MSI - Stealth 16 AI+ 16" 2.5K 240Hz OLED Gaming Laptop Intel Core U9-386H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 - 32GB Memory -1TB Storage - Charcoal Black

MSI’s flagship Stealth gaming and productivity laptops have been refreshed with the latest Intel Ultra 3rd generation processors, combined with a new external shell design and other features. This model comes well equipped with an Ultra 9, 32GB of DDR5 memory, 1TB of storage, and an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU. Does this generation live up to the premium price tag, and does the mid range GPU hold it back? Let’s take a look and find out. In the box, you’ll find the laptop, some basic documentation, and the power supply. The laptop itself is covered in a nice sleeve and there is a microfiber protective fabric sheet between the keyboard and the display to keep your new laptop in perfect condition during shipping. The microfiber cloth is nice enough to keep with the laptop to clean the screen and protect it during travel. The box and packaging appear to be completely recyclable. This system comes with a powerful, 240W power supply to fully power the system and it uses a proprietary connection. For the output of the power supply, it isn’t as huge as some are. It’s fairly thin and uses a standard PC power cable for the cable that goes to the wall, meaning replacements or different lengths are easy to find. You can provide up to 100W of power via power delivery using USB-C, which will provide enough power for most productivity tasks, but will not allow the system to run at full tilt gaming mode with the CPU and GPU running. For connectivity, the system comes decently equipped with two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 interface, a headphone multijack, and a 2.5gbps hardwired ethernet jack. The ethernet jack is NOT the kind that flips open to expand, which is nice as that is a common failure point. One slightly annoying thing is that both thunderbolt ports are on the left side, so if you have a setup that connects to a dock or other peripherals on the right side, you’ll need to route the cables around the back of the laptop, avoiding the power connector. Internally, this system is refreshingly accessible and upgradeable. Flip it over, remove the 7 screws (4 are obvious on the corners and three are hidden in the bottom grille), and gently pop off the bottom panel from the back corners. What you will find inside is an open standard sized SSD expansion slot, the wifi card, the battery, and something increasingly rare, even on gaming laptops – two removeable SODIMM DDR5 RAM sticks under some heatsinks. This allows the user to upgrade or replace the memory instead of using fully integrated, soldered on RAM like many systems use now. This system already is loaded with 32GB of memory, but it’s nice to know that you can expand or upgrade the capacity if you need to. Since I had it open, I did install a second 1TB SSD to give me plenty of space for larger games. Overall, this system exudes subtle sophistication with only faint nods to gaming. This system will fit in either doing professional content creation or playing games. The touchpad is gigantic, allowing for a lot of accuracy when a mouse isn’t in your bag. The keyboard is nice with a good feel and a coating that is supposed to resist sheen and oils. The speakers are, for a laptop, decent. They still lack bass but provide a clear sound that avoids the “tinny” sound that many laptops have. The screen is an immediate highlight. With a native 2560x1600 resolution, HDR 600 certification, and a screaming fast 240hz refresh on an OLED panel, this display is better than most monitors people have. Everything is crisp and clear, and videos look great on it. MSI says it features Corning glass for long term durability and it does a good job rejecting glare even with a glossy finish. After the usual Windows 11 setup, the system is ready to go. With the CPU and GPU in this model, you have the ability to turn on all of the Copilot+ features. I did some driver and BIOS upgrades, and also installed all of the modules on MSI Center to check them out. Using MSI center, I was able to set the keyboard’s 4 lighting zones and a few other system parameters. This laptop also supports both fingerprint and face recognition for Windows Hello, using passkeys, etc. Finally, it’s time to really put this thing through its paces. Many gamers will notice that this model is equipped with the RTX 5060, which is a respectable but not the highest end graphics card. And, as a gamer, I had some reservations about the GPU after some of the mixed press it got at release. After playing several games on this laptop, it is more than adequate for all but the most demanding or discerning gamers on the native display. If you plan on using this laptop as a desktop replacement and connecting it to a high refresh rate external monitor, you may want to look for the models with a more performant GPU, but the price jumps up into a truly incredible price point, and still has the limitations of a laptop, which include fan noise. This laptop, fully spun up, is not the loudest on the planet (partially due to the thermal system being designed to handle up to a 5080 and only needing to cool a 5060), but it does make some air noise when gaming. Doing basic productivity tasks, web browsing, or watching movies, this system just sips the 90 watt-hour battery. It will go for hours doing basic work and can easily last “all day” doing those kinds of tasks. Overall, if you are a creator or a gamer who wants a well equipped laptop in a sleek, well built, and portable package, this is one you should take a look at. The display is fantastic, the CPU can rip through just about anything thrown at it, and the GPU, while not the highest end part, is a good balance of budget, performance, and power usage.

