***The Official MSI ALPHA 15 AMD Ryzen/Radeon Owners & Discussions Lounge***

Spotted this laptop on Costco.com and figured it might be worth starting a discussion topic. Nice to see another all-AMD gaming laptop. Too bad it's not using Ryzen 4000, but it doesn't seem like a bad deal otherwise. Link with pictures.

Product Details

Processor & Memory:

• Ryzen 7 3750H Processor 2.3GHz
• 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM

Drives:

• 512GB NVMe Solid State Drive
• No Optical Drive

Operating System:

• Microsoft® Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

Communications:

• 802.11 Wireless-AC 2x2 WLAN + Bluetooth® 5.0
• Integrated 720P HD Webcam
• Killer Gaming Network E2600 (10/100/1000) Ethernet LAN

Graphics & Video:

• 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz 3ms Display
• 4GB AMD Radeon™ RX5500M Graphics

Audio:

• 2x 2W Giant Speakers
• Nahimic 3

Keyboard:

• Steel Series Per-key RGB with Anti-Ghosting Key+ Silver Lining

Ports & Slots:

• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C
• 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1
• 1x HDMI
• 1x Media Card Reader
• 1x Audio Port

Power Supply:

• 6-Cell 51Wh Li-Ion Battery

Additional Information:

• Dimensions: 14.08" x 9.76" x 1.08"
• Approximate Weight: 5.07lbs

Price: $949.99

 

It is fairly inexpensive and seems like a pretty decent budget option. Should have the respectable MSI build quality and cooling, too.

I know the idea of jumping to Team Red is getting to be fairly popular with some folks, but the performance with 3750H and RX 5500M is going to be rather low compared to the equivalent typical ho-hum belly-button gamer turdbook with 9750H and low-mid range NVIDIA graphics. The battery seems like it is not very big. I wonder what kind of run time can be expected?

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+7+3750H&id=3441

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/...vs-GeForce-RTX-2060-(Mobile)/4193vs4091vs4085

It's really too bad you cannot buy laptops equipped with a good quality webcam at any price point. That needs to change. There's no excuse for all laptops to have webcams less capable than some of the crummiest cell phones available. Maybe people being ordered to work from home and use teleconferencing more frequently will create some pressure for all of them to try harder.

 

The Alpha was an entry into Ryzen world by MSI.
The next replacement is Bravo series... but too bad, the GPU is not AMD blood family.

 

I posted the Costco version because it seems to have the best combination of specs for the price. There's a cheaper version of the same laptop from Newegg, XoticPC, and HIDevolution but it has a smaller SSD and only 8 GB of RAM. It might be worth waiting to see if Costco puts it on sale even an extra $50 off would make it that much more appealing. That being said, while the RAM looks easy enough to upgrade, the SSD requires you to disassemble the cooling setup because the M.2 retention screw is located under the heatpipes. Pretty boneheaded move there, MSI.

 

Oh man, yeah... that was really dumb. There are probably a lot of people venturous enough to upgrade storage that will be terrified over the idea of removing the heat sink and having to replace the stock TIM with something better. Plus, that is just extremely inconvenient.

 

I know the topic is old, but are there some owners to share the experience using this laptop? Because I thinking of buying one. I am not a heavy gamer, because I player usually in the PS4, but a good display and good performance in daily tasks are important for me.

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

 

Alpha is old by now. In addition, the 4000series CPU in Bravo is more efficient. Newer battery, compared to old ones that's should be degrading on holding charges... Worthy? Unless compare to new one u gets >$500 savings, then that's considerable.

 

Yes, I know, it's because my budget.

 

Apparently there is a new Alpha 15 in the pipeline with 4800H + 5600M. Luckily no mention of SmartShift anywhere.

https://us.msi.com/Laptop/Alpha-15-A4DX

@Spartan@HIDevolution any idea if HIDEvolution will carry this one once it is available?

 

We don't have plans to carry that model at the time being.

 

Not a fan of the USB port positioning on the right side. If you have a wired mouse, the cord is going to get in the way.

