MSI Katana 15 HX | Tom’s Hardware

The finest gaming laptops below $1,000 hardly ever offer you all the pieces. At decrease costs, laptop computer makers normally lower options from their premium choices.

That’s the case with the MSI Katana 15 HX ($999.00 as examined), which delivers robust 1080p efficiency with its Nvidia Geforce RTX 5050 and 14th Gen Intel Core processors, however drops the ball with its dim show.

There are some niceties regardless of the worth level, like four-zone RGB lighting on the keyboard and a advantageous suite of ports, however MSI can be balancing the funds with a 2019-era 720p webcam.

Still, it has been uncommon to see PC below $1,000 come via our lab currently, and it is good to see one thing at that worth can nonetheless pack a little bit of a punch.

Design of the MSI Katana 15 HX

As far as gaming laptops go, the Katana 15 HX is sort of plain. It’s all black and all plastic. Outside of some strains, some aggressive angles, and cheesy faux rivets, this machine is all enterprise. Even the MSI brand, usually a hub of RGB lights, is blacked out with a tactile end. MSI instructed me that the lid has a matte, fingerprint-resistant end, however I left fingerprints on it fairly simply.

Inside, there’s barely extra flash. Specifically, the four-zone RGB keyboard makes an announcement at a worth level the place you usually get single-zone lighting. Otherwise, aside from some sadly thick prime and backside bezels (and some extra faux rivets), this technique appears fiarly fundamental.

Cooling exhausts from the rear and sides of the system, however there’s nonetheless room for ports. On the left facet, there are a pair of USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, whereas the appropriate facet homes a 3rd Type-A port in addition to a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Unlike many gaming laptops, there are not any ports on the again.

At 5.95 kilos and 1.09 inches thick, this gaming laptop computer is transportable, however you may really feel it in your bag. It’s a bit thicker than the earlier Katana 15 we reviewed, which was 0.96 inches tall and weighed 4.96 kilos. The Alienware 16 Aurora is 0.89 inches thick and weighs 5.49 kilos.

MSI Katana 15 HX Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the MSI Katana 15 HX

The MSI Katana HX combines the Intel Core i7-14650HX with Nvidia’s newest low-end current-gen cell graphics card, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050. Here, we’re evaluating the Katana HX to the earlier mannequin, with an RTX 4050, which ought to present important positive factors. We’re additionally evaluating it to the Alienware 16 Aurora, utilizing the RTX 5060, to see the distinction in efficiency.

Alan Wake 2 is a difficult recreation, however it might work on even the RTX 5050. I ran it on the excessive preset utilizing DLSS however with none ray tracing, and the system ran the sport between 45 and 70 frames per second. In simpler scenes, that was above the show’s 60 Hz capabilities. For those that like body era, it pushed the system as much as about 85 FPS.

On Shadow of the Tomb Raider (highest settings), the Katana 15 HX achieved 91 FPS, surpassing the earlier era (73 FPS) however falling 8 frames in need of the Aurora.

Both the Katana 15 HX and the Aurora performed Cyberpunk 2077‘s benchmark on ray tracing extremely at 30 frames per second. Needless to say, you may have to show these settings down, however you can make the sport playable. A 30 FPS common implies that some frames have been under that, making the sport unplayable at its highest settings.

On Far Cry 6 at extremely settings, which is CPU-intensive, the techniques have been largely in line, with the Katana 15 HX reaching 80 FPS at 1080p.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (medium) confirmed extra of a diffusion. The Katana 15 HX hit 65 FPS at 1080p, dropping to the Aurora at 70 FPS. Last gen’s Katana performed at 52 FPS.

We noticed an identical sample with Borderlands 3 on its “badass” graphics preset. The Katana 15 HX achieved a mean of 76 FPS, whereas the Aurora gained out at 83 FPS. The previous-generation Katana was a lesser performer at 68 FPS.

We additionally stress-tested the Katana 15 HX, working Metro Exodus on the RTX preset 15 occasions. The system ran the take a look at at a mean of 63.54 FPS. The system was largely constant run-to-run.

Productivity Performance on the MSI Katana 15 HX

MSI is utilizing a processor that is pretty previous at this level, more likely to preserve prices down. The Katana 15 HX we reviewed used a Core i7-14650HX, together with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

On Geekbench 6, the Katana 15 HX achieved a single-core rating of two,786 and a multi-core rating of 13,048. Those are solely slight boosts over the Intel Core i7-13620H within the earlier MSI Katana 16. The Alienware 16 Aurora’s Intel Core Ultra 7 240H was barely quicker in multi-core, however slower in single-core efficiency.