My time with the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ has been great so far, minus the initial unboxing. Im happy to say it's exceeded my expectations. After unboxing, the first thing I noticed was a piece at the back of the base that was hanging off and not properly clicked in place. This was maybe something overlooked by quality control?. Or could of happened during shipment. Luckily, it was easy to snap back into place. I've included a picture for reference. Not the end of the world, but still worth mentioning. After the initial setup, I was blown away by the gorgeous OLED display, this is my first laptop with one. The colors are vibrant and details don't get drowned out by darker areas like non OLED panels. The contrast is amazing too and it gets very bright. The 240Hz refresh rate makes everything feel super smooth. From gaming to movies, to normal browsing and switching windows, the 16 inch display always looks sharp. Seriously, the display is probably my favorite feature. This laptop feels well built too, and I like the subtle charcoal color. The classic msi logo is neat but doesn't look out of place either. The keyboard is comfortable to type on with nice spacing between the keys. The trackpad is responsive and huge with plenty of room for righties or lefties. There's an impressive amount of ports and connectivity options as well. The Ethernet port, was a welcome surprise to see that they made an effort to include. I prefer to be hardwired since my wifi can be spotty sometimes. Speakers sound great too and don't lose quality at higher volumes. The fans are noticeable when the system is under heavier load, but they aren't distracting. That's to be expected from a laptop with this level of performance, especially during more demanding games. Speaking of performance, it has been excellent. The Intel Core U9 processor runs like butter. This bad boy has a RTX 5060 and 32GB of RAM and has handled everything I've thrown at it. Most games run smoothly at high settings, like call of duty and fortnite. I've also used it for video editing, streaming and reading manga online, without any noticeable hiccups. Switching between multiple applications is effortless and storage is fast with room for expansion. I really appreciate the design overall. It has a clean look, instead of the usual flashy gaming laptop design and way less bulky too. Its thin enough to carry around comfortably whether you're using it for work or school. Even while traveling, it's small enough to fit in almost any bag comfortably. Don't worry about over heating because the cooling system does a great job of keeping temperatures under control. During longer gaming sessions, you can monitor the diagnostics and even adjust on the fly. Having it rest on my legs while I'm bed, it does get a little warm but not unbearable. Battery life has been better than I expected for a gaming laptop during everyday tasks like web browsing, watching videos, and working on documents. For gaming, I still keep it plugged in to get the best performance, which is when you'll hear fans cranking up, but this isn't an issue. Lastly, if you're in the market for a gaming laptop that feels premium but takes up little space, I think the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ is an excellent choice. The build quality is top notch and that OLED panel is a huge selling point for me. It's an investment, but based on my experience so far, it's been well worth it. Definitely a keeper.

The MSI Stealth 16+ AI is a well-built gaming system with an EXCEPTIONAL display! I was immediately impressed by how vibrant the MSI logo looked when I first booted the system. Having owned many gaming laptops, this display, right out of the box, is by far the most vibrant and color accurate that I have experienced. Games and Movies felt extremely smooth with no noticeable motion blur, jitter, or screen tearing. Colors were vibrant and crisp, and the high contract ratio ensured darker scenes remained well defined. The audio quality is also quite good, not great, but for a laptop I'm quite pleased. Quality remained consistent, at high volumes and the speakers offer a decent amount of bass response. Overall, gaming on this system has been very enjoyable. Unlike other gaming laptops MSI - Stealth 16 AI+ stays cool under heavy load. I've been able to easily game with the laptop resting directly on my lap without noticeable discomfort. With other systems I've needed a solid barrier to prevent burns. The keyboard is smooth and responsive. It offers the perfect balance between smoothness and tactile feedback. There is very little flex in the display, and the hinges hold the display perfectly in place, even while moving the system around. There are a few quirks in the design that I'll mention, but do not detract from my 5-Star rating. The first being the oversized trackpad. Large trackpads are nice, when palm rejection works well, which in a few cases I noticed my cursor drifting unexpectedly. The other and probably my biggest dislike of this laptop; the charging cable. The charging cable, specifically the connection point, resembles a USB dongle and sticks out quite far from the system. My fear is that overtime, one wrong move, will cause it to break off. There are two PD charging ports, however during my testing, I found PD charging to be inconsistent. When connected to a 100W PD charger, the laptop would rapidly cycle between charge and battery. My hope is that a future firmware update will resolve this issue. Quirks aside, the system is well-built, sturdy, and light weight, which is often not the case for gaming systems of this caliber. In all, the MSI - Stealth 16 AI+ 16" 2.5K 240Hz OLED Gaming Laptop Intel Core U9-386H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 - 32GB Memory -1TB Storage is a great system, perfect for both work, school, and play. I would happily, and without hesitation, recommend this system to a friend. Pros: -OLED display with 240Hz refresh rate and 16:10 aspect ratio -32GB Ram / 1TB storage / RTX 5060 -Smooth Keyboard - Smooth, responsive, tactile response. -Excellent battery life -Thermal management - Stays cool to touch, even under heavy load / Quiet Fans. -Great sound, decent bass response. No noticeable distortion at high volumes. Cons: -Oversized track pad, inconsistent palm rejection - May be fixed with firmware update. -Large connector on charge cable, protrudes quite far - may break in future. -PD charging inconsistent - May be fixed with firmware update.

