With what is happening with Huawei right now, it is only natural if the company slows down for a while. Of course, even the biggest tech giants can face pressure. And in the light of recent events, there were reports of Huawei slowing down the production of its phone in some of the plants. A very recent report reported that the smartphone giant cut off a part of its smartphone production at Foxconn plants for the time being.
Sources claimed that the Taiwanese company is slowing down the production of Huawei phones as per the company’s orders.
However, after that news came out, Huawei denied that flat. The tech giant said that no such thing happened and production is still at full capacity. There are also no further plans to slow down in the near future. They’ll probably go all out until they have the stockpile of chips as their claims.
At such a time, we’d expect the company to slow down and think things over. But it seems that the firm is not as badly affected by all these things. Or maybe, the company’s keeping a rock-solid front for morale. Either way, it seems the company’s goal hasn’t changed. Its goal is, still, to become the top smartphone brand in the market. Although, that might take a lot longer now.
Yet, Huawei is undeterred. And this should teach us all a life lesson, or two! Godspeed, Huawei, Godspeed!
There’s like all sorts of hype around the Redmi K20 Pro – about how it’s going to be the new flagship killer, replacing the OnePlus 7 Pro. While that is in the air, Xiaomi is gearing up for another flagship device. It launched the Xiaomi Mi 9 back in February. And now, it’s going to launch a follow-up device, the Xiaomi Mi 9T.
Sounds so much like a OnePlus knock off just by the name, doesn’t it? But it’s actually a knock-off of the Redmi K20, actually! I wouldn’t say knock-off, but a remodeled version of the Redmi K20. After all, even though Redmi is a new company, it’s still Xiaomi’s! For all we know, it could actually only be renamed, with all other features being the same.
The Xiaomi Mi 9T will feature a pop-up selfie camera as opposed to the water-drop notch on the Mi 9. This further confirms that the Mi 9T is the Redmi K20. And since there is a Redmi K20 Pro as well, we expect a Pro model to accompany the Mi 9T too.
Furthermore, the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro might also launch as successors of the Pocophone F1. The new phones might launch as Poco F2 and the F2 Pro in some markets. However, the Redmi K20 will keep its original moniker in India. So, it’s not sure which markets will get what. But no matter what, we can rest assured they’re one and the same phones, except for some minor changes, here and there. The phone is launching on on June 12.
But in the end, it will be us, who will get confused with the name games smartphone companies are playing. What do you think about this?
So, Oppo became the first to showcase an under-display camera technology on their phones. And promptly, right after that, a few hours later…Xiaomi thought it wasn’t going to keep their’ secret anymore. So, they took to Twitter and released a small clip of an under-display camera too!
The video came from Xiaomi’s Director of product management, which shows a Xiaomi Mi 9 Prototype with the under-display camera technology. Of course, they didn’t reveal any other information regarding it, except for a few general ideas.
The company claims they’re patenting their technology. It is only plausible, of course, since they say they found a way to make the display transparent without reflecting light in any way. Even when the screen is completely turned off when the light diodes are completely black, the selfie shooter won’t be visible. That’s a pretty neat implementation.
In addition, the company claims they can put up to a 20 MP selfie camera under the panel. And for this, they can only use OLED panels, as LCDs apparently have some limitations which don’t provide as good of viewing experience as OLED panels.
Other than this, there’s no other info whatsoever. No release dates, and no telling which phone will sport it first. Of course, expectations suggest it will come out on the next Xiaomi Mi Mix, as the Mi Mix phones tend to showcase interesting features.
What do you think of this kind of implementation? Yay OR Nay? Are are you fine with good old bezels? Do let us know.
Is it just me or has OPPO’s smartphone lineup in Nepal gone a bit stale lately? What I mean is, there is very less versatility in their product lineup these days – apart from the OPPO F11 and F11 Pro, of course – they have something going, at least. But still, we could use some fresher products. Maybe that’s why the Oppo A1K is here. It’s targeted towards the sub Rs 20,000 price segment. But with middling specs, a minimal feature set and an asking price of Rs. 17,590, is it worth your attention? Let’s find out in this Oppo A1k review.
