expired Posted by Dr.Wajahat • Jul 8, 2024
Jul 8, 2024 5:03 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by Dr.Wajahat • Jul 8, 2024
Jul 8, 2024 5:03 PM
Walmart+ Members: MSI Bravo 15: 15.6" FHD 144Hz, Ryzen 9 7940HS, RTX 4060, 16GB DDR5, 1TB SSD $899
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$1,049
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank Dr.Wajahat
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
First off, it uses the classic low tier 250nit 45%ntsc (~62% srgb) screen which only belongs on budget tier laptops. The screen will appear dim even in moderate light environments and all colors will appear dull, washed out, and flat out wrong. As Dr.Wajahat mentions, that doesn't matter much if you'll be exclusively using an external monitor, but being overpriced and having one of it's primary components be low tier isn't a great look.
The second primary downside to this laptop is the 53.5whr 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 4060, but gaming without being plugged in will drain your battery exceptionally fast.
The msi "bravo" line is one of msi's lower end "value" focused skus, the chassis should be similar to msi's "katana" line. Build quality and thermals, while not terrible, will be worse than more premium chassis's, both by msi and other brands.
The r9 7940hs is essentially a slightly higher clocked r7 7840hs, the performance difference is minimal and nowhere near worth the price premium. Ultimately, while this laptops specs (if it had a good screen and battery) would be good in a $800-$850 laptop, at $900 it's just a poor value even before factoring in the laughably awful screen and tiny battery.
If you live near a microcenter, you could get the MSI Katana 15 B12VFK-291US 15.6" laptop with i7-12650H, rtx 4060, 16gb ddr5 ram, and 512gb ssd for $750. That laptop is $150 cheaper, with the only meaningful downsides being a fair bit worse cpu (that won't meaningfully bottleneck a mobile rtx 4060 anyways), and a 512gb ssd instead of 1tb. To be clear, I'm not necessarily recommending that laptop, since it has the same issues of having a piss-poor screen and minuscule battery, but it's still an inordinately better value compared to the one in this "deal".
Alternatively, if you can stretch your budget an extra $100, the hp victus 16 with rtx 4070, r7 8845hs, 16gb ddr5 ram, 512gb ssd, a much better screen, and a 70whr battery is a far better value, and actually reaches the level of a decent deal, I'd recommend reading my comment on that thread: https://slickdeals.net/f/17604381-hp-victus-16-1-fhd-144hz-ryzen-7-8845hs-rtx-4070-16gb-ddr5-512gb-ssd-999-99
Ultimately, this laptop is a mediocre deal at $900. Even if it was $800, I'd only reluctantly be able to recommend it to people looking for a desktop replacement laptop that will be near-exclusively used plugged in with an external monitor. I do not recommend anyone purchase this laptop at $900.
Additionally, current leaks with regards to amd's zen5 mobile "strix" cpus indicate that they will likely launch later this month and have good supply by August (in time for back to school sales). Prices on gaming laptops also seem to be trending downwards in general. Therefore, if you're willing to wait, there might be even better deals available. Also, as a side note, amazon's "prime day" and neweggs "fantastech sale" are coming up soon, so once again it might be better to wait a bit.
Or, wait 6 months and you'll be able to buy laptops with next-generation CPUs and GPUs.