msi Raider A18 HX 18” 120Hz UHD+ Gaming Laptop: AMD Ryzen 9-9955HX3D, NVIDIA Geforce RTX 5080, 32GB DDR5, 2TB NVMe SSD, Type C, Wi-Fi 7, Win 11 Pro: Black A9WIG-082US

Cool

Product has been a nightmare to deal with. Since the day I purchased this laptop I was so excited to utilize its power and expect nothing but lightning fast load times, zero crashes, and no problems. Since I bought this laptop I have had nothing but problems. I have been a loyal MSI customer since the I first had the first MSI 1070 raider laptop and upwards and on. But this is the now second product I have bought with issues. Games are crashing because of faulty GPU, despite drivers and everything updated. Incredibly painful slow load times and even navigating the PC settings or UI it takes forever to load a menu or icons or etc. Bloatware was removed and still the computer is slow. Random crashes when surfing the web or doing something that is not at all demanding on the PC. Crashing, slow as as a snail load times and sluggish and slow computer in general despite having an I9 CPU. I willnever buy MSI garbage again. Avoid this laptop and MSI products like the plague. MANY MANY forums and users and etc explain how bad MSI quality has gotten and how many products have constant issues

VERY POWERFUL TO BE A LAPTOP

It can perform well, depending on your setup, but some stuttering. May update this later if it improves on the initial performance. A lot of bloatware, but performs well enough after the updates. Don't open too many tabs on your browser lol Edit: Stopped working, contacting MSI support - depending on how they handle this... so far not very impressed with MSI. May have to further reduce my rating, what a shame, I wasted my money. Update: They repaired it, no indication on root cause of hardware failure, or any indication that this product is reliable. I was forced to buy a different device since I cannot rely on this one. Update 2: The repaired device is working more like I expect it to, not sure what was going on in the beginning, but I really hope it continues to work properly.

I purchased this MSI Raider 18 HX (A14VIG-255US) in late November 2024 and began experiencing repeated blue-screen errors and software failures within a few months. Despite factory resets, OS reinstalls, and multiple troubleshooting attempts, the problems persisted. When I reached out for help, MSI support walked me through several steps but the laptop continued to malfunction. I eventually sent it for repairs, but the issue returned shortly after. Communication with the seller confirmed that warranty repairs had to be handled directly by MSI. Unfortunately, neither Amazon nor the seller provided any direct repair or replacement assistance once the 30-day window had passed. I’ve now had to send the unit for service a second time. Based on this experience, I would strongly recommend anyone purchasing high-end hardware like this to consider buying directly from the manufacturer. It ensures clearer warranty support and avoids added delays when problems arise. The laptop’s performance on paper is impressive, but the reliability and post-sale support experience have been deeply frustrating.

Honestly, this has been a very frustrating experience with PCOnline US. I paid over $4,000 for what was advertised as a new laptop. When I checked the SSD, it already had about 5,800 power-on hours and was sitting at 87% health right out of the box. Yes, the laptop runs well — but that’s beside the point. When I buy new, I expect new components, not something that shows clear prior wear. What really disappointed me was the support from this seller. Instead of addressing the actual concern, I kept getting canned responses about Windows updates and power resets, which had nothing to do with the issue I reported. It felt like my evidence wasn’t being taken seriously and that the conversation was being steered away from the core problem. After a lot of back-and-forth, they issued a small $50 partial refund, which frankly does not come close to covering the cost of replacing the SSD to bring the system in line with new-condition expectations. Bottom line: the laptop itself is powerful and performs fine, but my trust in PCOnline US is pretty shaken. If you care about receiving truly new components, I would strongly recommend verifying everything carefully or buying directly from the manufacturer instead of a third-party reseller.

Amazing build quality on the laptop. The RGB looks awesome. May update on gaming performance, but the screen is beautiful. Four stars because the screen has around a pixel of edge lighting, which looks odd, but is mostly unnoticeable. Brick of a charger, but makes sense given the needs of the laptop, and the fact that most chargers/PSUs are most efficient at around 50% use. Fans can get a tad loud, but that's expected from this model, which stays rather cool so far.