When it comes to gaming laptops, one of my biggest annoyances for a long time has been the look and proportions of such a device. The heavy chassis and generally heavy load has always made me question why you would choose such a device over a regular more transportable system, but then again, in order to support the hardware and Technology, you need a more powerful cooling system and so on – hence the ratio. Occasionally, a device comes in my way that looks to be both a gaming laptop and a regular laptop, that’s exactly what the MSI Stealth 15M is like, this system looks and feels like a more efficient laptop, But powered by an Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics card and a 12th-gen i7 CPU.
The Stealth 15M is small in size, stylish in appearance, and easy on the eyes. It doesn’t scream “gaming,” and you probably wouldn’t even consider it a gaming laptop if it weren’t for the bright green Nvidia GeForce RTX sticker. The body is completely black, and the chassis, since it’s fairly thin, doesn’t have the huge air vents that grab your attention. If it weren’t for the blue, orange, and pink backlit keyboard, you might say the Stealth 15M is actually a little too boring on the outside.
But luckily, MSI decided to bring it back to the exterior so it can better focus on what’s under the hood, which is actually a pretty impressive and capable hardware option. The 12th Gen Intel i7-1280P CPU is clocked at 2000MHz, which in combination with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU and 16GB of RAM means you can play the latest games at smooth frame rates. Of course, it’s possible because of the 1080p display, which means you won’t get the crisp visuals of 2K or 4K graphics, but it does make it easier for the system to run more demanding games.
In that spirit, I tested a number of different video games during my time with the Stealth 15M, covering all genres. As I often use gaming laptops, Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 proved to be an interesting starting point, with benchmarks showing the title on Ultra Graphics dropping to a low of around 59fps, peaking at 83fps and averaging 69fps. On the other hand, Rebellion’s Evil Genius 2: World Domination showed better performance, peaking at 190fps, dropping to 110fps, averaging 159fps (though the display was capped at 144Hz). Then to add to this, I also messed around in Arkane Lyon’s Deathloop and found that the frame rate remained around 60fps, even though the RAM was often limited because 16GB was too small to run the game on the most demanding settings.
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Performance aside, I’d like to add that the visuals look great in every game, even in basic HD, which helps because the thin bezels allow the 15.6″ monitor to reach its full potential without much (if if there is) true negative space and unused space. This is similar to the rest of the entire case in that the keyboard and trackpad are well placed and don’t feel too big or too small for the body, and the various ports (including several USB Type-As, several USB Type-As, C, an HDMI port and an audio jack) are tucked into the side of the system. It’s a bit of a shame, though, that the small body doesn’t allow any room for an Ethernet port.
But then again, the core idea of the Stealth 15M is basically that it doesn’t need to have all the graffiti that defines a gaming laptop. It’s this simplistic and more basic design that makes it unique and potentially more appealing to a wider audience who are looking for something that can work and play and still be able to carry it around without feeling like you Dragging cinder blocks. Unlike some of the devices I’ve reviewed over the past year, this isn’t one that’s going to break the bank either. It’s not cheap in a general sense, but it’s definitely on the cheaper side compared to a lot of PC gaming hardware and tech, so I can see this being a more approachable system than some of the others.
I love the design and how it kills two birds with one stone, but it should be said that the dual focus does mean that the Stealth 15M doesn’t do a few things well. While it’ll stay cool thanks to its Cooler Boost 5 technology, you’ll notice the fan and the noise the laptop makes when it’s under stress. Also, since this is a smaller system with some still-powerful hardware, this laptop drains the battery, which means you’ll need to keep a charger nearby if you plan on doing any kind of gaming .
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But other than that, as far as entry-level gaming laptops go, this laptop has a lot going for it. It won’t offer the same level of performance as a premium system and lacks visual product due to the HD display, but it’s also thin, highly portable, subtle and lightweight, so the Stealth 15M has grown on me in the time I’ve been testing it .