https://www.microcenter.com/produ...uter-black
Microcenter has the MSI Katana A15 AI B8VG-430US 15.6" Gaming Laptop Computer - Black on sale for $999.99. Shipping is not offered for this item, you must pick-up in store.
Specs:
- 15.6" QHD (1440p), Anti-Glare Wide View Angle 165Hz 2.5ms DCI-P3 100% Screen
- AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS 3.8GHz (5.1ghz turbo) 8-core Hawk Point Processor
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 4070 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6; Up to 1980MHz Boost Clock 105W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost.
- 16GB DDR5-5600 Memory (2x8gb, occupying the two user accessible memory slots)
- 1TB Gen 4 Nvme Ssd (occupying one of the two m.2 2280 slots)
- AMD RZ616 Wi-Fi 6E + BT 5.3
- 720p HD Webcam
- 4 zone RGB keyboard with Anti-Ghost key (99 Key)
- 3-cell 53.5Whr Li-Polymer Battery
- 4.96 lbs. (2.25 kg)
- Model: B8VG-430US
Ports:
- 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen1
- 1x USB 2.0 Type-A
- 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen1 w/DP 1.4
- 1x HDMI v 2.1
- 1x RJ45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
The full specs sheet can be found here:
https://storage-asset.msi.com/exc...-430US.pdf
This is the by far the lowest price I've ever seen a new laptop with a good current gen processor, a good screen, a (functionally) full power rtx 4070, 16gb off ddr5 ram, and a 1tb ssd. Normally a laptop with similar specs is at least $1100 on a good sale.
Edit: User Rgdarkchild who purchased this laptop has confirmed that it does in fact have the QHD (1440p) 165hz screen.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
This laptop has excellent specs for it's price. It's by far the cheapest I've ever seen a new laptop with a high end current gen cpu, a good screen, a functionally full power rtx 4070, 16gb (or more) of ddr5 ram, and a 1tb gen4 ssd. The only major downsides to this laptop are the small battery and less premium chassis which may not have good thermals.
Msi's official spec sheet (matching both the model number and manufacturers part number in microcenter's listing) can be found here: https://storage-asset.msi.com/exc...-430US.pdf
This laptop has an ips QHD (1440p) screen with: a 165hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 coverage (far better than basic 100% srgb coverage), and a claimed 2.5ms response time. These are high end specs, being beyond what you'd expect from a screen in a thousand dollar gaming laptop with a rtx 4070 and good cpu. While no brightness is listed, I'm not aware of any panels being manufactured with these specs that are below 300nits. All the QHD 165hz screens in previous years msi laptops I checked reviews for had a brightness of over 300nits. Contrast in the QHD 165hz screens from previous msi models is acceptable for ips, but not excellent. I do not believe this panel supports hdr. Msi advertises the katana a15 ai as having a "mux design", so it has a mux switch. However, there's no mention of advanced optimus, so it's quite possible you will need to reboot the laptop to switch between discrete and hybrid graphics mode. While a lack of g-sync support would be unusual for a laptop with a mux switch and higher end screen, please keep in mind that some previous msi models that have had a QHD 165hz screen have lacked g-sync. Hopefully the user who purchased and confirmed this laptop has the QHD screen will confirm whether or not g-sync is supported.
The Ryzen 7 8845HS cpu in this laptop is essentially a refreshed version of the r7 7840hs with better npu performance for ai, the uplift in performance outside ai tasks is quite minor. Still, having 8 current gen zen4 cores and the rdna3 radeon 780m igpu means this cpu is high end overall, and should offer an excellent mix of performance and battery life. The cpu in this laptop is more than sufficient for any games you can play with the mobile 4070, the gpu will almost always be the bottleneck. Productivity performance should also be fairly good.
The mobile rtx 4070 is essentially just a mobile rtx 4060 with more cores enabled, it's still held back by a minuscule memory bus width and having only 8gb of vram. Overall, the mobile 4070 is around ~20% faster in gaming compared to the mobile rtx 4060. Therefore, at ~$1000 the value proposition of this laptop with the 4070 is fairly similar to that of 4060 laptops with good specs, which go for around $800 on a good sale. The 4070 in this laptop has a tgp of 105w, meaning it's technically not a full power variant. However, the mobile 4070's performance in gaming stops scaling past 100w, so you're not actually losing any gaming performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMMrh6P
The next step up over the mobile rtx 4070 is the mobile rtx 4080, which is massively more powerful but also massively more expensive. The mobile 4080 is approximately 55% faster than the mobile 4070 and has 12gb of vram instead of eight. However, the cheapest you'll find a new laptop with a rtx 4080 is ~$1600 on an excellent sale.
This laptop has two user accessible ram slots (occupied by 2x8gb ddr5-5600 ram sticks), and officially supports up to 64gb. This laptop has two user accessible m.2 2280 storage slots (one occupied by the 1tb gen4 m.2 ssd). The primary slot is gen4, but no specs are given for the second slot. Still, the reviews I've read indicate the second slot is also pcie gen4. Having 16gb of ram and a 1tb gen4 ssd are good for the price range.
