MSI Delta Delta 15.6" 2022 Review

The MSI Delta 15 is a bit of a sleeper. It's an AMD Advantage laptop, which means it's all AMD inside: a Ryzen 7 5800H CPU and a Radeon RX 6700M GPU. That combo is built to play nice together, and it's packed into a chassis that's surprisingly thin and light for a gaming machine. At just over 4 pounds, this isn't the usual hulking desktop replacement.

This laptop is for the gamer who wants solid performance but doesn't want to lug around a brick. The 240Hz FHD screen is a clear signal it's aimed at competitive titles where high frame rates matter more than 4K eye candy. It's also interesting because it represents AMD's push into the discrete laptop GPU space, going head-to-head with NVIDIA's mobile lineup.

If you're deep in the Apple or Intel/NVIDIA ecosystems, this might not be your first pick. But for someone looking for a balanced, portable gaming rig that leans into AMD's strengths, the Delta 15 is a compelling and often overlooked option. It's trying to prove you don't need the biggest, heaviest machine to get a great gaming experience.

The numbers tell a straightforward story. With a CPU in the 72nd percentile and a GPU in the 70th, this is a solid mid-range performer. The Ryzen 7 5800H has eight cores to handle gaming and multitasking without breaking a sweat. The Radeon RX 6700M with its 10GB of VRAM is the real star here. It's built for 1080p gaming, and at that resolution, you can expect to hit high frame rates in most titles, especially if you're fine tuning settings to take advantage of that 240Hz display.

In real-world terms, you're not going to be maxing out Cyberpunk with ray tracing on. But for esports titles like Valorant or Apex Legends, this thing will fly. The 10GB of VRAM is a nice buffer for modern games that are starting to use more. The storage is decently fast, landing in the 65th percentile, so load times won't hold you back. Just know that the 16GB of RAM is a bit of a bottleneck, sitting in the lower 32nd percentile. It's fine for gaming now, but it's not future-proofed for titles that might want more.

At around $1,217, the Delta 15 sits in an interesting spot. You're paying for that specific blend of performance and portability. The raw gaming power per dollar is good, especially if you find it on sale. You're getting a capable 1080p gaming machine that you can actually carry around without straining your back.

Compared to other vendors, MSI often prices these AMD models aggressively against similar Intel/NVIDIA machines. You might find a Lenovo Legion with an RTX 4060 for a similar price, but it'll likely be thicker and heavier. The value here is in the total package: decent power in a slim frame. Just be aware that the cost savings might come from corners cut in areas like the port selection and RAM.

The most direct competitor is something like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. It'll likely have a more powerful Intel CPU and an NVIDIA GPU like an RTX 4070, better ray tracing performance, and probably more ports. But it will also be heavier, thicker, and possibly more expensive. The Delta 15 trades some peak performance and features for its sleek design.

Then there's the Apple MacBook Pro. It's a totally different beast. For creators, the MacBook's screen, battery life, and build quality are in another league. But for gaming? The Delta 15 runs circles around it in terms of raw frame rates and game compatibility. The ASUS Zenbook Duo is about multitasking with its dual screens, not gaming. So, the Delta 15's niche is clear: it's a dedicated, portable Windows gaming machine in a way those others aren't.

If you're a student or someone who needs to move their gaming rig around often, the Delta 15 is an easy recommendation. The balance of performance and portability is hard to beat at this price. You get great 1080p gaming in a package that won't weigh you down.

But if you're a developer who needs tons of ports and RAM for virtual machines, look elsewhere. The port selection is a deal-breaker. If you plan on keeping the laptop for many years and want to play the latest AAA games with all the bells and whistles, you might want to spend more on a machine with a newer GPU architecture and more RAM. For the specific use case of portable, no-fuss 1080p gaming, the Delta 15 still delivers.