MSI Raider 16 Max HX overview: RTX 5090 energy, one huge drawback

Finest Costs As we speak: MSI Raider 16 Max HX

MSI’s new Raider 16 Max HX is geared as much as be the corporate’s strongest 16-inch laptop computer, and it has the {hardware} to ship. Boasting a brand new Intel Core Extremely 9 290HX Plus at its coronary heart, RTX 50-series graphics, and 300 watts of mixed energy, it has the potential to ship. It additionally touts a killer show. However main the pack proves to be a problem even with the correct of {hardware} to do it, and that {hardware} drives up the value significantly, making the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i 16 Gen 10 a greater guess for many avid gamers.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Specs and options

• CPU: Intel Core Extremely 9 290HX Plus
• Reminiscence: 32GB DDR5-6400
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5090 24GB GDD7 175W
• Show: 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz OLED
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD – Micron 2500 MTFDKBA1T0QGN
• Webcam: 1080p IR
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 with Energy Supply and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3.5mm audio, 2.5GbE
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Home windows Hey facial recognition
• Battery capability: 90 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.29 x 10.62 x 1.14 inches
• Weight: 5.85 kilos
• MSRP: $4,099 as-tested ($2,999 base)

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX has only a few configurations. All of them share the specs above, however differ of their graphics processors. The system begins out at $2,999 for an RTX 5070 Ti configuration. That bumps as much as $3,499 for an RTX 5080. Our take a look at configuration bumps to $4,099 for an RTX 5090 and in addition upgrades to Home windows 11 Professional as an alternative of Dwelling. 

On the time of writing, these fashions had been out there from Micro Heart aside from the 5090 model. There, the costs confirmed some uncertainty. Micro Heart’s listing costs matched what MSI had offered us aside from on our take a look at configuration, which was raised to $4,299. That mentioned, all methods confirmed important reductions of $1,000-$1,300, which might change their worth significantly. It’s unclear how lengthy such reductions can be out there, however they’d definitely assist the MSI Raider 16 Max HX stand an opportunity in opposition to the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i 16 Gen 10.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Design and construct high quality

Foundry / Mark Knapp

Like most 16-inch gaming laptops, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX is one thing of a tank. Nevertheless it’s not altogether egregious. The system is broad, however no more than an inch wider than it must be to suit its show. Entrance to again, the laptop computer additionally avoids going overboard with an intensive rear finish as seen on many current gaming laptops. Alas, it’s thick, coming in at 1.14 inches, and that’s earlier than accounting for the laptop computer’s rubber ft, which push it up towards 1.5 inches.

That thickness comes with some advantages, a minimum of. The MSI Raider 16 Max HX offers entry to the reminiscence and storage by way of a small panel beneath, and there’s a free M.2 slot prepared for upgrading the storage. The thick design additionally permits for some severe cooling, which lets the MSI Raider 16 Max HX run its GPU at as much as 175W and the CPU at as much as 125W on the similar time. 

Cool air will get pulled into the MSI Raider 16 Max HX by three followers by way of a sequence of grilles on the underside and thru two small ports above the keyboard. That air exhausts out two grilles on the edges and three on the rear. With the broad exhaust and area for giant followers, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX is ready to run beneath a heavy load whereas maintaining fan noise beneath 50dBa from a typical arm’s size — a sound degree I used to be in a position to confirm. To be clear, that’s nonetheless noisy, however not fairly blaring.

Whereas the construct has its deserves by way of the efficiency it allows, there’s just a little bit much less to like about it past that. The underside of the chassis is made from a cheap-feeling, tough plastic whereas the keyboard deck is a smoother plastic. The show lid is steel, a minimum of. There’s not a lot keyboard deck flex, however the show wiggles each time I sort, and its shiny end makes that wiggling extra obvious. 

There’s loads for the RGB lovers, although. An RGB gentle bar spans the entrance fringe of the laptop computer, and that mixes with an RGB keyboard and protect brand on the lid. The underside and lid exhibit some gamer aesthetics, however aren’t gaudy. 

