Here's a Hands-On Look at Every New Laptop MSI Launched at CES 2023

2023-02-15 16:11:19 By : Ms. jiaxuan zq

Overall, MSI's booth was a must-see, and its upcoming line-ups look to offer excellent performance and value in all categories.

The author's trip to CES 2023 was sponsored by MSI. MSI did not pay for this article to appear on MUO.

Leading computer manufacturer MSI unveiled its new and upgraded ranges during CES 2023. It showcased 14 new products, including new laptops and desktops, monitors with improved refresh rates and QD OLED display technology, and even built-in webcams.

At MSI's CES 2023 booth, we saw high-end, top-of-the-line hardware displayed in the MSI Lab, user-friendly content creation and work set-ups in the MSI Loft, and a variety of colorful yet powerful laptops in the MSI Gallery.

Here's what's new for MSI's laptop range in 2023.

For those looking for the ultimate performance and best desktop-replacement solutions, the MSI Lab featured several exciting units, including the refreshed Titan, Raider, and Vector series.

One of the innovations revealed during CES 2023, which may fly under the radar, is MSI's revolutionary new cooling system which uses an exclusive design that combines separate cooling pipes, shared pipes, and dedicated VRAM pipes to ensure peak performance in any scenario. For example, if either the GPU or CPU isn't being used as much, the shared heat pipes will still allow for improved cooling to the other component.

In addition, all of the GeForce RTX 40-Series laptops will include a new MUX switch on the motherboard, allowing users to switch on Discrete Graphic Mode, which provides a claimed increase of up to 10% FPS during GPU-intensive tasks or the option to prioritize battery life.

At the forefront of the new lineup are the Titan GT and Raider GE models.

Featuring the exclusive "MSI OverBoost ULTRA," these powerful laptops boast 250W of total CPU+GPU power, allowing them to support full 8 Intel P-Cores over 5.2GHz reliably.

The Titan GT77 HX 13V has a VESA HDR 1000 certified 4K 144Hz mini LED display, while the Raider GE78 HX uses a 240Hz 2560x1600 UHD+ display and both feature per-key RBG keyboards by SteelSeries.

The Raider GE78 HX has a unique smart touch trackpad design that can be customized to show different shortcuts and functions and looks to have heaps of potential when it releases.

Even the trackpad uses this new design and can fully disappear when not in use. Despite this, the trackpad still offers the usual click functions that you'd expect.

The Titan is relatively thin at just 23mm while still including a Cherry MX ultra-low-profile mechanical keyboard and an excellent selection of full-sized IO.

For fans of RGB, the Titan has you covered, with a projective Mystic Light bar and an RGB logo on the back that has user-configurable panoramic lighting that can sync within the MSI Center App.

The Lab also featured the Vector GP series, including the Vector GP68 and GP78 HX laptops. These use a QHD+ true color matrix display and support the latest Intel i9 processors and the Nvidia GeForce 40-Series. Although it lacks a flashy LED bar and logo, the Vector offers excellent value for its performance.

The next stop in the ballroom is what MSI called "The Loft," a clean set-up displaying how content creators, artists, and other creative professionals can get the most out of their new lineup.

Here, the aptly-named Creator series laptops were on display, including the NVIDIA Studio-certified CreatorPro Z16 and Z17 HX Studio.

The Creator is one of the most powerful thin and light laptops to use the latest Intel 13th-Gen Core i9 processors and GeForce RTX 40-Series GPUs. MSI claims that this is the thinnest HX laptop at 19mm. These upgrades provide twice the rendering performance and processing power, making it ideal for working with up to 8K HDR RAW video, multitasking across intensive platforms, and elevating content creation for every user.

MSI's benchmarks show significant performance gains over last year's Apple M1 Max processors.

In addition, these laptops have a 16:10 Golden Ratio pixel-accurate display equipped with a touch screen, allowing 11% more room for your workspace than the traditional 16:9. As sight and sound go hand-in-hand, MSI also improved the audio experience in this series, with four stereo speakers using Dynaudio sound. Furthermore, using their Speaker Tuning Engine, users get Hi-Resolution Audio with deep bass and clear, elevated vocals for the best audio experience.