The Katana copied 25GB of information at a charge of 1,057.41 MBps, however was crushed by the Aurora at 1,170.12 MBps.

Using Handbrake, MSI’s newest Katana took 4 minutes and 48 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. That’s longer than the earlier mannequin at 4:27. This signifies the newer mannequin would profit from higher cooling on prolonged and taxing CPU-specific workloads, however as we noticed within the earlier part, this doesn’t appear to have an effect on gaming efficiency.

Display on the MSI Katana 15 HX

The 15.6-inch, 1080p, 144 Hz display on the Katana is apparent, and dimmer than I would really like. Using this technique on something aside from max brightness is tough, as blacks shortly flip to pale grays.

I used the Katana 15 HX to take a look at the trailer for Mortal Kombat II; it appeared lifeless. Other than one scene during which Raiden was surrounded by blue, flowing vitality, all the pieces appeared duller than once I checked out it on different screens. The oranges of the NetherRealm have been bland, and the scene within the parking storage the place Johnny Cage meets Sonya Blade and Raiden was flat and grey.

Alan Wake 2 additionally appeared bleak. To be truthful, I used to be enjoying as Alan in a dream in a haunted model of New York, however in any space with out vivid neon indicators, the darker options have been tough to make out.

The 15.6-inch show on our assessment laptop computer lined 49.1% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut and 69.3% of the sRGB coloration gamut by quantity. That’s virtually an identical to the RTX 4050 model we examined in 2023, so it looks like MSI hasn’t made any enhancements right here shortly. The Alienware 16 Aurora, which is a bit pricier, has a higher-resolution show with higher gamut protection.

At simply 257.2 nits of brightness, the Katana 15 HX has a dim display. (And at 7.2 nits larger than the final model, they’re doubtless from the identical panel provider). The Alienware measured 312.2 nits.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the MSI Katana 15 HX

MSI features a full keyboard, with a quantity pad on the Katana. To match the numpad, MSI used some squished quantity keys. If you utilize the laptop computer for spreadsheets, you should still admire it. As somebody who usually makes use of the usual quantity row, I can dwell with out it.

MSI claims 1.7 mm of key journey, however the keys nonetheless felt a little bit shallow to me. As I typed alongside within the monkeytype take a look at, I discovered the keys to be bouncy slightly than deep. I hit 111 phrases per minute with a 3% error charge. That’s a bit worse than I normally do, however not by very a lot.

The keyboard options four-zone RGB lighting. For those that care concerning the lightshow, that is spectacular. Many laptops on this worth vary keep on with a single zone, if not a single coloration altogether.

The touchpad is large enough, provided that most individuals will in all probability use a gaming mouse. The mechanism results in some squishy clicks that really feel low cost, however it works for easy internet searching and different duties once you’re not gaming. Windows 11 gestures labored with out difficulty.

Audio on the MSI Katana 15 HX

The audio system on the Katana are satisfactory. For this worth vary, my solely want is that they’d get a bit louder.

Bodyjar’s “Not the Same” simply managed to fill my lounge with sound. The vocals have been clear, although the guitar was a bit muddied with the drums and the bass was non-existent.

Alan Wake 2 sounded ok. The titular hero’s monologues have been good and clear, although some rain sounds have been a bit muddled throughout fight.

Upgradeability on the MSI Katana 15 HX

There are plenty of screws holding down the Katana’s backside cowl. But beneath, there are a variety of upgrades and straightforward repairs you can also make down the road.

To get in, you may should take away 13 Phillips-head screws. Eleven of those are lengthy, and two of them are tiny, so make sure you preserve them organized and bear in mind what goes the place. Hint: If you are caught, the lengthy ones will not go within the tiny holes.

You’ll want a great pry software to get the bottom off. The clips maintain tight. But when you get the underside off, you may see the 75 WHr battery, two RAM slots, Wi-Fi card, and NVMe SSD prepared to get replaced or upgraded.

