MSI Katana GF66 First Impressions: A Solid Mid-Range Laptop

MSI’s new line-up of laptops is fairly attention-grabbing, in additional methods than one. The corporate has partnered with artists, and is utilizing the Golden Ratio as its primary design precept for its new vary of gaming machines. Plus, you get the identical mixture of excellent {hardware} and internals. The Katana GF66 (begins at Rs. 95,000), which is principally an improve to the GF Skinny sequence from final 12 months, is without doubt one of the few new laptops the corporate introduced, and it’s a mid-range gaming laptop computer that appears to be doing plenty of issues very effectively. I’ve been utilizing the MSI Katana GF66 as my daily-driver for a pair days, and listed here are my MSI Katana GF66 first impressions.

Design

Beginning off with the design, famend artist Tsuyoshi Nagano lent his concepts to the general design of this laptop computer, which he likens to that of a Katana. That appears to be a very good comparability as effectively, as a result of it is a pretty glossy gaming laptop computer; particularly when you take into account the {hardware} it’s packing beneath that significantly slim chassis (however extra on that later).

The Katana GF66 is available in each black and white shade choices. The one now we have is the black variant, with the great matte end on the lid, and the MSI emblem carved into it. Open it up and also you’re greeted with the narrow-bezel show, and the keyboard. Now the show right here is fairly good wanting, and the slim bezels make the expertise that significantly better. The keyboard is sweet as effectively, however so far as the design is worried, it is a stealthy, glossy, well-rounded laptop computer. I additionally respect MSI not placing any stickers on the palm-rest right here, though that could possibly be simply because that is an engineering pattern, and never a retail unit.

Anyway, I additionally seen that the hinge of this laptop computer is fairly strong. It’s easy, and appears very well-weighted, making it potential to open the laptop computer with only a single hand. There’s additionally loads of house between the hinge and the bottom of the laptop computer once you open it up, which ought to show useful for airflow throughout intense gaming periods.

Other than that, there’s not a lot to speak about right here. The MSI Katana GF66 has a pleasant, understated design, which isn’t any shock. In my thoughts, it’s just about MSI’s forte, to make gaming laptops that may double up for workplace, and the Katana GF66 isn’t any completely different.

Show

The Katana GF66 comes with a 15.6-inch IPS show. This can be a Full HD panel, however earlier than you go about frowning at it, it’s acquired a 144Hz refresh charge. The Full HD panel just isn’t actually an issue, however in the event you’re a pixel peeper, you’ll be capable to clearly discern the pixels on this display.

Anyway, the show itself is kind of good. It provides huge viewing angles, and pretty first rate shade replica. Plus, it has a matte end, so that you gained’t have any points with glare on the display. I respect that.

The excessive refresh charge is my most beloved function of this display. It simply feels a lot nicer to play video games on this show, and the whole lot else feels remarkably fluid as effectively. It’s nice, whether or not you’re taking part in video games, or just navigating by way of the assorted Home windows menus and screens.

Efficiency

Bear in mind once I mentioned it is a pretty glossy laptop computer, particularly contemplating the {hardware} it’s packing? That is the place we discuss that {hardware}. So the MSI Katana GF66 variant now we have comes with an 11^th-gen Intel Core i7 11800H processor. It’s an octa-core processor, with help for PCIe 4.0 and Turbo Enhance Max, permitting the processor to go as much as 4.6GHz. That’s paired with 16GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, and a 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSD. You additionally get the Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, so ray-tracing video games are not any biggie.

Now, in my use of this laptop computer thus far, which hasn’t been in depth by any means, the efficiency appears actually good. Whether or not it’s for gaming or basic on a regular basis work, the Katana GF66 appears to deal with the whole lot very well.

I examined Murderer’s Creed Valhalla on this laptop computer, and the sport runs very effectively on max graphics, which is nice. Simply to spherical issues out, I additionally performed different video games like Hitman 3, and a few eSports titles like CS:GO, and clearly, these work very well too.

As for media creation, I haven’t actually examined video enhancing on this laptop computer however I’m pretty sure the GF66 can simply deal with Premiere Professional exports. Photoshop, then again, is one thing I did use, and it really works flawlessly too.

So yeah, the efficiency right here is fairly good in my testing thus far. Clearly, I’ll be utilizing this laptop computer extra within the coming days, so if something adjustments I’ll allow you to guys know. However in my use thus far, the MSI Katana GF66 has been a top-notch performer.

Audio system

The MSI Katana GF66 comes with stereo audio system, and effectively, they’re nothing to write down dwelling about. They get decently loud, but it surely’s not sufficient for watching films. For video games you’ll in all probability use headphones anyway, however in the event you like taking part in video games with out headphones, these audio system may pose an issue. There’s additionally little to no bass right here, which is just about the case for each mid-range gaming laptop computer on the market, but it surely’s nonetheless annoying to observe music movies like this.

General, I’d advocate you get a pair of headphones, and possibly a Bluetooth speaker to go together with the laptop computer.

Keyboard and Trackpad

Shifting on, let’s check out the keyboard and the trackpad right here. The MSI Katana GF66 comes with a full-size keyboard, which is nice for anybody who wants the numpad on their laptops. The keyboard has a mechanical really feel to it, and the important thing journey appears first rate as effectively. It’s a good keyboard to sort on, and has a springy really feel to it that makes it really feel extra tactile than it in all probability is, however that’s good.

There’s a single coloured backlight — purple, and you’ll regulate the brightness of the backlight as effectively.

The touchpad here’s a Home windows Precision touchpad, which implies you get entry to all of the Home windows gestures it’s your decision. Pinch-to-zoom, two finger gestures, three-finger gestures, you identify it, it’s acquired it. It’s barely smaller in dimension for my desire, and it does really feel prefer it has a tad an excessive amount of friction to it, which will be annoying some occasions. That mentioned, it’s a fairly first rate touchpad nonetheless, and because you’ll most probably use a mouse together with your gaming laptop computer, it in all probability gained’t maintain you again from having fun with the remainder of the expertise supplied by this machine.

Ports and Connectivity

The port choice on the MSI Katana GF66 is fairly effectively thought out too. You get two USB 3.2 Sort-A ports, one USB 2.0 Sort-A port (excellent to your mouse), an HDMI port, in addition to an RJ-45 ethernet port and a headphone/mic combo jack. There’s no Thunderbolt help right here, however you do get the subsequent neatest thing within the type of the USB 3.2 Sort-C port that can be utilized with all of your USB-C equipment.

By way of wi-fi connectivity, the MSI Katana GF66 comes with Bluetooth 5.2 in addition to WiFi 6.

Battery

The MSI Katana GF66 comes with a 53Whr battery, which isn’t the largest battery on a gaming laptop computer, and will certainly be pressured beneath the load this {hardware} is able to placing on it. I gained’t anticipate superb battery life from this machine, and I haven’t examined it as such both. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to wager on round 3-ish hours of battery life right here. You additionally get a 180W energy brick, which you’ll most probably wish to preserve linked in the event you’re gaming.

MSI Katana GF66: Is It Any Good?

So how is the MSI Katana GF66 as a gaming laptop computer? Is it well worth the beginning value of Rs. 95,000 in India? To be sincere, it’s early days, and I haven’t examined this laptop computer out totally sufficient to deem it worthy or unworthy. Nonetheless, within the couple of days that I’ve used this laptop computer, it has carried out fairly effectively, and it appears to be a strong gaming laptop computer. What with the 11^th-gen processors, RTX 3060 GPU, a chonky 2TB SSD, and extra.

To date, I like what I’ve seen on the MSI Katana GF66.