While the MSI Vector 17 HX isn't going to win any awards for its physical design, this portable has all the performance necessary to stand with some of the best gaming laptops on the market. Priced at $2,299 / £2,399 / AU$3,099 for a version sporting an RTX 4070 graphics card, it's more costly than many of its rivals. And when you consider that alongside the build quality comprises here (which we'll discuss in more depth later), sadly this means this MSI notebook doesn't quite achieve top marks - but it's still a decent machine.
That's because the MSI Vector 17 HX still largely justifies its higher-than-average price tag by including an excellent Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a superfast Gen 4.0 NVMe SSD so you've got a wealth of power at your fingertips. The bottleneck, therefore, becomes the GPU, given the laptop's native 2,560 x 1,600 resolution 16:10 display.
So, while we were sent the RTX 4070 variant for review, you may want to consider the RTX 4080 model for a power boost. The 17-inch display unfortunately lacks any kind of HDR support which is a real shame. The IPS LED screen is bright enough at 500 nits, but looks a little washed out, especially when factoring in that some of its competitors are utilizing mini-LED and even OLED .
Fortunately, with its 240Hz refresh rate, it's fast enough for you not to necessarily mind all that much. Speaking of that refresh rate, though, you won't necessarily be able to hit frame rates that can fully take advanta.
