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MSI Titan 18 HX assessment: This high-spec gaming laptop computer delivers killer body charges

Read Time:15 Minute, 52 Second

Our Verdict

That is an absolute monster. The spec is wild, and the worth is shockingly excessive. The RTX 4090 and CPU combo do ship unimaginable gaming efficiency, and the display is gorgeous, however its contentious keyboard, ‘gamer’ styling, and audacious followers make it a problem to suggest.

Causes to purchase

  • 4K gaming doable at 60fps
  • Lovely display
  • Respectable connection choices
  • Excellent CPU efficiency
Causes to keep away from

  • Overly loud followers
  • Divisive keyboard
  • Design lacks finesse
  • Obscene worth

That is simply out of this world. There’s no means round it, the MSI Titan 18 HX is the PC gaming equal of taking a fully-fledged $5K desktop and attempting to cram it down right into a small, technically transportable kind issue. That does include some main caveats, for positive, however it principally delivers on that promise. It takes the perfect of the gaming PC world and provides it to you on the transfer, tied to a mechanical keyboard and an 18-inch display.

Let me be clear although, it isn’t low cost. There are numerous specs of this MSI machine obtainable, all of them with barely various DDR5 and SSD setups, however they’re all costly. In reality, the mannequin I examined is definitely the most affordable of the lot, with a paltry (not likely) 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. The best spec you should purchase is available in at a whopping $9,250, and consists of 24TB of PCIe storage and 192GB of DDR5 reminiscence (admittedly from HIDevolution). That’s simply mind-boggling. Finest gaming laptop computer thus far? From a technical standpoint, probably.

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When you’re contemplating this laptop computer, you’ll have significantly deep pockets and a novel set of necessities. This isn’t in your common Joe, and it’s additionally not going to be extra highly effective than the highest-spec, fully-fledged desktop PC. No, this laptop computer is for an on-the-go video editor, 3D modeler, or gamer who calls for the perfect of the perfect. With out exception. It’s not about battery life, effectivity, or portability; it’s about completely pure brute power whenever you want it.

MSI is not any stranger to constructing affluent laptops. In reality, I examined the MSI Stealth 16 earlier this yr, which has a really comparable ethos, albeit in a extra professional-esque spec. That gave me a very helpful perception into MSI’s considering when it got here to constructing this juggernaut. In reality, it’s given me a useful perspective when testing it too.

I’ve spent the previous couple of weeks placing the Titan 18 HX by its paces, testing it in all method of eventualities. I even took it on trip to evaluate its portability, and naturally, ran it by the tried and trusted benchmark suite to essentially see the way it held up in distinction to a few of our laptops on take a look at this yr. The actual query is, although, can this machine change your desktop? Let’s discover out.

The MSI Titan 18 HX gaming laptop's underside.

Specs

MSI Titan 18 HX specs:

CPUIntel Core i9 14900HX
GPUNvidia GeForce RTX 4090 16GB
Show18-inch, 3,840 x 2,400, 120Hz, Mini-LED
RAM32GB (2 x 16GB) 4,000MHz DDR5, SODIMM
Storage2TB Samsung PM9A1 PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD
Networking2.5Gbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
PortsProper Facet: 2x USB Kind-C Thunderbolt4, audio jack, 1x USB 3.2; Left Facet: Micro SD Card Reader, 2x USB 3.2 Rear: Ethernet, 1x HDMI 2.1, 400W Energy Adapter
Battery99.9WHrs
Working systemHome windows 11 Dwelling
ExtrasCherry Mechanical key switches, SteelSeries per-key RGB (99-key) keyboard, IR FHD kind webcam
Dimensions (W x D x H)40.4 x 3.2 x 30.7cm
Weight3.6kg
Value$5,399 (128GB)
Guarantee12-month restricted

In contrast to what we noticed in MSI’s Stealth 16 A1V, the Titan 18 HX has opted to ditch Intel’s Extremely Core collection chips in favor of a CPU with much more grunt, particularly Intel’s Core i9 14900HX. It’s a little bit of a monster relating to laptop computer processors, because it’s successfully not far off what you’d discover on the full-sized desktop model.

