MSI Updated ALL Their Gaming Laptops for 2024!

MSI have updated pretty much their entire gaming laptop lineup this year, and they’ve sponsored our trip to CES 2024 to check out all the improvements! Let’s start out with their most powerful new gaming laptop and work our way down with the new Titan 18 HX. This update to their Titan lineup uses a new 18” 4K 120Hz Mini-LED screen, and combined with maxed out specs it can deliver a top-tier gaming experience while looking great. The new Titan has a combined CPU and GPU power limit of 270 watts t

hanks to MSI’s new OverBoost Ultra, an increase from 250 watts in last year’s 17 inch Titan GT77 - despite the fact MSI says the new Titan 18 is actually smaller. This means the RTX 4090 graphics can max out at 175 watts while the processor is using 95 watts. Or without a GPU workload, the CPU can run up to 200 watts, crazy stuff! Simply put, this extra 20 watts of power means more performance from the 14900HX, and it gets this extra power from the new 400 watt charger. But despite being 400 wat

ts - the most I’ve ever seen from a laptop charger, it’s actually smaller compared to the 330 watt charger from last year because it’s a GaN charger now. More power means more heat, which is why the new Titan has improved cooling. The laptop gets raised up a bit with what MSI are calling 3D cooling stands, which helps more air get in underneath. There’s also a new vapor chamber cooler, last year’s Titan used standard heatpipes, but it did have 4 fans instead of 2. This is why we’ve actually got

ports on the back, last year’s model was all air exhaust. And that’s why ports are a little different this year. The left still has two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and an SD card slot, but the power cable doesn’t connect here anymore. The right still has two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, a third USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and an audio combo jack, but the HDMI and 2.5 gigabit ethernet ports that were on the right of last year’s Titan have moved onto the back this year, along with the power input. Thi

s is possible because the entire back isn’t air exhaust and RGB lights, so there’s actually room to put these ports on the back, which I personally prefer as it helps keep thicker cables out of the way. The Titan still has support for 3 M.2 storage slots, one of which even does PCIe Gen 5, and up to 4 sticks of memory, so up to 128 gigs total, but with the new 48 gig sticks they say there’s no reason a 192 gig maximum shouldn’t be possible - finally enough for Google Chrome! It still has Cherry

MX Ultra-Low profile mechanical switches for a tactile feel with per-key RGB lighting, and even the new haptic touchpad gets RGB now too. It’s got a seamless design, so the whole area around it feels smooth without a physical border, it lights up so you can see where it is, and in my brief usage it felt fine to click with. Next up MSI has the new Raider 18 HX, which is an update from last year’s Raider GE series, but again with the option of the same 18” Mini-LED screen as the Titan, but there’s

also a QHD+ 240Hz display option too. With up to Intel Core i9-14900HX processor and Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics, the Raider 18 is still a top performer, but this year it’s been upgraded to 4 memory slots instead of 2 - just like its bigger brother, the Titan 18. The Raider also has 2 M.2 slots instead of 3 like the Titan, but one of them still supports faster PCIe Gen 5. The combined CPU and GPU performance maxes out at 250 watts here, just like last year’s Raider GE78, so 20 watts less than the

Titan, but the Titan does have the higher wattage charger and vapor chamber cooler - two things the Raider does not. I was told the light bar on the front isn’t final, it will probably get bigger than this demo unit. Ports are a bit different too, with the left having two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and an SD card slot. The right has a 3.5mm audio jack, a third USB Type-A port, and two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. Bulkier cables like the power input, HDMI 2.1, and 2.5 gigabit ethernet are foun

d on the back. There’s also red accenting here on the back, in contrast to the blue found on the Titan. MSI also teased that there will be an AMD version of the Raider coming with AMD’s HX3D processor in April. MSI’s Raider GE68 HX and GE78 HX aren’t going anywhere though, and are both getting upgraded to Intel 14th gen this year, they added a Kensington lock on the back to improve physical security, and they’ve got the latest Wi-Fi 7 now - something the last two laptops have too. And the next o

