MSI Bravo 15 C7VFK-431US 15.6" Gaming Laptop Computer - Aluminum Black
AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS 3.2GHz Processor; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6; 16GB DDR5-5200 RAM; 1TB Solid State Drive
AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS 3.2GHz Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6
16GB DDR5-5200 RAM
1TB Solid State Drive
Microsoft Windows 11 Home
10/100/1000 Network
Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth 5.2
15.6" FHD IPS Thin Bezel 144Hz Display
Bravo 15 C7V is ready to ignite the gaming world.
https://www.microcenter.com/produ...inum-black
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1: The Model numbers don't match.
2: The Microcenter item states "1 item per household', which according to this person does not fit the Best Buy policy of not matching something that is limited quantity.
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The specs sheet for this laptop can be found here: https://storage-asset.msi.com/exc...-431US.pdf
There are three primary downsides to this laptop.
The first is the 53.5whr battery. This means that this laptop will have quite poor battery life even amongst gaming laptops, which are already notorious for having terrible battery life.
The second downside is the r7 7735hs cpu, which is not a current gen zen 4 cpu. Instead it uses the last gen zen 3+ architecture, being a modest upgrade in performance to the previous gen r7 6800h while supporting relatively few newer features such as ddr5 (only up to ddr5 4800) and usb4 (the cpu has the capability, but this laptop doesn't have usb4). It has the last gen rdna2 radeon 680m igpu, which is significantly inferior to the current gen rdna3 radeon 780m igpu. Additionally, as a refreshed previous gen architecture, certain features such as higher speed ddr5 support, avx512 support, integrated npu, etc. are non-existent compared to zen 4 phoenix cpus. Power efficiency is also worse. Even though the last gen cpu is somewhat disappointing, it is unlikely to hold back the rtx 4060 in gaming, and should be entirely sufficient for a gaming laptop of this price tier.
Lastly, and by far the most major downside, the screen in this laptop is quite poor quality. According to reviews I've read the panel in this laptop is the Innolux N156HRA-EA1 (CMN1521). While a 1080p 144hz ips display would be perfectly acceptable for a gaming laptop of this tier as long as it had decent brightness and color gamut, the screen in this laptop is only 250 nits with 45% ntsc coverage (similar to 62% srgb coverage). This means the display is not only rather dim, it is severely deficient in capability to display the most limited, basic, and widely used color gamut in existence. Colors will appear extremely washed out on this screen. Realistically speaking, any laptop over $600 should have a 300nit 100% srgb (72% ntsc) screen at minimum, but manufacturers would rather save $10 and neuter their laptop.
The mobile rtx 4060 is the cheapest current gen nvidia mobile gpu that has 8gb of vram, which is a crucial threshold. The next step up, the mobile rtx 4070, is around 20% faster in gaming, while having the same amount of vram. In most respects the mobile rtx 4060 is the value sweetspot, since getting a laptop with a mobile 4070 would usually be ~$300 more. The mobile rtx 4080 is massively superior in terms of performance, but laptops with the 4080 tend to be at absolute minimum $1600. The rtx 4060 in this laptop only has a tgp of 105w, meaning it is not a full power variant. However, performance scaling in gaming for the mobile 4060 stops at 100w, so you don't actually lose any performance with the 105w tgp.
This laptop has two user accessible ram slots (occupied by 2x 8gb ddr5 5200 260-pin SO-DIMM ram sticks), and officially supports up to 64gb. It has two pcie gen 4 m.2 2280 slots (one occupied by the 1tb ssd).
Ultimately, at $750 this laptop with an acceptable processor, a functionally full power rtx 4060, 16gb of ddr5 ram, and a 1tb ssd is a decent value. However, the small battery, functionally last gen cpu, and poor quality screen keep it from being a truly fantastic deal. If you need a gaming laptop right now this wouldn't be a bad purchase, but if you can I'd personally recommend waiting for another deal of similar caliber to the $800 g15 to reappear (the deal linked below was originally $800, but it got changed to $850 after a day): https://slickdeals.net/f/17396106-dell-g15-laptop-15-6-1080p-165hz-ryzen-7-7840hs-rtx-4060-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-850-free-shipping
There are three primary downsides to this laptop.