You continue to get the 24-core setup, with 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores cores, full with Hyper-Threading as nicely, bringing the entire variety of threads as much as 32 (eight further threads for the efficiency variants). In any other case, clock speeds are impressively tight, with the HX topping out at 5.8GHz versus the 14900K’s 6GHz.

In contrast to the desktop Core i9 14900K, this cell CPU has a most TDP of 157W, fairly than 253W, so it received’t be hitting that prime clock pace as typically, however that is nonetheless a significantly highly effective laptop computer CPU.

MSI pairs this CPU with 32GB, 64GB, and even 128GB of DDR5 RAM, although it’s sadly clocked at 4,000MT/s as commonplace. Moreover, the spec additionally features a 2TB Samsung PM9A1 PCIe 4.0 SSD as nicely right here, which must be lots quick sufficient for almost all of your gaming and workload wants.

Remarkably, nonetheless, this laptop computer additionally has capability for a PCIe 5.0 drive, in addition to one further M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD, supplying you with loads of storage at a later date. The US variant has that additional 4.0 slot crammed as commonplace, however that is the primary time I’ve seen a laptop computer with a 5.0 M.2 slot in it – these drives can get scorching.

As for the graphics portion of this beast, that’s all sorted with the inclusion of a cell RTX 4090 16GB GPU. It’s by far the quickest laptop computer GPU you may get proper now. Nevertheless, do keep in mind that this isn’t fairly as potent as its desktop counterpart, and is extra akin to a desktop RTX 4080.

Nonetheless, if you happen to’re trying to recreation at 4K on the transfer, that is the perfect GPU you should purchase proper now. Just like the CPU, although, it does want vital cooling, with the CPU and GPU collectively outputting as much as 270W once they’re each working at peak load.

The MSI Titan 18 HX review image showing the front profile of the open laptop.

Options

And why do you want that tremendous highly effective graphics card? For the display, in fact. We’re speaking 18 inches of three,840 x 2,400 mini-LED IPS magnificence, refreshing at 120Hz. That’s fairly the decision, and it’s backed by a critical refresh charge. That provides you barely extra pixels than a normal 4K display, and it appears extremely sharp on this 18-inch show.

Textual content appears immaculate, and that refresh charge makes it buttery easy to make use of, no matter whether or not you’re enjoying a recreation or not. For context, there are 11% extra pixels right here than what you’d in any other case have in a standard 16:9 facet ratio. The result’s a show that isn’t fairly as sharp because the one in MSI’s Stealth 16 (an identical display tech however in a 16-inch kind issue). Tixel density for the Titan lands at simply 252ppi vs the Stealth’s 283ppi, however actually, you’re unlikely to note that distinction, and the additional display dimension could be very a lot welcome on this desktop alternative.

Colours are excellent too, with some critical depth to them, notably when it comes to the brighter tones. Darker shades had been equally on level too, and I couldn’t determine any scorching spots or bleeds. The picture isn’t fairly as contrast-rich as you get on an OLED panel, nor as fast as a number of the greatest available on the market proper now, however that mini-LED backlight actually makes HDR content material pop.

Okay, in order that’s the good things out of the way in which, now it’s time for the marginally extra controversial parts, particularly the keyboard. It’s a tough one, because it’s a totally mechanical setup produced by Steelseries and powered by Cherry switches. From a purely tactile sensation, it’s pretty; it’s a clicky swap, you may really feel the actuation beneath fairly clearly, and the keys are straightforward sufficient to press.

That stated, it additionally incorporates a full-sized numpad, and Steelseries has adjusted the format fairly aggressively to accommodate all of it into theΒ  laptop computer shell, and it takes some time to get used to it. This can be a helpful addition if you happen to usually enter information into spreadsheets in your laptop computer, although – you simply have to get used to the format.

The actual situation, nonetheless, lies within the switches themselves. Specifically, they rattle and clang simply far an excessive amount of for a $5,000 laptop computer. There’s a rattle, and you’ll hear the springs beneath, implying that there’s not a lot in the way in which of dampening occurring.

In the meantime, the trackpad is baked into the whole backside half of the laptop computer, however you continue to solely get entry to a single sq. of it. It’s backlit with a mildly ugly pink LED and genuinely appears considerably unhappy. The very fact there’s no edge to really feel on it’s also massively disconcerting. and customarily results in a number of confusion, even when casually perusing webpages as your mouse pointer immediately stops responding.