I was eager to try out this new MSI Stealth 16” Gaming Laptop and it did not disappoint. Pros: Big bright 2560x1600 OLED display NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics Intel® Core™ Ultra 9-386H Processor 32GB DDR5 5600MHZ RAM 1 TB SSD Better than expected audio Lots of ports including Ethernet Cool RGB Keyboard lights Light for a big laptop Respectable benchmark scores for a gaming laptop Cons: Proprietary charging port No number pad Pricey The first thing I noticed is the big bright screen on this laptop. The OLED screen is impressive. Note that this laptop, as with most gaming laptops, is not Touchscreen capable. There is an extra-large touchpad that makes navigation easy. The second thing I noticed is the selection of ports. Two USB Type A, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 5, Ethernet/LAN port, HDMI port and a proprietary charging port. Ample ports to use this system without a docking station. I ran both PassMark and 3Dmark benchmarking tests. First round of benchmarking was disappointing. But I ran them again the second day and found them much improved. I suspect I ran the first round too soon after initial setup, since I hadn’t changed any settings. Second round of benchmark scores include: PassMark Overall Rating - 11812.6 (88th Percentile) 3Dmark CPU Profile score - Max threads 9325 3Dmark Speed Way Score - 2785 3Dmark Steel Nomad Score – 2399 (DX12) Next, I fired up a couple of games. Game play was smooth and the system was responsive. The graphics were great and the sound was surprisingly good for laptop built-in speakers. Overall, I was impressed with this laptop. The screen is big and bright, the audio is very good, RAM and storage are good, although more RAM would be better. It is responsive, even though I do miss the number keypad. If you are a PC gamer, looking for a laptop that you can use for work and gaming, this one is worth a look.

TLDR; This laptop has a lot to like, not only with some standout features, but also with a lot of small things here and there that add to the total package. It looks great, performs very well, and even at its price point, provides very good value; both on its own, and especially when compared to others in the space. Pros: - “Compact” design for a gaming laptop - OLED display with 240Hz refresh rate that while glossy handles reflections well - Performance / Specs (386H CPU, 32GB RAM, 1 TB SSD storage, RTX5060 GPU) - 2 slots for both RAM and SSD for upgradeability - Port selection - Quality keyboard - Good battery life charging speed - Solid sound with up-firing speakers Cons: - Port placement - Trackpad, while large, is not the best - Charging brick is large, cable is proprietary, and USB charging requires some work - Webcam is average, both in picture and sound The first thing I noticed with this laptop was the size, weight, and build. With gaming laptops, they often tend towards the “desktop replacement” side of things, yet I found this to be rather thin, light, and somewhat compact. Easy to “one-hand” it, and easily one of the lightest gaming laptops I have used. It is nice to see in a system with a dedicated video card. Beyond that, I really like the build. Rounded edges, solid, and with a good feel in the hand. The is some minimal give here and there, but nothing really to note. Good materials choices, although the bottom lacks some of the premium feel (is great for air intake though). As for the look, I like it. It is understated, which, given the name makes sense. No flashy exterior RGB, just a small logo in the bottom corner and some etched line detail on the case. Honestly, it is what I am looking for. If anything, I would like even less, but that is just me. I would really like this completely blacked out. Regardless, it is modern, clean, and subtle. It can easily fit in a professional environment if need be. The display is fantastic. Great size, good resolution, OLED, and 240Hz refresh rate. Colors are vibrant and accurate, blacks are OLED inky, and there is defined contrast. It is bright, although not the brightest. Clarity is top notch, with everything from games, video, and images to text being crisp and clear. Response times are essentially instantaneous. It is glossy, but there must be some anti-reflective work at play, as reflections are not much of an issue. I usually prefer matte, or texture, but this is done well. As much as I like the build and display, I think where this laptop really shines is in the specs. Yes, there are machines with more, but that is reflected in the price. Here, I think the hardware is a nice blend of performance, cost, efficiency, and upgradeability. I think the CPU was a great choice. The 386H has 3 sets of cores. Performance. Efficiency. Low Power Efficiency. This gives you performance but also better battery life. The 1TB SSD is good, and while more is always better, it works here (more on that later). The 32GB of DDR5 RAM is really nice to see, especially given the market out there right now. Given todays needs, I am glad to not have concerns right at purchase. The 5060 Is good for me. Again, yes, some may want more, but I am happy with it and what it does for me. All