The first is the 53.5whr battery. This means that this laptop will have quite poor battery life even amongst gaming laptops, which are already notorious for having terrible battery life.
The second downside is the r7 7735hs cpu, which is not a current gen zen 4 cpu. Instead it uses the last gen zen 3+ architecture, being a modest upgrade in performance to the previous gen r7 6800h while supporting relatively few newer features such as ddr5 (only up to ddr5 4800) and usb4 (the cpu has the capability, but this laptop doesn't have usb4). It has the last gen rdna2 radeon 680m igpu, which is significantly inferior to the current gen rdna3 radeon 780m igpu. Additionally, as a refreshed previous gen architecture, certain features such as higher speed ddr5 support, avx512 support, integrated npu, etc. are non-existent compared to zen 4 phoenix cpus. Power efficiency is also worse. Even though the last gen cpu is somewhat disappointing, it is unlikely to hold back the rtx 4060 in gaming, and should be entirely sufficient for a gaming laptop of this price tier.
Lastly, and by far the most major downside, the screen in this laptop is quite poor quality. According to reviews I've read the panel in this laptop is the Innolux N156HRA-EA1 (CMN1521). While a 1080p 144hz ips display would be perfectly acceptable for a gaming laptop of this tier as long as it had decent brightness and color gamut, the screen in this laptop is only 250 nits with 45% ntsc coverage (similar to 62% srgb coverage). This means the display is not only rather dim, it is severely deficient in capability to display the most limited, basic, and widely used color gamut in existence. Colors will appear extremely washed out on this screen. Realistically speaking, any laptop over $600 should have a 300nit 100% srgb (72% ntsc) screen at minimum, but manufacturers would rather save $10 and neuter their laptop.
The mobile rtx 4060 is the cheapest current gen nvidia mobile gpu that has 8gb of vram, which is a crucial threshold. The next step up, the mobile rtx 4070, is around 20% faster in gaming, while having the same amount of vram. In most respects the mobile rtx 4060 is the value sweetspot, since getting a laptop with a mobile 4070 would usually be ~$300 more. The mobile rtx 4080 is massively superior in terms of performance, but laptops with the 4080 tend to be at absolute minimum $1600. The rtx 4060 in this laptop only has a tgp of 105w, meaning it is not a full power variant. However, performance scaling in gaming for the mobile 4060 stops at 100w, so you don't actually lose any performance with the 105w tgp.
This laptop has two user accessible ram slots (occupied by 2x 8gb ddr5 5200 260-pin SO-DIMM ram sticks), and officially supports up to 64gb. It has two pcie gen 4 m.2 2280 slots (one occupied by the 1tb ssd).
Ultimately, at $750 this laptop with an acceptable processor, a functionally full power rtx 4060, 16gb of ddr5 ram, and a 1tb ssd is a decent value. However, the small battery, functionally last gen cpu, and poor quality screen keep it from being a truly fantastic deal. If you need a gaming laptop right now this wouldn't be a bad purchase, but if you can I'd personally recommend waiting for another deal of similar caliber to the $800 g15 to reappear (the deal linked below was originally $800, but it got changed to $850 after a day): https://slickdeals.net/f/17396106-dell-g15-laptop-15-6-1080p-165hz-ryzen-7-7840hs-rtx-4060-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-850-free-shipping
Also, presumably if you're using an external monitor (unless it's a portable monitor), you'll also have the laptop plugged in, so the small battery isn't a concern either.
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Also, presumably if you're using an external monitor (unless it's a portable monitor), you'll also have the laptop plugged in, so the small battery isn't a concern either.
This would pretty much serve as a PC at a better price (probably a separate discussion we shouldn't derail to), since he has everything else (gaming mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc.).