XMG Core 15 (M22): Gaming notebook in the upper mid-range with exciting upgrades

XMG relaunches its gaming notebook in the upper mid-range, the Core 15. Following the M21 in June 2021, the new edition relies on a current AMD Ryzen 7 6800H and higher power limits on the side of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. It is also compatible with the optional, external XMG Oasis laptop water cooling. We have summarized all info about the new XMG Core 15 (M22).

The XMG Core 15 (M22) comes with strong updates

After the lightweight XMG Pro and Fusion models in June and the XMG Focus at the beginning of September, the gaming notebook in the upper mid-range, the XMG Core 15 (M22), now also gets its well-deserved upgrade.

The manufacturer relies on the faster and more efficient mobile eight-core Ryzen 7 6800H processor for the new edition, which replaces the Ryzen 7 5800H from the predecessor of the E21 model generation.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is used as the graphics card. However, it has more power thanks to the higher Dynamic Boost 2.0 of 25 watts. A maximum of 140 watts (115 watts standard TGP, 25 watts Boost) is possible.

This is also accompanied by the use of a more powerful cooling system, which is already known from this year’s versions of the XMG NEO 15 (E22, M22) and offers a significantly better cooling performance, especially compared to the direct predecessor.

If you wish, you can further improve this by using the optional external water cooling XMG OASIS. This ensures a significantly quieter system operation under gaming load, improves the temperatures by around 20 °C and brings a slight performance boost with lower CPU and GPU load.

Undercover design and display options

The new XMG Core 15 (M22) gaming notebook once again relies on a simple, unobtrusive and at the same time high-quality appearance, which the manufacturer calls “undercover design”. The 360.2 x 234.5 x 23 mm slim and only 2.1 kg light laptop relies on a display lid and an aluminum upper shell.

The RGB-illuminated keyboard, complemented by a Microsoft Precision-compliant touchpad, adds a colorful accent if desired. The speakers have been improved, which have a larger diameter and should therefore offer a richer sound. The battery holds 62 watt hours again this year.

You have two options to choose from when it comes to the display. On the one hand, a WQHD IPS display (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) with a brightness of 350 cd/m2 and a refresh rate of 165 Hz, which covers 95 percent of the sRGB color space.

On the other hand, a cheaper Full HD panel (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) with 300 cd/m2 brightness, 90 percent sRGB color space coverage and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. Both models have a webcam in common, which also enables logging in via Windows Hello. It is located on the upper edge of the display.

Convincing features

The rest of the XMG Core 15 (M22)’s features also want to ensure a convincing performance. Two SO-DIMM slots can be equipped with up to 64 GB of fast DDR5-4800 working memory. In addition, there are two M.2 SSD slots that are connected via PCI Express 4.0.

As usual for XMG, both storage components can be easily accessed via the removable bottom cover and can be upgraded later.

In terms of connectivity, the laptop offers USB-C 3.2 Gen2, three USB-A 3.2 ports, separate audio ports for headphones and microphone, and a full-size SD card reader. Communication is via a Gigabit Ethernet port or wirelessly via Wi-Fi 6. An HDMI 2.1 port or the USB-C port including DisplayPort stream function with direct GPU connection are available for image output.

Not only the factory configured performance profiles can be selected at the push of a button via the dedicated Mode Switch button above the keyboard. You can also create individual profiles via the XMG Control Center software, which you can adjust in terms of performance or cooling power or volume.

Prices and availability

The new XMG Core 15 (M22) gaming laptop is, as always, free to configure via bestware.com and available now. In terms of basic features, the laptop relies on the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, a GeForce RTX 3060, 16 (2 x 8 GB) GB of DDR5-4800 RAM, a 500 GB Samsung 980 SSD, and a 144 Hz Full HD IPS display. It starts at an MSRP of 1,699 Euros.

An upgrade to the high-resolution, 165 Hz fast WQHD IPS display will cost 79 Euros. The optional external XMG OASIS laptop water cooling system is available for 199 Euros (~$199).