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX features a large, 400W energy brick that weighs virtually three kilos by itself. Mixed with the laptop computer’s 5.85-pound weight, it’s not probably the most transportable choice on the market. However, you may choose to cost by way of USB-C on-the-go and use a smaller charger, you simply gained’t get full energy. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Keyboard, trackpad

Foundry / Mark Knapp

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX’s keyboard isn’t fairly a masterpiece. Whereas I used to be in a position to rise up to 108 words-per-minute typing in Monkeytype with 98 p.c accuracy, I nonetheless really feel just a little discomfort because the keycaps aren’t effectively stabilized and so they lack a lot contour. I discover that I battle to maintain centered on the keys and might wiggle or slip off the perimeters and hit neighbors, particularly as I’m typing sooner and sooner. And that’s simply fundamental typing.

Doing extra navigation and enhancing turns into one thing of a ache. The quantity pad is each cramped and specified by a non-traditional method. For each information entry and calculation, it is going to be a serious readjustment. In the meantime, the arrow keys are barely shrunken and reduce into the suitable shift key’s area, which I discover results in a number of unintentional presses. The keyboard does get per-key RGB lighting, however that solely makes it prettier, not way more purposeful.

The trackpad is decently sizable and has a very good, easy floor. Nevertheless it doesn’t really feel all that nice in any other case. It has a cheap-feeling {hardware} click on and even a little bit of rattle when merely tapping to click on. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Show, audio

Foundry / Mark Knapp

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX has a beautiful show for gaming. It’s a pointy 2560×1600 show with an OLED panel that merely seems improbable. The display presents excellent distinction and might hit very excessive brightness ranges. Normally, it’ll prime out at 500 nits, however with HDR content material I noticed it hit as excessive as 614 nits for a full white window and 1,100 nits for a smaller 10 p.c window. It offers that brightness and distinction alongside 99 p.c protection of the DCI-P3 colour area and 100% protection of the sRGB colour area.

It’s even correct with a max dE1976 of 1.74, so you would safely use it for inventive colour work. That wonderful high quality is matched by a 240Hz refresh fee that makes video games look splendidly easy. It’s similar to the show on the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i 16 Gen 10, however you gained’t discover G-Sync or VRR assist on this built-in show, whereas Lenovo had it. 

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX’s speaker setup is much less spectacular however respectable. It combines two tweeters and two woofers for a fuller sound. It lacks deep bass depth and finally ends up with a mid-heavy presentation. There’s a little bit of undue sibilance from the setup at full quantity that’s not fully nice. For informal listening, they’re ok and do a good job masking up among the system’s modest fan noise. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX’s webcam leaves loads to be desired. It will probably look OK in brilliant lighting circumstances, corresponding to when going through a brilliant window. However in something much less, it actually struggles to get ample gentle and this ends in a really noisy picture. Nonetheless, it has its perks. Specifically, it has Home windows Hey facial recognition for fast and straightforward sign-ins. 

The mics aren’t any extra particular. They seize my voice pretty effectively, although with a great deal of room echo within the combine. They don’t cancel out all noises, corresponding to clapping, however they do a very good job with droning noises like followers or a garden mower outdoors. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Connectivity

Foundry / Mark Knapp

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX offers nice connectivity. It features a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports to deal with all kinds of high-transmission wants, together with USB PD 3.1 and DisplayPort Alt Mode, although that energy supply tops out at 140W, so gained’t be sufficient to maintain the laptop computer operating at full tilt. These ports are on the left facet together with a full-size SD card reader. The proper facet contains two USB-A 10Gbps ports and a headset jack. The rear provides much more with an additional 10Gbps USB-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, 2.5GbE. The laptop computer’s devoted charging port can be within the again and appears confusingly just like a USB-A port. 

The system presents tri-band Wi-Fi 7 connectivity as effectively, and this has been quick and steady in apply. Bluetooth lags just a little behind with Bluetooth 5.4, although. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Efficiency

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX is an excessive efficiency machine, however as with many applied sciences, it faces diminishing returns. And it may battle with the confines of a laptop computer once in a while. 

