I Recommend This Windows Laptop To Creatives And Professionals - Even If It's Meant For Gamers

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• MSI's caller Raider 18 HX is retailing for $4,000.
• This is, without a doubt, nan astir powerful laptop I've tested successful 2025, owed to its Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and GeForce RTX 5080 GPU.
• As you tin imagine, it is rather costly and alternatively heavy.

At Amazon, nan MSI Raider 18 HX pinch nan GeForce RTX 5090 graphics paper is connected waste for $4,250, a $950 discount.

2025 has been a large twelvemonth for mega nerds for illustration maine pinch nan motorboat of Nvidia's RTX 50-series graphics cards. These cards person had a large effect connected gaming, and I've been dying to effort 1 out. Recently, I sewage that opportunity pinch MSI's caller Raider 18 HX AI, a gaming laptop that is simply a behemoth successful each sense. 

Also: This Dell laptop is my apical prime for some activity and recreation - and it's connected waste for $420 off

There are not capable words successful nan English connection to adequately picture nan Raider 18's awesome performance, but I'm going to effort my best. My reappraisal portion housed an Intel Core Ultra 9-285HX processor, 64GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 laptop graphics card. The result? Every crippled I tested ran phenomenally well. Let's return a person look. 

Unmatched power

I ran respective AAA games arsenic portion of testing and saw correct disconnected nan bat really good nan hardware supports these titles. When everything runs this effortlessly, you're instantly pulled into nan halfway of nan action.

"Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth" spoiled maine pinch high-impact fights successful ultra-detailed locales pinch magic effects flying everywhere. "Monster Hunter Wilds" ran mostly great. It's still a small unoptimized, but retired of those fewer problematic moments, it delivered immersive battles pinch elephantine beasts. And "Marvel Rivals" looked for illustration thing consecutive retired of a comic book.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

I can't springiness each nan praise to nan hardware, though. The Raider 18 HX boasts a 4K, mini-LED show moving astatine a 120Hz refresh rate. On nan high-resolution screen, enemies practically leaped retired astatine me, and nan environments looked shockingly realistic. I would confidently opportunity that nan MSI Raider 18 HX serves good arsenic a desktop replacement. Below is simply a database highlighting nan laptop's champion results crossed 3 mainstream benchmark tests.

Its Geekbench 6 people puts nan Raider 18 astatine 2nd spot connected nan developer's Processor Benchmarks chart, falling conscionable down nan AMD EPYC 9654P. The laptop besides acold outpaces nan existent apical mean people connected Cinebench R23, which is held by nan AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX astatine 30,054.

These numbers besides uncover that MSI's instrumentality tin double arsenic a powerful content-creation desktop. Be alert that these results were achieved without fine-tuning nan device's output, however. It's not firing connected each cylinders, and already nan laptop is performing phenomenally. With this successful mind, I wondered if I could compression retired an moreover amended performance. Following instructions fixed by an MSI rep, I tweaked nan output via nan MSI Center app and sewage nan pursuing numbers: 

Processing output didn't alteration much, though location was a important betterment pinch nan 2 image rendering benchmarks -- Cinebench R23 and Cinebench 2024. To put these numbers into perspective, the 2025 Mac Studio had a apical people of 2,099 connected Cinebench 2024 during my clip pinch it. This laptop outperformed moreover that. 

Herein lies 1 of nan first awesome considerations: a instrumentality for illustration nan Raider 18 tin tally incredibly hot. To combat overheating, MSI equipped its machine pinch a robust cooling strategy dubbed Cooler Booster 5. It consists of 2 ample fans and 7 copper pipes moving successful tandem to push nan power retired done nan six vents (there are 2 connected either broadside and 2 connected nan back).

The cooling strategy is rather effective astatine keeping soul temperatures low. Games ran smoothly without incident, and I could spot my manus connected nan keyboard, only emotion a modicum of heat. However, nan downside is that nan fans are very loud.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Looking astatine nan photographs, I'm judge you've noticed that nan Raider 18 is simply a immense machine. It measures 5.91 x 12.09 x 1.26 inches closed and weighs astir 8 pounds. This is not a travel-friendly laptop, and it surely doesn't thief that nan powerfulness adapter is almost nan size of a literal brick. The container it comes successful has a grip for easier carrying, but you'll still beryllium walking astir pinch 10 pounds of tech pinch nan adapter included.

Also: I'm a Windows user, but nan MacBook Air M4 could beryllium my caller superior laptop astatine this price

Below nan 4K show is simply a Steelseries RGB keyboard. Despite coming from a notable brand, nan keys didn't consciousness arsenic high-end arsenic I would've liked. Don't get maine wrong: nan keyboard is fine. Travel region is good, keys are evenly spaced out, and there's moreover a full-size number pad. However, this keyboard feels for illustration thing you would brushwood connected a activity laptop, not a premium gaming instrumentality for illustration nan Raider 18.

I consciousness nan aforesaid measurement astir nan trackpad. It's decent and responsive but alternatively small, considering nan size of nan immense wristrest.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Through nan SteelSeries GG app, you tin activate 1 of respective lighting patterns aliases create your ain RGB profile. The package besides allows users to create macros and gives entree to a mini-game wherever you tin believe your FPS (first-person shooter) aiming.

Also: HP's latest OmniBook yet sold maine connected nan 2-in-1 shape facet (and it's connected sale)

Even though nan MSI Raider 18 is large, it doesn't person a full batch of ports available. Much of nan abstraction is taken up by nan six power vents. The ports it houses include:

• Two Thunderbolt 5
• Three USB-A Gen 2
• HDMI 2.1
• 2.5 Gbps Ethernet input
• and a headphone jack

I should besides mention that nan MSI Raider 18 goes done its artillery quickly. Under its Extreme Performance mode, nan laptop lasts conscionable awkward of 3 hours. The Eco-Friendly mode isn't overmuch of an improvement, arsenic nan instrumentality lasts conscionable 4 and a half hours connected a azygous charge. 

Charge times are slow, too, taking 30 minutes conscionable to scope 30%. For that reason, this is simply a laptop that you'll want to support plugged successful for superior gaming sessions. 

ZDNET's buying advice

Prices for the Raider 18 HX hover astir $4,000. My reappraisal unit's configuration is disposable astatine B&H Photo Video for $3,800. As costly arsenic it whitethorn be, it's perfectly worthy it. This laptop will supply you pinch years of fantabulous capacity and a top-notch personification experience, moreover superior to galore desktops.