OPPO A1K Specifications
Display: 6.1-inch IPS LCD HD+ display, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
CPU: MediaTek MT6762 Helio P22
GPU: PowerVR GE8320
OS: Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6 on top
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 32GB, Expandable up to 256GB via dedicated SD card slot
Rear Camera: 8MP, f/2.2, 1/3.2″, 1.4µm, AF), LED flash
Front Camera: 5MP, f/2.0
Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass
Battery: 4,000 mAh; Micro USB charging port
Price: Rs. 17,590
Design and Build
Starting off on a positive note, the OPPO A1K excels in this category. Sure it’s still plastic and has a cheap feel in the hands, but it’s sturdy and feels durable. I have no complaints on the design front. I even liked the red matte color scheme which, first off looks good, and isn’t a fingerprint magnet. Either way, using the clear case you get out the box is recommended. You also get a pre-applied screen protector over the Gorilla Glass 3 display up front.
Design and Build
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Notch
Bottom
Left
Right
Other than that, the water drop notch and those bezels place it on the same levels as its competition. The plain matte Red back with the OPPO branding and that single camera sensor aided by an LED flash is your typical budget phone look. The bottom holds the speakers, micro USB port, mic, and a headphone jack. On the right, you are greeted by a lonely power button and on the other side is the volume controller plus the SIM slot while the top remains empty.
Display
Its 6.1-inch display with a screen to body ratio of a little over 80% is pretty decent. There’s isn’t significant bezels on the sides of the display, but the pretty huge chin is noticeable. But given it’s a budget phone it’s hard to complain about these types of shortcomings. Moving on to the actual panel, the HD resolution and that IPS technology is all but standard, but the actual display quality feels ok at best. It’s decently bright, produces punchy colors and the viewing angles are pretty good.
Camera
The single 8MP lens didn’t really impress me much here. Details were acceptable in good lighting but produced grainy and muddy photos under harsh lighting while the color reproduction was average. In the end, the overall result was decent at best. Under low light conditions, the photos suffer from lack of detail.
Camera Samples
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Normal Lighting
1x
Zoom
Low Light
While we have seen some phones produce good portraits with a single lens, that’s not the case here. The portraits it took were far from it. Edge detection is something that needs a lot of improvement, not to mention the blurs. Plus, the phone overexposes the background in portrait shots which makes those basically unusable.
Portrait
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Portrait
Normal
Portrait
Normal
Low Light Portrait
Moving on to the front, the 5MP shooter managed to capture some acceptable selfies under well-lit conditions but again suffers under harsh lighting. Portraits are again, not very good, with lots of irregularities and missed edge detection. On top of that, the same overexposing problem for portraits carries on to the front camera as well.
Front Camera
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Selfie
Portrait selfie
Low Light Selfie
Finally, for videos, it takes FHD@30fps and there is no stabilization on board. The quality is average. The videos can be used for memories but nothing more.
The Oppo A1K comes with a Helios P22 SoC and ColorOS 6.0 on top of Android Pie. For the given price, I would have loved to see OPPO put in a much better processor. First off, the A1k does not really belong in this price range. It’s a lot slower than its competition in both synthetic benchmarks, and in the real-world usage. I don’t mean to say the phone is bad. But it’s just that the competitors are offering much better hardware and this one doesn’t.
If we talk gaming, the first one I tried out was PUBG – at the lowest settings. It was enjoyable, with some stutters here and there. Clash of Clans was also playable (if you guys are still into it). Other mid-tier games like PH: Cruise and Real Cricket 19 also ran with lowered graphics quality. As for general apps like Facebook, Instagram, and other general apps, they will run without any problems.
I previously reviewed the OPPO F11 Pro, and that one also ran on the ColorOS 6.0 over Android Pie. It was a pretty great experience and showed a lot of promise for future OPPO smartphones. Sadly, that feeling was shortlived when I went into the OPPO A1K with huge expectations and all of them were shattered. The phone felt sluggish, had a bunch of bloatware (which were removable), and the UI itself stutters every now and then.
That is, however, due to the hardware shortcomings rather than the software. Just like what happened with the Redmi 6 after its MIUI 10 update.
OPPO A1K benchmark scores:
Geekbench 4:
817 (Single Core Score)
3224 (Multi-Core Score)
2905 (RenderScript Score)
AndroBench:
280MB/s (Sequential read)
111MB/s (Sequential write)
PCMark: 4983 (Work 2.0 Performance score)
Battery
The battery, however, impresses thoroughly. Oppo does this thing with its budget phones where it gives them larger batteries, like the Oppo A3s! With a 4000mAh battery, 2 days of normal usage was easy and that’s with all the power saving options turned off. I was never worried about charging this phone, but that’s what made its tediously long charging times bearable. It literally takes around 3 hours to get to 100%. I tried charging it with the 20W fast charger from the OPPO F11 Pro, and guess what? Same results. I guess this one doesn’t support Fast Charging. On a side note, this phone comes with a 5V/2A charger out of the box.