 

In Singapore, we see the launch of Legion 5 with 1660ti/rtx 2060 options today.
https://www.lenovo.com/sg/en/laptop...Legion-5-15ARH05/p/82B1CTO1WWENSG0/customize?

After these periods of reviews on the Dell G5SE, the 5600m is regarded to hv performance between 1660ti and 2060. So... If MSI could place this Bravo refresh in a price range between USD$1200 to $1400, they may gain some interest.

 

Seems like there is a decent amount of interest for a 4800H + 5600M solution, but no manufacturer wants to build a design that would do it justice. Hopefully the cooling is comparable to the GE65, and better than the Bravo 15.

 

If it runs hot in the previous 4800H+5500m configuration, I don't think it's going to be cooler in the new refresh.
The only way to cool the system down, is either MSI do a heat management redesign, or at the user's end, go for the regedit method to disable the turbo boost of the CPUs that contributes to the heat that's already generated by the Radeon GPU.

 

Oh, $1299, apparently.

https://www.excaliberpc.com/Products/Product.aspx?id=739446
https://xoticpc.com/products/msi-alpha-15-a4dek-004

Maybe it was redesigned. The Alpha chassis looks like a GL/GE65 while the Bravo chassis looked like a GF65. Maybe the former has a beefier cooling system.

MSI did take a lot of flak about that model from the YouTube reviewer, so maybe they did something about it.

Too bad they did not make an Alpha 17 with 4800H + 5700M. That would be something to talk about, even if it were $1500.

 

Bravo u mean... with 4#00H, Charlie with 5#00H, Delta with 6#00H and so on...
Alpha was a "test water(test out on market response)" product.
Bravo is a confidence building product.
Should Ryzen continues to go well... Charlie will likely to emerge as a first pillar of MSI/AMD foundation.

Graphics wise...
Although i may not understand MSI's intention in pushing 5500m which was used in Alpha, but if such 5600m refresh is going to be used all the way into "Charlie" before somewhere in the middle of next year "Charlie" gets a refresh into 5700m... i see something like a ZigZag pattern of release.
So, in coming CES2021, we may get a preview of "Charlie" with Ryzen 5#00H with 5600m. Then somewhere in the middle of the year, the refresh.

 

I would prefer Alpha 17 - if that means the chassis would be similar to the Intel-based GE75. It would be thicker, better hinge, better display, better keyboard, although cost would probably be higher than the cheaper Bravo series. These machines must have top notch cooling if they are going to survive. The small die 7nm 4800H and 5600M have zero margin for error.

Also, I think the original Alpha 15 may have had a MUX - so this may be one of the few AMD models that optionally would let you drive the laptop panel from the 5600M, which could improve performance and reduce temperatures by allowing the Vega IGP to shut off. $1299 price is not too bad. Higher than the Omen 15 w/ 4800H + 1660Ti, but worth it if the cooling is as good.

 

Ended up picking up one of these Alpha 17 to complement my desktop. Sadly there is no mux switch as I had previously assumed. The built in display is always connect to the Vega IGP and the HDMI/mDP are always connected to 5600m.

The cooling is really good - far better than the Dell G5 SE. I attached a photo of it.

Idle power consumption is pretty good. Easily under 10W/h, and the battery is 68Wh so getting 6+ hours is possible.

I swapped the stock ram for 32GB Kingston HyperX DDR4-2666 CL15 (dual rank Samsung B-die), then used the bios to override the memory speed to DDR4-3200 CL18 which is working great. I also swapped the stock ssd (a pretty slow Kingston OEM NVMe drive) with a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo.

Sadly the screen only covers 60% sRGB (AUO978F, B173HAN04.9), but contrast is good and it is an 8-bit panel.

It has a MSRP of $1349 but ExcaliburPC has a $200 off deal right now. I guess with the recent announcements of RTX 3060 it cannot compete price/performance wise, but if you use Linux having open source graphics drivers for the dedicated GPU is probably worth the performance delta.