MSI Thin A15 B7U A15 B7UC-473US 15.6" Gaming Notebook Full HD Review

The MSI Thin A15 is a budget-friendly gaming laptop that tries to do a lot for not a lot of cash. It packs an AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS CPU and an RTX 3050 GPU into a 15.6-inch frame, promising decent 1080p gaming on its 144Hz screen.

For the price, the performance is okay. The RTX 3050 lands in the 68th percentile for GPU power, so you can play most modern games at medium to high settings at 1080p. The AMD 7535HS CPU is a bit of a weak spot, sitting in the 46th percentile, so don't expect blazing-fast productivity work. The 144Hz screen is smooth, but its overall quality score is only in the 40th percentile, so colors and brightness are just average.

At around $700, it's hard to complain too much. You're getting legitimate gaming hardware for the cost of a basic productivity laptop. The value is solid if your expectations are set correctly. You're paying for the core gaming experience, not premium build quality or cutting-edge specs.

It's in a different universe than premium picks like the MacBook Pro M4 or the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, which cost three times as much. A closer budget rival is the ASUS Zenbook Duo if you need portability and a killer screen for work, but its gaming power is weaker. The MSI Vector 16 HX is a more direct step-up from this, offering much more powerful CPUs and GPUs for several hundred dollars more. This A15 is for when the Legion or Vector are just out of reach.

Buy this if you're a new PC gamer on a tight budget and your main screen is your desk. It gets you in the door for modern gaming. Don't buy it if you travel a lot, need serious CPU power for work, or want to future-proof your gaming library for the next few years.