MSI Katana GF66 11UE-628AU 15.6in 144Hz i5-11400H RTX3060 16G 512G Gaming Laptop

It is incredibly powerful and high quality for a laptop for such a price tag.However, such a low price comes with a catch – the laptop's display, while capable of streaming HDR video, is not very practical for many things (video editing, photo editing, gaming, general viewing pleasure), even if it has a crisp 1920x1080 resolution and 144 Hz refresh rate.First of all, it is quite dim (peak brightness of around 267 nits), which means it is not very ideal for streaming HDR video.Second of all, it displays *way less* than sRGB, which further diminishes the quality of the display and renders it impractical for the things I mentioned above. Check photo attachments for more information (CIE XY, CIE U'V' graphs - RGB lines for the monitor's measured gamut vs dashed lines ... MoreIt is incredibly powerful and high quality for a laptop for such a price tag.However, such a low price comes with a catch – the laptop's display, while capable of streaming HDR video, is not very practical for many things (video editing, photo editing, gaming, general viewing pleasure), even if it has a crisp 1920x1080 resolution and 144 Hz refresh rate.First of all, it is quite dim (peak brightness of around 267 nits), which means it is not very ideal for streaming HDR video.Second of all, it displays *way less* than sRGB, which further diminishes the quality of the display and renders it impractical for the things I mentioned above. Check photo attachments for more information (CIE XY, CIE U'V' graphs - RGB lines for the monitor's measured gamut vs dashed lines for the original sRGB gamut (sRGB IEC61966-2.1).Disregarding the display quality, it would otherwise be a perfect budget laptop fit for virtually any demanding task.

By far the best laptop I have ever owned

I have owned this laptop for a year and I absolutely love it. However, I cannot recommend it to people due to its various issues. First off, the laptop + charger + accessories weigh at over 10 pounds and it is very straining to carry this if you frequently travel. Additionally, you cannot run this unplugged. If you are gaming, watching YouTube and doing coursework at the same time, it needs to be plugged in or else it'll die within an hour. I couldn't bring this to my college because it's heavy and dies too quickly. Lastly, when you're running games, it gets extremely hot. The fans are equipped to deal with the heating issue but it is very concerning how hot it gets. You can feel the heat coming off of the keyboard, so it's important to be in a cool room. It cannot ... MoreI have owned this laptop for a year and I absolutely love it. However, I cannot recommend it to people due to its various issues. First off, the laptop + charger + accessories weigh at over 10 pounds and it is very straining to carry this if you frequently travel. Additionally, you cannot run this unplugged. If you are gaming, watching YouTube and doing coursework at the same time, it needs to be plugged in or else it'll die within an hour. I couldn't bring this to my college because it's heavy and dies too quickly. Lastly, when you're running games, it gets extremely hot. The fans are equipped to deal with the heating issue but it is very concerning how hot it gets. You can feel the heat coming off of the keyboard, so it's important to be in a cool room. It cannot run Windows 11 because when I game, the frame rate drops massively even when I adjusted the settings. Aside from these issues, it runs smoothly, gets my work done and I will keep using it eventually until it dies.

Gaming on a budget? Look no further

So I have left putting a review on for about a month to make sure I knew if I liked this product or not, and I have to say, this is certainly one of the nicest budgeting gaming laptops out there.While you may not get your metallic case or a standalone tower, you still get the benefits of this while in a smaller package. Starting with some positives about this product, it has the capability to run most modern-day games at 60fps or more on ultra settings, the only exception I have had so far is Cyberpunk 2077, which has many frame drops, however I don't think the laptop is to blame for most of this. The build is fairly good for what you pay for in a laptop, especially with the specs inside. The screen is nice and bright, and multi-monitor setups are workable with ... MoreSo I have left putting a review on for about a month to make sure I knew if I liked this product or not, and I have to say, this is certainly one of the nicest budgeting gaming laptops out there.While you may not get your metallic case or a standalone tower, you still get the benefits of this while in a smaller package. Starting with some positives about this product, it has the capability to run most modern-day games at 60fps or more on ultra settings, the only exception I have had so far is Cyberpunk 2077, which has many frame drops, however I don't think the laptop is to blame for most of this. The build is fairly good for what you pay for in a laptop, especially with the specs inside. The screen is nice and bright, and multi-monitor setups are workable with this laptop while not compromising on your frames or overall gaming experience. the sound from the laptop speakers may not be much, but the inner nahimic program helps out when using headphones, and is even useful when doing music production out of the laptop.Some cons is that the center of this laptop can get very hot when you are playing some more intensive games, I have played Cyberpunk, Sea of Thieves and Black Ops 4 on this, and the heat is certainly an uncomfortable thing when using any keys other than on the left or right of the laptop. The plastic on the laptop is a little strange as it stains easily, even when touching it with just-cleaned hands, much like a phone screen almost.

