MSI Has Some of the First PCIe Gen 5 Gaming Laptops (Update)
MSI is revamping its portfolio of gaming PCs at CES 2023, starting from its top-tier Titan down to a slew of new mid-tier and budget offerings. All of the laptops are jumping up to Intel’s 13th Gen processors, and most of the laptop top offerings are coming with Nvidia’s newly announced RTX 40-series. Almost every laptop has a Mux switch, and the top-end offerings are among the first laptops we’re seeing with PCIe Gen 5 storage.
A refreshed Titan leads the pack. The Titan GT77 HX 13V will have up to 250W of power consumption between the CPU and GPU, and MSI says it will run the Core i9-13980HX on all eight P-cores at 5.2 GHz. MSI is leaving the Titan’s display at 16:9 aspect ratio, seemingly a rarity this year, but moving the 17-inch, 4K, 144 Hz display to Mini LED with support for DisplayHDR 1000. Next-gen Nvidia mobile GPUs, up to an RTX 4090, should increase performance 50{38557cf0372cd7f85c91e7e33cff125558f1277b36a8edbab0100de866181896} gen-over-gen. The Titan is also getting both DDR5 and PCie Gen 5 storage, which is new.
The Titan will also get a Cherry mechanical keyboard and will maintain its 99.9 WHr battery. It will start at $4,299 with an i9 and RTX 4080 with 64GB of RAM, and top out at $5,299 with an RTX 4090, 128GB of RAM and 4TB of storage. It’s expected in February.
The Raider GE series is getting a bit of a glow up with the GE78 HX and GE68 HX, which will top out at the same CPU and GPU and the Titan. A new design brings a 16:10 display and a light bar that lets you see each individual light, which is a neat retro effect. They have 1080p webcams, physical shutters and six speakers. They look a bit more like the Titan, though shouldn’t be as heavy. These are also getting DDR5 and M.2 PCIe Gen 5.
The Raider GE68HX will start at $2,299 with an i9, RTX 4060, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, and go up to $2,6999 with an RTX 4070, 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. The GE78HX will begin at $2,999 with an i9 and RTX 4080, and to pout with an i9 and RTX 4090 at $3,999. It’s expected in the middle of February.
At its CES booth in Las Vegas, MSI ran Crystal Disk Mark on a Raider GE78HX using its own Spatium 570 Pro. It showed blazing sequential read speeds of 12,301 MB/s and write speeds of 8,972 MB/s.
With the Vector GP78 HX and GP68 HX, you take a step down. There’s RGB on the keyboard, but nowhere else. You still get the 16:10 displays at QHD+ and an i9, but the GPU stops at an RTX 4070, and the SSD is PCIe Gen 4. The Stealth 14 and 16 Studio are kind of outliers. They’re getting Nvidia Studio drivers, but MSI still positions them as gaming laptops, with up to an RTX 4070, an i9 on the 16-incher and an i7 on the 14-incher, along with DDR5 and PCie Gen 4. These will come in two colors: “pure white” and “star blue,” and include some RGB in vents in the shape of the word “Stealth,” which doesn’t seem so, well, stealthy to me. The Stealth 17 Studio will maintain the same chassis.
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The Stealth 16 Studio will be available at Best Buy with a Core i7 and RTX 4070, starting at $1,999. The Stealth 14 Studio with a Core i7 and RTX 4060, will launch at $1,599. These are expected for late February, and pricing at other stores hasn’t been finalized yet.
Budget and Mid-Range Options
MSI’s budget and mid-range laptops are also getting a refresh. There’s one new entrant: the Cyborg 15, using partially translucent materials, a Core i7 and either an RTX 4050 or 4060 (this is the only laptop in MSI’s whole lineup without a Mux switch. It will start at $999.
The Pulse 15 and 17 will go up to an i7 and an RTX 4070, running at 140W, along with a QHD, 240 Hz display and four-zone RGB. Its top-cover is getting a new look, with a very large MSI logo. It will start at $1,449.
The Katana 15 and 17 will go up to an i7 and RTX 4070 as well, with a 1080p, 144 Hz screen. The Sword 15 and Sword 17 are expected to have very similar specs. The Katana will start at $999.
In addition to its gaming machines, MSI is adding 13th Gen Intel processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series graphics to its Creator line, including the Creator Z17 and X16 HX Studio (each with vapor chamber cooling) and is updating its Prestige business notebooks and Modern ultrabooks with 13th Gen Core.
Updated Jan. 5, 1:05 p.m. ET with more details about SSD benchmarks MSI ran on the Raider GE78HX.
