops After Sales Service
Apart from reliability, the after sales service is equally important too. Ive owned a great number of computer brands, such as Acer, Asus, Dell, and Sony. My Dell PC failed during the first year and Dell immediately replaced the part, no question asked. Sony did the same thing too when the hard disk failed. My Acer laptop died in the 3rd year, right after the warranty expires.
Msi Gf63 Thin Storage Options & Performance Review
The MSI GF63 Thin comes with a 512 GB NVMe SSD drive.;The laptop also offers ab option for a 1 TB 2.5-inch hard drive.
Moreover, the Solid-state drive enhances this laptops speed during computing operations. The program loading time and the boot time of the MSI GF63 Thin are incredibly fast, thanks to the SSD.
On a CrystalDiskMark test, the MSI GF63 Thin recorded a sequential read speed of 963.2 MBps. Also, It recorded a sequential write speed of 597.1 MBps.
Furthermore, the MSI GF63 Thin copied 4.97 GB of mixed media files in just 17 seconds at a rate of 320 MBps. It recorded a better rate than the Dell G5 15 that copied the same file at 102 MBps.
The MSI GF63 Thin also beat the mainstream gaming laptop average data copy rate of 300 MBps and the Lenovo Legion Y730s rate of 128 GB.
Therefore, the MSI GF63 Thin scores an eight in this review for its excellent storage speed.
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Praiseworthy Warranties And Other Coverages
MSI is well known for backing its laptops with some decent warranty terms and conditions. Most of the laptops here come with 1 to 2 years of hardware warranties.;
Besides, what gives a clear edge to MSI is that its the only company that also offers additional things like a one-time free accidental-damage coverage, etc.;
Although youd have to bear any shipping charges, etc. yourself in case you happen to send/receive your laptop to/from the company. Still, the brand is considered teeming in this department.
Lack Of Variety In Designs
At MSI, as I said earlier, there is no such diversity in designs, etc. Almost every laptop of a specific stretch demos one specific, sort of similar, design and appearance.;
Although there are some tries to bring great, eye-catchy, and all-embracing designs in the brands catalog too. Still, its one known thing about MSI that, most of the time, youd come across some twin form factors.
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Msi Gf63 Thin Processor Performance Review
MSI equipped the MSI GF63 Thin with a 6-Core Intel Core i7-9750H. This processor has a base frequency of 2.6 GHz and a maximum frequency of 4.50 GHz.
The MSI GF63 Thin carries out regular computing operations effortlessly. This laptop breezes through regular document editing, web browsing, and basic video/image editing.
Furthermore, the MSI GF63 Thin scored 21,811 on the Geekbench 4 overall performance test. With this score, the MSI GF63 Thin exceeded the mainstream gaming laptop average score of 20,402.
The MSI GF63 Thin also beat its competitors in this test. It scored higher than the Dell G5 15 that scored a point of 16,751 and the Lenovo Legion Y730 that scored a point of 18,531.
As a result, it scores an eight in this review for its incredible CPU power.
Should I Get A 4k Screen In My Laptop
Nah. 4K gaming laptops are overkill; fine for video editing on the go if you’re dealing with 4K content, but it’s not the optimal choice for games. The standard 1080p resolution means that the generally slower mobile GPUs are all but guaranteed high frame rates, while companies are slowly drip-feeding 1440p panels into their laptop ranges.;
A 1440p screen offers the perfect compromise between high resolution and decent gaming performance. At the same time, a 4K notebook will overstress your GPU and tax your eyeballs as you squint at your 15-inch display.
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Msi Ge76 Dragon Tiamat
For a 17.3 gaming Laptop, the MSI GE76 Dragon TIAMAT offers a great mix of performance and portability.
Driven by an Intel Core i9-11980HK CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, this laptop can run unplugged for over six hours.
It offers 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSDample for standard gaming endeavors on moderate settings.
The FHD monitor boasts of a splendid sRGB color gamut along with a large screen-to-body ratio. If you fancy immersive gaming with limited external interference, the thin-bezel design ensures it. On the sound front, things are pretty sorted with Nahimic 3.
Build-wise, MSI has bestowed this 6.39lbs laptop with a brushed-aluminum Look. The ventilation design is stylish and effective for guaranteeing sustainability.
Things can get challenging on the arena, and this laptop helps you be prepared with a gaming-friendly keyboard. The crimson-red backlighting is eye-catching as well as useful for outdoor pursuits. The keyboard also offers anti-ghosting to ensure accuracy.
Quick Gaming Laptop Shopping Tips
- Focus on the GPU: Most games are dependent on the GPU, and those arent upgradeable. If you splurge on a powerful GPU now, youll be gaming comfortably for a few years.
- You can upgrade some parts later: While CPUs and GPUs are almost always soldered down, most gaming laptops let you replace the RAM and storage, so you can buy cheaper now and add more memory and a bigger hard drive or SSD down the road.
- Battery life will probably be bad:;Very few gaming notebooks get 8 hours or more on a charge, and you need the power supply to get the best gaming performance anyway. However, we’ve seen some strong times from AMD’s Ryzen processors, and Nvidia suggests its improved Optimus technology may help turn the tide.
Best gaming laptops at a glance
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
For enthusiasts who want a gaming laptop to replace a desktop, the MSI GE76 Raider has it all. It’s a performance gaming machine with up to an Intel Core i9-11980HK and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, with a 360 Hz display that’s ready for esports like League of Legends or Dota 2.
Reasons to avoid
The battery life is also surprisingly long for a gaming notebook and the keyboard is clicky and comfortable. The fan, however, sometimes goes off even when just sitting on the desktop, and this system doesnt come equipped with a built-in webcam.
Reasons to avoid
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Tech Support & Warranty
When you run into laptop trouble, dont expect 24/7 customer support and tech support from MSI.
Many MSI laptop users complain that it takes days and weeks for the company to reply when you try to reach them over social media. Contacting them via e-mail or website isnt any better.
The only bright side to it is the 1-year warranty and the incidental damage protection MSI offers.
The company will shoulder all replacement and repairs if you manage to get a hold of its tech support team.