ne too for that matter, which is yet another 18 inch gaming laptop coming this year - the Stealth 18 AI Studio. The Stealth series are MSI’s thinner and lighter designs, and at around 2.9kg or 6.4lb, it’s definitely lighter compared to those other two previously! And like the others, it’s still got the 18 inch Mini-LED screen available, ensuring everything it displays looks great. Like MSI’s other Stealth laptops, there are front facing speakers, and while they look quite beefy, I’ve got no chan

ce of properly listening to them in MSI’s suite with people everywhere - so make sure you’re subscribed for the full review for all my thoughts. And as you can probably tell from it having AI in the name, it’s using Intel’s latest Meteor Lake processors with dedicated NPU hardware to help accelerate AI workloads locally. MSI had a bunch of demos showing how this helps. Even just using the camera with a background blur effect, we can see one laptop with the NPU was using around 12 watts of power

while a traditional CPU plus GPU combination was using closer to 40 watts to achieve the same thing. So the AI hardware is more power efficient and will use less battery life in these workloads. And all of MSI’s laptops now have their AI engine built in which can automatically change between performance modes based on the active workload. This early software demonstrates performance mode changing based on the window in focus, even if you alt tab between windows. And while we’re talking about the

Stealth series, MSI’s Stealth 14 gets some small, but great updates, including a 14” 2.8k 120Hz OLED screen, and it also moves over to Intel’s Meteor Lake processors too. OLED is my favorite display type, so this should make the Stealth 14 look better than ever. One step below MSI’s Raider series is the Vector series, and this year we’ve got 16 and 17 inch options, but they only get minor updates compared to last year’s GP series. These are also updated to Intel’s latest 14th gen processors, an

d the 16 inch version has a 240 watt CPU plus GPU power limit, a slight increase from 230 watts in last year’s GP68, meanwhile the 17 inch version goes up to 250 watts, just like the higher tier Raider 18. By the way, I’ve got to give it to MSI for specifying the maximum CPU and GPU power limits, most other brands only give us the GPU power and then we don’t find out what the CPU can do until we test it ourselves. The port layout is the same as the GP68, but now there’s a Kensington lock on the

back for increased physical security. And again, just like the higher tier models, the Vector series also gets Wi-Fi 7 and one PCIe Gen 5 storage slot. MSI’s Crosshair series also gets a 16 and 17 inch version this year. These max out with Intel’s new Core i7-14700HX, which I think is Intel’s only 14th gen laptop chip that gets a boost to core and thread count with 50% more E cores compared to the 13700HX last gen, so expect some extra multicore performance this year. This one still has one of t

he two M.2 slots supporting the faster PCIe Gen 5, which is something most other brands simply don’t offer at all. The Crosshair has a new 24 zone RGB keyboard. Of course, per-key RGB backlighting is more customizable, but with 24 zones you can have a lot more interesting looking effects compared to your typical 4 zone keyboard, so this is a nice in-between option. The Crosshair also has two extra air vents on the back at the top to further improve cooling. Like some others, MSI has moved some p

orts to the back this year, including a USB Type-A port, HDMI 2.1 output, gigabit ethernet, and the power input. Those were on the sides last year, so now you’ll have less cables in the way. MSI’s Sword series is basically a cheaper version of the Crosshair. The chassis is the same, but it's a bit cleaner looking and with lower specs. The sword series still has the 24 zone RGB keyboard, two extra rear air vents, the PCIe Gen 5 storage slot, a 16:10 screen, but it has Wi-Fi 6E instead of the late

