MSI Stealth 18 AI Studio 18” 240Hz QHD+ Gaming Laptop Intel Ultra 9-185H, NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4080, 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVMe SSD, Cooler Boost 5, Win 11: Black A1VHG-019US : Electronics

4.0 out of 5 stars

Good laptop with some heat problems

I think this laptop to be very fast. It boots in about 10 seconds (I have many programs and it loads then in 15 seconds aprox. but this is just in my case.).Everyday performace is great: office, web browsers, etc. The battery does not last long; about 2.5 h with this kind of use, wich is usual for gaming laptopsGaming performace is good. However, it overheats a lot, especially in my case that I live in a hot area (about 28°C in average). I appreciate the thin design but I think it was too much and, phisically, the heat cannot be disipated.About the software, MSI has the Dragon Center. I think it’s not a good program; their options are confusing and it lets the laptop get very hot before turning on the fans. I have been using it for about 2 months and still don’t know exactly what’s the best configuration for what I do. I know I can control the fan speed throught BIOS settings but I have not found any other way appart from Dragron Center to control the lighting of the keyboard.

One person found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

I’m actually really happy with this laptop.

Just a quick review, I really like the laptop. I haven’t owned a laptop in about 15 years so this is a huge improvement for me in a lot of ways. I am able to do light gaming on it and I’m impressed with its abilities there. Plugged in everything is great, but the battery life is less than ideal. You could take it out on a flight for a quick use if you were really bored. I’m using it mostly for work and it sits on my desk with the plug nearby. The coil whine is present but I work in a fairly noisy environment so I dont notice it at all there. In a silent room it could drive a person insane. Gaming laptops i suppose. The graphics are insane and the refresh rate on the screen is a delight.

14 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

It works great!

I love MSI, I really do, but as many know, MSI isn’t the best, but it works beautifully. At first I kept running into a blue screen, but after updating all the drives, it works great, just got to keep it up to date or you will get a blue screen and your computer will restart. The anti glare screen was the very first thing I notices. The main down fall with this computer is the battery. It is absolutely horrible. The fans are a little loud, but they work okay. I did notice that my computer likes to over heat, but with the boost cool on the MSI Drangon Application on the PC, it will cool your laptop quickly, just don’t forget to turn it off lol. But over all, a great piece of equipment, and can’t wait to see what else MSI has to offer

5 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Can’t Beat it For the Price

A fantastic laptop for the low price. The look and design of the laptop is very nice and sleek. The only odd thing about it is the fans on the side pushing all the ports to the middle of the sides. Everything worked out of the box and the MSI Dragon Center is one of the best control centers I’ve seen among all my previous computers. They keyboard is also very nice. I love the rgb control you have and the presets you can choose from are very satisfying. The laptop has also been very quiet so far. While it has gotten just a little warm, I feel like that’s to be expected with literally any gaming laptop on the market so I don’t think I can knock it for that, especially when its been minimal.

2 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Is great except my touchpad went out

I bought this for gaming and work and it performs awesome. Some cons though (have had it for about a year) the speaker isn’t great on the labtop and the screen could be a little brighter the battery is as expected for a smaller labtop. But the big issue is my touchpad went out.

3 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Great overall. Little loud and low battery capacity

Pros:-Slim, clean look-USB-C port-Easy initial setup-After GPU driver update games run great.Cons:-LOUD when game is running. If you have a headset or headphones, I recommend using them when gaming.-Low battery capacity-No Ethernet port- Strange trackpad placementNotes:-Be sure that Nvidia GPU has the latest driver available on it. I got a small scare when a game wasn’t running correctly, but then I realized an old driver was installed. After the install it ran great.-PC initially had issues of not waking up when in sleep mode. I had to do a manual reboot to fix the issue.-Trackpad is a weird spot, but if you plan on using a mouse most of the time it doesn’t even cross you mind.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Light as a feather

I’ve owned 3 laptops and 2 custom built PC’s, and I’ve gotta say that so far this is my favorite computer I’ve owned to date. I’m downsizing from a 17inch HP Omen gaming laptop (that weighed 10 pounds) but it is in no way a downgrade. I bought this mainly because it’s lightweight, portable, has a long battery life, and can put out when it comes to gaming (high to ultra graphics on AAA @ 1080p). In addition to using it for gaming, I also teach high schoolers. Using it in the classroom will be a breeze BECAUSE OF HOW LIGHT AND PORTABLE IT IS. Also it has an HDMI port for hooking up to your projector, and 3 regular usb ports for your powerpoint clicker, mouse and USB all at the same time (also has 2 USB-C connections). No joke, I’m in love with this thing mainly because I’ve never had a laptop this light and I’m excited to take it everywhere with me without killing my back.

