Yes, it's the MSI Vector 16 HX AI again, and yes, we've covered it rather a lot. There's a darn good reason for that, though, as it's usually massively cheaper than equivalent gaming laptops, and one of the best ways to get either an RTX 5070 Ti mobile or RTX 5080 mobile in your lap for less.
Particularly as the RTX 5070 Ti variant is down to $1,500 at Newegg once more, which matches the lowest price we could find it for during the long-gone Prime Day sales period. This deal appears to keep going, and going, and going—and it's putting most of the regular RTX 5070 machines on our cheap gaming laptop deals page to shame.
The RTX 5070 Ti is a far beefier GPU than its non-Ti sibling, and given that it's only got a 1200p panel to keep fed here, that means high frame rates in even the most demanding games should be relatively easy to achieve. It's a 144 Hz IPS display that's more "pretty good" than downright stunning, but this particular GPU should max it out without issue, particularly if you don't mind the occasional DLSS addition.
The processor is a beefy boi, too, being a 20-core (eight Performance, 12 efficient) Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX. That's a very speedy chip—although it's worth noting that it's also a hot runner, which is likely to spin up the fans something fierce.
Our Dave tested a version with an even meatier chip and found the fan noise to be extreme, but luckily it could be reigned in quite nicely with a simple change in the MSI Center settings without crushing the performance. I'd wager you could pull off the same trick here with similar results.
What else, what else? The chassis is a bit plastic-y, but there's a certain old-school charm to it. Oh, and the 16 GB of DDR5 in combination with a 512 GB SSD is pretty spartan, even at this sort of price. Luckily, both are very easy to upgrade with a screwdriver and half an hour's worth of spare time, and there's even a second M.2 slot, so you don't have to mess around porting over the Windows install to a new drive.
Really, it's the chip and the GPU you're paying for here, and both are serious performers. So, while this MSI laptop isn't perfect, you are getting the most important hardware for an absolute bargain price. Oh, and if you're interested in the RTX 5080 version with a 240 Hz screen and a 1 TB SSD, I've found it for $2,000, which makes it the cheapest properly high-end machine you can find right now, too. Two mega deals, two slightly-flawed—but still genuinely excellent—gaming lappys. Nice.
1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)
2. Best budget:
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10
3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)
4. Best mid-range:
MSI Vector 16 HX AI
5. Best high-performance:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10
6. Best 18-inch:
Alienware 18 Area-51
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