st 7 and a smaller 65Wh battery compared to the Crosshairs 90. The Pulse 16 and 17 also use the same chassis, but with a different design on the interior. They still have the 24 zone RGB keyboard, but there’s no PCIe Gen 5 storage support now, and Intel Core Ultra processors aka Meteor Lake, rather than Raptor Lake HX. Though battery is actually bigger than the Sword at 90Whs. Moving deeper into the budget lineup and MSI’s Cyborg 15 returns this year, but with a change to Intel’s Meteor Lake pro

cessors like the Pulse, but what was way cooler is the new Cyborg 14 - the first 14 inch gaming laptop taking on a more mid-range budget friendlier segment. Most other 14 inch models from other brands are higher end, and as a result cost much more too, but the Cyborg 14 will start at just $899 and will probably go lower with a good sale. It’s also the only 14 inch gaming laptop that I’m aware of with a gigabit ethernet port, as the back is a little thicker, but it’s still very portable. This als

o means that it has no problem fitting two upgradeable memory slots, which is uncommon with 14 inch laptops. In addition to ethernet, the left has a USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 port and 3.5mm audio jack, while the right has USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C ports, HDMI 2.1 output and the power input. The overall design is similar to last year’s bigger Cyborg 15 with clear plastic bits and blue lighting, and it’s got a 14” 16:10 144Hz screen with RTX 2050, 3050, 4050 or 4060 options depending on your budg

et. MSI also said there would be more AMD Ryzen options coming this year, and first up we’ve got the Katana 15 and 17, both of which go up to AMD’s Ryzen 9 8945HS processor. As we get further down in the budget friendly end of the spectrum, MSI also has the Thin 15, which is similar to and replaces MSI’s Thin GF63. The Thin 15 still has the same 15.6” 1080p 144Hz screen, same size battery, 120 watt charger, RAM, CPU and GPU options. But the aluminum lid and interior aren’t black anymore and feel

a bit nicer, and the keyboard lighting is also blue now instead of red. It’s Intel only for now, but I was told an AMD version is coming later, which did not exist with the GF63. If the last few years were anything to go by, I’m expecting the Thin 15 to be the cheapest gaming laptop available, so compromises are to be expected in order to get the cheaper price. But I mean MSI also have the Cyborg, Sword, Pulse and Crosshair series in the low to mid-range segment, so there’s kind of something fo

r everyone if you’ve got a higher budget. You can get an idea of where MSI’s different models fit compared to each other with this pyramid. Basically the Titan series is at the top, with the Raider and Vector series offering full performance, but fewer premium features. The Stealth series is a premium offering, but on the thinner side, so less power. The cheaper Cyborg and Thin series are well, thinner and lighter, so less performance compared to Crosshair, Pulse, Sword and Katana laptops. It’s

not just gaming laptops, MSI are also introducing the claw - the world’s first gaming handheld featuring Intel’s new Meteor Lake processors. This is really interesting, because as I’ve already shown in another video, Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H processor with Arc graphics can actually beat AMD’s Radeon 780M - the GPU found in other competing handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go. Now technically speaking, Intel’s Arc graphics may need more power in order to achieve these better resu

lts, so it’s possible more power will be needed. But it looks like MSI have thought of that, because the Claw also has a larger battery compared to the others, and MSI says to expect 2 hours of battery life while gaming. Intel based also means Thunderbolt support, so technically you could add an eGPU to boost performance. There’s also plenty of air vents on top, so the SD card probably won’t overheat like others. They had Assassin’s Creed Mirage running at 1080p on the 7 inch 120Hz screen which

looked and played great. We checked the settings and were surprised to find it on low, because the game still looked really good. MSI’s Claw starts from $699 for the Intel Core Ultra 5 version, while the higher tier Core Ultra 7 is $799, but considering both chips still use the same Arc GPU with 8 Xe cores, this difference in gaming performance should be far less than what we see when comparing chips like the Z1 Extreme and Z1 from AMD. So lots of new stuff from MSI this year and I can’t wait to

get into the reviews, make sure you’re subscribed for my hands on testing, and for now you can check out more new 2024 laptops in the rest of my CES coverage.