3 people found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

A great computer, not a great laptop

The MSI Stealth 15M Gaming Laptop is a great machine – the screen is wonderful, and the specs really rival mid-high range desktop computers. You’d have no problem running games on it, using professional software on it or watching 4K media. Why the low rating then?The problem is that this all comes at a price – the 15M’s battery life is atrocious, the machine is heavy and cumbersome and the fans and thermals make it very awkward to use in any public setting, making it an extremely unportable and inconvenient device.I’m assuming that if you’re looking for a laptop, you’re looking for some minimal amount of portability, that unfortunately the 15M just doesn’t have. Six months after buying the machine, I’m using it effectively as a desktop computer, permanently connected to a dock. Taking it anywhere is a huge hassle that’s barely worth the trouble.To summarize, if you’re looking for a powerhouse machine, and for some reason can’t get a proper desktop (understandable since desktop hardware is very expensive these days), this is not a bad choice, just don’t plan on using that as laptop.If you’re looking for *any* portability in your laptop, I’d recommend staying away from this machine. Get a MacBook Air or a Zephyr.

2 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

good laptop but needs a lot of adjusting

general pros and cons :Pros:* the price is reasonable*it has rtx 3060* intel i7-11th gen*the keyboard is rgb and has multiple settings* you can upgrade the memory to 1tb or whatever*its surprisingly light weight considering it has all the above hardware.*there are multiple options for the battery to conserve life spancons:*I expected a lot more from WiFi 6 but honestly its very bad , unless you are literally stuck to the router the wifi speed is very low , also there is no ethernet port* there is no fn (function) key but rather the windows key can be changed into fn which isn’t very useful when you want to use the windows key for other things .*the speakers are mostly concentrated on the left side of the laptop and the sound is ok not great

3 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Good with few caveats

Had for almost a year now and for the most part still pretty happy with it. It’ll play FF14, Minecraft and most other games I play with no issue and I can leave those open in the background while having 1-2 HVDs open for work with no impact.Downsides have been excessive heat, poor heat/fan management software, poor battery and a fragile keyboard. For heat I have a fan pad, battery I leave it plugged in but the keyboard is hard to get around as I’ve already broken one keycap which is a new one for me.

13 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Needs G-sync or adaptive sync. Also there is a solution to the sticky key problem.

I bought this laptop a few weeks ago and have been enjoying it ever since. The rtx 4080 and i9-13900H deliver performance in games that’s comparable to my desktop which is equipped with the same amount of ram, an rtx 3080 ti, and an i7 8700k. The processor is the real upgrade in that comparison though. It runs Star citizen well (as of 3.18 whenever the servers are having a good day), halo infinite runs maxed out at over 70+ fps most of the time. As of right now I think this laptop can run everything pretty well.Downsides: Initially upon receiving the laptop the keys were sticking constantly. Example: “I would be typiiiiiiing a sentence and about every ten words or so a keeeeeeey would stick”This is an issue that I have seen in other reviews. After a bit of troubleshooting I have discovered a solution to this consistent issue. You have to go into the windows updater and enable all of the optional updates. This laptop ships with factory firmware that leads to this “key stickiness” which is unbearable to deal with. All you have to do to fix this issue is update the firmware and ensure that your windows and drivers are up to date. That fixed the problem for me.The screen is not G-sync or freesync compatible. This is a small issue but the fact that this screen can run at 240hz and has no adaptive or G-sync is just annoying. The constantly changing framerates mean that you’re going to see all sorts of stuttering when going from 60 to 120 fps for example. Which happens a lot in most modern games when you have the settings turned up high or even at the reccomended settings. This has led me to just set the refresh rate to 60 which has eliminated the stuttering that’s caused due to fps fluctuation. Which negates the purpose of even having a 240hz display.Overall the issues I have encountered have all been minor and you can’t beat this price for a laptop with this set of hardware. The only thing I wish that they had changed would be the screen. I would’ve taken a 165, 144 or even a 120hz display if it meant that there could be some gsync or adaptive sync.

