is a reviewer covering laptops and the occasional gadget. He spent over 15 years in the photography industry before joining The Verge as a deals writer in 2021.
It’s easy to get into the weeds on a hobby, especially if you’re into PC gaming and dreaming of the highest levels of graphical performance. But how much is too much for hardware? Spending top dollar on graphics power, processing, RAM, storage, etc. — like many things — eventually leads to diminishing returns. When it comes to gaming laptops, MSI’s $5,699.99 Titan 18 is well beyond that inflection point. But it’s also like nothing else.
It’s not very logical to spend that much when other excellent gaming laptops are nearly as powerful but cost almost half as much. While the Titan is an absolutely reckless purchase, it’s also a joyous one that goes all out for specs and wide-eyed coolness factor.
The Titan goes hard on just about everything, though execution is a mixed bag. The 18-inch Mini LED 4K HDR display has a resolution of 3840 x 2400 and a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz. It looks fantastic. It’s not as contrast-y as an OLED, but it has a colorful punch with enough brightness to be easily visible in even a sun-drenched room. SteelSeries made its mechanical keyboard with Cherry low-profile switches, and it’s one of the most tactile and loudest laptop keyboards I’ve ever touched. It’s got a ping-y metallic undertone in its key presses, which I normally don’t want in a mechanical keyboard, but for some reason I love it in the Titan.
Component report card Screen: A
Webcam: C
Mic: C
Keyboard: B
Trackpad: C
Port selection: A
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