MSI Thin 15.6" THINGF6312484 Black 2023

A budget gaming laptop with a fatal flaw: 8GB of RAM turns it into a stuttering mess. Buy it only if you're ready to upgrade the memory yourself on day one.

We were genuinely surprised by how badly the RAM bottleneck hits this thing. In our database, 8GB puts it in the 14th percentile, which is just rough. Multiple owners report that games launch at a slideshow-like 2 to 5 fps until they manually upgraded the memory. The RTX 2050 itself is a solid entry-level performer, landing in the 71st percentile, and the 144Hz display is smooth once you get past the stuttering. But out of the box, the experience is a mess. The Core i5-12450H is middle of the pack, totally fine for the price, but it's constantly held back by the system choking on its own lack of memory.

The Lenovo Legion 5i is the obvious step up if you can stretch your budget. It comes with proper dual-channel RAM and a much stronger GPU out of the box, no surgery required. If you're dead set on this price point, a used Acer Nitro 5 with 16GB of RAM will run circles around the GF63. The ASUS Zenbook Duo and MacBook Pro are in a completely different universe for creators, but if you're just looking for the cheapest thing with an RTX badge, this MSI is it, just be ready to tinker.

At its typical street price around $781, this is a trap. You'll need to spend another $30 on an 8GB stick of RAM just to make it usable, and even then, you're stuck with a last-gen GPU and a mediocre screen. The price spread across vendors is wild, ranging up to an absurd $23,474, so just ignore anything over $800. If you can snag it for under $700 and don't mind cracking it open to add RAM immediately, it becomes a slightly more interesting, if still compromised, project.

The MSI Thin GF63 is a budget gaming laptop that makes one critical mistake: 8GB of RAM in 2024 is a crime. You can get away with the entry-level RTX 2050 and the older i5 chip, but that single stick of DDR4 memory strangles this machine right out of the box. It's a laptop that looks the part with its 144Hz screen and gamer aesthetic, but you'll spend more time fighting Windows background tasks than actually enjoying smooth framerates.

If you need a laptop that just works for gaming right out of the box, this isn't it. Go get a Lenovo Legion 5i or even a used Acer Nitro 5 with 16GB of RAM instead. This MSI is for tinkerers on a strict budget, not for anyone who wants a hassle-free experience.

Don't buy this laptop unless you're comfortable upgrading the RAM yourself before you even install your first game. The MSI Thin GF63 has the bones of a decent budget gaming machine, but the 8GB configuration is a cynical cost-cutting move that ruins the out-of-box experience. If you're a student or casual gamer who can follow a YouTube tutorial to add a stick of RAM, it's a passable, cheap entry point. For everyone else, save up for something with 16GB from the factory.