In fact, for normal workplace work, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX is past succesful. It soars in PCMark 10, exhibiting that it has what it takes to cope with spreadsheets, webconferencing, in addition to extra inventive duties like picture and video enhancing. Whereas the rating over 10,000 factors is spectacular, most laptops over even simply 5,000 can be quick sufficient for fundamental workplace use. 

The CPU efficiency of the MSI Raider 16 Max HX can be spectacular, however highlights the significance of energy profiles. The MSI Raider 16 Max HX’s Intel Core Extremely 9 290HX Plus isn’t absolutely unleashed within the default Balanced energy plan, which caps it at 45W. We will see it lagging behind the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 10’s and Alienware 16 Space-51 AW30’s Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX in uncooked efficiency in Cinebench R24, however when the MSI Raider 16 Max HX swaps over to its Apex Mode, granting the CPU as much as 125W of energy, it rapidly leaps effectively forward of the competitors. 

The facility allowance continues to play a giant position within the returns the MSI Raider 16 Max HX is ready to provide in graphical benchmarks as effectively. In 3DMark’s demanding Port Royal take a look at, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX leads the pack with its RTX 5090, however it has a reasonably slim margin over the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 10’s RTX 5080 till it swaps over to Apex Mode. Although the Balanced mode permits the GPU to run at its full 175 watts, the CPU nonetheless performs a task in letting the GPU attain its full potential. 

Whereas artificial benchmarks let the MSI Raider 16 Max HX in the end paved the way, precise gaming proves a barely totally different story. The MSI Raider 16 Max HX is quick, however it’s not gorgeous subsequent to the gang. Its RTX 5090 narrowly lets it beat the Maingear Final 18, and it wants Apex Mode to surmount the Alienware 16 Space-51. Worse nonetheless, even with Apex Mode, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX lags behind the cheaper, sleeker Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 10.

It’s the same battle in Metro Exodus, which continues to stymie even excessive efficiency {hardware} like this with its demanding graphics. The MSI Raider 16 Max HX can lead the pack, however it’s a really slim victory. The RTX 5090 provides a lot to the value tag, however gained’t do a lot in all gaming situations. 

Even in Cyberpunk 2077, the sector is tight for the MSI Raider 16 Max HX. This recreation is virtually a showcase of Nvidia {hardware} capabilities, however the MSI Raider 16 Max HX can’t leverage its RTX 5090 to return out very far forward of the Lenovo. It does spotlight the significance of energy and cooling when in comparison with the RTX 5090-powered Razer Blade 16, although. It’s solely with ray-tracing enabled that the MSI Raider 16 Max HX will get a major lead of near 10-20 p.c, however that also leaves it at 44fps usually and 47fps in Apex Mode.

Total the efficiency of the MSI Raider 16 Max HX is great, however it’s not distinctive. A better-class of {hardware} ought to include a higher-tier of efficiency, however at many turns, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX at finest offers a marginal profit and sometimes fails to return out forward in any respect. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Battery life

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX makes a shocking flip on the subject of battery life. It’s superb about disabling the GPU when operating on battery energy (although you may override this if wanted), and that results in useful energy financial savings. This was sufficient to assist the MSI Raider 16 Max HX run for just a little over eight hours in our offline video playback take a look at. That received it effectively forward of most rivals save the Razer Blade 16, which struggled terribly in efficiency benchmarks.

In energetic use, the facility utilization isn’t egregious both. I discovered the system commonly holding up for about 5 to 6 hours of runtime looking the net and drafting articles. It’s not competing with thin-and-lights, however it’s strong for a gaming laptop computer. 

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Conclusion

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX has some good issues going for it. For a system packing such high-end elements, it’s shocking that it isn’t bulkier. It has a wonderful show and sturdy connectivity choices, however that isn’t fairly sufficient to set it other than the pack. And whereas it may ship excessive efficiency that lets it pull forward of its competitors, it doesn’t persistently outperform extra reasonably priced machines operating on lower-tier {hardware}. Its leads are sometimes fairly slim.

Because it stands, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX’s edge could also be confined to particular use instances corresponding to AI purposes, the place its particular {hardware} can shine. However as a gaming workhorse, there’s higher worth elsewhere.