20 people found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

good starter laptop, horrible battery, no linux

I bought this as my first developer laptop for ML engineering rather than gaming. It can probably play games, I played some genshin impact and saw no problems, although the fan was blowing like crazy, this device can be really loud sometimes. Also, the max volume on this laptop is extremely low compared to a mac. In hindsight, I should’ve gotten a beefier PC, as the GPU in this laptop (3060) has 12gb vram, which is totally inadequate for running generative models. Since buying, I’ve updated the SSD to 2TB, and plan to upgrade the RAM as well.Speaking of development, installing ubuntu dual boot is next to impossible. Turns out that the laptop series are known to have zero support for linux machines.The battery is really bad, the laptop needs to be constantly on life support to work. Not even turning off the laptop saves the battery. It’s not possible to “stop charging the lithium-ion-battery-laptop to extend battery life” when the laptop battery drops like a brick when it’s not charging.I still plan to work with this PC for at least another year until I find a replacement. If I buy a new laptop then battery and linux support are additional MUSTs for me. Well, I was ignorant back then; live and learn.

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Love this computer

First it’s light weight for a 16 inch laptop, screen is nice and bright, speakers are good. This is my first MSI product and have been very impressed. I find myself using this laptop more than the Razor or Alienware’s that I have.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Can take a beating!

This laptop is a solid machine for gaming, image editing, and for having hundreds of tabs open like the monster I am. What got me to write this review, though, is that this laptop is built to last.I’ll admit, I’m rough on my machines. I take my laptop into the woods on camping trips, throw that sucker into my backpack without thought for what else is in there, and chuck it into the backseat of my car without regard for where it lands. The MSI Stealth’s metal body appealed to me, and it was doing great with my rough handling.Then I managed to set my (black) laptop down on the hood of my (black) car, and drive away. The laptop impacted the ground going almost 45 miles an hour, which as you may imagine, isn’t great for laptops. I expected a total loss. The right screen hinge was snapped off. The screen and keyboard were warped. The back right corner of the computer was bent at a 45-degree angle.When I got home, I crossed my fingers, held my breath, and booted it up.The laptop booted just fine. There were no damaged pixels on the screen, the keyboard worked flawlessly, and because the fans aren’t all linked together, only the one bent fan failed to run. I lost no data, was able to prep for my conference, and the only annoyance was that the screen didn’t stand up well with only one hinge. Honestly, I was amazed.If you need a reliable laptop that can stand up to your active lifestyle, this is the machine for you. I already loved MSI – now they have a customer for life.

13 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Great laptop, but needs clarification on certain points