On the plus aspect, you get a formidable arsenal of connections, with twin USB-A ports, a USB-C port, an HDMI out, a micro-SD Card slot, a headphone jack, 2.5G ethernet, Bluetooth 5.4, the works.

MSI Titan 18 HX review image showing a close up on the keys.

Design

As with the Stealth 16, one of many largest drawbacks of the Titan is the design. Amazingly, for a $5,000 laptop computer, there’s an entire heap of plastic parts littered all through the design. It’s not totally plastic; a number of the chassis is steel, but parts such because the display bezel, that odd trackpad, the underside of the chassis, and the rear vent location, are plastic.

I get it, there’s the load to think about (and it already weighs a ton). however aesthetically it’s leaning far an excessive amount of into that old-school basic late 2000s gamer ethos, and it simply feels a bit cheesy because of this, which is a disgrace because the spec doesn’t symbolize that styling.

It’s not all disappointment and plastic accents, although; there’s some first rate capability to improve, with a number of M.2 slots and swappable SODIMM reminiscence as nicely. MSI will promote you a spec that racks as much as 128GB of DDR5 and 8TB of storage, however you may transcend that with sure third-party producers as nicely, although doing so will bump up the worth additional.

MSI Titan 18 HX gaming laptop review image showing the laptop closed.

However earlier than we wrap up our design part, I wish to focus on cooling. First up, the temperatures are superb, regardless of the hot-running elements. Efficiency on the entire throughout my testing was additionally fantastically constant. CPU efficiency was up there with a number of the greatest desktop PCs I’ve seen, each in CPU grunt and gaming efficiency as nicely. Over a number of runs, all of it ran very easily all-in-all.

The unhealthy information, nonetheless, is fan noise, and oh boy, is it loud, to the purpose the place I used to be getting complaints from downstairs due to it. When you’re gaming with this laptop computer, or placing any critical load onto it, these followers are going to ramp up, and the noise turns into virtually insupportable.

If anybody’s working in shut neighborhood to you, they’ll be grabbing their headphones and ramping up the amount, that’s for positive. That’s an issue, an enormous one, and principally unsurprising too, notably given the hot-running CPU. Mix that with an RTX 4090 and the choice to stay a number of the greatest PCIe 5.0 SSDs in right here as nicely (that are identified for working toasty), and nicely, you’re simply not going to have a superb time. Will the Titan hold all that package cool? Sure. Will it assault your ears because it does it? Additionally sure.

The MSI Titan 18 HX laptop seen from an angle that showcases the keyboard and lower portion of the screen.

Benchmarks

Now we come to benchmarking – how did the chunky 18-inch Titan do with all of its amped-up {hardware} and screaming followers? The quick reply is that it’s significantly spectacular. Cinebench 2024 noticed a multi-core rating of 1,777 and a single rating of 127. These are the best outcomes we’ve ever seen from a gaming laptop computer, and it even beats the Razer Blade 16, which makes use of the identical Core i9 14900HX CPU.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: Cinebench R24 benchmark results graph

Equally, the CPU Profile in 3D Mark delivered some superior outcomes, touchdown 13.7K on this take a look at, which beats practically each different laptop computer I’ve examined by an element of two. If CPU workloads are your bread and butter, and also you want a laptop computer that may deal with, for instance, video encoding, in addition to gaming, then the Titan is completely dominant in that area.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: Cyberpunk 2077 1080p benchmark results graph

Leap into gaming, and the outcomes are equally robust. I ran two units of benchmarks, one at 1080p and the opposite on the Titan’s native decision. The concept is that the 1080p stats give us some comparable figures primarily based on {hardware} alone, whereas the native res figures inform us if you happen to can actually play video games on the full decision of this laptop computer’s 18-inch display.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: F1 23 1080p benchmark results graph

I’m very glad to say that the Titan bucks the latest development of laptops that may’t deal with gaming at their native decision. Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS and AI body era managed a formidable common of 59fps at 3,8Γ—0 x 2,400 utilizing the Extremely ray tracing preset, for instance, which is a improbable outcome for a laptop computer.

