MSI Raider 16 Series

MSI Raider 16 Max HX B2WJ

Specifications

Price comparison

Average Score: 80% - good

Reviews

MSI Raider 16 Max HX Review: 300W Of Power In A Beastly Laptop
Source: Hot Hardware
As we finalize our thoughts on the MSI Raider 16 MAX HX, it's important to keep things in context. My previous laptop review was of a gorgeous thin & light system that made specific sacrifices for the form factor. The Raider 16 MAX HX is a laptop that refuses to make sacrifices, though. It's not as sleek as the Dell XPS 16 I was speaking of previously, and it lacks a level premium feel due to the mostly-plastic construction. Thad said, it's also potentially the fastest 16" laptop we've ever tested, depending on the workload. All of our issues with this system come down to minor frustrations with a few of MSI's design decisions. The proprietary power plug is probably the biggest, for repairability reasons, but we understand why MSI had to go that route; USB-C can't carry enough juice, and a barrel plug has its own drawbacks. The onboard speakers aren't great but many gamers with headsets might not use them much anyway, and the Steelseries GG software requirement is basically a nitpick on a machine with 32GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the things we love about this machine are legion: awesome performance, a gorgeous OLED screen, plenty of ports for external devices, a solid keyboard layout for folks that actually want to get things done, and very easy access to the most important upgrades. If the RAMageddon settles down next year, you could throw a pair of hot-clocked CSODIMMs and a 4TB PCIe 5.0 SSD in this thing in five minutes. As with any product review, it all comes down to pricing and your personal priorities in the end, and that's where this machine really blows its competitors out of the water. If you're OK with its few setback, then this machine delivers bombshell 16-inch laptop performance for $4,299 MSRP. That's pricey, but considering that an identically configured Alienware 16 will run you $4,709, it's competitive. The thing is, this system isn't available at MSRP; in fact, it appears to currently be a Micro Center exclusive, where it's presently selling for just $3,499. That is, frankly, a great price for this class of machine. If you have use for an incredibly powerful 16" laptop with a glorious OLED display and decided gamer aesthetics, you'd better get on the road to your nearest Micro Center store before this HotHardware Editor's Choice machine sells out. Hopefully it comes to this page at Amazon soon. There's also an AMD-powered version with an RTX 5080 on board that's kicking around Amazon as well.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 05/29/2026

70% MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: RTX 5090 power, one big problem
Source: PC World
The MSI Raider 16 Max HX has some good things going for it. For a system packing such high-end components, it’s surprising that it isn’t bulkier. It has an excellent display and robust connectivity options, but that isn’t quite enough to set it apart from the pack. And while it can deliver extreme performance that lets it pull ahead of its competition, it doesn’t consistently outperform more affordable machines running on lower-tier hardware. Its leads are often quite narrow. As it stands, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX’s edge may be confined to specific use cases such as AI applications, where its specific hardware can shine. But as a gaming workhorse, there’s better value elsewhere.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 05/08/2026
Rating: Total score: 70%

Foreign Reviews

90% MSI Raider 16 Max im Test: Ich hatte Angst, dass es von meinem Schreibtisch abhebt!
Source: Gamestar DE→EN
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 05/20/2026
Rating: Total score: 90%

Ultra 9 + RTX 5090 頂規 MSI Raider 16 Max HX B2WJ 電競筆電
Source: HKEPC zh-TW→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 04/25/2026

MSI Raider 16 HX AI A2XWJG

Specifications

Price comparison

Average Score: 80% - good

Foreign Reviews

80% Test du MSI Raider 16 Max HX : petit prince de la puissance
Source: Frandroid FR→EN
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 05/17/2026
Rating: Total score: 80% performance: 100% display: 90% mobility: 60% workmanship: 80%

Comment

MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI) was founded in 1986 in Taiwan. MSI is especially known as a manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards for PCs, but also offers computer accessories, complete systems, motherboards, graphics cards, laptops, desktop PCs, monitors and other components. However, the Microstar brand name in Germany belongs to the Medion company. MSI is known for its gaming products and has developed a wide range of gaming laptops and desktop PCs. The company is also active in workstations, servers and industrial automation. MSI has offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

These graphics cards are able to play the latest and most demanding games in high resolutions and full detail settings with enabled Anti-Aliasing.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop: The GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile uses the GB203 chip and utilizes 10,496 shaders / CUDA cores of the maximum 10,752 that the chip has. This makes the RTX 5090 Laptop more similar to the RTX 5080 desktop variant (same chip) than the Desktop RTX 5090 with 20,760 cores and higher clock rates.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

Intel Arrow Lake:

Ultra 9 290HX Plus: Mobile high-end CPU for gaming notebooks based on the Arrow Lake architecture. Offers 24 cores and is a refresh in 2026 of the 285HX with higher base clock and e-core clock rates (+100 MHz).

Ultra 9 275HX: Mobile high-end CPU for gaming notebooks based on the Arrow Lake architecture. Offers 24 cores consisting of 8 fast performance cores with up to 5.4 GHz and 16 smaller efficiency cores with up to 4.6 GHz clock speed. The CPU can access 40 MB L2 cache and 36 MB L3 cache and is specified with a TDP of 55 watts. The SoC integrates a small dedicated NPU called AI Boost with 13 TOPS (Int8) and optionally supports vPro Essentials.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

16.00:

This range for display formats was and is a rarity. It is larger than the general standard of 15 inches, but not yet in the range of large workstations. One usually has higher screen resolutions available, but portability suffers from that.

» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

2.655 kg:

With this weight, a laptop is rather heavier than average. Devices in this range shine more with screen size and performance than with mobility.

2.7 kg:

81.93%: This rating is slightly above average, there are somewhat more devices with worse ratings. However, clear purchase recommendations look different.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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