Security and Extras
As for security features, this one lacks a fingerprint sensor. You can opt for face recognition but that’s pretty slow, to begin with. You do get the usual pattern and pin unlock, just like on every other Android phone out there. Apart from the security, you get a dedicated microSD slot while the phone itself comes with 32GB of internal storage. Speaker quality is nothing special and the same goes for call quality as well.
Conclusion
The OPPO A1K sports some satisfying design choices coupled with some amazing battery performance. But apart from that, there is very less reason to buy this phone. It offers aggressively mediocre performance, poor implementation of ColorOS 6 and an average display at best. And what makes it an even more of a bad deal is its competitors in the same price bracket.
The Redmi 7 comes with more performance, similar battery life, and better cameras while retaining a fingerprint sensor. Then there is the much cheaper Galaxy A10, which might not hold its ground in the camera department but will surpass it in the performance department. It also has a better display and costs 3.5k less.
And you know what? With the recent price decreases in Samsung’s smartphones, the Galaxy M20 is available for less than this! And even so, it has a more pleasing high-res display, better camera(s), faster performance, larger battery (with fast charging) and is a true value for money smartphone. The Oppo A1K, despite being a decent budget phone, gets easily lost in the competition, with its unreasonable price.
Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event yesterday unveiling a lot of new features for its ecosystem and for its products. At the event, Apple announced two new devices, a new version of MacOS, iPadOS, iOS 13 and upgrades to Watch OS.
Mac Pro
So, after lots and lots of wait, Apple has finally launched the new Mac Pro. The device looks quite unique with its ‘cheese grater’ design. But the talking point lies on what’s inside.
The 2019 Mac Pro’s base model features the octa-core Intel Xeon W processor with 3.5 GHz clock speed which turbo boosts to 4 GHz. It comes with 32 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal SSD. This product has the AMD Radeon Pro 850X as its graphics, and users can add up to four of these cards in the Mac Pro.
However, the star of the show is the maxed out variant of the product which is an absolute beast when it comes to specifications. This device has 1.5 TB of RAM and the 28-core Intel Xeon W processor. It comes with a dedicated AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo graphic card with 64 GB of graphics. This variant has a separate graphics accelerator as well.
The company didn’t announce the price of the Mac Pro but it is expected to be anywhere be $40,000 to $50,000 while the base model will go on sale for $5,999.
Apple Pro Display XDR
Apple also announced a 6K Retina display to match the Mac Pro. This device comes with a 31.6-inch screen with 6K resolution and it is HDR enabled. It has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and features 1,000 nits of brightness. There is also a matte option for the monitor, but it will raise the price of the already-expensive monitor. This device will go on sale for $6,000 with the high specced model going for $12,000.
Apple will also launch a separate stand for this monitor which costs $1,000 alone.
iPadOS
Apple also unveiled the iPadOS – a new operating system that’s meant for iPads. This new OS will replace iOS on the tablets and will bring in features meant exclusively for iPads.
The iPadOS will feature a new home screen layout, better multitasking experience and gestures for easier usage. The file application has also improved, and there is a better Apple Pencil support for the iPads. This OS also brings a dark theme to the tablets.
macOS Catalina
macOS also received an update yesterday along with a new name ‘Catalina’. The macOS 10.5 offers Apple users a seamless interaction between MacBook and iPads as the new Sidecar feature connects the laptop and the tablet together for better user experience.
Apple has also replaced the iTunes app on their MacBook with a music app, a podcast app, and Apple TV.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said, “With macOS Catalina, we’re bringing fresh new apps to the Mac, starting with new standalone versions of Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app.”
This new version of macOS also has better security features, Voice Control, and new applications. It will also showcase a user’s screen-on-time on their laptops.
iOS 13
After years of wait, Apple has finally introduced a dark theme for iPhones. Although the feature was announced with ultimate flex, it is a great addition to the OS. This theme will apply to internal applications as well.
Apple Maps has also received an update as Apple is looking to make this application better from the base itself. The company has used cameras just like Google did to build a better map.
The newest version of iOS will also bring better security features, Memoji updates, portrait lighting effects, and better photo and video editing tools among others.