Good budget gaming laptop

I bought this to be able to play games from my steam catalogue again. Was delivered very fast as usual with very.Out of the box this is a fast laptop, but why I had 10+ copies of office but no uk version, considering the model number states this is the uk laptop is beyond me and took two hours to uninstall them all. MSI software is locked on the taskbar but has no real purpose so removed that too. Their reputation for bloatware is earned here. Once set up however, Nvidia suggests ultra on all games except total war warhammer 3 which is good going. I even got a free copy of cod modern warfare 2 ready for release day.The keyboard lighting is nice and the layout is good and it types well. Plenty of USB ports for external drives and a USB dongle. HDMI works nicely ... MoreI bought this to be able to play games from my steam catalogue again. Was delivered very fast as usual with very.Out of the box this is a fast laptop, but why I had 10+ copies of office but no uk version, considering the model number states this is the uk laptop is beyond me and took two hours to uninstall them all. MSI software is locked on the taskbar but has no real purpose so removed that too. Their reputation for bloatware is earned here. Once set up however, Nvidia suggests ultra on all games except total war warhammer 3 which is good going. I even got a free copy of cod modern warfare 2 ready for release day.The keyboard lighting is nice and the layout is good and it types well. Plenty of USB ports for external drives and a USB dongle. HDMI works nicely so I can have games up on the TV with no hassle. RJ45 port allows wired internet if you prefer that. The screen looks good and performs nicely at 144fps but colours cannot compete with the TV when gaming. Sound is good as laptops go but again, the TV easily betters it in games or videos.Despite the annoyance with so much unnecessary software pre-installed, now I’ve removed all of that, this is a fast and powerful laptop that serves its purpose well. Using it on a laptop table for browsing and so on, and connected to the TV for gaming and I’m very happy with it.

Great value for money

I have had this laptop for several months now so can give a well versed review.For the price (I got it on special offer for <£1K). Are there better gaming laptops, yes, but for the price and including the 3070 graphics card I can't fault it. It plays all the T1 games in high quality very well (I play a lot of Cyberpunk) with ray tracing.It does get quite hot and the fans are noisy but what gaming laptop isn't?I have had no hardware or software issues since purchasing and have even updated to Windows 11 with no issues.It does have a free NVMe expansion slot that I have added an additional 1TB drive as the included 512GB soon fills up with a couple of top tier games. The process was quick and easy if you are used to open laptop cases (a few good you tube vids ... MoreI have had this laptop for several months now so can give a well versed review.For the price (I got it on special offer for <£1K). Are there better gaming laptops, yes, but for the price and including the 3070 graphics card I can't fault it. It plays all the T1 games in high quality very well (I play a lot of Cyberpunk) with ray tracing.It does get quite hot and the fans are noisy but what gaming laptop isn't?I have had no hardware or software issues since purchasing and have even updated to Windows 11 with no issues.It does have a free NVMe expansion slot that I have added an additional 1TB drive as the included 512GB soon fills up with a couple of top tier games. The process was quick and easy if you are used to open laptop cases (a few good you tube vids available for opening this model are out there).All in all I am very happy with this laptop and even have purchased a second one for my partner.

Kestutis's review of MSI Katana GF66 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core‚ i7

Pros: I like that the bottom is fully ventilated with 2 big fans which speed you can check on your pc and it keeps the gap from the bottom for hot air to filter, everything works in millisecond accuracy, no lag whatsoever. Also you can check all the pc current stats, health, for example if you play games which require high graphics, you need to check your CPU AND GPU temperature so that it doesn’t get too hot and damage your process. Windows 11 literally doe’s everything for you if you got some missing drives or something it will automatically download and install if you give permission of course. The money value is really good, since you will not find a laptop with 16gb rams 11gen i7 and 6gb graphics invidia with 1 year warranty for less then 1.3k and this 1 is way ... MorePros: I like that the bottom is fully ventilated with 2 big fans which speed you can check on your pc and it keeps the gap from the bottom for hot air to filter, everything works in millisecond accuracy, no lag whatsoever. Also you can check all the pc current stats, health, for example if you play games which require high graphics, you need to check your CPU AND GPU temperature so that it doesn’t get too hot and damage your process. Windows 11 literally doe’s everything for you if you got some missing drives or something it will automatically download and install if you give permission of course. The money value is really good, since you will not find a laptop with 16gb rams 11gen i7 and 6gb graphics invidia with 1 year warranty for less then 1.3k and this 1 is way below its current market value, so it’s really worth the money. I bought it straight away since it got back in stock. No hesitation no regrets just enjoymentCons: Playing games on battery and not plugged in is bad quality, but this is cammon problem for alsmost all laptops since you need a lot of electricity going in to keep that graphics good. Top of pc gets very hot if you keep playing for a while, if should be some ventilation or cooling from the top but I understand it’s difficult to design something like that in a laptop

