MSI Raider 18 HX review: As powerful as it is heavy

Sometimes you just want to game on a truly “all-in-one” powerful laptop. And it doesn’t matter how heavy it is, how loud it is, or even how long that laptop’s battery lasts. So long as you can throw anything at it and get a beautiful glorious gaming experience, that’s all that matters. And for those instances, the MSI Raider 18 HX is here to help you decimate… especially your wallet!

The MSI Raider is first and foremost a gaming laptop and that means by standard laptops it has many flaws. Typing on it isn’t great, the fans are loud, battery life is short, and it’s so heavy that calling it a laptop is almost a joke. But because it’s a gaming laptop, a lot of those flaws are “given” and what really matters is what it can do under the heavy load of AAA games and that’s where it shines. Mostly.

Further reading: Best gaming laptops 2024: What to look for and highest-rated models

Let’s rip one band-aid off right now. This particular MSI Raider 18 HX is $3,400 or otherwise known as several craploads of money. For that kind of steep price, you should get something that has all the high-end specs and thankfully MSI delivers for the most part. It has more processor cores, RAM, and storage than a lot of desktops and the screen is gigantic. You’re paying for a lot and you’re also getting a lot both in terms of top-of-the-line tech and in next-gen specs thanks to future proof Wi-Fi 7 capability. The one area you might call a miss is the display refresh rate. Sure, it’s a massive 18-inch screen with a beautiful 3840×2400 resolution, but it’s locked to just 120Hz, which might be disappointing depending on how hardcore you are about refresh rates.

Specs as tested:

• CPU: Intel Core i9-14900HX
• Memory: 64 GB DDR5
• Graphics/GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU 12G GDDR6
• Display: 18″ UHD+(3840×2400) 120Hz Mini LED HDR 1000 100 percent DCI-P3          
• Storage: 2TB NVMe SSD Gen4x4
• Webcam: IR FHD webcam
• Connectivity: 2 x Thunderbolt™ 4 w DP (1 also with PD3.1), 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI v2.1, SD Card Reader, 3.5mm audio jack,
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader
• Battery capacity: 99.9 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 15.91″ x 12.09″ x 1.26″
• Weight: 7.94 pounds
• MSRP: $3,399

MSI Raider 18 HX: Build quality and looks

Picture the quintessential gaming laptop. I bet you’re imagining a giant screen, lights absolutely everywhere, fancy if unnecessary fonts, and touches of red to break up the overwhelming black. That’s the MSI Raider. You’ve probably pictured this laptop thousands of times. The one thing you probably pictured wrong is the weight. Now I know what you’re thinking… it’s a gaming laptop, so it must heavy. But no, it’s even heavier than that. This laptop tips the scales at just under eight pounds. Let’s be honest, it’s not a laptop. Between the weight and the heat (more on that later!), this behemoth of a laptop will never ever fit on your lap. The MSI Raider is a slightly more portable all-in-one desktop with fancier lights.

The RGB is everything a gamer could want (everything a business casual person will hate) and the glowing logo that matches your preferences is the cherry on top.

The keyboard font is a choice, but that can be said about a lot of gaming laptops. What matters is that it’s solidly built and MSI took advantage of ventilation needs to enhance the overall look and feel. I like all the accents along the fans a lot. One downside is the sharp edges. If your arms tend to brush the front edge of the laptop when typing, it might be a little uncomfortable after a while.

Overall, the build quality is as high as you’d expect from such an expensive laptop. There’s hardly any give or wobble in the display, even when typing, and the same goes for the rest of the machine as it never creaks or groans. The overall laptop is built like a tank and feels as heavy as one too. While that means you won’t want to lug this in your backpack, it does give it a certain premium feel that comes with heavier gadgets.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Keyboard and trackpad

I have very mixed feelings about the keyboard and trackpad. Taken apart, both are technically excellent. You get a full-sized keyboard complete with a numpad and the keys themselves have good travel for a laptop. I don’t ache when I type, and that’s always a big deal in my book as I do have issues with non-ergonomic keyboards. MSI buried in a ton of extras in the keyboard as well. Beyond the new Copilot button most modern laptops will adopt, you also get fancy per-key RGB backlighting and a ton of functions. Combining the function key with down gets you a crosshair capability while the up key launches a cooler boost that blasts the fans.