Equally, Complete Conflict: Warhammer 3 clocked in a glossy 56fps common on the similar decision, which is completely playable. F1 23 (with out DLSS) solely averaged 35fps, however that’s nonetheless a lot better than some other laptop computer we’ve examined at this decision – you’ll get a smoother body charge if you happen to drop a number of the settings.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: Total War: Warhammer 3 1080p benchmark results graph

Examine that to the Stealth 16, which averaged simply 35fps in Cyberpunk, 29fps in F1 23, and 35fps in Complete Conflict. The 14900HX CPU is doing a substantial quantity of lifting, that’s for positive, and the Titan’s potential to maintain it cool regardless of the decibels is definitely serving to raise up these body charges. Likewise, the 1080p scores had been nicely above the 100fps mark, with Cyberpunk touchdown an superior 166fps with DLSS and AI body era on.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: 4K gaming benchmark results graph

Battery

Battery life was all the time going to be difficult with this quantity of energy, and though the Titan 18 HX may be a chunky unit, its battery remains to be restricted to a 99.9WHr capability. That’s regardless of the likes of the Stealth 16 AI equally that includes a 99.9WHr unit, however in a smaller kind issue and comparable {hardware}.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: Gaming battery life results graph

Each laptop computer we assessment goes by two battery benchmarks to essentially get a really feel for the way it will function beneath lab situations (I additionally do some anecdotal day-to-day testing on the aspect as nicely). The primary is PC Mark 10’s gaming battery benchmark, after which the opposite is the fashionable workplace benchmark, each with the display brightness set to 50%.

MSI Titan 18 HX review: Office battery life results graph

For the gaming take a look at, MSI’s Titan 18 HX lasted simply 81 minutes, going from 100 to three% in that time-frame. That’s not terrifyingly unhealthy; the Lenovo Legion Slim 5, with a far lesser spec, failed at simply 53 minutes, and the Alienware M16 R2 equally tapped out at 51 minutes.

Fashionable Workplace, nonetheless, landed at simply 187 minutes, lasting for simply three hours earlier than it wanted charging up once more. That’s by far the worst workplace battery outcome I’ve seen all yr, with the second closest being the Razer Blade 16 (2024) at 218 minutes. The Stealth undoubtedly has the sting by comparability.

MSI Titam 18 HX laptop review image showing a selection of its ports.

Value

The MSI Titan 18 HX worth is $5,399 for a mannequin with a Core i9 14900HX CPU and cell RTX 4090 GPU, and that spec additionally consists of an enormous 128GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD. On the floor, the spec virtually justifies the fee. The sheer energy of the package MSI’s managed to pack into this machine is excellent. You get a top-tier GPU, an outlandish CPU, wild storage capacities, and an exceptional display.

The issue, nonetheless, comes within the implementation. The chassis is only a bit underwhelming, the followers are obscenely loud, the battery life is massively disappointing, and it feels extra like a laptop computer from ten years in the past than a 2024 mannequin.

Mix that with the actual fact you can take this worth and chuck it right into a devoted desktop that would carry out simply as nicely, if not higher, full with a monitor and set of peripherals, and the Titan 18 HX begins to appear to be an extremely area of interest product.

MSI Titan 18 HX review image showing the rear view of the closed laptop.

Verdict

The MSI Titan 18 HX is an intriguing prospect. When you’re an avid gamer who additionally moonlights as a video editor as you bounce from gig to gig touring throughout your nation, then there are good causes to think about this laptop computer. It packs in an exceptional quantity of energy, it’s extremely customizable, and delivers in virtually each space relating to pure efficiency.

That stated, whereas it drives these super-fast body charges and fast render instances, it lags behind massively when it comes to construct high quality and general refinement, which actually harms the general attraction, notably relating to noise output.

When you don’t actually need a transportable machine, I’d look to purchase probably the greatest gaming PCs in your desktop as a substitute, and if you happen to don’t actually need all that energy, you may nonetheless get a equally succesful gaming laptop computer for a lot much less cash. MSI’s personal Raider line affords a mannequin with this GPU and CPU combo, for instance, however with a much more snug price ticket. Is that this the last word gaming laptop computer? Type of; simply be sure you have earplugs.

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