WatchOS 6
Apple Watch and its operating system – Watch OS also received updates as its software will now feature a standalone App Store without any need for an iPhone. There are also new watch faces, and the pride flag strap for Apple Watch users.
Apple Watch will now come with a Calculator app, and will also support voice memos. For health purposes, the watch will track period cycle and the Noise app will measure the decibel level of your surrounding to notify users if they are in a loud environment.
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X are the very first smartphones that feature a foldable screen. Although both of these devices are yet to make their way to the market, the tech incorporated on these devices has surely shown us a glimpse of the future. The Mate X is currently in the works whereas Samsung is mending the issues found on the Galaxy Fold. At a time when these major players are indulged in fixing and polishing the folding technology, Apple seems to be getting started in the folding tech. Recently, the Cupertino-based company filed for a patent for folding phone and was granted as well. Unlike the Galaxy Fold and Mate X, this device will have a double folding screen.
The company had submitted a prototype last year in which the device folds in the middle. With that prototype, many had expected that a foldable iDevice could make it to the market ahead of others. But there is still no solid information regarding the progress of such folding machines.
Although only the patent for the double folding screen is currently making headlines, the company filed to protect both the single and multifold devices. The patent also includes a document with 37 drawings. The drawings show the technical features, folding configurations, and the working mechanism of all the folding configurations. It is also quite clear from the drawings about the rotating mechanism of the hinges when the screen on the device folds and unfolds. The source claims that the folding screen can go from a 180-degree angle to 90-degree angle.
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Another image also appeared on the internet, which shows that the screen can be folded backward so as to form a triangle. When the screen is balanced on two edges, the same contents can be viewed on both the divided screens.
Further details also revealed that the flexible cover layer on such devices would be made up of ceramic material like glass, strengthened glass, sapphire, and Zirconia. This could ensure better protection for the flexible display from impact or other potentially damaging contacts. If Apple could implement this, it might overcome the damaging issues found on the Galaxy Fold and could be even more reliable.
The patent reveals many technical details of the folding device. However, it’s still unclear whether the tech giant will implement this tech on its iPhones or iPads. The upcoming iPhones are slated to launch on October 2019 and there is just a few months for the company to work on. So it’s highly unlikely that Apple could launch a foldable iPhone this year. Also, these are just the schematics for the patents. So the upcoming iDevices may have a slightly or completely different design when it makes its way to the market.
DJI is the leading company when it comes to the camera equipment and accessories like drones (UAVs), quad-copters, gimbals, and so on. Because of the handy features packed into the device and due to their versatility, DJI products are widely used in the cinema industry and is fairly used by other content creators as well. And recently, the Chinese tech company expanded its lineup with an action camera, the DJI Osmo Action. It is the first action camera from the company and the very first one to come with two displays. With the dual-display feature, the action cam received applauds from many. And after receiving praises from the international market, this camera has finally made its way to Nepal.
As I already mentioned, the action cam flaunts dual displays. It comes with a display both on both the front and on the back. And it’s what set the Osmo Action apart from all the action cameras out there. The device packs a 2.25-inch colored touch-screen on the back and a 1.4-inch colored display in the vicinity of the camera lens on the front. So, making use of the front display, one can easily capture selfies or do vlogging. Since Vloggers and content creators are quite on the rise these days, this camera may turn out handy among such populace.
On to the optics part, the device comes with a 1/2.3-inch sensor, which can capture 12MP images. It is the same sensor, which was used on DJI’s Mavic Air drone. Video wise, you can record 4K movies up to 60fps. In order to ensure better stabilization in the videos, DJI has also incorporated DJI’s proprietary Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) technology. The EIS technology in the Osmo Action goes by the name of RockSteady.
The device is also capable of recording HDR (High Dynamic Range) videos in Ultra-HD or 4K resolution. However, it can only capture 4K HDR videos at 30fps.
DJI has also included some fancy camera features in the device. The Action Cam is also capable of recording slo-mo (up to 8x) and time-lapse videos. There is also an option to tweak into the exposure level. So the users can record movies on their exposure settings according to their liking. And there is DJI’s proprietary feature SnapShot. The SnapShot feature allows the camera to turn on and begin recording in under two seconds by pressing the shutter button once.
