Top MSI gaming laptop online store? “Bravo,” all right! MSI’s Bravo 15 (starts at $929; $999 as tested) is an all-AMD-powered gaming notebook and the successor of the Alpha 15. This time around, it more than compensates for its predecessor’s lack of CPU grunt with a new “Renoir” Ryzen 4000 series chip, which is head and shoulders faster than comparable Intel silicon you’ll find in laptops in this price range. Although the Bravo 15 falls a touch short in overall gaming performance next to notebooks packing Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, its strong CPU, ample memory, good-size dollop of storage, and a high-refresh AMD FreeSync display make it an excellent value at or just below the four-figure mark, where you’d be hard-pressed to find a GTX 1660 Ti-based notebook equipped the same.
AMD’s Ryzen and Radeon silicon are a popular combo in gaming desktops, but the gaming laptop market hasn’t seen much from Team Red. That changes with the MSI Alpha 15 (starts at $899; $999 as tested), which pairs a quad-core Ryzen 7 3750H processor and a 4GB Radeon RX 5500M GPU to go head to head with Intel-based rigs packing Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650, producing smooth and reliable 1080p gaming performance. Although it doesn’t unseat the MSI GL65 9SC as our value-gaming Editors’ Choice, you can view the Alpha 15 as a feature-rich, happy medium between that laptop and the Acer Predator Helios 300, our pick in the next (and more expensive) performance tier.
As mentioned, the build of the GS66 Stealth is markedly different from the GS65. At a glance, the two look the same, but they diverge in size, feel, and color scheme. Starting with the aesthetics, MSI opted for an all-black look here, ditching the gold accents on the lid, vents, and touchpad. I personally liked the gold scheme, as it looked sharp and stood out from others, but I suppose this sandblasted “Core Black” look has a wider appeal and can blend in in more professional settings. Read extra details on msi gaming laptop.
The “Raider” moniker is gone from the laptop’s rear edge, giving way to some more sensible and useful I/O ports instead. They include the power port, an HDMI output, an Ethernet jack, a USB Type-C connector, and a mini DisplayPort 1.4 output. The DisplayPort jack is especially useful for connecting VR headsets. The front edge of the GE66 is anything but subtle, meanwhile. It’s occupied by a giant light bar that runs the entire width of the laptop’s chassis, offering 16.7 million colors that are customizable using the same SteelSeries Engine app that adjusts the per-key lighting on the GE66’s keyboard. Ostentatious, to be sure, but when it’s turned off, the light bar is well integrated enough that you’ll hardly notice it.
At 3.6 pounds, the Prestige is also easier to carry than the Dell (4 pounds), Acer (4.6 pounds), or Razer (4.9 pounds). Clad in dark-blue/charcoal matte aluminum with MSI’s dragon logo on the lid and blue chrome trim, it measures a tidy 0.63 by 14.1 by 9.2 inches. Like most Lenovo ThinkPads and HP EliteBooks, the system has passed MIL-STD 810G tests against road hazards such as shock, vibration, and temperature extremes. There’s almost no flex if you grasp the screen corners or press the keyboard deck. See more information at https://msigaminglaptop.com/.