I’m loving this laptop. I’m in engineering school, and this is the kind of laptop I need for portability and power. It’s less than an inch thick, and super lightweight for its size. I bought an ROG M16 before this, and this feels lighter than that machine, and it’s significantly sturdier. I have to run software like Solidworks and AutoCAD/Revit/Fusion 360 all the time. The RTX 4070 and the 64GB of RAM help a lot with multitasking, and are great for having multiple resource-intensive programs open at the same time. The battery will actually get me through a full day of note-taking in classes (~6hrs) and still have battery left over for homework at the end of the night, as opposed to my old tablet, which was a ROG Flow Z13 with an i9. When testing the Thunderbolt transfer speeds, I was easily able to hit over 1GB/sec with a Thunderbolt m.2 enclosure and a PCIe 3.0 SSD. The Steelseries keyboard is amazing to type on for long periods of time, and I have a very low error rate on this keyboard. I keep the RGB off though to save battery, so I can’t comment on that. The numpad is functional, though it is cramped and I struggle to use it efficiently in Excel. I haven’t hit the power button accidentally yet so far, and I don’t think I will thanks to the button being located over to the right side of the numpad. The screen is awesome, some would say Retina quality. It is a matte display, as expected, though there is a good amount of backlight bleed on one spot on the bottom edge of the display by the MSI logo. It’s particularly visible on a black screen on bootup, but I don’t really notice it in Windows. In games, it might be a bit annoying when in a dark scene.A few things need to be clarified though – MSI says that this laptop has a 100% magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis. This is true, though it’s not a CNC monoblock chassis like you’d expect from someone like Razer or Apple. While there is still absolutely zero flex in the deck of this laptop, there is still some flex in the lid when twisted. The metal case is cool to the touch when the unit is off, but the bottom of the case will get uncomfortably warm quickly if you’re using the machine on your lap, as the name “laptop” would imply. Since it’s a metal case, it can retain heat longer than a comparable plastic case.MSI also bills this laptop as “fingerprint-proof”, as denoted by the prominent sticker on the laptop body. This is bunk. I don’t think I have particularly oily skin, but within a week of owning this machine, my fingerprints were all over the top case and lid. It’s pretty hard to get the fingerprints off, though the non-brushed aluminum skin makes it easier to fix than a brushed finish.Overall, it’s a damn good laptop with a few flaws, though they can be resolved in a future version. A note on the MUX switch – the machine needs to be rebooted every time the switch is changed from discrete to integrated.

15 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

FEATURES GALORE!

Not gonna lie, super impressed with this laptop. Was considering an HP Spectre or Galaxy Book Pro, but stumbled across this on here of all places. It had everything i was looking for & more than what I even realized.Presentation in box was nice. Like how it is packaged in a dust sleeve & even has a dust sleeve in-between screen & keyboard. Major plus mark for that alone.Upon booting first time & getting initially set up, enjoyed how nice the screen is. IPS is the way to go, ngl. Keyboard light & RGB options are a major upgrade for my use. Selection of apps & programs from the get go are too numerous to mention, but is nice to have plenty of options. After removing what didn’t interest me, proceeded with updates, as you should with any device.This thing seems like Sonic… GOTTA GO FAST!Dragon Center App has tons of various tweaks & options for things like Keyboard RGB light, Power/ Battery, Performance, etc. Definite plus for that alone. Some people can’t stand it, so I’ll leave that up to particular preference.Yes, the fans can he EXTREMELY NOISY… BUT for my particular usage & wants in a laptop, quite a fair trade off. Only way they get THAT noisy, is if you select extreme performance/ cooler boost. A good pair of headphones would drown that noise.Another surprise, is that you can run android games either through The appropriate MSI app or even Bluestacks… was not aware of when I decided to purchase, but cool nonetheless. I would say remove the MSI App Player & just use true Bluestacks, if you want to mess with Amdroid emulationWith this, I plan on investing in Steam, finally. Not to mention, can’t wait to see what this thing can handle, emulation-wise (Can’t wait to try Stepmania on this). [Edit/ Update 9/7/21 -Stepmania runs just like arcade Dance Dance Revolution on MAX graphical program settings. Just a little side note, SOME games that have a max refresh rate of 60hz may have graphical issues… I’m specifically mentioning Sonic Adventure & Adcenture 2 for PC being OVERLY FAST. There are workarounds to get said games working perfectly.]Build seems solid. Got the Gray version & am not disappointed at all by my choice. It has a nice blue tinit to it.[Update 9/7/21- Dont expect to get a ton of battery use out of this thing. Setting battery saver settings via windows & dragon center to as max as possible & lowering screen brightness might get 6 to 8 hours of battery life, with just normal, no gaming computer use. Thankfully you can calibrate battery when needed to extend the service life of it.] [Another note: if you run demanding thinga in this, it will get hot to hold. My suggestion, buy a GOOD laptop stand with fan cooling. I would suggedt KLIM Ultimate RGB for if you are a gamer that plays less demaning games. Binding of Isaac, Emulation, etc. Said cooler would probably be good for some demanding games too, with Cooler Boost function turned on to help get some extra airflow]This may be The best “budget” gaming laptop out there atm. Got the 512 GB Model with 16 GB ram & the RTX 3060. Going to eventually go overkill with max ram & a 2 tb Samsung SSD. Can’t wait to see what this thing can unleash then… but for now, happy camper!

