MSI’s Alpha 15 caused a stir when it debuted a year ago, as it was the only gaming notebook to use AMD hardware exclusively. Other manufacturers have since followed suit, but MSI has prepared well and refreshed the Alpha 15 in late 2020 with a more powerful “Renoir” Ryzen 7 processor and a stronger 6GB Radeon RX 5600M graphics card. The new notebook delivered great 1080p gaming performance in our test while retaining the high-end features of the original, such as the backlit per-key RGB keyboard.
Our favorites among the high-end entry-level gaming rigs are still the HP Omen 15 and the Acer Predator Helios 300, but the Alpha 15 is a good alternative, especially if you can find it on sale. The back of the lid is the only metal on this laptop. Considering that the Alpha 15 is now $100 or $200 more expensive than last year’s model, you could use more of it to feel as durable as Acer and HP notebooks. Nevertheless, all surfaces are well protected against twisting.
The system is a bit too big and heavy for a 15.6-inch gamer. At 1.1 inches, it’s 0.2 inches thicker than the Omen 15, and at 5.3 pounds, it’s heavier than 4.6 pounds. The narrow bezels on the side result in a reasonable width of 14.1 inches, although the thick bottom bezel increases the depth to 9.8 inches, 0.4 inches more than the HP.
Design
We like the MSI Alpha 15’s sleek matte black chassis because it doesn’t show off flashy reds or blues like most gaming laptops. Instead, it has curves on the hood that resemble a race car, with a green thunderbird in between which would be cool if it didn’t come off like a sticker once we got the laptop. The hinge of the MSI Alpha 15 shows a hint of MSI red, with glossy red lines forming a broad line in the middle.
The interior contrasts with the exterior by having the deck in dark gray, which looks good in combination with the RGB backlit keyboard. While individual key lighting is a rarity on a gaming laptop under $1,000, the lighting could be brighter. Above the keyboard are dedicated buttons for on/off, keyboard backlight and fans.
Keyboard and touchpad
In the 10fastfingers.com typing test, we got 79 words per minute, well above my usual average of 70 words per minute. The keys offered good resistance and were relatively smooth for an entry-level gaming notebook. we were also happy to see that the keyboard has per-key RGB lighting. You can adjust the keyboard backlight through the SteelSeries Engine 3 app.
You can easily change the lighting via the button on the keyboard or manually via the app per key. There are also presets you can edit, such as Rainbow Split, Freeway, and the Aqua. The 4.3 x 2.4-inch touchpad was relatively smooth, but discrete keys were a little slow. But Windows 10 gestures, such as three-finger tap and two-finger scroll, were smooth and responsive thanks to the Windows Precision drivers.
Display
For a gaming notebook that costs just under $1,000, the MSI Alpha’s 15.6-inch 1080p display is great, as it’s relatively colorful and bright. It also offers a 144Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync, a neat technology that should prevent in-game tearing by synchronizing the refresh rate between the display and the GPU.
In the Mulan trailer, the protagonist’s metal armor was held together by woven crimson fabric that screamed bloody murder on the Alpha 15 screen. As Mulan and her father talked in their dimly lit house, the red and blue objects in the background were visible, albeit in unclear focus. In the same scene, Tzi Ma’s wrinkles and pores were very detailed.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we immediately noticed the contrast between Lara Croft’s rich green and blue shirt. Though they were in the shade, the leaves growing over the mountain range were clearly visible. Lara’s silky brown hair was incredibly vibrant, as we could see every strand of hair sticking out of her head.
audio
The sound from the Alpha 15’s speakers sounded like someone had put the cheapest Bluetooth speaker they bought on Amazon into a can. The opening guitar riff of Sum 41’s “The Hell Song” was flat and soft, while the power chords just sounded static. The cymbals were suitably sharp in the background, but overall lacked power. The vocals were extremely bland and could have been a lot clearer.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara’s footsteps on the stone steps of the tomb we were exploring sounded crisp and hollow instead of thick and solid. Even when we shot an arrow at the wall, the resulting crackle was faint and didn’t offer enough bass to give it any emphasis. The drums playing in the background of this particular puzzle moment also suffered from the lack of good bass.
Software
MSI’s Dragon Center is one of the best gaming software out there. The latest version of the app allows you to adjust the power level and fan speed of your laptop to enjoy maximum performance from your device. You can also monitor CPU, memory, RAM, fans and even Wi-Fi usage. There is a Game Mode and a Creator Mode that allow you to prioritize the performance of specific applications, including games or creative applications such as Photoshop.
Graphics and gaming
Our first two benchmarks in this section measure a PC’s performance potential for gaming. In UL 3DMark, we run the Sky Diver and Fire Strike subtests (more demanding, for high-end gaming PCs), both based on DirectX 11. Our other game simulation, Superposition from Unigine Corp, uses a different rendering engine to render a complex 3D scene.
The Alpha 15 and the Omen 15 had an exciting duel, with the Alpha coming out on top in 3DMark Fire Strike. However, the Superposition 1080p benchmark shows that the two GPUs are neck and neck. Both were way ahead of the Bravo 15. Next, we’ll try some real-world games. We use the integrated 1080p benchmarks from Far Cry 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Far Cry 5 uses DirectX 11, while we switch Rise of the Tomb Raider to DirectX 12.
Performance
Beneath the decks of the MSI Alpha 15 is an AMD Ryzen 7-3750H processor with 16GB of RAM that can handle 40 Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos, while the Shadow of Tomb Raider ran in the background. But despite its real-world performance, the Alpha 15 didn’t do very well in the synthetic benchmarks. In the Geekbench 4.3 overall performance test, the Alpha 15 scored 13,980 points, which was below the 15,302 point average for entry-level gaming laptops.
The Alpha 15 came close to Zephyrus G, which has the same CPU. However, both laptops were beaten by Intel’s alternative: the Core i7-9750H CPU in the Legion Y545 (23,868) and the Pavilion 15 (21,326). The Alpha 15 took 14 minutes and 51 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p in our HandBrake benchmark, which left it behind the category average (14:32) and the Zephyrus G. It didn’t even come close. of the Legion Y545 (8:51) or the Pavilion 15 (10:42).
Battery life
While gaming laptops have a reputation for having poor battery life, that’s simply no longer the case. High-powered RTX devices like the Razer Blade 15 (2019) and Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR achieved over 5 hours of battery life, so there’s no excuse for less demanding laptops like the MSI Alpha 15.
When the Alpha 15 surfed the web continuously via WLAN at a brightness of 150 cd/m², the battery was empty after 3 hours and 55 minutes, which is more than an hour below the 5:15 hour average for entry-level gaming laptops. . The Legion Y545 (3:38) was worse, but the Zephyrus G (4:48) and Pavilion 15 (5:26) lasted longer.
Heat
The MSI Alpha 15 remains relatively cool. After playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider for 15 minutes, the bottom of the case reached its hottest point of 117 degrees Fahrenheit, which is above our comfort limit of 95 degrees. But thanks to the plastic, the underside just felt warm. The center of the keyboard and touchpad was 103 and 85 degrees, respectively. In our base heat test, streaming a 15-inch 1080p video, the bottom reached 86 degrees, the keyboard 85 degrees and the touchpad 76 degrees.
Last words
We hope you enjoy this article about MSI Alpha 15 review. The MSI Alpha 15 does everything right for a $999 gaming notebook. It has a solid graphics card, a colorful 144Hz display that outshines the competition, and a comfortable keyboard with rare key lighting. However, the AMD CPU is not as powerful as its Intel rivals. In addition, the battery life is somewhat short and the speakers are weak.
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