MSI Thin 15.6" RM

The MSI Thin 15 is a budget gaming laptop with an RTX 4060 that delivers strong 1080p performance at a reasonable price. It's not the most premium machine, and the 512GB storage will have you craving more space quickly, but for the price, it's hard to argue with the gaming capability. Skip it if you need better build quality or more ports.

The RTX 4060 8GB is the star of the show here, delivering smooth 1080p gaming on high settings for most titles. It ranks in the 84th percentile for GPU performance, which puts it ahead of most competitors at this price. The i5-13420H is a decent mid-range chip, though it falls in the 55th percentile for CPU performance, so don't expect to be editing 8K video on this thing. The 144Hz display pairs nicely with the GPU for responsive gameplay, and the 16GB DDR4 RAM is enough for gaming and light multitasking. Where this machine struggles is AI and LLM workloads, scoring just 35.2/100 in that category. For pure gaming, though, it holds its own.

Compared to the Lenovo Legion 5i, the MSI Thin 15 is lighter and cheaper but uses cheaper materials and has fewer ports. The Legion 5i also typically includes more storage. Against the HP OMEN Transcend 14, the MSI wins on pure GPU horsepower but loses on portability and display quality. If you're coming from an older gaming laptop or a general-purpose machine, the RTX 4060 in this MSI will feel like a massive upgrade. But if you're comparing it to something like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, you're looking at a different league entirely in terms of build quality and performance.

The MSI Thin 15 typically sells between $1,069 and $1,500 depending on the retailer, though we've seen prices climb to $2,262 during shortages. At the lower end of that range, it's a solid value given the RTX 4060. The catch is that competitors like the Lenovo Legion 5i offer similar specs with better build quality and more storage, while the HP OMEN Transcend 14 brings better portability. If you find it under $1,200, grab it. Above $1,400, you start getting into better-built machines with faster screens.

The MSI Thin 15 is a budget gaming laptop that punches above its weight class. Armed with an RTX 4060 mobile GPU and a 13th-gen Intel i5-13420H processor, it handles most modern games at solid framerates without breaking the bank. The 15.6-inch 1080p 144Hz display is exactly what you'd expect at this price point, and the 16GB RAM/512GB SSD combo is serviceable, though storage will fill up fast once you install a few AAA titles. At 1.86kg, it's reasonably portable for a gaming machine, and the backlit keyboard adds a nice touch for late-night sessions. This sits in the entry-level gaming category, competing with machines like the Lenovo Legion 5i and HP OMEN Transcend 14.

Skip this if you need a machine for content creation, AI workloads, or professional use. The i5-13420H and 16GB RAM are underwhelming for anything beyond gaming, and the 35.2/100 AI/LLM score is genuinely bad. If you do video editing, 3D work, or want to run local AI models, look at the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro instead. Also skip if you want premium build quality or a wide selection of ports, because this laptop scores in the 10th percentile for port selection and users consistently complain about the cheap materials.

The MSI Thin 15 is a good budget gaming laptop that gets the fundamentals right. The RTX 4060 delivers real gaming performance, the price is reasonable, and users consistently praise how well it runs games like World of Warcraft at high settings. The trade-offs are real though: the storage fills up fast, the body feels plasticky, and the port selection is surprisingly limited for a gaming machine. If you need a capable gaming laptop without spending $1,500+, this is worth considering. Just budget for an external drive or SSD upgrade down the road.