MSI Crosshair 16 HX Review

Given that the MSI Crosshair 16 HX’s RTX 4060 sits at the lower end of Nvidia’s current generation of portable GPUs, you might be wondering how it can justify its £1,600/$1,750 price tag. The answer is “hardly”. There are a few reasons why this gaming laptop might be worth considering at this price, not least of which is the magic of a high-powered GPU, but can it match the competition?

The MSI Crosshair 16 is anything but subtle. It’s chunky and a bit funky, with a cyberpunk-style engraving on the back, bevels around the keyboard, crosshatching above it, and lucid WASD keys that shine through to reveal the mechanism underneath. These keys forgo the pudding-top design of others, and while they’re not particularly unattractive, I would have appreciated some black lettering on them, since the white is a bit difficult to see.

I do appreciate the Crosshair’s layout, though, which relegates the number pad to the critical bits. I often found myself pressing FN instead of the left arrow because of the positioning of the arrow keys, but it’s a much nicer typing experience than many of the flat gaming laptop keyboards I’ve tested.

The keystroke is also closer to the low-profile feel of a mechanical key switch than your average membrane, with a good amount of pop to actuate. The only real issue I had with typing or gaming on it was the acute edge at the front. It does feel a bit awkward if you’re sitting lower than the laptop. Plus, it’s a relatively curved machine compared to something like the Gigabyte Aorus 17X with its super-sharp design.

Looks aside, everything feels very solid. Opening and closing the lid barely shakes, and I like that the screen is slightly forward, as the protruding part behind it provides a good grip when you want to move to another room without closing the lid. Despite being hefty, it still feels incredibly portable. The 76-minute gaming battery life lets it down a bit in that regard, but it’s still more than 20 minutes more playtime than other devices in this weight class.

While RTX 4060 gaming laptops are commonplace, those that go all the way to 1440p are a bit rarer, let alone in a acute 16:10 aspect ratio at 2560 x 1600 pixels — the objectively best aspect ratio according to our Dave. The reason being is that the RTX 4060 is generally better suited for 1080p gaming.

Compare the MSI Crosshair 16 HX to lower-powered RTX 4060 machines with 1080p panels, and it’ll beat them nine times out of ten in GPU tests. That 140W GPU allows it to push the limits of what can be achieved with current-gen, low-end Nvidia graphics. And while that means it runs a bit warmer due to the extra power under the hood, it does a pretty good job of dissipating heat without making a sound like it’s booting up.

Compare it to something with a more identical spec, price and panel, like the Legion Pro 5i Gen 9, and it becomes clear where MSI has focused on the Crosshair. It may not match the frame rates the Legion pumps out, but it’s a much more balanced machine. More RAM bandwidth and a higher refresh rate for the same price would make any hot-blooded gamer lean towards the MSI.

The problem is that even when gaming at 1080p, the Crosshair still can’t take full advantage of the high refresh rate. And while the MSI Crosshair still performs admirably even at its native resolution, it does feel like the 240Hz panel you paid extra for is a bit wasted.

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For a few hundred less, you can get yourself a Gigabyte G6X that often beats the Crosshair at 1080p, even with a 105W GPU and a last-gen Intel processor. Sure, the battery life isn’t anything to write home about, but at least you’re not paying extra for a wasted refresh rate. But if you want to play games at higher resolutions, you don’t have that option at all unless you hook up one of the best gaming monitors.

All in all, the MSI Crosshair 16 HX is a joy to utilize, aside from the initial bloatware uninstallation session. The speakers are a bit tinny, and the bezel is a bit acute, but all of these shortcomings are very bearable. And while it really shines in performance and CPU-intensive tasks thanks to its 14th-generation Intel processor, and reaches over 100fps in many games, its main imbalance comes from throwing too much speed at a laptop that’s ostensibly competitive but is really more suited to RPG fans.

If you just want a solid 60fps to get through 1440p+ or to look at more of your Excel spreadsheet between gaming sessions on a taller panel, the MSI Crosshair 16 HX may be worth the risk. But you don’t need to pay extra for a 240Hz panel designed for competitive gaming that your GPU can’t fully take advantage of.