New year means new gaming laptops! Here’s everything MSI has coming in 2023!
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This is how MSI are breaking down their gaming laptop lineup this year. At the top,
we’ve got their most powerful Titan GT series. Under that we’ve got the GE series,
which usually has some nice extras over the GP tier below it,
then at the bottom we’ve got more budget friendly to entry level models.
With that in mind, let’s start from the top and work our way down to the bottom,
starting out with MSI’s Titan GT77.
This is basically a desktop replacement style machine with serious power that’s still at
least somewhat relatively portable compared to an actual desktop PC.
This year’s GT77 goes up to Intel’s top-end Core i9-13980HX processor, a 24 core 32 thread chip,
as Intel have doubled the amount of E cores from 8 to 16 this year with 13th gen.
The graphics go right up to Nvidia’s top-end RTX 4090 with a MUX switch, with a maximum 175 watt
power limit for the GPU and then still 75 watts still left for the CPU, which is crazy stuff,
but it does still have a large 330 watt power brick to keep all that running.
Apparently they’ve also added USB Type-C charging this year, which obviously won’t be
able to provide anywhere near enough power for that hardware, but it does at least mean that
you don’t have to carry around that big 330 watt brick with you if you’re just doing lighter work.
The 17.3” screen also gets an upgrade from 4K 120Hz IPS-Level to 4K 144Hz Mini-LED,
which means better colors and a brighter screen, getting up to 1000 nits.
Apparently the touchpad is 62% larger now, but it was already quite big last year anyway,
so I’m kind of struggling to picture this being 62% bigger.
The camera above the screen adds a shutter this year for privacy, but unfortunately for
some reason the camera itself is still just 720p, which seems a bit weird considering
this is basically top-end machine and MSI has 1080p in their other gaming laptops.
Speaking of, next up we’ve got MSI’s GE series.
The GE68 is the update to last year’s 15 inch GE67,
while the GE78 is the update to last year’s 17 inch GE77.
The smaller GE68 is available with either Nvidia RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 graphics,
while the larger GE78 starts at RTX 4070 graphics and also has 4080 and 4090 options. So it seems
like you’ve got to go up to the 17 inch model if you want 4080 or 4090 in the GE series.
But both laptops do still support Intel’s 13th gen HX processors,
so again up to 24 cores and 32 threads, just like the Titan series.
Intel’s 13th gen HX CPU also means that MSI’s GE series can now support
a PCIe Gen 5 M.2 SSD - something only the Titan could do last year.
The screens on both of those GE laptops are also 16:10 now, so more pixels vertically
compared to 16:9, and this also means that the GE68 is now a 16 inch model,
whereas last year’s GE67 was still 15.3 inches. Both the 16 and 17 inch screens have 2560 by
1600 240Hz IPS-Level displays, though only the smaller 16 inch model also has a 4K 120Hz option.
They both still have 1080p cameras above the screen like last year,
which as mentioned is kind of strange considering the higher tier Titan series still has 720p.
The lighting on the front has changed to this more blocky design, which MSI are
calling the Matrix light bar, and it can be controlled through their included light sync
software. Personally I think the solid bar last year looked nicer, but I’ll hold off
on my judgment until I get one in to review and see it for myself, make sure you’re subscribed!
It also looks like we’ve got a new hinge design. Compared to previous MSI laptops,
this made me think more of what the ASUS do with their Scar series.
Otherwise the touchpad is 55% larger this year, and the WASD keys are now translucent,
so easier to identify quickly in the middle of a game I suppose.
After MSI’s Raider GE series, we’ve got their Vector GP series with the GP68 and GP78.
The lower tier GP series is usually quite similar to the higher tier GE series. The GP series is
usually just missing a few less important features in order to have that lower price tag. For
example, the camera in the GP series isn’t as high quality at 720p. But then again, I guess that’s
the same as the higher tier Titan, so does that mean the lower tier GP series rivals the Titan?
Anyway, it still adds a privacy shutter this year just like the last few laptops. And the
GP’s battery isn’t quite as large as the GE series, at 90Wh vs 99.9Wh with the GE.
The GP still gets Thunderbolt 4 this year, which is something that it’s been missing in the past
as you had to go for the higher tier GE series to get it. But it looks like the GP series does not
have PCIe Gen 5 SSD support, which I don’t think is really that big of a deal considering PCIe Gen
5 SSDs are still quite difficult to actually find, and Gen 4 is still relatively new anyway and the
speeds you get from it are still quite fast. This year’s GP series even appears to have an
SD card slot on the left, something only the GE got last year. Perhaps the most important
thing that the GP series is missing compared to the GE is the light bar down the front..