MSI GF66 Katana 11UE-1000UK

I needed to replace my 9yr old i7 5th gen laptop which had served me well but now I am creating videos using Camtasia, it was beginning to creak under the strain!I thought it'd be best to buy a gaming PC to be able to cope with some gaming and content creation and this copes admirably well with this.The build quality is fine for what I need and the screen is good although it is mostly plugged into a big 1080p 60Mhz screen most of the time.Battery life was never a concern for be, but it ain't great but no surprise to me when packing this much power into a laptop. The MSI Centre app allows me to change the battery settings to eek a bit more time out of the battery and also to be able to use the battery better as it will be plugged in most of it's like and this ... MoreI needed to replace my 9yr old i7 5th gen laptop which had served me well but now I am creating videos using Camtasia, it was beginning to creak under the strain!I thought it'd be best to buy a gaming PC to be able to cope with some gaming and content creation and this copes admirably well with this.The build quality is fine for what I need and the screen is good although it is mostly plugged into a big 1080p 60Mhz screen most of the time.Battery life was never a concern for be, but it ain't great but no surprise to me when packing this much power into a laptop. The MSI Centre app allows me to change the battery settings to eek a bit more time out of the battery and also to be able to use the battery better as it will be plugged in most of it's like and this tends to kill laptop batteries! I will manually exercise the battery myself, anyway.MSI Centre can give you a number of settings to allow you to game (with a bit of overclocking), a balanced setting and a number of power saving modes. This will be useful to keep the fan noise down while in the office, as it can get a bit noticeable at times.When using the gaming mode with some overclocking, the fans can really crank up and get quite noisy. Again, I am not overly surprised but this isn't an issue if gaming alone, this wont affect anyone but me. I just turn up the headphones!The Scan delivery and service was as excellent as ever and I am very pleased with my laptop.

Weakest of the 3070 Video Cards

The RTX3070 Video Card in this laptop is 85W. I didn't do my research until after I purchased the laptop but I highly recommend anyone considering this purchase because you see an RTX3070, to look up "Video Card TGP ratings". There are Google articles and YouTube videos (definitely worth looking into for such a large purchase) which explain it in better detail but here goes my best: Video Cards have a TGP (Total Graphic Power) rating based on how much power they can draw to run their internal components and maximize performance. Typically, the more power the card is built to draw, the better the performance. There are many variations of the same video cards in terms of power draw, so the 3070 laptop video cards range from 85W (Watt) through 140W with built-in ... MoreThe RTX3070 Video Card in this laptop is 85W. I didn't do my research until after I purchased the laptop but I highly recommend anyone considering this purchase because you see an RTX3070, to look up "Video Card TGP ratings". There are Google articles and YouTube videos (definitely worth looking into for such a large purchase) which explain it in better detail but here goes my best: Video Cards have a TGP (Total Graphic Power) rating based on how much power they can draw to run their internal components and maximize performance. Typically, the more power the card is built to draw, the better the performance. There are many variations of the same video cards in terms of power draw, so the 3070 laptop video cards range from 85W (Watt) through 140W with built-in boosts. Meaning you can have an RTX3070 laptop card that is substantially better performing than another RTX3070 laptop video card. The 3070 video card in this build is 85W meaning it is in the lowest range and gets beat out by a few 3060 laptop video cards (with high TGP values) in terms of performance. Overal, it is still a decent laptop but you may be able to find an RTX3060 laptop with a 130W TGP value which will outperform this 3070 videocard for a cheaper price (assuming all the other specs such as processor & RAM, etc. are similar).

With additional memory this baby flies!