The trackpad is nice, expansive, and adequately clicky too. It does, however, tend to build a bit of dirt and grime into its creases. Taken on its own though, it’s a good enough trackpad that I imagine you won’t use in favor of a dedicated gaming mouse. The real problem is the keyboard combined with the trackpad.

MSI crammed a full-sized keyboard into this beast, including a fairly generous touchpad. But that means when your hands are in home position, they are left of center. The trackpad is perfectly centered, which puts it slightly out of alignment with the main typing area of the keyboard. That’s already slightly awkward, but it also seems to lead to accidental trackpad brushes. In typing this review, I’ve ended up jumping up whole paragraphs mid-word so many times I’ve lost count. It’s frustrating. But if you primarily game, it may not bother you as much as this writer, especially if you use the function keys to disable the trackpad and use your gaming mouse instead.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Speakers and display

I know better than to expect laptop speakers to be good, but I was hopeful here. With a giant price tag, there’s no good excuse not to have amazing speakers, at least for a laptop. And the MSI Raider’s speakers are very best average for a laptop. You’ll find hardly any bass here, and even the upper end of the spectrum could use some clarity. It’s not quite trapped in a bottle sounds, but everything about these speakers screams “bring your own headphones.” And I guess that’s just as well because you won’t be able to hear those speakers anyway. I’d normally talk about the fans elsewhere, but I’m going to mention them here.

This laptop produces so much fan noise that I can hear it three rooms away. I typically leave my laptops on my dining room table to run benchmark tests and this is the first one that has ever interrupted my workflow thanks to the sheer level of jet taking off sounds. I had to close my office door to block it out. And those fans run all the time, even when the Raider is sitting idle. The bottom line is, you’ll definitely need headphones.

As for the display, that’s another story. This 18 inch Mini-LED 120hz screen is awesome. It does have some of the usual downsides with Mini-LED, namely some blooming issues when using Windows in a light theme. But Mini-LED gives you nearly the inky blacks of OLED while also putting out so much brightness you’ll probably never use it at 100 percent. When I did max out brightness briefly, it was blinding. You could practically light up a living room with this display. The refresh rate, however, is a bit of a bummer for such an expensive gaming laptop. It’s just 120hz, which technically is good enough for gaming, but other similar laptops in this price range offer better performance.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Webcam, microphone, biometric options

If you’re planning on streaming with this monster, you’ll find an IR FHD webcam at the top of the display. FHD is technically pretty good for a built-in webcam, but it struggles under anything but bright lighting. Given the laptop’s purpose and price, you might hope MSI somehow slipped in a truly epic webcam, but the truth is laptop webcams are just never any good for a variety of reasons. I do appreciate the built-in physical shutter though, especially with the bright orange accent that shouts “you have privacy” when closed. If you’re streaming, you probably want to pick up an external camera. On the other hand, the IR system does a very good job of logging you in quickly, and you might lose that with an external camera.

That’s not the biggest loss though, since this laptop also has a fingerprint sensor. You’ll find it in the lower right corner below the keyboard, and while it seems small it does the job perfectly fine. This is a case where I appreciate having both options since it feels like buying an external camera seems likely. Pick what’s best for your scenario, and be glad you have options.

