MSI has announced a slew of updates to its lines of new gaming laptops, including its flagship model, the MSI GE76 Raider. It’s one of the most technologically advanced gaming laptops at CES this year, sporting not only the latest Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics, but also some quality-of-life updates you won’t find anywhere else.
The chunky, 17-inch gaming laptop now has the updated chassis to match the 15-inch model, the GE66 Raider. But both new laptops have the updated webcam, connectivity, and graphics. Rather than moving to AMD, the GE76 Raider sticks with the older 10th-gen Intel H processors.
The starting configuration costs $1,499 and comes with a 144Hz 1080p screen, an RTX 3060, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. From here, it can be configured up to an RTX 3080, a 300Hz screen, and 32GB of RAM.
Both Wi-Fi 6E and 1080p are available in all configurations, as well as on the 15-inch GE66 Raider, which should be hugely attractive features as we all continue remote work and depending on videoconferencing for collaboration. There’s no reason these features couldn’t benefit a non-gaming laptop even more, but MSI’s other offerings lack them.
However, CES 2021 has also been an explosive show for thin-and-light gaming laptops, and MSI has a solid contender in that category as well. The MSI Stealth M15 was announced last year, and it was already the thinnest 15-inch gaming laptop you can buy at just 0.63 inches thick.
Now, the Stealth M15 has been updated with even more power. The processor, which previously used a U-series Intel chip, has now moved to the recently announced 35-watt H-series processors.
It’s also been bumped up from an RTX 2060 to and RTX 3060. And remember, if Nvidia’s promises hold true, that means this extremely portable laptop is now more powerful than the previous generation of RTX 2080 Super gaming laptops.
This matches what Acer is doing with its Predator Triton 300 SE, one of the only other laptops announced at CES that support the new Intel processors.
The Stealth 15M also includes a 1080p IPS screen with a 144Hz refresh rate. It starts at $1,399, which comes with a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.
The rest of MSI’s gaming laptop lineup has been updated with new graphics as well, including its popular GS66 Stealth and cheaper GF65 Thin.