I needed a new laptop for software development. I wanted a decent processor, not necessarily the latest, a goodly amount of disk space, didn't necessarily needed a ton, but a lot of memory. This one had two of the three requirements, but I saw that you could max out the memory at 64GB! Before the upgrade my docker containers were very slow and in some cases wouldn't run. Afterwards, it was zippy. Supposedly the audio and video are supposed to be really good, but I really didn't care. As long as it worked. The keyboard is backlit, which is nice when my wife wants to go to bed but I'm still working. And the font on the keyboard is very interesting. Obviously, it has a gaming pedigree. It has all the normal ports of a modern laptop. Not sure about the battery life, ... MoreI needed a new laptop for software development. I wanted a decent processor, not necessarily the latest, a goodly amount of disk space, didn't necessarily needed a ton, but a lot of memory. This one had two of the three requirements, but I saw that you could max out the memory at 64GB! Before the upgrade my docker containers were very slow and in some cases wouldn't run. Afterwards, it was zippy. Supposedly the audio and video are supposed to be really good, but I really didn't care. As long as it worked. The keyboard is backlit, which is nice when my wife wants to go to bed but I'm still working. And the font on the keyboard is very interesting. Obviously, it has a gaming pedigree. It has all the normal ports of a modern laptop. Not sure about the battery life, because usually I'm plugged in. I'll let you know when I'm on a trip in the car or on the plane. It does seem a little warm, but since it's summer, the ambient temperature is kinda high to begin with. All in all, a great "developer" laptop at a great price point. Buy one if they come back in stock! As a side benefit it was fun to track the shipment as it crossed the US.

Worth it- $1000 for a great cpu/gpu combo

I got this laptop, an MSI Katana GF66 11UE, at $1000, and if it’s still that price when you’re reading this, I advise you to consider it. It’s in the higher midrange for gaming laptops, and I have been extremely pleased with it.I cannot stress how much you’re getting for one grand. It has a good midrange screen(144hz), a good gpu (an rtx 3060 mobile, which is good, but unfortunately the bottleneck of this system), an appropriate amount of ram(16gb), and a KILLER processor.-Processor-The i7 11800h processor is honestly very impressive. With 8 cores of good performance, it’s as good as you’re gonna get in a laptop without going for a step up processor like an i9.-Graphics Card-For me, the rtx 3060 in this model is plenty good. I don’t crave high fps or ... MoreI got this laptop, an MSI Katana GF66 11UE, at $1000, and if it’s still that price when you’re reading this, I advise you to consider it. It’s in the higher midrange for gaming laptops, and I have been extremely pleased with it.I cannot stress how much you’re getting for one grand. It has a good midrange screen(144hz), a good gpu (an rtx 3060 mobile, which is good, but unfortunately the bottleneck of this system), an appropriate amount of ram(16gb), and a KILLER processor.-Processor-The i7 11800h processor is honestly very impressive. With 8 cores of good performance, it’s as good as you’re gonna get in a laptop without going for a step up processor like an i9.-Graphics Card-For me, the rtx 3060 in this model is plenty good. I don’t crave high fps or flawless raytracing, but I can still run high for settings at high fps. I would definitely advise settling for this laptop with the 3060 over other laptops that have a 3050 or 3050 ti. The 3070 has an insane price hike, so I think the 3060 with 6gb of vram is the perfect middle ground.-Upgrade Potential-In terms of upgradeability, this version of the katana has two m.2 ssd slots, one of which is already occupied by the included 1tb ssd, and an empty 2.5 Sata slot. The ram is configured into two 8gb sticks, occupying the two slots on the laptop. You’d need to buy a whole 32gb kit to upgrade the ram.-I/O Ports and Battery-This laptop has an okay battery. It’s around 50 wh, and lasts for a decent amount. I would definitely recommend gaming while plugged in. The laptop comes with a 180 watt power supply/charger. For ports, it has a decent array. On the left side, there is the power port, a full size USB 3.2, and a full size USB 2. The right side has a LAN internet port, a full size HDMI (capable of 60hz 4k), a second full size USB 3.2, a USB-C 3.2, and a 3.5mm mic/speaker combo jack. In my opinion, that’s a pretty good array.-Cooling-Now for the biggest drawback for this laptop and gaming laptops in general… thermals and fan noise. This laptop cools fairly okay, and has a convenient key to turn the fans to max, but my goodness, it’s hard to hear this laptop’s (decent) dual speakers over the fan noise. If you’re playing with a headset, no prob. But if you’re trying to game during class, everybody is going to hear the mini tornado coming from the three fan exhausts.-Other Variants-I would recommend this version, at this price, of the MSI Katana GF66 over the many other GF66 variants. However, this laptop can come with four different graphics cards: an rtx 3050 (designated the 11uc), a 3050 ti (designated the 11ud), an rtx 3060 (this laptop, designated the 11ue) and rtx 3070 (designated the 11ug). For processors, you have the i5 11400h, which isn’t terrible, but your other option is the i7 11800h, which this version of the laptop has.Sorry if that’s a lot of information to unpack. I did a lot of research on this laptop and I’m just trying to help inform others. I would recommend watching reviews and game tests for this laptop on youtube if you want.The attached picture is right after windows finished setting up.