The microphone does ok, but it’s nothing to write home about. Again, part of me hoped for something truly special considering the size and price of this laptop, but given the speakers aren’t great it’s not surprising the microphone is merely average too. If you pick up a headset, grab one with a decent microphone and you’re set for team chat.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Ports and connectivity

When it comes to ports, the high price tag pays off. This MSI Raider 18 has all the ports, everywhere. On the right side you’ll find two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (one with PD 3.1 charging), a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, and an audio combo jack. On the left, you’ll find a Kensington Lock slot, another USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, and an SD Card reader. And on the back, you’ll find the dedicated power port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and an Ethernet port.

I like that power, video, and internet focused ports are on the back, which is convenient for the likely desktop setup you’d primarily use this in. That feels especially important since the power cord isn’t as long as I’d like. I’m less enthused that both USB-C ports are on the right side. It’d be a little more versatile to have one on each.

This laptop is, thankfully, future proof as well. You get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which is probably advanced enough you don’t have anything to fully supports those standards yet. But even in my Wi-Fi 6E home, speeds are killer and nearly max out what my network is capable of providing. That’s impressive over a Wi-Fi connection. Granted, you should probably still use the ethernet cord for gaming and wired peripherals as well if latency is a factor you care about at all. But at least it’s nice to know that if you do ditch cords, this machine will keep up and then some.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Performance

Going in, one can expect the MSI Raider 18 to crush benchmark testing, at least compared to everyday laptops. It does have an i9 processor, 64 GBs of RAM, a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 laptop grade GPU, and a 2 TB NVMe SSD. If that doesn’t spell performance, it’ll be because of heat alone, which explains the incredibly loud fans the laptop rocks.

The first test we run is PCMark 10, which helps determine overall performance. We run with laptops plugged in and that’s important to keep in mind as some processors throttle when unplugged. Then again, this is a gaming laptop, so you’d probably use it plugged in too. The other thing to note is that PCMark 10 tends to favor CPU before GPU.

And that shows here. The MSI Raider beat the competition, taking home a first win in this benchmark. But the other MSI Raider from last February came within a statistical margin. Re-run these tests enough times and they’d likely swap places.

After that, we ran Cinebench R20, which is a multithreaded CPU test. To my surprise, this MSI Raider didn’t fair near as well here, falling squarely in the middle of the pack. That confused me because the other MSI Raider in our comparison data did much better on the same processor. But while they’re close, there are some key differences, including overall size, display, and weight. Perhaps those differences add up. I re-ran the tests a few times just to be sure and came back with consistent results.

I’m also not too worried. This MSI Raider is still putting up a respectable enough number and the kind of testing Cinebench is doing here doesn’t translate to gaming, which is a much more GPU-focused task. What we learn from this test is that outside gaming, this MSI Raider should be able handle any application you throw at it.

And that fact shows in our Handbrake test. This test involves encoding a video file, which puts the laptop under heavy load. A less capable laptop will likely overheat, throttle, and accomplish the job at a slower pace. Not the MSI Raider. We measure in minutes and I’m used to this test drifting into the four digit territory. But all our gaming laptops make short work of the task and the MSI Raider puts even those to shame.

That’s likely down to all those fans and vents. This Raider runs them at the drop of a hat, even when you wouldn’t think the device needs to jettison heat, and all that cooling seems to pay off. That should bode well for gaming, too.

To test graphics capability, we run 3Dmark’s Time Spy benchmark. And here, the MSI Raider truly shines. That goes for both models on our list, actually. That’s not surprising, as they’re running the same processor and have similar graphics cards. The previous MSI we reviewed leads the pack here due to it having a more powerful GPU (a 4090 vs 4080). This is another case where with enough re-running of the tests, the two might trade places. That’s why we do more than benchmark, as those only tell you part of the story. And the story so far says this is a capable gaming machine.

Up until now, we’ve used standard industry benchmarks you can run on just about any modern laptop. But this is a gaming machine, so we want some tests focused on that purpose. To start, we run Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s built-in benchmarks. This is admittedly an aging game, but in some ways that’s a benefit: no updates mean reliable data across our testing machines.

