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Often, when I begin reviewing a new gaming laptop, I get lost in the experience. I’m a big gamer, and there have been many times when I’ve fired up one of these machines outside of work simply because I enjoy playing my favorite titles on them. My budget desktop can’t compare. I had that experience over the past few weeks while testing the MSI Raider 16 Max HX, one of the company’s latest flagship models.

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What makes this laptop particularly interesting is the meaningful hardware improvements. It still suffers from some of the same drawbacks common to its category, but the Raider 16 does a commendable job at minimizing those issues while providing the experience gamers expect.

Smarter design

To me, it seems like MSI has taken inspiration from recent design trends. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed manufacturers shifting toward slimmer gaming laptops. The stereotypical bulky design is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The Raider 16 measures 14.29 x 10.62 x 0.86 inches and weighs 5.73 pounds. For comparison, the older Raider GE68 HX measures 14.97 x 11.73 x 1.09 inches and weighs 6.06 pounds.

That said, it’s still a fairly large machine with a thick black frame. Traveling with it can be cumbersome, although I do appreciate the wide I/O coverage that its size enables. The large size appears to be due to the new cooling system MSI installed on the Raider 16.

I’ll dive deeper into the cooling system later, but first I want to highlight one of my favorite features: the Quick Access Panel. Located on the underside of the chassis is a small panel held in place by two small screws. Removing it gives users direct access to the SSD and memory slots. You’ll find the device’s preinstalled components there, along with additional upgrade slots.

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Installing an extra drive or memory stick is super easy. All you have to do is remove the small mounting screw, slide in the new components, and secure them in place. That’s it. The SSD that I installed was already formatted, so I was able to use the extra 4TB right from the get-go. For people who plan to upgrade their systems, this is an excellent quality-of-life feature, and something that I wish more laptops offered.

Vibrant visuals

Befitting a high-end gaming laptop, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX boasts a 16-inch, 2.5K Quad HD+ (2560×1600 pixels) OLED screen. It is stunning. Colors are vibrant, the panel shows off impressive detail, and, thanks to VESA DisplayHDR True Black 1000, contrast is deep. The display isn’t 4K resolution, which may disappoint some, but I don’t think that’s a big deal given its lightning-fast 240Hz refresh rate. In my opinion, a high refresh rate is more important than resolution, as it ensures in-game animations run smoothly. This is important in titles where having smooth gameplay is the difference between a win or a loss.

I had a great time playing Monster Hunter Wilds on this display. It made the game’s monsters look incredible.

In one instance, I fought this big, rocky monster, and the display showcased an impressive detail in its scales, wings, and talons. I could clearly make out the rough texture of the stones embedded in its skin, alongside the visible damage that appeared as the fight went on. My experience was further elevated by the powerful speakers. Audio sounds thick and weighty. I could hear the guttural strain behind a creature’s roar, adding an extra layer of immersion.

In addition to gaming, the display is well-suited to content creators working on visually demanding tasks, from graphic design to photo editing and video production.

Elite performance

The MSI Raider 16 Max HX is powered by top-tier hardware. My review unit came equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. Below, you’ll find a benchmark comparison table showing how the MSI Raider 16 Max HX stacks up against other high-end laptops.

As you can see, the results are sky-high, outperforming other high-end machines like the Alienware 16 Area-51 and the Lenovo Legion 9i. In everyday use, it is incredibly fast, easily handling resource-hungry games without stuttering while also simultaneously pushing frame rates into the triple digits. Outside of gaming, the Raider 16 has more than enough horsepower for high-resolution video projects. I edited some old drone footage to see how it handled a creative workload in real time. Scrubbing through the timeline felt responsive, video playback was smooth, and exporting the finished file took almost no time.

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One of the laptop’s biggest strengths is its ability to maintain a stable performance over long sessions without major throttling. MSI’s Raider can double as a workstation, even if it isn’t as sleek as one.

To ensure the Raider 16 runs well, MSI redesigned several internal components. The company told me that it made the motherboard more compact, which allowed for larger fans. It has a “vacuum optimized heat pipe” that moves heat toward the cooling fins, as well as a series of fans that draw in cool air and push warm air out through the five vents. I must say, it’s all quite effective. No matter how hard I pushed the laptop, it stayed perfectly cool to the touch.

Another benefit is reduced fan noise. MSI claims the fans produce less than 50 decibels of noise under load. To test this claim, I used multiple decibel meter apps downloaded from the Google Play Store. Fan noise hovered around 50 decibels, according to these apps. One had it higher, one had it lower, and one had it around 50 decibels, so the claim seems to hold up. To give you a better idea, 50 decibels is equivalent to the hum of a refrigerator.

ZDNET’s buying advice

If you’re interested in picking up my review configuration of the MSI Raider 16 Max HX, it’s currently available at Micro Center for $3,500. Micro Center also offers a more affordable Raider 16 priced at around $2,500. That version retains the same Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and 32GB of RAM, but swaps the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 for an RTX 5070 Ti GPU.

Regardless of which configuration you choose, expect exceptional performance. I highly recommend MSI’s Raider 16 for its consistently strong performance, excellent cooling system, and OLED display. It is the best option currently available for people who want a machine for high-end gaming and demanding workstation tasks.