MSI’s Raider GE78 HX laptop is a top performer, providing gamers with excellent CPU performance and flashy RGB lighting that can be managed to the user’s preferences. The cooling is great and the laptop offers good value for the price, even for the expensive cost. It also has an easy-to-install AI art creator. However, it has a few downsides such as a rear-mounted power port that can be finicky, it is heavy and may not fit inside some backpacks, the battery life is poor, the utility software is clunky and slow, and the fan noise is loud at maximum performance settings. Despite these cons, the MSI Raider GE78 HX delivers outstanding gaming performance and offers a solid experience, even with its occasional rough edge.
The GE78 HX family includes a 17-inch notebook with variations in GPU options, providing up to 250W to the CPU and GPU. Our review unit differed slightly from the standard retail version, with only 32GB of RAM and running Windows 11 Pro. The laptop features a 17-inch display, Core i9-14900HX processor, Iris Xe Graphics/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, 64GB DDR5-5600 memory, 2TB NVMe Gen 4 SSD, and various ports including Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, and 2 USB-A.
The laptop design includes cascading RGB keys, a light bar, and Cooler Boost 5 technology for cooling. The display is standard IPS, offering 463 nits of luminance in SDR mode with HDR1000 rating and 1,160:1 contrast. The HDMI 2.1 port provides an alternative to the native 1080p, 240Hz display. The laptop has a plastic chassis and is black in color, weighing 6.61 pounds and measuring 14.97×11.73×1.13 inches in size.
The overall experience with the MSI Raider GE78 HX is positive, providing excellent gaming performance and solid features. Despite a few drawbacks, it remains a top choice for gamers seeking a powerful and flashy gaming laptop.
