{"id":1680386,"date":"2026-09-01T10:13:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/DgZUgXbK89aWX4mFm3ARYT"},"modified":"2026-09-01T10:13:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:13:47","slug":"msi-crosshair-16-max-hx-e2w-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/msi-crosshair-16-max-hx-e2w-review\/","title":{"rendered":"MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n

The MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W is in many ways the polar opposite of the other MSI laptop I recently tested, the Stealth 16 AI+ B3W<\/a>. The latter is an ultra-expensive, sleek and subtle machine that limits its power for the sake of thermals, efficiency, and form factor. Not so with the Crosshair: it’s a gaming laptop, and it knows it.<\/p>\n

I could tell as much as soon as I unboxed it, thanks to its glossy\u2014and I would later discover, RGB-lit\u2014embossed MSI logo on the lid, plus the general thickness, key styling and so on. It’s not particularly obnoxious and still has some subtlety to it, but it’s not hiding the fact that it’s a gaming laptop.<\/p>\n

Nor does it hide this fact when it comes to performance, eking as much as it can out of the RTX 5070 GPU and Core Ultra 7 251HX processor, saying to hell with thermals and battery life. I can certainly respect that, but it has to deliver in other respects, too, including price. And in other respects this laptop is not quite so pretty.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Buy if…<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

\u2705 You want great all-round performance:<\/strong> MSI really has designed this thing to eke out as much performance as possible from the mid-range components.<\/p>\n

\u2705 Punchy visuals are important to you:<\/strong> This laptop has a gorgeous OLED panel that does indeed make visuals pop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Do not buy if…<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

\u274c You want snappy audio:<\/strong> The audio from this laptop suffers from latency issues, and I couldn’t seem to resolve them even after quite a bit of tinkering.<\/p>\n

\u274c You want to take this out and about: <\/strong>Not only does this laptop have poor battery life, it also doesn’t look particularly appealing aesthetically for use in public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W features<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W specs<\/caption>\n
\n

CPU<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Intel Core Ultra 7 251HX<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

NPU<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

30 TOPS<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Graphics<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

RTX 5070 mobile (115 W)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

16 GB DDR5-6400<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Storage<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 TB SSD<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Screen size<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

16-inch<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Screen type<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

OLED<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Resolution<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2560 x 1600<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Refresh rate<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

165 Hz<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Ports<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1x RJ45, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB Type-C, 3x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen2, 1x HDMI 2.1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Wireless connectivity<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Wi-Fi 6E<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Battery<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

80 Whr (4-cell)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Dimensions<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

363 x 269.7 x 21.95\u201323.85 mm<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Weight<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2.2 kg<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Price<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

$2,600<\/a> (32 GB ver., US only)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

The particular Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W that I tested came with an Intel Core Ultra 7 251HX, RTX 5070, and 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, but there are different versions. The ones I can currently spot online have a more powerful Core Ultra 9 290HX with 32 GB of DDR5<\/a>, or the same 251HX CPU but an RTX 5060 and 32 GB of DDR5<\/a>. All of those come with 1 TB of storage.<\/p>\n

In the case of the 16 GB of RAM in the version I have, it is at least 2×8 GB of fast 6,400 MT\/s memory, rather than a single stick of slow RAM. This presumably helps a bunch with CPU-intensive tasks, as I found the laptop to perform even better than some others with ‘better’ CPUs.<\/p>\n

A big draw here is also the OLED panel, which is gorgeous. I’m not used to seeing OLEDs on such gamer-y gaming laptops, as I’ve only really seen them on gaming laptops that are going for ‘sleek and refined’, so it’s a nice surprise to see such a great panel here. It’s only 165 Hz, but it’s a perfect match for the RTX 5070 mobile GPU inside the Crosshair.<\/p>\n

\n
\"An
Future<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
Future<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
Future<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

At first I thought there weren’t many ports on this laptop, but before long I found the rest hidden on the rear side and breathed a sigh of relief. I particularly like the inclusion of a Thunderbolt 4 port as well as a port for an Ethernet connection.<\/p>\n

Getting to how it is to actually use the laptop, I don’t have any real complaints but equally no specific praises. It’s no behemoth, but it’s hardly a slimline laptop, either, and its keys feel simply\u2026 fine<\/em>. WASD keys are translucent and there is 24-zone RGB, again signalling to the world ‘I am definitely a gaming laptop’. I do wish MSI had foregone the numpad to make things a little less cramped, though. The trackpad is quite small, but it is at least central, which is the correct choice (fight me).<\/p>\n

The big downside is audio, just as was the case with the Stealth. However, in this case it’s even worse. There’s definite (but not catastrophically high) latency over the default audio device, but unlike with the Stealth I tested, this wasn’t resolved by switching to a different USB-connected audio device. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\"An<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As such, if you play games that really benefit from snappy and responsive audio such as shooters, and especially sensitive to a little audio delay, I’d steer clear unless and until MSI discovers what the problem is and how to fix it (the company is investigating). I tried disabling\/uninstalling Nahimic as well as Norton antivirus to see if that helped, but doing the former proved difficult and the latter didn’t resolve it.<\/p>\n

The speakers themselves are nothing to write home about anyway. They’re not the worst I’ve heard, but they’ve definitely got a little bit of that tinniness in them that you expect out of a lot of laptops or cheaper Bluetooth speakers.<\/p>\n

MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W performance<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Crosshair 16 Max HX E2W performs very well for an RTX 5070 laptop, often beating other similar lappies. MSI has clearly opted for a performance-oriented machine here, and it shows.<\/p>\n

\n