of that said, while I do really like the hardware mix, what I really like and think they nailed is upgradeability. There are 2 RAM slots, and while they are both populated, it can max out at 128GB. There are also 2 PCIe4 SSD slots, with one bring free at purchase. This is seemingly more uncommon these days, but something that is so important to me personally, and especially given the costs out there right now. It prices ever go down you can add to this system down the road, or, as I am doing, bringing some storage forward from a previous system. That flexibility and future proofing is something I really appreciate. Given the initial outlay, I like anything that can help me extend the life of this machine. You can also easily replace the battery and WiFi card if ever needed. Port selection is solid. 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, 2 USB-A ports (3.2 gen 2), an HDMI 2.1 interface, a headphone multi-jack, and a 2.5gbps hardwired ethernet jack (a nice add). I think everyone should be covered and happy here. Not including a SD card reader is slight miss, and something to note. As much as I like the port choices, I do not like their placement. Both USB-C and the charging port (more on that later) are on the left side. I really would have liked the USB-C being split between sides which makes it more convenient for charging. Additionally, having the working ports (ethernet, HDMI, a USB-A, and audio jack) on the right side makes it kind of a mess by the mouse if you are connected there. Perhaps a personal thing, but I would have preferred all of this flipped. I like the keyboard. Scissor switches, centered, “mostly” full size arrow keys, and with good key travel. It is responsive, feels nice to type with, is thumpy, and I found it quick to get used to. There is also fingerprint reader in the power key. It generally is a MacBook look and layout. The track pad is, well, good. It is large, and again centered, which I like, but has some give and doesn’t have the best feel in use. There are some nice gestures that can be used, but they haven’t been the most accurate. Not a dealbreaker, as I often will be using a mouse, and it is good, but just something to know going in. Sound is surprisingly good. The up-firing speakers definitely help, as do the 2 woofers. It is not amazing, but good. It gets loud, there is some low end, and there is not much distortion until you get close to maxxing out volume. This could always be better, but I like it and have no complaints. The webcam is about average. You should have no problem using it for calls or meetings, but the picture, while ok, has color issues and some things look blown out. The mic is about the same. It all works, so no worries, but don’t look for cinematic quality. There is a manual privacy shield which is nice to see and frankly should be the standard. Battery life has been quite good for me. I was perhaps expecting a bit more given the CPU choice, but I have no complaints. I am roughly getting rated numbers. In daily use, there is no concern, and gaming, well, that is done plugged in. I don’t think it will be an issue going forward. Charging is quick, and you can use the brick or USB-C. That said, the brick is somewhat large and the connection is proprietary. There is PD charging and delivery, but that is capped at 100W (versus 240W on the brick) and you will want to make sure you have a proper brick and cable. Some good and some bad here, but not really an issue and given 240W is the max thunderbolt is rated for, I see why they went this way. Performance-wise, I could not be happier. Performance is very good. Zero issues in the with my day-to-day, office tasks, messaging, video, content consumption, content creation, or imaging work. Even my “tab problem,” goes unnoticed. Battery drain is minimal. Games, which is what most people are probably curious about, were much of the same. Again, it is not a 5080, but games are smooth, I am getting good frame rates and haven’t seen much, if any, dropping or tearing. I do tweak some settings to my liking here and there, but all in all I am very pleased. All of this has been with good temperatures and being largely quiet (it does run a little hot in extreme mode). Air intake is via the bottom and vents from the bottom, back, and from two small slits on the top of the chassis. The laptop is silent unless really being pushed, and when the fans do start spinning, it is, yes, noticeable, but not that bad and I think most would be fine with it. Well, not sure why I wrote a literal book to get here, but I do very much like this laptop. It is a good size, yet somewhat compact, is well built, and has a gorgeous display. It has solid battery-life, I like how it is spec’d out and it performs very well. Lastly, it has wonderful upgradability, which is a big selling point for me. While there are some things that I wish they had done differently, I think those things are outweighed by all that you get here. Yes, it all comes at a premium price point, but I truly think there is value here on its own, and especially when compared to others across the space. It’s a good machine and I think most would be happy with it.