To support the users for taking underwater shots, DJI has also encased the device with the waterproof housing. You can be used up to 11 meters under the surface of the water. If you put on a waterproof casing, you can go deep up to 60 meters. But while doing so, you need to make sure that you seal the flap that covers the USB-C port and Micro SD card slot before diving in the water.
Unlike the GoPro Hero 7 Black, the DJI Osmo Action doesn’t come with an HDMI port. So the real-time monitoring of the recording videos on bigger screens is not quite possible here. But you can connect the device with DJI’s mobile app on the phone and watch the videos with it. In doing so, you won’t be obliged to monitor the recording videos on the tiny screen on the device.
As far as the battery is concerned, the action cam comes aboard with a removable battery with 1300mAh capacity. And this battery promises to deliver a backup for 93 minutes while recording 4K/30fps movies with the RockSteady feature turned on. You can also prolong the battery life up to 135 minutes by recording at 1080p/30fps without RockSteady.
Talking about the price, the DJI Osmo Action demands Rs. 48,000 on the purchase. Since it packs more and fancy features than the GoPro Hero 7 Black (Rs. 51,500) and still cost less, the Action Cam looks like it’s worth attention. What do you say? Can it help the vloggers and content creators to unleash the new potential? Let us know in the comments.
You’ve seen in-display fingerprint sensors. Now, get ready for under-display cameras! Of course, we knew this was going to happen. In our pursuit of the perfect bezel-less, notch-less and hole-less display, we’ve come across many kinds of innovations. From pop-up cameras on the Vivo V15 Pro and Oppo F11 Pro to the sliding-rotating on the Galaxy A80 to flipper ones on the Zenfone 6! But the common woe is that they’re all motorized. And while motorized cameras are still durable to an extent, they don’t get IP ratings! So, what do you do?
Under-display selfie cameras, of course! Yes, we knew this was coming. After all, given the advent of technology and the only feasible solution left to try out, it had to happen. But the unexpected is that we expected a company like Samsung to do it. Samsung was already working on an under-display camera technology! Because Samsung is working on it already. However, it is Oppo that managed to win the under-display camera race!
For those seeking the perfect, notchless smartphone screen experience – prepare to be amazed. ?
You are taking a very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology. RT! ? pic.twitter.com/FrqB6RiJaY
This is a video posted on Twitter by Oppo officially. This is not a leak by a third party and not just a rumor. So, it’s happening. It’s only a matter of time as to when! Because there is no other information regarding this camera technology. Just this small video. And so, we’ll have to wait for a while…
Now, at this stage, it’s difficult for under-display cameras to be as good as your regular cameras. There could be some loss in camera quality, as it’s under the display itself! I guess we’ll have to wait a lot longer for this technology to arrive commercially on the market.
Oppo, recently, has made a name for itself with interesting innovations like the Oppo Find X. So, while this is a surprise, it’s not a very strange feat. We’re looking forward to Oppo Under-display selfie camera technology making its way to all the smartphones commercially soon.
M- series was Samsung’s one of the most popular smartphone lineups. And as much as the series made headlines, we didn’t see many variants in it like the A-series. But now we have official news that the Samsung Galaxy M40 will launch in India on the 11th of June.
We can see on Amazon’s Indian website that the company has partnered with Samsung for the launch of it’s new M-series smartphone, the M40. All the pictures on Amazon’s website clearly show how the upcoming smartphone will look. It’ll sport an Infinity-O display, something just like its flagship brother’s, the Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10.
Images on Amazon.in show that the Galaxy M40 will sport a triple camera setup. And one of them will be ultra- wide-angle lens. Additionally, the phone will come bearing Snapdragon 600-series processor, which I’m guessing is the Snapdragon 675. After all, that’s the best SD600 series processor right now. With this, the company has hinted for the phone have a stellar performance along with sporting a triple camera setup.
Having said all this, there are leaks of the phone coming with Snapdragon 675 chipset paired with 6 GB RAM, too. This only confirms our guesses even further. The device will run on Android Pie with One UI on top. The primary lens on the triple camera setup will have 32 MP resolution whereas the selfie shooter can be a 16 MP unit. The specs of the other two cameras are still in the dark.
The fingerprint sensor, however, is located at the back just like the M20. So, no in-display fingerprint scanner for cheap just like the Galaxy A50.
It’s impressive that unlike other members of the M- series, this one has gone for a better and more appealing approach with the cameras and choice of processor. The phone is expected to have a price tag of INR 20,000! That makes this M40 not-so-budget phone. It’s also Rs. 2000 more than the most expensive member of the M-series at present date. Still, since the Galaxy M30 didn’t launch in Nepal, we can’t say much about its availability here, either.