27 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Awesome high performance- low batterry life- colling fan bearing failures

Im writing this review because I purchased this laptop on 03/22/2022. Today is March 1, 2023. I am two weeks away from having owned this pc for a year. The pros- super fast everything- awesome graphics- doesnt hurt the pocket as much as other gaming laptops. The cons? Battery life SUCKS- it is basically on an IV- you can adjust the settings but even on the optimal or silent condiotions, this CPU and GPU are so powerful they drain the battery in 2 hours or less- even when your not doing anything serios. Just using excel or word- battery drain. The only other con that i have that I ant pepl to be aware of- about 2 weeks ago I started having fan noise- bearings failing. I am now trying to find OEM replacements. This things spins fans at over 6000RPMs. . . yes, that is correct- 6000RPMs. I can not find fans that are rated for that high of RPMs and I need them before my PC melts down- I have always used a cooling pad as support and kept the guts clean and treated this ting like a newborn baby in terms of gentleness. It is just a parts issue- not a user/operator error. I am a MEchatronics Engineering Student and a programmer as well as a controls system specialost so my computer is my every day tool and with that said- my purposes demand quality and power as much as reliability and I take very good care of my equipment. This PC has not let me down- besides the fact that the fan bearings are barking now. I also want to mention that this little PC will support up to 4 extended displays wit hno issues, run multiple intense programs and take it all with a beating- has never went over 70 degrees celcius and i rin this littlpe puppy overclocked to the max- hence the fan issue- however that is what this PC is meant/designed/built for. If anyone knows were i can find cooling fans PLEASE let me know. I really want to replace them with high performance fans and not just run of the mill aftermarket general condition types fans. Thanks!!!!!! I deinately wisay that I do not think you will be dissapointed in your purchasse of this PC. Ii have only “gamed” on it once or twice- EVE Online and it performed flawlessly. Unbelievable graphics- a 12 hour binge with not a single issue.

14 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

If you want to upgrade ram or SSD don’t buy this

I wish I had known how difficult the upgrade process would be before I bought this laptop. a 512gb SSD isn’t good for much and I planned to put another M.2 card in along with doubling the ram. Well that didn’t go the way I wanted. This laptop wasn’t built like 99% of others on the market and you have to remove the entire board to get at some of the components. I’m no stranger to cracking cases for simple upgrades but I decided not to do that with this machine. Otherwise it works flawlessly and it’s ultra lightweight which is nice but I suspect that weight loss is why upgrading is such a hassle.

4.0 out of 5 stars

Perfect for gaming and school combo

Needed a new laptop. Old one was outdated. Friend recommended this one. It has everything I need for both school and gaming. The 3060 handles every game I played so far. Haven’t played any crazy big games but for csgo and league of legends it handled completely fine. Another side I really like is the fact that it’s super light. Definitely not like the old Bulky gaming laptops. Performance can always be better but in the convenience aspect it’s perfect

4 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Ok if plugged in

Battery life is not long under and type of gaming. On low graphic settings I got about a hour of gaming in before it down to 15 percent. On max graphic settings, maybe 40 minutes. However on max settings I do noticed a slight slow down in computer. The computer does get hot pretty quick, however if you can stand the fan noise just turn on the cool blaster and it’ll do its job.

5.0 out of 5 stars

AFFORDABLE, GREAT FIRST GAMING LAPTOP

I bought this MSI Stealth 15M on September 12,2021. When I received the laptop, everything was amazing. Here are pros and cons.PRO:- Can run games such as COD, VAL, CYBERPUNK- LIGHTWEIGHT- LOTS OF STORAGE 450+ GB- DECENT PRESENTATION.- LONG LASTINGCON:- fan is very VERY LOUD especially on cooler boost mode.- CPU has trouble staying at a low temp, never goes pass 90 F but gets at a warm temperature.- GPU gets at a warm temperature, but never burns out.- Sometimes has a message saying “your PC has run into a problem” (only had it twice but still a concern)Aside from cons, I would recommend this computer for gaming start, a cheap laptop instead of a 10,000 dollar Desktop.

3 people found this helpful