MSI Thin 15.6" 12UCX-484US 2023, Core i5-12450H, 8GB, 512GB SSD, RTX 2050, Black

A budget gaming laptop with a decent GPU and a crippling RAM problem. Upgrade the RAM or buy something else.

The RTX 2050 sits around the 72nd percentile for GPUs, which is decent for this price class, but the 8GB of DDR4 RAM is a glaring weak spot, landing in the 13th percentile. That's rough. The i5-12450H is about average for CPUs, so you'll get through daily tasks fine, but don't expect to multitask while gaming. The 512GB SSD is also on the smaller side, sitting in the 37th percentile. What surprised me most is how much the RAM bottleneck undercuts the otherwise capable GPU. You'll be closing browser tabs just to keep frame rates stable.

Stacked against the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 or ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, the MSI Thin looks like a toy. Those machines have better GPUs, more RAM, and brighter screens, but they also cost two to three times as much. The more realistic comparison is the HP OMEN Transcend 14, which offers a better balance of portability and power for a bit more money. If you're cross-shopping the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition, you're looking at a completely different use case, that's a productivity machine, not a gaming laptop. For pure budget gaming, the MSI holds its own, but it's not winning any awards.

At USD 939 in the US, this is a tough sell when you factor in the RAM upgrade you'll almost certainly need. The EUR pricing is all over the place, from EUR 1,163 to EUR 1,904 across three listings, so if you're in Europe, shop around hard. The best deal in our database is the EUR 1,163 listing, which makes this a much more reasonable buy. At the high end of that spread, you're getting fleeced. For the US price, you can find laptops with 16GB of RAM and better GPUs if you wait for a sale.

The MSI Thin 12UCX-484US is a budget gaming laptop that looks the part but stumbles where it counts. You get a 144Hz screen and an RTX 2050, which sounds fine on paper, but the 8GB of RAM and a middling i5-12450H hold it back hard. The one thing to know? This is a laptop for light gaming and everyday work, not a serious gaming rig, and the RAM situation is a real problem out of the box.

If you're looking for a laptop that can handle serious gaming or heavy multitasking out of the box, this isn't it. Go get a Lenovo Legion or ASUS ROG with 16GB of RAM and a better GPU instead. If you need long battery life for school or work, skip this entirely and look at a MacBook Air or Surface Laptop.

The MSI Thin 12UCX-484US is a decent entry point if you're on a tight budget and willing to upgrade the RAM yourself. But out of the box, the 8GB of RAM is a dealbreaker for anyone who wants to game and multitask. If you can find it at the low end of the EUR range or on sale in the US, it's worth a look. Otherwise, save up a bit more and get something with 16GB of RAM and a better port selection.