A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to test the portable supercomputer MSI Stealth 17 Studio A13VH. A beast for three thousand and a half kroner that was built for gamers who could not live without 4K graphics, even when they were moving. Now we look at the other end of the spectrum with the MSI Katana 15 B13V.
That does not mean that this laptop is at the other end in terms of quality. Yes, you’ll find a range of different specifications here, but considering the sub-£1,000 price for the 4050 version (which is the one we used in this test), what you get here is real good to very good.
In the Katana B13V, you will find Intel Core i7-13620H, GPU Laptop RTX 4050, IPS screen 1080p with 144 Hz, 16 GB DDR5 RAM and 1 TB SSD. The 1080p display may seem like a thing of the past, but to be honest, I was very impressed with the picture quality when I opened this laptop. As long as the numbers 1, 0, 8 and 0 don’t scare you off immediately, you’re unlikely to notice that the resolution is lower than some monitors.
Here’s a hint:
The only other thing that can be considered a disadvantage is the 1TB SSD and it is the minimum for gaming and it only allows you to have a handful of modern games on the device at the same time, but the speed of the SSD is quite good, and again we are talking about gaming on (somewhat of) a budget. It is also possible to upgrade the SSD if you feel confident.
If you are willing to spend a little more money, you can upgrade the RAM and GPU to 64GB and a 4070. You can go for a performance boost if you need it, but I was surprised by the power of the 4050 and 4070. how he handled the ray – find in challenging games. Yes, the laptop got hot and loud when I played for long periods, but I still did not notice any significant decrease in performance, which we will see when we get to the benchmarks.
Like the screen, the speakers on the Katana 15 B13V are also solid. Good sound quality that complements the visuals and gets you into the game quickly. Most people will probably use the audio jack or one of the many USB ports for headphones, but it’s good that MSI didn’t save this function for those who like to let the play sound from the laptop.
Here’s a hint:
Something I wasn’t too excited about was the design this time. It is big, heavy and looks like plastic. Of course you have to sacrifice some luxury when you’re shelling out around £1,000 for a gaming machine, but I found it a bit strange that the model was so big. Despite the smaller screen size, it is not going to fit as well in a backpack because of this. As for the scene, there was no problem. As usual, MSI offers a sleek, sophisticated black color for those who want it, and there’s some RGB on the keyboard too.
The keyboard and trackpad are fine, that’s all I can say about them. They’re not the best I’ve used, and certainly not the worst, but they fall under the typical gaming laptop feel. Again, there is not much to say about them, because they are not the core of the laptop. As with all gaming laptops, luckily it’s the performance that’s great, so let’s take a look at some benchmarks. For the record, we mention that all the tests below are taken in a resolution of 1920×1080.
Game cyberpunk 2077
Ultra without RT – 78.72 FPS
RT lav – 82.39 FPS
Medium RT – 82.81 FPS
Red dead redemption 2 new
Ultra (preferred quality) – 63.66 FPS
Horizon zero dawn
Final quality – 78 FPS
TW: Warhammer III
Ultra campaign benchmark – 62.8 FPS
Ultra Battle Benchmark – 62.3 FPS
Limits 3
Ultra – 69.43 FPS
Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy
Very high – 138 FPS
Ultra – High RT – 109 FPS
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Maximum through – 113 FPS
Overall, the MSI Katana is one of the best choices you can make in the notebook price range. It has good gaming performance, a screen that impresses even if it doesn’t reach the highest resolution you can get, and just in terms of design and trackpad it feels like it could be better. Since this is small for most players, it is an easy proposition.
2024-04-19 10:15:18
#MSI #Katana #B13V
