Despite the release of the next-gen consoles Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, gaming notebooks are more popular than ever. This is also noticeable at this year’s CES 2021. Alienware, for example, presented two new gaming notebooks (we reported). But gaming veteran MSI is not sleeping at all either. Quite the opposite! The manufacturer of powerful gaming systems has also presented two promising notebooks with the MSI GE66 and GE76 Raider. However, not only the inner workings, but also the design seems to be absolutely top class. An Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 with a proud VRAM of 16 GB works under the hood. Only the display policy raises questions.
MSI GE76 Raider – The new flagship
With the GE76 Raider, MSI presented the new locking top of their gaming notebooks. According to the manufacturer, you will not only find a lot of power under the hood. On top of that, the Taiwanese company is very proud of the elegant design of their machine. Especially the so-called “Dragon Edition Tiamat” comes with an unmistakable exterior. The other differences to the also presented GE66 have to be searched for with a magnifying glass. Here, you can actually only determine size and design differences. While the GE66 Raider has a screen diagonal of 15.6 inches, the GE76 comes with 17.3 inches. This can also be seen in the dimensions of the devices. The GE66 Raider measures 23.4 mm thick and weighs 2.38 kg. The 17-incher, on the other hand, is 26 mm thick and weighs 2.9 kg.
Fragile display options
As is usual with gaming systems, you can also choose between different features in MSI’s new announcements. The display options are questionable. On the one hand, you can opt for a panel with 1080p and either 240 Hz or 300 Hz. If you want a higher resolution, you can opt for the 4K display instead. However, you only get 60 Hz here.
That’s about it in terms of selection options. Actually, we know far more diverse options in this price range. For example, it would have been desirable if MSI had included a model with a refresh rate above 60 Hz, but below 240 Hz. This is often found in 1,440p displays. It is also a shame that there is no 4K option with a higher refresh rate. After all, you can already find many gaming monitors that offer 4K and 120 Hz at the moment. However, it is possible that the Taiwanese will upgrade once again in this regard.
Focus on performance
What there is to complain about in terms of the display, can only be praised in the highest tones in terms of performance. MSI really offers uncompromising performance here. This is of course not least due to the GeForce RTX 3080 from Nvidia. Of course, increasingly slim notebooks also rely on this high-end GPU. However, you have to keep in mind that Nvidia’s graphics card is only capable of top performance when the right conditions are found. Above all, a reliable cooling system is of great importance. Accordingly, the RTX 3080 should feel right at home in both gaming notebooks.
Besides the promising graphics card, MSI also relies on a powerful processor. Namely, it’s the Core i9-10980HK from Intel. It offers a maximum clock rate of 5.3 GHz with its eight cores. The interaction between graphics card and processor should make gamers’ hearts beat faster. The two powerful components can optionally be supported by up to 64 GB DDR4 RAM. The notebooks also feature two M.2 slots, which offer room for fast NVMe SSDs thanks to PCIe 3.0. The battery should not be able to perform miracles with its 99 watt hours of power, but you will easily be able to gamble without a power supply for a minute or two.
Other features
The rest of the features also read very positively. For example, both notebooks have a webcam that resolves at 1,080p. Stereo speakers ensure that you can also play without headphones. Three USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, one Mini-DisplayPort port and one HDMI port are available. Users looking for Thunderbolt, however, will not find anything. Wi-Fi 6E and Killer E3100 Ethernet with 2.5 Gbps are supposed to provide fast Internet. The built-in keyboard with RGB lighting from SteelSeries will make friends of pretty lighting effects happy. Here you should be able to control each key individually.
Prices and availability
The MSI GE66 and GE76 Raider are scheduled to ship as early as the beginning of March. A pre-order is already possible now. Thus, the GE66 Raider is supposed to have an MSRP starting at 2,399 euros. If you really want to dig deep into your pockets, you can get the top model of the GE76 Raider for an RRP of 3,999 Euro.