I don’t have any pictures, but according to the spec sheet there’s also going to be a new GP77,
a 17 inch model that’s using a 16:9 screen,
rather than 16:10 like the others. This might just be the existing GP76 chassis
with newer CPU and GPU options, or it could be a new redesign, I’m not sure on this one.
Next up we’ve got the stealth series, which are designed to be thinner and lighter laptops for
portability that can still run games while not looking out of place in an office environment.
This year we’re getting a Stealth 14 and 16 for the first time,
in addition to updates to the existing 15 and 17 inch sizes.
Let’s start with the smallest 14 inch model and work our way up. The stealth 14 is
available with Intel’s 14 core 20 thread Core i7-13700H CPU and Nvidia RTX 4070,
4060 or 4050 graphics with a 14” QHD+ 240Hz or FHD+ 165Hz 16:10 screen.
And like most of the 14 inch competition, the Stealth 14 uses vapor chamber cooling.
According to the Stealth 14 spec sheet, it’s actually got 2 DDR5 memory slots,
which is kind of a big deal, because I think this makes it the first 14 inch gaming laptop that has
two upgradeable memory slots. Which also means it’s the only one that can support 64 gigs of
memory. As if I recall correctly, Razer’s Blade 14 and Alienware’s x14 only have soldered memory,
with the Blade actually being limited to 16 gigs, but the x14 can do 32,
while ASUS’s Zephyrus G14 has some memory soldered with one memory slot. So it can go up to 48 gig.
Next is the Stealth 15, which is actually available with lower tier CPU and GPU options,
with Intel’s Core i7-13620H and RTX 4050 or 4060 options. It’s got a
smaller battery compared to the smaller Stealth 14 too, which is a bit weird.
Based on these specs, I’m assuming that this is an update to the existing MSI Stealth 15M,
rather than the higher tier Stealth GS66, which is a more powerful yet still relatively thin 15
inch gaming laptop. There hasn’t been any news yet about the GS66 being updated this year.
Now this year’s Stealth 15 apparently has 3 fans instead of 2 for cooling,
it finally adds a MUX switch, and it has 3 screen options instead of 1.
Including a 1440p 240Hz OLED panel with fast response time and 100%
DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, which is a huge improvement as the Stealth 15M
has had the same screen since 2020 and was well overdue for an improvement.
That said, it does still have an optional 1080p 144Hz screen option,
which very well may be that exact same panel, which has lower color
gamut and lower brightness. But at least there are good options now.
There’s not a whole lot of information on the new Stealth 16 just yet,
but it goes up to Intel Core i9-13900H CPU with Nvidia RTX 4070 or 4060 GPUs plus
MUX switch and a 16 inch UHD+ 120Hz or QHD+ 240Hz screen. Unlike the Stealth 14 and 15,
it’s got a maxed out battery while remaining relatively slim.
The new Stealth 17 seems to use the same chassis as MSI’s Stealth GS77 last year,
as it looks very similar.
I didn’t really like MSI’s Stealth GS77 last year, which seems to be what has
now become the Stealth 17 this year. One of the reasons was it didn’t have a MUX switch,
but this year they have added that to the Stealth 17. The top-end 4K 120Hz IPS-level
screen has also been updated to a newer 4K 144Hz Mini-LED option too, and as long as the RTX 4060,
4070, 4080 or 4090 GPU options have a decent GPU power limit, I can’t imagine it having
the same problems as last year. But it is a Stealth laptop, so it’s meant to be thinner,
so GPU power limits probably aren’t going to be that much higher compared to last year.
Up next on the cheaper side is MSI’s new Cyborg series, with 15 and 17 inch options.
Apparently it's using a translucent material so that you can see some of the internal hardware
from the outside, which sounds cool, but MSI haven’t provided any pictures or video of that.
With Intel’s Core i7-13620H CPU and Nvidia RTX 4060 or 4050 graphics and a 1080p 144Hz
screen, it’s clearly not as high end compared to the other laptops covered,
but it should still have the power to run modern games well.
Otherwise MSI’s other cheaper range including the Katana, Sword and Pulse series have also
been refreshed to include the latest Intel 13th gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs.
So MSI have quite a few gaming laptops coming out in 2023. Make sure you’re subscribed for
all my upcoming reviews! Check out more new gaming laptops coming out from other brands in 2023 here,
there’s a lot of cool new gaming laptops coming out. I’ll see you in one of those next!