MSI – does it even need any introduction? When it comes to gaming laptops, it takes its place in the top tier leagues. And out of all the laptops we’ve reviewed of MSI’s…this one, right here, is my favorite. The MSI GE75 Raider 9SF! This one packs the latest and the best of everything, and probably sets a benchmark for gaming laptops (at this price range).
What I mean by the latest and the best of everything is that it comes with a 9th-gen CPU and an RTX 2070 graphics. This combo makes it a gaming force to be reckoned with. Of course, its highest variant also comes with an RTX 2080, but I had such a great experience with this, I don’t think anyone would have to pay extra for that. And how does this one fare? Let’s see.
MSI GE75 Raider 9SF Specifications:
Design and Build: Matte Aluminum body, Polycarbonate bottom panel, 39.7 x 26.85 x 2.75 cm, 2.65 kg
Display: 17.3″ Full HD IPS-Level Panel (1920 x 1080 resolution), 100% sRGB & 74% Adobe RGB, 69% NTSC Color Gamut, 300 nits peak brightness with Anti-Glare, 144 Hz Refresh Rate, 3 milliseconds response time
Keyboard: Steel-Series Engine 3 Keyboard, Per-key RGB backlighting, 16 million colors, 1.6 mm key travel
Processor: Hexa-core 9th gen i7-9750H processor, Base-Clock @ 2.6 GHz, Turbo Boost Clock up to 4.5 GHz
RAM: DDR4 16 GB. Dual Channel (2 X 8 GB) (Upgradeable up to 64 GB)
Graphics: 8 GB NVidia GeForce RTX 2070 GDDR6
Battery: 6-cell 51 Watt-hours (up to 2 hours of backup)
Adapter: 280 Watts
Storage: 512 GB NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSD (2x SSD slots) + 1 TB SATA HDD
Webcam: 720p Webcam (@30fps)
Connectivity: Killer Gb LAN, Killer 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5
Ports: 3 x USB A 3.1, 1 x USB-C (No Thunderbolt 3 support), 1 x 3.5 mm headphone jack, 1 x 3.5mm microphone input, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini-display, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet, 1 x SDcard slot
So, right off, the performance is stellar! The 9th gen Hexa Core i7-9750H gives you a performance boost of about 400 MHz from that of the i7-8750H. That’s about a 20% boost, which is a considerable upgrade. And that means higher clock speeds – both on the base clock as well as Turbo. If you don’t understand what that means, don’t worry. Just remember that your 8750H was capable of squeezing quite a lot of performance…and this one does it even better! Kind of an overkill for an average gamer, if you think about it.
I ran Photoshop, Lightroom, After Effects, and Premiere Pro simultaneously just to test it, and apart from a slight delay time in loading all of them, there was no performance hiccup. I’ve had over 30 tabs open on Google Chrome, and there was no freezing or lagging. Of course, that’s partly due to the Dual Channel 16 GB RAM and the fast 512 GB NVMe SSD as well. Apps load fairly quickly too. And if that 512 GB storage wasn’t enough, you also get a 1 TB Hard Disk Drive! Sweet, right?
Read Speed: 1663.3 MB/s
Write Speed: 1451.1 MB/s
As for the gaming performance, this one has set the benchmark for me. I played highly graphics intensive games like Battlefield V and Metro Exodus and both of them ran pretty smooth in my time. However, I didn’t really test it on low-end games, because well – if it can run these most intensive games, then, it will surely run other games easy.
And playing Battlefield V on it has been one of the best gaming experiences for me. With the RTX or Ray Tracing on, I was getting about 73 frames per second on average, and about 84 fps peak. And that was on the Highest settings possible. With the RTX Off, I got about 110 frames per second on average, and 144, peak! That…is quite a lot! And since I can barely make out any difference with the RTX On and RTX Off, I chose to play the game with it turned off.
Metro Exodus, however, didn’t fare as well as Battlefield V. You can actually play it with RTX on Ultra, RTX on High and RTX Off. However, there wasn’t much difference between the two. I got about 65 fps on average on RTX Ultra and something like 70 fps on RTX High settings. And due to its dark game settings, it makes more sense to play the game with RTX Off. However, as strange as it may seem, the frame rates with RTX Off were considerably low…reaching about 60 fps on average.