The primary downside of this laptop is it's 53whr battery. This is fairly low for a non-thin gaming laptop, and by itself means that this laptop will have relatively poor battery life even amongst gaming laptops, which are already notorious for poor battery life. The fairly efficient cpu should mitigate this to some extent, but I would not expect good battery life with this laptop. You can likely extend battery life to several hours in hybrid graphics mode by avoiding using the 4070, but gaming without being plugged in will drain your battery exceptionally fast.
The msi katana chassis from previous years has a somewhat mediocre reputation, though ultimately I'm not aware of there being any major known issues. Still, build quality and thermals will likely be worse compared to more premium chassis's offered by other brands (at substantially higher prices for the same specs). The user who purchased this laptop and posted about it in this thread mentioned the bottom of this laptop got quite hot without any intense workloads, but made no mention of thermal throttling or performance degradation. Hopefully they'll provide more details about whether the thermals are causing any measurable issues.
Ultimately, considering the specs, this laptop is a very good deal at $1000.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
Msi's official specs page (which is separate from the spec sheet, and only provides specs for the base models, not the exact model) for the Katana A15 AI B8V base model only mentions the FHD screen, no mention of a QHD option is made whatsoever. That page can be found here: https://www.msi.com/Laptop/Katana...cifica
However, the official manual for the Katana A15 AI B8VG base model states "Display
LCD Type (optional) 15.6" FHD/ QHD LED panel", the official manual can be found here: https://download.msi.co
So, in summary: the microcenter listing indicates this laptop has the QHD 1440p 165hz screen, the official spec sheet states it has the QHD 165hz screen and lists out additional screen specs but then contradicts itself by listing the resolution as 1080p, the official specs page makes no mention of a QHD screen being an option for the base model whatsoever, and then the official manual contradicts the official specs page by indicating that the base model can come with either a FHD or QHD screen.
For the purpose of posting this deal I operated under the assumption that the microcenter listing and official spec sheet are correct, but I specifically point out in both my original deal post and my first post in this thread that this may be an error on the part of both microcenter and msi.
Msi's official specs page (which is separate from the spec sheet, and only provides specs for the base models, not the exact model) for the Katana A15 AI B8V base model only mentions the FHD screen, no mention of a QHD option is made whatsoever. That page can be found here: https://www.msi.com/Laptop/Katana...cification [msi.com]
However, the official manual for the Katana A15 AI B8VG base model states "Display
LCD Type (optional) 15.6" FHD/ QHD LED panel", the official manual can be found here: https://download.msi.com/archive/...nglish.pdf [msi.com]
So, in summary: the microcenter listing indicates this laptop has the QHD 1440p 165hz screen, the official spec sheet states it has the QHD 165hz screen and lists out additional screen specs but then contradicts itself by listing the resolution as 1080p, the official specs page makes no mention of a QHD screen being an option for the base model whatsoever, and then the official manual contradicts the official specs page by indicating that the base model can come with either a FHD or QHD screen.
For the purpose of posting this deal I operated under the assumption that the microcenter listing and official spec sheet are correct, but I specifically point out in both my original deal post and my first post in this thread that this may be an error on the part of both microcenter and msi.
15.6" QHD, Anti-Glare Wide View Angle 165Hz 2.5ms DCI-P3 100% but also 1920x1080
https://us.msi.com/Laptop/Katana-...cification
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Availability does not. Unless you live in Ohio. Then you're good to go.
Microcenter has the MSI Katana A15 AI B8VG-430US 15.6" Gaming Laptop Computer - Black on sale for $999.99. Shipping is not offered for this item, you must pick-up in store.
Specs:
- 15.6" QHD (1440p), Anti-Glare Wide View Angle 165Hz 2.5ms DCI-P3 100% Screen
- AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS 3.8GHz (5.1ghz turbo) 8-core Hawk Point Processor
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 4070 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6; Up to 1980MHz Boost Clock 105W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost.
- 16GB DDR5-5600 Memory (2x8gb, occupying the two user accessible memory slots)
- 1TB Gen 4 Nvme Ssd (occupying one of the two m.2 2280 slots)
- AMD RZ616 Wi-Fi 6E + BT 5.3
- 720p HD Webcam
- 4 zone RGB keyboard with Anti-Ghost key (99 Key)
- 3-cell 53.5Whr Li-Polymer Battery
- 4.96 lbs. (2.25 kg)
- Model: B8VG-430US
Ports:- 2x USB 3.2 Gen1
- 1x USB 2.0 Type-C Port
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 w/DP 1.4
- 1x HDMI v 2.1
- 1x RJ45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
The full specs sheet can be found here: https://storage-asset.msi.com/exc...-430US.pdf [msi.com]This is the by far the lowest price I've ever seen a new laptop with a good current gen processor, a good screen (assuming the specs are correct), a (functionally) full power rtx 4070, 16gb off ddr5 ram, and a 1tb ssd. Normally a laptop with similar specs is at least $1100 on a good sale. Please keep in mind that it's possible both microcenter and msi have made a mistake in the listed screen specs.
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Five available right now at the Cincinnati MC. I think I'll pass and wait for another deal on a Lenovo or Asus.
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