What does almost $6,000 of gaming laptop computer get you?

It’s simple to get into the weeds on a interest, particularly in case you’re into PC gaming and dreaming of the very best ranges of graphical efficiency. However how a lot is an excessive amount of for {hardware}? Spending high greenback on graphics energy, processing, RAM, storage, and so on. — like many issues — finally results in diminishing returns. Relating to gaming laptops, MSI’s $5,699.99 Titan 18 is properly past that inflection level. But it surely’s additionally like nothing else.

It’s not very logical to spend that a lot when different glorious gaming laptops are almost as highly effective however price virtually half as a lot. Whereas the Titan is a fully reckless buy, it’s additionally a joyous one which goes all out for specs and wide-eyed coolness issue.

The Titan goes arduous on nearly all the pieces, although execution is a combined bag. The 18-inch Mini LED 4K HDR show has a decision of 3840 x 2400 and a variable refresh price as much as 120Hz. It seems to be incredible. It’s not as contrast-y as an OLED, but it surely has a colourful punch with sufficient brightness to be simply seen in even a sun-drenched room. SteelSeries made its mechanical keyboard with Cherry low-profile switches, and it’s one of the crucial tactile and loudest laptop computer keyboards I’ve ever touched. It’s bought a ping-y metallic undertone in its key presses, which I usually don’t need in a mechanical keyboard, however for some motive I adore it within the Titan.

The seamless trackpad is edge-to-edge illuminated by customizable RGB lighting as a substitute of being invisible like on a Dell, and its haptic suggestions has a satisfyingly hefty knock that’s in contrast to some other. However just like the Dell XPS 13 I examined earlier this yr, it’s not probably the most dependable at detecting finger clicks. If it had this suggestions mixed with the reliability of a MacBook’s trackpad, it will be my all-time favourite. And the Titan is flush with ports and expandability, together with two super-fast Thunderbolt 5 ports, three USB-A, two user-accessible RAM slots, and 4 M.2 SSD slots. Cap off the Titan’s specs with its top-tier Nvidia RTX 5090 laptop computer GPU, Intel Core Extremely 9 285HX CPU, 64GB of RAM, and 6TB of SSD storage, and the lofty $5,700 value begins making extra sense.

The Titan 18 is unapologetic about its standing as a desktop substitute. It’s 7.94 kilos / 3.6kg of “you paid out the nostril for me to take a seat in a single spot and crush AAA video games or churn by means of processing-heavy duties, and that’s what I’ll do.” And with its huge 400W energy adapter, the entire package deal weighs 10.5 kilos / 4.76kg. I lugged it with me on a highway journey, and having a machine this highly effective when visiting household was superior — even when touring with it wasn’t so enjoyable, because it didn’t slot in any of my baggage. Whereas it’s simpler than transferring a full desktop PC and monitor, you’ll really feel simply as tethered to a wall plug. The Titan’s 99Whr battery can barely eke out 2.5 hours of primary Chrome, Slack, Google Docs, and chat app utilization earlier than it’s drained — and that’s in Eco mode with Home windows Power Saver turned on the entire time. Whereas enjoying a recreation on battery, even with Nvidia’s BatteryBoost optimizations enabled and concentrating on simply 30fps, it dies in about an hour or much less.

However whenever you’re plugged in and going full-tilt on a visually demanding recreation, the Titan is a pleasure to make use of. It might probably play Cyberpunk 2077 at Extremely settings in 4K with ray tracing and DLSS 4 turned on at round 60 frames per second (or greater with body era). Flip ray tracing off or some settings down, and you’ll comfortably play at properly over 60fps. Early ranges of the Battlefield 6 marketing campaign ran confidently at 60–75fps on the Extremely graphics preset and on the panel’s native 4K decision. There have been rare dips into the mid-to-high 50s throughout chaotic moments in bigger areas, however all the pieces remained easy and snappy. If you wish to push body charges to the Titan’s max 120Hz refresh and even barely greater, you may bump the decision right down to 2560 x 1600, and it nonetheless seems to be adequately crisp. However conserving the sport in 4K Extremely and turning on DLSS 4 High quality yielded a cheerful medium of 90 to 100fps, whereas including single-frame era comfortably boosted it to 120 to 140fps.

Fan noise, whereas loud, isn’t as unhealthy as some 16-inch gaming laptops I’ve examined. The Titan’s massive chassis permits for simpler cooling beneath load, pumping out a lot of sizzling air from its flanks. The keyboard deck close to the laptop computer’s hinge will get extremely sizzling to the contact, however fortunately, your fingers on the WASD keys are spared. The width of the chassis additionally means the six-speaker sound system will help a tiny bit in figuring out directional recreation feels like gunfire. Although the audio system are sadly simply okay for films and music, missing depth and far low-end.

There are two elephants within the room with the Titan: the looming temptation of a correct desktop gaming PC and the category of 16- and 18-inch gaming laptops with RTX 5080 GPUs that sit beneath it. You will get a way more highly effective desktop PC for half the Titan’s value, add a 240Hz QD-OLED monitor, and nonetheless have the funds for left over for an M5 MacBook Professional and even an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. However let’s be sincere, in case you’re contemplating an 18-inch, 8-pound gaming laptop computer, you’re in all probability transferring it round sufficient that this combo gained’t work. However in that case, you possibly can save round $2,400 on a gaming laptop computer with a 5080 just like the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 and get, on common, inside 7 to 10fps of the Titan’s efficiency.

Working benchmarks on the Titan’s RTX 5090, which runs at its full wattage, I used to be struck by how shut 5080 laptops have been nipping at its heels. For $2,100 to $2,400 greater than an Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 or Lenovo Legion Professional 7i, the Titan solely yields an additional 7fps on common in 4K or about 9fps extra in 2.5K. The screens on these laptops are a little bit smaller and lower-res than the Titan, however they’ve pretty 240Hz OLED shows with deeper blacks, bolder colours, and a stronger distinction. As a lot as I really like the dimensions and brightness of the Titan’s Mini LED, I desire the look of these OLEDs. Even the 5090-equipped Razer Blade 16 and 18, dear machines in their very own proper, price $1,000 lower than the Titan. The half-inch-thinner, 3-pound-lighter Blade 16 is far more versatile and travel-friendly, and its efficiency is totally on par with the Titan. Although the Titan has a higher-end CPU (with twice as many cores), higher cooling (for quieter followers), user-accessible RAM slots (although not simply accessible), sooner Thunderbolt 5 ports, and two extra M.2 SSD slots.

The sickos who pony up for the Titan are nonetheless getting a machine that isn’t fairly like anything. It’s an illogical buy, removed from any semblance of pragmatism or value-for-dollar procuring — even in case you’re aiming for a little bit futureproofing. However regardless of its shortcomings and tremendous excessive value, it’s nonetheless a beastly laptop computer with its personal boisterous appeal.

Images by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge