The MSI Sword 15 is a powerful gaming laptop that is designed to provide an immersive gaming experience. It features a sleek and slim design, making it easy to carry around and take with you on the go. With its high-performance hardware and cutting-edge features, the Sword 15 is sure to impress even the most hardcore gamers. In this review, we will take a closer look at the features and performance of the Sword 15 to see if it lives up to its reputation as one of the best gaming laptops on the market.
Content:
- Specifications
- Pros and Cons
- Review
- Display
- Design & Built
- Keyboard & Touchpad
- Performance
- Gaming Performance
- Audio
- Connectivity
- Battery
- Conclusion
MSI Sword 15 – Gaming Laptop
Technical Specifications
| Processor: | Intel Core i7-12650H |
| GPU: | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060re GPU (DDR6 6GB) |
| OS: | Windows 11 |
| Display: | 15.6-inch, 1920×1080, 144 Hz, 16:9 |
| RAM: | 16GB DDR4-3200 |
| Hard Drive: | 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Speakers: | Dual stereo speakers |
| Dimensions: | 14.13 x 10.20 x 0.98 inches 358.9 x 258 x 24.89 mm |
| Weight: | 4.96 lbs |
| Colors: | White |
| Camera | 720p webcam |
| Battery | 53 Whr |
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Sleek design
- Powerful performance
- Good value for money
Cons
- Poor battery life
- Limited upgradability
- Poor sound quality
- Plenty of Cooling fans Noise
MSI Sword 15 Review
The MSI Sword 15 is a powerful gaming laptop that is designed for gamers who demand the best performance and features. It features a 15.6 inch Full HD display with a 144Hz refresh rate, making it perfect for fast-paced games. The laptop is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, ensuring smooth and efficient performance.
Display
The MSI Sword 15 is a powerful gaming laptop that boasts a 15.6-inch display with a 144Hz refresh rate. This high refresh rate makes for smooth, lag-free gameplay and provides an immersive experience.
The display itself is sharp and vibrant, with excellent color accuracy and good viewing angles. The 1080p resolution may not be as high as some other laptops, but it is more than sufficient for most games and media.
One of the standout features of the MSI Sword 15 is its slim bezels, which allow for a more compact design and a larger screen-to-body ratio. This makes the laptop feel more modern and gives you more screen real estate to work with.
Overall, the MSI Sword 15 is a solid choice for those looking for a high-performance gaming laptop with a great display. Its slim design, high refresh rate, and strong performance make it a great value for its price point.
Design & Built
The MSI Sword 15 is a durable laptop with a stylish appearance. The keyboard deck and lid are composed of pearlescent-shimmering white plastic. The Sword 15 blends in because it lacks color, and even the MSI logo that is stamped on the lid does not draw attention to itself. Additionally, there is an amazing variety of finishes. The sides of the lid have a brushed surface, but the top and keyboard deck are smooth. The keyboard, which has white keycaps lighted by blue LEDs, is accessible by flipping up the lid.
The chassis’s bottom half is made of black plastic, as is the trim around the display. Above the 15.6-inch (16:9) 144 Hz IPS display is a 720p webcam. The bezels on the right and left are thin, and the display has a matte surface. The bottom bezel, which contains the MSI logo, is likewise a touch bulky, while the top bezel is a little on the thicker side.
The weight of the Sword 15 is 4.96 pounds, which is acceptable for a 15-inch gaming laptop and more than 0.5 lbs lighter than the Acer Nitro 5. But it weighs a little more than a pound more than the Asus TUF Gaming F15. Again, the MSI’s 0.98-inch thickness places it between the Nitro 5’s (1.06-inch) and the TUF Gaming F15’s (1.18-inch) thicknesses (0.78 inches). Furthermore, MSI provides excellent cooling for the Sword 15 with a thin strip of vents on the left side between the power and USB ports and two exhaust vents on the back of the chassis. When you flip the laptop over, you’ll notice several honeycomb-patterned vents (which also allow you to peek at the maze of copper heat pipes).
Multiple ports are available for connectivity like:
- 1x Type-C USB3.2 Gen1
- 2x Type-A USB3.2 Gen1
- 1x Type-A USB2.0
- 1x (4K @ 60Hz) HDMI™
- 1x RJ45
Keyboard & Touchpad
The MSI Sword 15 has a complete keyboard with a number pad, just like its direct rivals. There are no separate keys for frequently used operations like volume control or screen brightness; instead, the Fn key can be used to access them. For instance, you may cycle between the various brightness settings for the illuminated keyboard by pressing Fn + F8 simultaneously. I didn’t like how crowded the keyboard felt, particularly around the number pad.
On the keyboard deck, the touchpad is skewed to the left of the center and is 2.5 x 4.12 inches. The touchpad might have been made bigger and higher by MSI, but they decided against it.
The touchpad’s extreme left offset makes it difficult for the left wrist to have enough room to type. When using the WASD keys for gaming, this proved to be unpleasant. In contrast, the right wrist had a real ocean of room while typing and playing games. Thankfully, hitting Fn+F4 will disable the touchpad. Naturally, the majority of gamers will utilize a mouse.
Performance
We all love playing games on our laptops all the time, but laptops should also be able to serve as work computers. In that scenario, the Sword 15 in this configuration is equipped with a powerful Core i7-12650H (10 cores, 16 threads) processor, 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, and a huge 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD.
A synthetic benchmark with a focus on measuring CPU performance in Geekbench 5. The Sword 15 achieved a single-core score of 1,760, putting it close to the TUF Gaming F15 in terms of performance (1,781). The Core i7-12650H in the Sword 15 and the Core i7-12700H in the x14 R1 and TUF Gaming F15 just couldn’t compete in the multi-core benchmark (10,259). (12 cores, 20 threads).
The Sword 15 performed well in our file transfer test, copying the large size of data at 1,080.53 MBps, placing it third behind the Nitro 5 and x14 R1. While converting a 4K video clip to 1080p, the Sword 15 came in last with a time of 7:26, one of the most skewed outcomes we’ve seen so yet. The third-place Nitro 5 finished in 5:58, which was the second-fastest time, while the first-place is secured by Asus TUF Gaming F15 sailed to a 4:49 mark.
It’s important to note that the fans quickly turned up to an annoyingly high volume while playing Metro Exodus and other games. Instead of a low hum, this noise was shrill and could only be muffled by a set of noise-canceling earbuds.
Gaming Performance
A solid gaming laptop that could also produce excellent gaming performance is the MSI Sword 15. It can tackle demanding games with ease because of its 12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card. It also boasts a display with a high refresh rate and a quick SSD storage drive, all of which serve to enhance overall speed and shorten loading times. The MSI Sword 15 is capable of running the majority of games on high or ultra settings, depending on the particular needs of the game.
In terms of benchmarking in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Sword 15 finished just a few frames per second behind the Asus TUF Gaming F15 but was able to outperform the Acer Nitro 5 and the Alienware x14 R1 (Core i7-12700H, RTX 3060) with a score of 70 fps. The TUF Gaming F15 likewise contains an RTX 3060, however with a little more potent Core i7-12700H processor, as should be mentioned.
The performance cores of the CPU ran at an average speed of 2.51 GHz, while the efficiency cores ran at an average speed of 2.23 GHz. The CPU registered 68 Celsius. The RTX 3060 was measured at a temperature of 64 degrees Celsius and an average speed of 1,360 MHz.
Overall, it’s a solid and competent gaming laptop that can handle both casual and serious players.
Audio
The two 2-watt speakers for the MSI Sword 15 are situated just beneath the display at the top of the keyboard deck. Although the speakers sound well, It had a “muddy” experience overall. It sounded as though hands cupped over the ears while watching a movie.
It was disappointing to hear “Dreaming Tree,” the third studio album by Dave Matthews Band, on Before These Crowded Streets. When heard through excellent speakers or headphones, Stefan Lessard’s bass guitar is constantly evident throughout this track, but the Sword 15 barely picked it up.
The Nahimic and Realtek apps that are included allow you to change audio settings. So, you can adjust the sound quality and other aspects according to your taste.
Battery
Given the hardware stuffed inside, we don’t anticipate too many unplugged hours from a gaming laptop, and the Sword 15 is no exception. The Sword 15 lagged behind in this group of comparably equipped laptops, with a runtime of three hours and 55 minutes during our battery test (which includes video streaming, web browsing, and graphics work while connected via Wi-Fi).
The test is run with the display set at 150 nits. The TUF Gaming F15 excelled in this comparative group, nearly tripling the MSI’s runtime (7:35).
Also, check our article about the MSI Gaming GS63 Stealth Series.
Conclusion
After thorough testing and evaluation, it is clear that the MSI Sword 15 is a high-quality laptop that offers excellent performance and value for its price. The processor, graphics card, and storage options are all top-notch, and the overall build quality is impressive. The laptop is also lightweight and portable, making it a great choice for those who need to work on the go. There are also some downs of this laptop but the good things are more than the bad. Overall, the MSI Sword 15 is a great choice for gamers and professionals alike.