But that could be the thermals acting up as well. Because by that time, I had been gaming about for hours, and the CPU temperatures were exceeding 102-degrees Centigrade! So, I guess, there was some thermal throttling too. I then, turned the fans to its max, and it did help somewhat, but I didn’t face this problem on Battlefield V, so, I don’t know what to make of it.
Nevertheless, the gaming experience has been, by far, the best, in my tests, of course. And what helps the gaming experience immensely is the display and the speakers. I initially used to complain about the speakers on MSI gaming laptops, and with the cooler boost fans on, the speakers weren’t audible. But this time, MSI has included what it calls “Giant Speakers”! And Giant it is! It’s really loud and fires some great audio.
Display
The large 17.3” IPS LCD display with Full HD resolution, 144 Hz Refresh rate and 3 milliseconds of response time is another appealing factor about this laptop. Of course, that is nothing new for MSI laptops, but still, the large display with decent viewing angles helps a lot. It claims about 100% of sRGB…there’s 69% NTSC Color Gamut Coverage and 74% Adobe RGB. And that is decent enough for your content creation needs too. Plus, there’s MSI’s True Color which switches color modes according to necessity.
Keyboard and Trackpad
On to the keyboard, it’s a pretty standard Steel Series Engine 3 keyboard with the individual key backlighting, which we all like so much. As usual, you can program each key to light up a specific way. But that takes a lot of time, so, I didn’t. But there are various color modes on the keyboard to go with your mood, and there are 4 levels of backlighting, too. Besides the lights show… the keyboard is great. Keys are well spaced and give good tactile feedback. Keyboard travel is also very nice, and typing on it will not feel like a drag.
MSI GRaider 9SF Keyboard & Trackpad
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Keyboard
Trackpad
The trackpad too is about the same. Tracking feels nice and smooth, and the gestures are highly accurate. There are nice physical clicky buttons on them, and I liked the trackpad fairly well.
Ports
MSI GE75 Raider 9SF ports
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Left
Right
Port selection is pretty nice. You get three USB-As, a USB-C (without Thunderbolt 3 support), an HDMI, a MiniDisplay port, an SDCard slot, RJ-45 Ethernet and an Audio-in and Audio-out ports.
Design and Build
Let’s come to the design now…and the design on this MSI GE75 Raider 9SF is refreshed, to say the least. The design on this one is visibly different from other Raider series laptops, like the MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8SF. It moves to a matte-finish aluminum build this time while the bottom panel seems to be polycarbonate. But even so, there’s a minimal amount of flex on the keyboard deck.
MSI GE75 Raider 9SF Design
1 of 6
Lid
Bottom Panel
Front (Closed)
Max Open Angle
Vents (Back)
And aesthetically, there has been lots of improvement in this Raider laptop. The whole design looks better, maybe it’s the kind of super-car design up front or the ridiculously slim bezels on a gaming laptop of this caliber. And even with such slim bezels, they managed to put the webcam on top. However, the webcam, as usual, is not good at all. But since this one is a monster of a laptop, it also weighs like 2.65 kg without the charger. And I think the charger alone adds nearly a kilogram! So, portability is…eh!
Another thing that put me off is the matte finish aluminum panel attracts quite a lot of fingerprints. And they’re also pretty difficult to get rid of. So, there’s that.
Battery
However, the only disappointing thing about this laptop is the battery. With a 51-Watt-hour battery, the juice doesn’t last as long as you’d expect. Not even 2.5 hours on normal usage, which was usual for other MSI laptops. This one barely gives you 2 hours on regular usage and about 30 minutes on gaming.
Conclusion
So, the MSI GE75 Raider 9SF is a great gaming laptop for sure. You get the latest of the processor and the graphics, plenty of memory, storage and great speakers. The display is pretty decent and the refreshed design only adds to its niceties. You can also easily upgrade the RAM up to 64 GB as there are dual slots in there.
I only have a small complaint in the battery department, but since gaming laptops tend to be like this, there’s very less to say in this matter.
And this is a laptop that costs like $2200 internationally. Of course, it depends on the configuration available, and there are quite a lot of them. For that price, I don’t know if it’s a good deal or not, but here in Nepal, it certainly is, for the price of Rs. 300000! And this is the official price, so, you get all the guarantees and warranties you could need. For me, this one has been the gaming laptop benchmark so far, and I’d certainly recommend this for buying!
