Review Summary
Expert Rating
We’ve reviewed various gaming laptops, each excelling in different areas—some with stunning displays, others with impressive battery life, and a few that offer solid performance. But what if you’re looking for a laptop that truly pushes the boundaries, one that can genuinely replace a desktop? How much is too much when it comes to a laptop that delivers maximum performance? To explore this, let’s look closer at MSI’s top-tier flagship model: the Raider GE78 HX 13V (2023). Before we dive in, it’s worth noting that this laptop doesn’t come cheap. With a hefty price tag of Rs 5.6 lakhs, this machine is a powerhouse not to be underestimated!
This device was originally reviewed by Florence George, and this article is based on his evaluation.
Here is a video review of the MSI Raider GE78 HX 13V:
Table of Contents
Design and Build Quality
The MSI Raider GE78 features a unique RGB strip along the bottom half of the laptop. The MSI logo on the rear also glows in RGB and can be customized in different colours for an even cooler effect. Built like a tank, the laptop has minimal flex on the keyboard deck, and its chassis is made of metal.
Display
In terms of display, you get a flagship display with 17 inches of screen real estate, with a 16:10 aspect ratio running at QHD+ resolution and at a refresh rate of 240 Hz. This is an IPS panel with a maximum brightness of 500 nits and covers 100 per cent of the DCI P3 colour gamut. Overall, this display is excellent and can be used in every scenario, being content consumption or doing professional work such as video editing.
In terms of audio, you get 6 speakers, with two on the front and the rest situated on the bottom. The speakers are really good, and for even better sound quality, you can customise it further using the Nahimic audio software provided with this laptop
Keyboard, Trackpad, and I/O
The keyboard provided on this laptop is a full-size membrane keyboard, so if you are multitasking like typing and gaming, this keyboard is tactile and gets the job done. It also comes with per-key RGB for additional customisation during gaming sessions at night. The trackpad is decently large and works as expected. However, considering the price of the laptop, we wished this would have a mechanical keyboard for an even better experience. However, we are nitpicking at this point.
In terms of I/O, this laptop is packed with ports. On the left, you get a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, and an SD card reader. On the rear, you get an RJ45 port, HDMI 2.1 port, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C port with DisplayPort support, and DC input. On the right side, you get 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C port with support for USB PD. There is also a physical webcam shutter switch, which can be easily used to toggle the webcam on and off if you are concerned for your privacy.
Performance
Now that this laptop costs 5.6 lacs, it must have some serious firepower. And after testing, we can confirm that. This laptop is powered by an Intel Core i9 13980HX processor with 24 cores and 32 threads, and is coupled with the Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU with 16 GB of DDR6 VRAM and 175W of TGP, and has 64GB of DDR5 RAM using dual channel configuration and at a frequency of 5200 MHz.There are two SSD slots in the laptop, one which supports the PCIe Gen 5 protocol, whereas the other supports the PCIe Gen 4 protocol. This laptop comes with 2TB of SSD.
Now, without wasting any more time, here are the synthetic benchmarks:
And since this is a gaming laptop, here are the gaming benchmarks:
Game | Average FPS |
GTA 5 | 179 |
Red Dead Redemption 2 | 181.8 |
Forza Horizon 5 | 145 |
Cyberpunk 2077 | 131.75 |
Resident Evil 4 | 109 |
Valorant | 540.2 |
This laptop can handle pretty much anything you can throw at, and it will handle it with ease. Be it gaming, video editing, 3D rendering, or designing a home entirely in 3D, it can do it with flying colours.
MSI center software
Controlling the power of this laptop is the MSI Center software. This software lets you customise the colour of the RGB on your laptop, switch the laptop from iGPU to dGPU mode using the MUX switch, and toggle various performance modes depending on your needs. There are 5 modes, Smart Auto which is powered by AI, Extreme Performance, Balanced, Silent, and Super Battery.
Battery
With a massive capacity of 99.9 Wh battery, we ran this laptop through our PCMark 10 Office benchmark test at the screen brightness of 80 per cent. We got a result of 4 hours and 12 minutes in the power-saving mode. Initially, we were disappointed despite having such high capacity, the battery couldn’t last longer. But putting it into the perspective of the power that this laptop holds, we think it is pretty respectable.
Verdict
The MSI Raider GE78 HX 13V (2023) is a powerhouse of performance, equipped with a Core i9-13980HX and RTX 4090. Whether it’s video editing, 3D rendering, or gaming, everything runs seamlessly. Its expansive 17-inch QHD+ high refresh rate display, combined with a six-speaker setup placed on the top and sides, delivers an immersive experience. While we may nitpick about the absence of a mechanical keyboard and the inclusion of only two DIMM slots, at this price point, these are minor drawbacks.
Editors Rating: 8 / 10
Pros
- Robust build quality
- Excellent performance
- Great gaming performance
- Good thermal management
Cons
- Basic webcam
- No mechanical keyboard
- Only 2 DIMM slots
- Battery life could be better