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MSI’s Raider A18 HX joins a fairly exclusive club of 18-inch powerhouse gaming laptops, competing directly with the likes of the Razer Blade 18 and ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18, two laptops we also reviewed this year at Windows Central.
Equipped with up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU and an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU, MSI’s Raider hits the upper limits of power available in a gaming laptop. It’s not all about power, though, as MSI has included quite a few premium features to keep you happy while you game or work.
Cale Hunt
I’m a lifelong PC gamer who has nearly 10 years of professional experience testing and reviewing PC hardware and gaming laptops. If it’s worth your money, I’ll let you know why.
MSI Raider A18 HX (2025) review
MSI’s Raider A18 HX is not an affordable laptop, but that’s expected for a device with so much power.
The most affordable price I found while reviewing the PC is $2,799 at B&H (after a $500 discount) for a model with an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 2TB SSD, NVIDIA RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, and a UHD+ mini-LED display at 120Hz.
You can also find the same configuration available at Amazon for $3,399, at Newegg for $3,299, or at Walmart for $3,799.
Models with an RTX 5090 are not recommended due to price and meager performance gains over the RTX 5080. The exception is users who plan to use the Raider A18 HX for creative or AI work, in which case a 5090 might be necessary.
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This review was made possible thanks to a loaned review unit provided by MSI. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.
Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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As with any 18-inch gaming laptop designed to accommodate the latest and greatest mobile performance hardware, there’s a decent amount of bulk involved. Models with all the best internals weigh in at about 7.94 pounds (3.6kg) with about 1.26 inches (32mm) of thickness.
A lot of the chassis is plastic, although MSI uses aluminum for some of the larger panels to add strength. The PC feels sturdy and doesn’t have much bend.
The back edge has stylized red and black vent covers, with some space at the center for 2.5Gb Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, and a proprietary charging port. This positioning helps improve cable management. The plastic venting extends to the sides to cover additional exhausting.
On the left, you’ll find dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2) and a UHS-III SD card reader. On the right are dual USB4 ports, a third USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2), and a 3.5mm audio jack.
It’s a decent mix of modern and legacy ports, even if it doesn’t officially support Intel’s branded Thunderbolt tech (as some of MSI’s product notes suggest). Wireless is also as modern as can be, with Wi-Fi 7 support and Bluetooth 5.4.
The gem-cut front corners and display bezels add some distinct flair to the PC, and a customizable LED light bar along the front edge is a nice addition that users can choose to disable in more professional settings.
The gem-cut front corners and display bezels add some distinct flair to the PC.
Above the display, there’s a 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial recognition. A physical shutter adds some privacy. Overall, picture quality is just OK; if you plan to stream your games, a great standalone webcam will do a lot better.
The top-firing speakers remain unmuffled, and they get plenty loud without distorting. The downside is that there’s not a whole lot of body to the audio. I do love the manual shutter on the webcam and the fingerprint reader below the keyboard; many gaming laptops ignore these features.
Getting inside the PC requires the removal of 12 screws on the vented bottom panel. Once removed, you have access to RAM, storage, and the Wi-Fi card for quick and easy upgrades/replacements after purchase.
Display ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Raider A18 HX’s 18-inch display hits a 3840×2400 (UHD+) resolution, making for an ultra-crisp look whether you’re gaming or working. The use of a mini-LED panel provides deeper blacks, brighter whites, and improved contrast when compared to a standard LCD screen. The difference is immediately noticeable.
Compared to OLED, mini-LED is better suited for HDR content thanks to its higher brightness. Indeed, the display here is certified for VESA DisplayHDR 1000, and I tested for 558 nits of brightness without HDR using my colorimeter.
Also tested was color accuracy, for which the Raider A18 HX scored quite well, hitting 100% sRGB, 94% AdobeRGB, and 100% DCI-P3. These results are crucial for creative work.
Combine all of this with a 120Hz refresh rate (quite fast for a 4K display), and you have an impressive screen to work or play with at any time. I also appreciate the matte finish that reduces glare.
Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Running through our standard set of benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU unsurprisingly falls behind Intel’s flagship mobile chip for productivity tasks. AMD designed its CPUs to boost gaming performance, and that’s evident as soon as you start playing.
Paired with a 3840×2400 (UHD+) display, the performance hardware doesn’t have an easy job. However, I clocked a 148.7 FPS average in Cyberpunk 2077 using Multi Frame Gen 4x, high overall settings, and ray tracing lighting set to high.
In Far Cry 6 with Ultra settings and no DLSS, I got back a 100 FPS average. And in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with highest settings and DLSS enabled, I saw a 170 FPS average.
DLSS is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but that’s no different in any other powerhouse gaming laptop. The fact that you can still max out the UHD+ display’s 120Hz refresh rate with these demanding titles is mighty impressive.
MSI has also included the fastest M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD we’ve ever tested in the new Raider. Thanks to its own heat pipe connected to the full cooling system, I didn’t find it overheated.
Thermals & fan noise ⭐⭐⭐
I kicked off performance testing with a full-system stress test. The Raider A18 HX showed no signs of throttling under these conditions, and you should find that working normally at the PC won’t create a ton of fan noise or heat.
MSI’s included control app allows for intelligent balancing of power using AI, but you can also force it into specific performance categories. The GPU is overclockable, though I’m not sure the added fan noise is worth it.
The laptop’s fans are not quiet when under gaming duress. I tested about 52 decibels when pushing the system with Cyberpunk 2077. Less demanding titles don’t create nearly as much ruckus, but you’ll still hear fan noise practically any time you’re at the PC.
Battery life ⭐⭐⭐
MSI’s Raider A18 HX was not built to be an efficiency superstar. Sporting the most powerful mobile CPU and GPU combo for gaming in the world, it focuses on raw power rather than long runtimes.
Leaving the laptop at full power and going about regular, non-gaming tasks will get you about two or three hours of life, more if you tune the system down. It’s the same story for practically any gaming laptop with this much power inside.
Keyboard & touchpad ⭐⭐⭐½
A colorful keyboard isn’t exactly a rare sight in the gaming laptop world, but MSI’s option isn’t just flashy.
It’s a SteelSeries board boasting 99 keys thanks to the full number pad, each with separate and customizable RGB lighting. Key travel is deep enough that I didn’t experience any discomfort when typing or gaming, and although it’s not a mechanical board, it feels snappy and responsive.
I dislike the translucent keycaps on the WASD and arrow keys, but it’s overall a quality keyboard.
I’m not as impressed with the mechanical touchpad. There’s a lot of movement on the surface that makes some clicks feel spongy, and it seems like MSI could have used up more space on the deck for wider and taller dimensions.
The plastic pad is smooth and tracks well, and in the end, that’s what matters most. You might wish it were a glass touchpad if you were using the built-in pointer full-time, but I suspect most gamers are switching to a controller or an external mouse anyway.
MSI Raider A18 HX (2025): Should you buy it?
✅ You should buy this if …
- You want one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market today.
- You love a gaming laptop with customizable RGB lighting.
- You want to experience the very best of what AMD and NVIDIA can deliver.
❌ You should not buy this if …
- You require long battery life to get you from one AC outlet to the other.
- You want a laptop that’s easy to carry around.
- You don’t plan on tackling demanding local AI tasks or hardware-intensive games.
MSI’s Raider A18 HX should be a top choice for anyone who wants the best mobile gaming CPU in the world and a choice of NVIDIA’s latest laptop GPUs, including up to an RTX 5090.
Battery life isn’t great, and the fans aren’t exactly quiet, but these are downsides found in practically any high-performance gaming laptop.
Considering the Raider A18 HX is competitively priced against similar laptops, there’s no reason not to consider it unless you particularly value audio and touchpad quality.
The MSI Raider A18 HX is home to the two most powerful mobile components you can buy today, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and the RTX 5090. However, that power comes at the cost of battery life and portability. I recommend sticking with an RTX 5080 model rather than wasting your money on the 5090 upgrade, but the Ryzen CPU and the mini-LED display are tops.
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