There are thousands of gaming laptops out there, from a range of incredible manufacturers. One of which is MSI. Their laptops have been designed for gamers, with a focus on performance, versatility, and reliability. What’s more, some models have been fine-tuned with creators in mind and come equipped with the latest hardware to effectively handle a range of intensive applications, such as streaming.
In this article, we’re taking a closer look at MSI laptops, highlighting all their cutting-edge features, and what to look out for when your purchase your brand-new portable gaming system.
Why Buy an MSI Gaming Laptop?
An MSI gaming laptop is the perfect choice for gamers and content creators looking to harness powerful hardware, portability, and sleek aesthetics.
Equipped with next-gen hardware, including Intel 14th Gen CPUs and NVIDIA RTX 40 Series GPUs, unlock ultra-fast performance, seamless multitasking, and photo-realistic visuals that is almost indistinguishable from a desktop gaming PC. The sleek small form factor, however, means you can enjoy playing your favourite game or creating content from wherever you are – whether this be the comfort of your home, during your commute, or while relaxing in a coffee shop.
What’s more, you don’t need to compromise on style with a laptop. Each laptop from MSI features a sleek design, with most embedding RGB lighting to add a touch of colour to your set up.
If you are unsure whether a gaming laptop is the right choice for you, take a look at our dedicated laptop buyers guide.
What to Consider
Processor
The processor is the brain of your laptop, responsible for communicating with the rest of your components and processing tasks at lightning-fast speeds.
To ensure you can achieve seamless performance in both gaming and streaming alike, we recommend you look out for an MSI laptop with either an Intel 13 or 14th Gen CPUs. These next-gen processors have been designed to handle any task you throw its way, thanks to the hybrid core architecture. The P- (performance) cores optimise your workflow, whilst the E- (efficiency) streamline your workload. All of which is backed up by the built-in Intel Thread Director.
Memory
AAA gaming needs to be backed up by hefty memory. Without high-quality, reliable RAM, you risk slow performance, input lag, and increased latency.
To avoid this, we recommend you look out for a laptop with at least 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Thankfully, however, our range of MSI laptops come equipped with a range of RAM capacities, from 16GB to 32GB, along with offering options with either DDR4 or the latest DDR5 standard. To be honest, you can’t go wrong with either, so don’t worry too much. You won’t notice too much difference when gaming.
Graphics
A dedicated graphics card is a must-have for AAA gaming and content creation. Typically, MSI laptops come equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GPU.
Ranging from the 30 to the powerful 40 Series, these graphics cards utilise powerful GPU architectures, blisteringly fast clock speeds, along with enhanced Ray Tracing and AI capabilities, to render your games in stunning photo-realistic quality.
- RTX 4090 & 3090 – gaming enthusiasts and veteran content creators
- RTX 4080, 4070 Ti, 4070, 3080, and 3070 – AAA gaming and streamers
- RTX 3060 – gamers and budding streamers.
- RTX 3050 – gamers
Cooling
Powerful performance requires hefty cooling. However, every MSI laptop features a comprehensive thermal solution to keep your laptop cool and performing at optimum temperatures.
These cooling systems can feature their ground-breaking Shared-Pipe design, which is attached to both the CPU and GPU. This dissipates the heat produced by both these vital components, along with improving the thermal capacity under intensive workloads. This ensures you can carry on gaming, streaming, and creating for longer.
Storage
Without hefty, reliable storage, how else are you going to keep your expanding gaming library safe?
We recommend you opt for a gaming laptop with a Solid-State Drive (SSD). Preferably with a large storage capacity, such as 2TB. Unlike traditional hard drives, an SSD utilises integrated memory chips to result in ultra-fast boot and loading times. Plus, the bigger the storage capacity, the more games, music, videos, and creative projects you can store.
Some MSI laptops may even include a secondary HDD, or several empty slots for additional drives.
Display
Your choice of display is a big factor when it comes to selecting your gaming laptop. You can find laptops with varying different refresh rates and screen sizes. The refresh rates can go from 60Hz all the way up to 240Hz, whilst you can find super small 11’’ displays to hefty 17’’. What you choose, all depends on your individual preferences.
However, whether you are gaming or creating content, we recommend you look out for a laptop with at least 120Hz refresh rates. 120Hz or above allows for silky-smooth frame rates and fast response times with virtually no screen tearing or stuttering.
Our Top MSI Gaming Laptops
We don’t blame you if you’re now tempted to treat yourself to a brand-new MSI laptop. We’ve included a few our top recommendations down below.
