Budget gamers with RTX 3060 are plentiful and start from US$800. MSI simply installs an RTX 4050 in its budget gamer and slaps on a whopping US$1499.99 price tag despite otherwise outdated components! This is not how it works, MSI!
Christian Hintze (translated by Jacob Fisher), Published 🇩🇪
We’ve just finished our review of the MSI Katana 15 12VEK. Actually an exciting device, for MSI combines a brand new RTX 4050 with a Gen12 Alder Lake CPU from Intel. Not a bad idea for a budget gamer, we thought, until we saw the price.
US$1499.99 is a touch too much for what is on offer. Of course, the new RTX 4050 proves to be significantly more efficient than an RTX 3060 from last year, but is rarely faster in the Katana 15. Otherwise, MSI installs a lot of old technology.
For example, one of the USB ports is still of the 2.0 type, the Full HD panel is unduly dark at around 250 nits in 2023, Thunderbolt is not available, an SD reader is missing, and the battery is comparatively small.
Most RTX 3060 gamers offer greater performance, better port options, a brighter display, Thunderbolt and a bigger battery for less money. The RTX 4050 is certainly not worth the price premium compared to an RTX 3060 to offset all these disadvantages with a little more efficiency alone! Please reconsider the price, MSI!
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MSI Katana 15 B12VEK (Katana 15 Series)
A C64 marked my entry into the world of PCs. I spent my student internship in the repair department of a computer shop and at the end of the day I was allowed to assemble my own 486 PC from “workshop remnants”. As a result of this, I later studied computer science at the Humboldt University in Berlin, with psychology also being added to my studies. After my first job as a research assistant at the university, I went to London for a year and worked for Sega in computer game translation quality assurance. This included working on games such as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Company of Heroes. I have been writing for Notebookcheck since 2017.
Translator: Jacob Fisher – Translator – 183 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022
Growing up in regional Australia, I first became acquainted with computers in my early teens after a broken leg from a football (soccer) match temporarily condemned me to a predominately indoor lifestyle. Soon afterwards I was building my own systems. Now I live in Germany, having moved here in 2014, where I study philosophy and anthropology. I am particularly fascinated by how computer technology has fundamentally and dramatically reshaped human culture, and how it continues to do so.
Christian Hintze, 2023-03-31 (Update: 2023-03-30)