The Katana GF66 is definitely a step up from the previous model. The biggest difference is a new 12th-Gen Intel chip. You can easily get over 60 frames per second in games like Borderlands 3 that have a lot of graphics, and you can even get over 100 frames per second in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint if you play on Ultra settings at 1080p.
Fans of frames per second (fps) saw about 110 fps in Apex Legends when the same settings were used. To get the most out of a 240-Hz screen, you’ll need to set it to lower Medium and lower the resolution to 720p. The 144-Hz model sold in the US should let you hit the maximum frame rate at around Medium settings at 1080p.
The Katana is 0.98 inches long, 14.1 inches wide, and 10.2 inches tall, but it looks slimmer because its edges slope inward (HWD). At 4.96 pounds, its weight is about right for a cheap game. The same goes for its all-plastic construction, which feels solid even if it isn’t fancy. The 1,920-by-1,080-pixel screen on the Katana GF66 could be better.
Its best feature is its 144Hz refresh rate, which lets you play games smoothly. The GeForce RTX 3060 GPU can easily push it to its limits in many games, as our benchmark tests will show. But its picture quality isn’t great. Our Datacolor SpyderX Elite showed that it only covered 62% of the sRGB colour gamut and had a peak brightness of only 267 nits. T
The MSI Katana GF66’s only real nod to gamer bling is the red backlighting on the keyboard. Both the tops and edges of the keys are lit up, and I like how the keycaps have a futuristic font. The touchpad, which is not in the same line as the keyboard, has the same mix of pros and cons: It is the right size and has a smooth, jerk-free surface, but its stiff click-down action makes you work.
One easy way to get around that is to use virtual tap-to-click. Most laptops with 720p webcams have trouble taking good photos and videos. Even though the resolution of the MSI Katana GF66’s webcam isn’t great, the picture it takes isn’t too bad.
With its new Intel Core i7-11800H processor and 16GB of RAM, the MSI Katana GF66 was able to run Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in the background while running 40 Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos at the same time.
On our HandBrake benchmark, the MSI Katana GF66 encoded a 4K video to 1080p in just 6 minutes and 37 seconds, which was faster than the average of 9 minutes and 20 seconds for this category. The Zephyrus M16 was 7:58 behind, the Triton 300 SE was 11:36 behind, and the Stealth 15M was 11:03 behind.