There is a little more mess right here than I’ve seen in latest reminiscence. There are extra cables, together with the Wi-Fi antennas and those connected to the CMOS battery and laptop computer battery, are longer and fewer tied down than I might anticipate. The Wi-Fi antennas are held down with tape in some locations. This is not an enormous deal day-to-day, and even novice upgraders should not have an excessive amount of hassle due to them.

One different factor to notice inside: There is a beneficiant quantity of copper cooling the GPU. While these internals are virtually an identical (save for an additional heatsink on among the motherboard parts) to the 2023 fashions, it is good to see severe cooling.

Battery Life on the MSI Katana 15 HX

The Katana 15 HX is not a battery life champion, however it will get the job completed. On our battery take a look at, which browses the online, streams movies, and runs OpenGL checks with the show set to 150 nits of brightness. The Katana 15 HX lasted for six hours and 1 minute.

That’s a major enhance over its predecessor, which had a smaller 53.5 WHr cell in comparison with the 75 WHr battery in our assessment unit. The 16-inch Alienware Aurora ran even longer, for 9:41.

Heat on the MSI Katana 15 HX

In our Metro Exodus stress take a look at, we took warmth temperatures to see how sizzling the system will get whereas gaming. The hottest level was on the underside, the place it reached 115.5 levels Fahrenheit. The middle of the keyboard hit 109.5 F, whereas the touchpad was cool at 82.5 F.

Internally, the CPU reached 75.98 levels Celsius, whereas the GPU measured 76.15 C.

While utilizing the system, even only for some internet searching, the keyboard was usually sizzling to the contact. It was doable to make use of, however it wasn’t at all times comfy.

Webcam on the MSI Katana 15 HX

MSI nonetheless pairs its funds laptops with 720p webcams.

In my testing, I discovered that colours have been correct,however the huge downside is that the picture might be blurry and pixelated at occasions. This might not be a problem if you happen to’re in a name with many individuals and also you’re in a tiny field, however one-on-one calls may present some jagged edges.

Software and Warranty on the MSI Katana 15 HX

Two MSI-branded apps come pre-loaded on the MSI Katana 15 HX. The first, MSI Center, enables you to monitor {hardware} utilization, alter numerous energy profiles, management the laptop computer’s MUX swap (which is vital as Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus is not accessible on this laptop computer), and alter the RGB backlighting on the keyboard.

The different, MSI App participant, is successfully the BlueStacks Android emulator with an MSI coat of paint, permitting you to play Android video games. Clearly nobody has touched this app shortly — once I opened it, it had advertisements for MSI’s RTX 20-series GPUs, which have been launched in 2018. That may additionally have been the final time somebody wished to run Android apps on their Windows desktop.

MSI does not pre-install its AI Robot app, which the corporate instructed me it isn’t but able to placed on all of its techniques. I discovered it to be fairly ineffective, because it instructed me it may do issues like change the keyboard colours after which bought confused once I requested it to. I used to be capable of get it to vary the efficiency profile, however it’s clearly not assured and asks for affirmation each time. On the intense facet, the app works offline and runs regionally. Too dangerous it isn’t helpful. This is just an issue, nevertheless, if you happen to obtain the app.

Otherwise, there’s some bloat within the Windows Start menu, just like the Google Play Games beta and hyperlinks to LinkedIn.

MSI sells the Katana 15 HX with a one-year guarantee.

MSI Katana 15 HX Configurations

We reviewed an $999 configuration of the Katana with an Intel Core i7-14650HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 Laptop GPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 1080p show. As of this writing, it’s listed at Walmart, and ought to be accessible by the top of the month.

On Amazon, there is a itemizing for one more variant with a Core i9-14900HX, RTX 5070, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, together with a 165 Hz show. As of this writing, that is $1,679.

Bottom Line

The MSI Katana 15 HX is a hair below $1,000, making it cheaper than lots of the laptops we get to check lately. While the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 packs a good efficiency punch for the funds, there are tradeoffs.

The display MSI is utilizing right here appears virtually an identical to the one it utilized in 2023, and it wasn’t nice then. You must pump up the brightness so far as it goes, and it nonetheless appears type of lifeless. Additionally, you are still getting a 720p webcam in 2025.

If you are in search of a less expensive laptop computer with a brand new GPU, the Katana 15 HX will play most video games decently with the appropriate efficiency settings. And down the street, you may add extra storage and RAM to increase its usability. But once you’re not on the street, chances are you’ll wish to plug it right into a monitor.