MSI Vector 16 HX

It's a tricky thing, being a gaming laptop in the modern age. Gamers' demands are higher than ever. Not only do you need to provide top of the range performance, that can equal or even surpass that of a tower PC, but you also need to do that while being a fraction of the size, weight, and without heating up to the point of explosion.

As each new generation of graphics cards and processors are released, this challenge only becomes tougher, but it's one that MSI has boldly stepped up to face. The Vector 16 HX has been in my home for some time now, and I have to say overall I've been very impressed with it. It's a big piece of kit, something that you'll notice as soon as you pull it out of the box, with a 16" 1920x1200 display that takes up a large portion of its body.

For those looking for a better resolution, this might sound like a bit of a downer, but while it did take some getting used to, I found the screen to be one of the stand-out charms of this laptop. Its height allows a taller person like myself to not have to curl my back in order to get the best view of the screen, and it helped create an overall more cinematic feel when watching movies and playing games. The lower resolution also means that you can get to make the most of the 144Hz of the display even in much more demanding games.

Speaking of the demand of games, the Vector 16 HX shrugged them off without much worry. Even games that are designed to take their toll weren't much of a match for its performance, and with an Intel Core i9-13980HX plus a 4080 that shouldn't be too surprising. The only problem is that due to there being such powerful components inside is that the MSI Vector 16 HX makes a hell of a lot of noise. Take your headphones off after even an hour in a game and you'll feel like you're sitting on the wing of an airplane. So long as you've got decent noise cancelling you should be fine, but it's worth noting this is a noisy beast.

But a beast it is, and a lightweight one too. Despite its size, the MSI Vector 16 HX only weighs 2.7 kg, but it feels even lighter when you pick it up. It's a thin machine, too, which is likely another reason why the fans have to work so hard to ensure nothing overheats. The model I looked at had a charming design, complete with a fast and responsive keyboard and trackpad. There were the usual RGB lights on the keyboard, but otherwise once again MSI impresses me with its ability to make a gaming laptop not absolutely stink of "gamer vibes." The Cosmos Gray colouring of the chassis is professional and exudes the quality you'd expect from a laptop that costs £2049.

That price might make you wince, but it's a laptop that does give you a very good amount of bang for your buck. As well as the stand-out hits of the GPU and CPU, you're also getting 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, which can be upgraded to 64GB if you're skilled enough to dig deep into a laptop's guts, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. There are also other peripherals, like functional speakers and an okay webcam, but really when you buy a gaming laptop you're looking to game, with these other additions being understandably secondary. Throw in plenty of ports and a strong battery life, and you've got a recipe for a very, very strong gaming laptop that is an absolute powerhouse for any PC gamer who wants their primary rig to be a portable one.