MSI is bringing fresh designs and big performance to its Raider and Stealth Studio laptops
The Raider is getting a Matrix lightbar while the Stealth Studio features a new magnesium and aluminum chassis.
At CES 2023, MSI is announcing updates to nearly every family of laptops it makes, but some of the coolest changes are arriving on the new Raider GE and Stealth Studio lines.
Starting with the 2023 Raider GE78, not only are you getting faster 13th-gen Intel chips and up to an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU, you’re also getting new IPS displays with taller 16:10 aspect ratios. Thanks to refreshed components, MSI says there are some serious jumps in performance, with gains of up 45 percent or more for both general computing and graphics compared to last year’s systems.
On top of that, MSI also updated the Raider’s chassis with a new matrix lightbar that’s brighter and more colorful. And the best part is that when you want to hide your power level, because of the smoky plastic in front, the lightbar almost completely disappears when you turn off the LEDs. Thankfully, MSI hasn’t messed around too much as you still get a huge 99.9-watt hour battery (the biggest power pack that you can bring on a plane), a physical webcam shutter and a new IR sensor that works with Windows Hello.
There’s a healthy selection of ports too, including a full-size SD card reader, one Thunderbolt 4 jack, two USB 3.2 Type-C ports (one of which also supports USB-PD charging) and one USB 3.2 Type-A connector. As for the keyboard, you still get per-key RGB lighting made in collaboration with Steelseries and a dedicated MUX switch for quickly swapping between integrated and discrete graphics.
That said, my favorite new systems might be the two additions to the Stealth family. After reviewing the old Stealth 15 last year, I felt like the whole line needed a big revamp, and that’s pretty much exactly what we're getting with the Stealth 14 Studio and Stealth 16 Studio. MSI designed a brand new chassis made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy, so it's both strong and light. Then MSI finished it off with two sweet new paint jobs: pure white and star blue.
On the inside, in addition to a range of 13th-gen Intel CPU and NVIDIA 40-series graphics, MSI added new vapor chambers to keep thermals in check. Meanwhile, just like the Raider, the new Stealth Studios also feature six-speaker audio, 16:10 displays and trackpads that are 33 percent larger than before. And despite their super slim dimensions — the Stealth 14 studio is just 9mm thick – MSI still found room to include a microSD card slot, which is great for quickly transferring photos or videos from your camera.
As someone who likes laptops that can do a bit of everything without sacrificing portability, the Stealth 14 Studio looks like a really interesting addition to the growing number of 14-inch thin-and-light gaming notebooks. My one small disappointment is that while MSI is also refreshing the old Stealth 15 with new silicon from Intel and Nvidia, the company sadly isn’t doing anything to revamp its chassis.
Unfortunately, we’re still waiting on pricing for MSI’s upcoming gaming laptops. But with the Raider line set for a release sometime in mid-February and the Stealth Studio arriving just a couple weeks after that, it shouldn’t be too long before we have some firm numbers.