This is, however, another test that made me go “huh” at first. Sure, technically speaking 120fps isn’t bad, just ask the PS5, but it does put it firmly lower on this list. And then I remembered two factors. One, this laptop runs an RTX 4080, which is holding it back compared to the other MSI’s RX 4090. And two, the built-in display is capable of 120hz anyway. If you don’t intend to hook up a monitor with a higher refresh rate, then you don’t need a benchmark to tell you it can do better. And you might not actually want an external monitor. This is an expensive device, after all, and one of the perks is the glorious 18 inch mini-LED screen. Take advantage of it.

For what it’s worth, we run this test at 1080p, because most gamers would rather have higher framerate even if it means settling for lower resolution. Just to see what would happen, I re-ran the test at 4K and it still managed an average of 90fps, which is pretty darn good. If you’re on the fence of resolution versus frames per second, this is a laptop that could give you options.

We also run the benchmark test found in Metro Exodus. This is much more demanding game and run the test using the “extreme” option in 1080p. I checked, and at PCWorld we’ve never seen a machine hit 120fps in this benchmark, and many struggle to even hit 60.

So, it’s fairly heartening to see this MSI back on top again, pulling off an average of 105 frames per second in this benchmark. That puts it ahead of even the other MSI Raider in our comparison list, and of the others as well. If I had to guess, that’s going to be down to cooling as this benchmark did produce some of the loudest “jet engine” noises of all.

In general, these tests are admittedly a little inconsistent. In some areas the MSI Raider seems to excel, and other areas it falls behind. But as always, benchmarks only tell you so much. Real world testing is the final note on the story. And let me tell you, gaming on this 18-inch behemoth is glorious. It can handle everything I throw out it and looks gorgeous in the process.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Battery life

This MSI Raider has a 99.9 watt-hour hour battery powering this machine, and that’s as big as you can get and still take your laptop on an airplane. Very few laptops host anything anywhere near this large, and I have a feeling it’s half the reason this Raider weighs so much. Now you might be tempting to think with this humongous energy pack the Raider might be able to pull off all day battery life. Nope!

We test battery life by putting the laptop in airplane mode, reducing brightness to 50 percent, and looping a 4K copy of the Tears of Steel film until the device dies. This MSI Raider gave up the ghost after just 234 minutes. That’s a half hour less than the other MSI Raider in our comparison chart, and a little over half the time as HP Omen. And I want you to think about this: putting the Raider in airplane mode and turning down the brightness is a “best case scenario.” Even looping a video is less energy intensive than gaming.

And the real proof is in the pudding. I’ve used the MSI Raider to write the majority of this review. But not all of it. And the reason for that? I tried to do it on battery alone, and it died on me. Twice.

MSI Raider 18 HX: Conclusion

I’ve come away from with somewhat mixed feelings. The benchmarks are just like my feelings, actually. Mixed and messy. When this laptop excels, it absolutely slays. The display is gorgeous and can get so bright you could feasibly pull off that “hacker in the dark” look Shutterstock is so fond of. You know the one, where somehow the single monitor in the dark room seems to be bright as the sun. That’s this display. Seriously.

And for gamers, there’s plenty of great touches. The RGB is everything a gamer could want (everything a business casual person will hate) and the glowing logo that matches your preferences is the cherry on top. I could probably get used to the trackpad placement or, better yet, turn it off in favor of a gaming mouse.

But there’s other areas that hold me back. The fans are so dang loud that I’d not only recommend headphones, I’d suggest you get something with ANC to combat the windy roar. Part of me wants better FPS performance (and a display that can match) for this price. It’s also far too heavy and the battery life much too short to consider gaming on-the-go. At best, this is an all-in-one that you can easily take over a friend’s place. It’s a gaming machine built for a very particular person, someone who wants to buy just a laptop, maybe a mouse and headset. And for that person, this will do the trick. For everyone else, it might be worth looking around at the competition.

Author: Josh Hendrickson