MSI Stealth 17 Gaming Laptop:
The MSI Stealth 17 Gaming Laptop is the perfect choice for gaming enthusiasts and veteran content creators. This hefty portable system comes equipped with an Intel 13th Gen CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4070. Take advantage of the hybrid core architecture for seamless multitasking and ultra-fast performance in single- and multi-threaded tasks alike. Plus, with support for both enhanced Ray Tracing and AI capabilities, you can render all your favourite games in mind-blowing, hyper-realistic quality. The reforged cooling solution and Shared-Pipe design, helps to keep temperatures and noise down to a minimum for an optimised gaming performance.
The 17.3’’ QHD display and 240Hz refresh rates, enhance this one step further. Enjoy crisp high-resolution visuals with silky-smooth frame rates. Lastly, to ensure the MSI Raider blends into your aesthetic, this model features integrated RGB lighting. Not only is the keyboard highlighted by per-key backlighting there is also an additional strip alongside the front edge, for that extra splash of colour.
- 17.3” QHD display
- Up to 240Hz refresh rates
- Intel i9 13900H CPU
- NVIDIA RTX 4070
- 16GB DDR5 RAM
MSI Pulse 17 Gaming Laptop:
Level up your gaming performance with the MSI Pulse 17 Laptop. Take advantage of the Intel i9 13700H for powerful performance and intelligent workload management. This is boosted one step further, thanks to the 16GB of DDR5 RAM. Wave goodbye to pesky slow loading times and input lag. In addition to this, the NVIDIA RTX 4070, with built-in support for Real-Time Ray Tracing and AI DLSS, unlocks photo-realistic visuals and ultra-fast response times.
What’s more, this gaming laptop comes equipped with a 1TB NVMe SSD, along with space for up to two M.2 SSDs. This means you will have plenty of space for your expanding gaming library and creative projects. Lastly, the sleek, grey design and geometric pattern on the back ensures this laptop looks the part. Whilst all your ultra-fast gaming movements are highlighted by the 4-zone RGB keyboard.
- 17.3” FHD display
- 144Hz refresh rate
- Intel i9 13900H CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4070
- 16GB DDR5 RAM
- Windows 11 Home
MSI Raider GE68 Gaming Laptop:
The MSI Raider GE68 Laptop is the perfect choice for gamers and streamers looking for an upgrade. This powerful portable gaming solution is armed with an Intel 14th Gen CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4080. Unlock seamless performance in both single- and multi-threaded tasks, thanks to the hybrid core architecture. The RTX 4080 will render your favourite games in stunning quality, for greater immersion. To enhance this one step further, the Raider GE68 features MSI Overboost Ultra to intelligently increase both CPU and GPU performance.
In addition to all of this, the 16.0’’ QHD+ display with up to 240Hz refresh rates results in crisp high-def visuals with buttery-smooth frame rates. Whilst the RGB keyboard adds a touch of colour into your set up.
- 16.0” QHD+ display
- 240Hz refresh rates
- Intel i9 14900HX CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4080
- 32GB DDR5 RAM
- Windows 11 Pro
MSI Creator Z17 Gaming Laptop:
Unlock superior gaming and streaming with the MSI Creator Z17 Gaming Laptop. What sets the Creator models apart is that they have been fine-tuned for powerful, blisteringly-fast performance in all your creative applications. The Z17 is equipped with an Intel i9 14900HX and NVIDIA RTX 4070, for ultra-fast processing at up to speeds of 5.8GHz, along with support for Real-Time Ray Tracing and AI DLSS. Keeping all this hardware cool is MSI’s exclusive vapour chamber thermal solution. This ensures efficient heat dissipation and improved airflow to ensure this laptop stays cool and quiet.
- 17.0” QHD display
- 165Hz refresh rate
- Intel i9 14900HX CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4070
- 64GB DDR5 RAM
- Windows 11 Pro
You can also shop the entire range of MSI laptops by clicking the button below.
Have You Upgraded to an MSI Laptop?
Have you got an MSI laptop? Be sure to share all your thoughts about your laptop down below, including all the key features you looked out for before purchasing.
- 8 min read
Ruth Rowley
Author
Ruth has been with Overclockers UK for over a year and has gone on to write about everything ranging from in-depth hardware guides to monthly game releases.
Outside of writing blog posts, she can be found wrapped in a blanket with her black cat, engrossed in a book or playing life-simulation games such as The Sims, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing.
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