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MSI’s MSI Stealth 15M gaming laptop is a bit strange. We understand what MSI is trying to do here. For example, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a strong competitor that is currently having its moment in the sun. It wants to give players another thin, light gaming laptop that shows off the power of the Nvidia RTX 3000 series. After all, if Asus can do it, MSI could do it too.
The MSI Stealth 15M is a great start because it is small and light, has a comfortable keyboard, and has a good number of ports. And if those were the only things that gaming laptops were judged on, we’d be happy to suggest it, especially since it does a good job of getting you through games at medium settings.
It also falls short when it comes to ray tracing speed, battery life, and how it handles heat. Even though those aren’t big deal-breakers for gamers, it’s aimed at the same market as the new Zephyrus G14 because it has similar specs and a similar shape, but it’s a little more expensive and has less power.
MSI Stealth 15M Specifications
| Specifications | Details |
|---|---|
| Processor | 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1185G7 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU |
| Display | 15.6″ FHD (1920×1080), 144Hz, IPS-Level |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4-3200MHz |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Battery | 52Whr |
| Weight | 3.92 lbs |
| Dimensions | 14.09″ x 9.76″ x 0.63″ |
MSI Stealth 15M: Design
The Stealth 15M is about as stealthy as it gets for a game laptop. It has a simple, boxy design and a matte black finish, which, by the way, tends to show fingerprints. At least from the outside, the only thing that stands out is MSI’s dragon logo, which gets a new glossy look for 2022.
Then you open it up and see MSI’s beautiful Spectrum backlit keyboard, a big speaker grill that runs the length of the deck, and a tiny touchpad. MSI put a lot of ports on its sides, including four USB 3.2 ports (two Type-A and two Type-C, one of which supports DisplayPort), a full-size HDMI 2.1 connection, and a headphone/microphone jack. You can buy this laptop from its official website
MSI Stealth 15M: Display
On paper, the Stealth 15M’s screen seems to match its numbers perfectly. It has a 144Hz refresh rate and a 15.6-inch IPS screen. It even has a matte finish to stop shadows from getting in the way. The problem is that movies and games look kind of dull because the colors aren’t very bright and the brightness is only about 250 nits. Sure, if you like gaming in darker settings, it’s not a big deal. But because it doesn’t put out much light, it can be hard to read text in bright rooms, especially if you like to use dark mode apps.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Both the keyboard and the touchpad have a relatively simple appearance, yet they both perform far better than they appear to. The keys are of a fair size and have a pleasant touch to them; they are neither either mushy nor very springy. They make for a nice experience when typing, and the RGB backlighting adds a touch of flair to the overall design. The touchpad is responsive, it pans in a fluid manner, and it is exactly the right size for the overall size of the laptop.
MSI Stealth 15M: Performance
The 15M’s GeekBench 5 scores of 10,797 (single-core) and 94,260 (multi-core) are lower than what you would expect from an Intel H-series Core i7 chip like the 12700H or 12900H, but they are the best we’ve seen from a P-series Alder Lake processor, which shows how fast the 15M is.
The RTX3060 GPU in the Stealth can’t match the speeds we saw from the powerful MSI Creator Z17 with its RTX3080Ti GPU (which also has 16GB of vRAM to the 15M’s 6GB), but the SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modeling test still ran at a respectable 67.5fs compared to the Z17’s 129fs.
MSI Stealth 15M: Battery Life
The only word that fits here is “evil.” The 15M’s battery only lasted 3 hours and 50 minutes when we looped a standard-definition movie in VLC while the screen brightness was set to 25% in Airplane Mode. We changed the system setting from Balanced to Performance just for fun, and then ran a game benchmark over and over again. The battery died in 50 minutes, and no, we haven’t forgotten an hour number before then.
As with the quality of the screen, these numbers are typical for gaming laptops. However, the 15M is likely to be used away from a power source more often than a committed gamer, and a 53.8Wh battery is not enough for that.
Price and availability
It comes with a 1TB solid-state drive (SSD), 16GB of RAM, an Intel Core i7-1280P processor, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card. This is a solid all-around configuration, boasting sufficient processing speed for 1080p gaming and plenty of storage space.
At $1599/£1599, the MSI Stealth 15M is less expensive than flashy attention-getters like the Razer Blade 15, but yet expensive enough to warrant expectations of a significant improvement over basic laptops. The laptop’s selling price of £1099, though, makes it a much more attractive purchase than some of the criticisms in this review might imply. Cost is always a factor.
Final Words
The MSI Stealth 15M is a very powerful laptop that costs less than £1,000. It has a very good keyboard and is very light and small. In the “Cons” section, the battery life is terrible and the screen is dull and boring, even though it is fast.
The sound system, on the other hand, is neither good nor bad; it’s just average. If you often use your laptop away from a power source, this MSI is not for you. Similarly, if you need a colorful and accurate display for your work, the Stealth 15M is not for you either.
MSI Stealth 15M review: The good and The bad
The Good
- Thin and light
- Good mid-range performance
The Bad
- Plain appearance
FAQS
The 15.6-inch screen has a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 and a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which is perfect for regular gaming. This quality is fine for work tools that are used every day.
This means that the Stealth only lasts 4 hours and 15 minutes on our local video rundown test, while the x14 lasts 9:45 minutes and the more powerful Razer Blade 15 lasts 5:42 minutes.