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:
Drives:
- Ryzen 7 3750H Processor 2.3GHz
- 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
Operating System:
- 512GB NVMe Solid State Drive
- No Optical Drive
Communications:
- Microsoft® Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Graphics & Video:
- 802.11 Wireless-AC 2x2 WLAN + Bluetooth® 5.0
- Integrated 720P HD Webcam
- Killer Gaming Network E2600 (10/100/1000) Ethernet LAN
Audio:
- 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz 3ms Display
- 4GB AMD Radeon™ RX5500M Graphics
Keyboard:
- 2x 2W Giant Speakers
- Nahimic 3
Ports & Slots:
- Steel Series Per-key RGB with Anti-Ghosting Key+ Silver Lining
Power Supply:
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C
- 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1
- 1x HDMI
- 1x Media Card Reader
- 1x Audio Port
Additional Information:
- 6-Cell 51Wh Li-Ion Battery
Price: $949.99
- Dimensions: 14.08" x 9.76" x 1.08"
- Approximate Weight: 5.07lbs
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saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate
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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.Last edited: Apr 8, 2020Kevin@GenTechPC, saturnotaku and tiliarou like this. -
The next replacement is Bravo series... but too bad, the GPU is not AMD blood family. -
saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate
Mr. Fox likes this. -
saturnotaku likes this.
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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.
railan likes this. -
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win32asmguy Moderator Moderator
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? -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
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saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate
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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. -
win32asmguy Moderator Moderator
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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. -
win32asmguy Moderator Moderator
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. -
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. -
win32asmguy Moderator Moderator
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. -
win32asmguy Moderator Moderator
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.
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Discussion in 'MSI Reviews & Owners' Lounges' started by saturnotaku, Apr 8, 2020.