MSI also ensured improved wireless performance with the latest Wi-Fi 6E technology and a 90Whr long-lasting battery with fast charge, giving creators stable, low latency network speeds anywhere they want to work.

The creativity and emphasis on design extend beyond what users can create with the CreatorPro series into the framework of the laptop itself. Made with the very first MiniLED backlit keyboard using SteelSeries Engine3, illumination can be personalized per-key, letting users display their creative side even in the dark.

You typically only find these features on gaming laptops, so it's exciting to see them make their way into the MSI Creator series. MSI also introduced the new Lunar Gray color for this series, a subtly and unique design that reveals slight variations in shade and brilliance based on the viewer's angle, like the moon's phases.

Overall, the CreatorPro Z16 and Z17 were developed with creatives firmly in mind, from the beautiful design to the incredible performance.

Despite the impressive laptops on display, the unassuming star of the show here was the new MSI Pen 2. With a stylish unibody design, this stylus supports fast charging, gaining ten hours of use in only five minutes, while a fully charged device can be used for 32 hours of creativity.

The MSI Pen 2 includes two pen tips, a graphite tip, a sharper tip that is more like a fountain pen, and advanced technology with palm rejection that senses position, pressure, and tilt with 4,096 pressure levels for pin- or pencil-point accuracy. In addition, users can tailor their experience using the MSI Pen Control software for the ultimate creative control.

However, even with all the advancements MSI has made with this peripheral, the true magic of this device happens off-screen. While drawing or writing with the MSI Pen 2, a user can move from screen to paper immediately and seamlessly, as the graphite tip can be used on and off the display like a normal pencil.

MSI even included a spiral notebook next to the display so that participants could experience what it was like to start writing on the screen and finish their sentences on paper without changing anything about the writing implement. It should be no surprise that the Pen 2 took home one of the 15 CES 2023 Innovation Awards given to MSI in the category of computer peripherals and accessories.

The last area of MSI's CES 2023 booth was the Gallery, featuring MSI's new laptops. In it were the Stealth Studio and MSI's gaming series laptops, the Cyborg, Crosshair, Pulse, Katana, and Sword. As with the previous laptops we covered, these also use the updated shared cooling pipes, the 16:10 Golden Ratio displays, and translucent WASD and Arrow keys.

The Stealth Studio also boasts a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis in two colors Pure White with a bronze gold hinge and logo design or Star Blue with silver hinge and logo accents.

MSI left no detail to chance, with front edge decor, a large touchpad, a stand-alone fingerprint sensor, as well as a trilateral speaker design that provides an incredible surround sound experience while still looking like a work of art.

The Stealth is available in 14" and 16" variants.

The budget design, the Cyborg 15, is a newly announced addition to MSI's lineup.

Budget gaming laptops are typically stuck with bland designs that often look and feel very cheap. However, that isn't the case with the new Cyborg 15. It includes stylish features, like a glowing blue backlit keyboard with the same translucence as its WASD and arrow keys and a translucent back design that adds a unique touch.

The Pulse, Katana, and Sword series laptops also include translucent keys, with the Pulse and Katana expanding upon the keyboard lights with MSI's RGB Mystic Light technology, allowing for four-zone RGB lighting. The impressive user experience extends beyond the body of the laptops on display here, as they all also contain a Matrix display with ultra-fast 144Hz refresh rates and Hi-Res audio powered through Nahimic by SteelSeries.

It's worth mentioning again that out of the 14 products announced by MSI at CES 2023, the computer design giant won 15 CES Innovation Awards in gaming, computer hardware and components, home audio and video components, and computer peripherals and accessories.

The company also claimed the MakeUseOf Best in Show award for its Stealth Series laptops.

The combination of superior performance and impressive design quality provided a truly next-level experience in the realm of gaming, creating, and productivity for intensive or everyday use. Overall, MSI's 2023 lineup is a must-see, offering excellent performance and value for gamers, creators, and working professionals.

Tech reviewer, YouTuber & video producer that specializes in pro camera & audio gear. Reach out to say hello or discuss future opportunities!