{"id":1705903,"date":"2026-10-01T03:01:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/QzsdXSpkC7ci7hD2LMxzxh"},"modified":"2026-10-01T03:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:01:57","slug":"msi-katana-15-hx-b14w-gaming-laptop-review-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/msi-katana-15-hx-b14w-gaming-laptop-review-2\/","title":{"rendered":"MSI Katana 15 HX B14W gaming laptop review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“A union divided cannot stand,” reads a famous quote from a famous man. But only now can we finally know why Abraham Lincoln said what he said. There’s no shadow of a doubt in my mind he was (in this journalist’s opinion), predicting the rise and fall of MSI’s Katana 15 HX B14W 2026 edition. Clearly irate with the apparent division it has between its US and UK pricing. This thing is, no word of a lie, $500 more expensive in the US, and that’s even before we add sales tax into the equation. Best gaming laptop<\/a>? Not in the land of the free, that’s for damn sure.<\/p>\n

In ol’ blighty, in the realm of the surprisingly good cooking and cheap dental care, it’s a whole other story. What you get for a meagre \u00a31,300 first looks quite solid. And although, yes, that’s probably three days of heating this coming winter, if you forgo the soothing warmth of your radiators for a bit you can net yourself an RTX 5060, Core i7 14650HX, and 16 GB of (gloriously dual-channel) 5,600 MT\/s DDR5 RAM, all paired nicely with a crisp 2560×1440 “IPS-level” display flickering along 165 times every single second.<\/p>\n

For that outlay, I wouldn’t blame you in thinking that this is a surprisingly tempting proposition, especially as Black Friday is right around the corner. But it’s not without fault, and there’s some curious side-effects as a result of the cooling design, that you need to be aware of before you pull the trigger and tell grandma to grab another coat to keep warm.<\/p>\n

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Buy if…<\/h3>\n
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\u2705 You’re after a cheap UK deal for a versatile laptop: <\/strong>It’s not the ultimate gaming machine, no, but MSI’s packed a lot of solid quality hardware in here, and for just shy of \u00a31,300 it does beat out the competition spec for spec.<\/p>\n

\u2705 You’re a big fan of DLSS: <\/strong>That RTX 5060 does lead the field when it comes to ray tracing performance compared to its competition at a similar price point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Do not buy if…<\/h3>\n
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\u274c You’re not a fan of the “gamer” aesthetic: <\/strong>It’s big bold and ostentatious, with a hexagonal screen bezel, and overall body design. Everywhere you look, it clearly states itself as “for the gamer”, so if you’re taking this into a business meeting, look away.<\/p>\n

\u274c You want a CPU and GPU combo that’s fully unlocked: <\/strong>The Katana 15 HX technically has a 115 W TGP, but it often taps out at half that, with flailing clock-speeds as a result, we suspect due to CPU bottlenecking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MSI Katana 15 HX – Features<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\"MSI
Future<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"MSI
Future<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
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Processor<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Intel Core i7 14650HX PNG<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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

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8 Performance, 8 Efficient <\/p>\n

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

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24 <\/p>\n

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Boost clock speed<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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5.2 GHz <\/p>\n

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

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB <\/p>\n

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

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16 GB (2x8GB) DDR5-5600 MT\/s <\/p>\n

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

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1 TB Samsung MZVL81T0HFLB-00BTW PCIe 4.0 <\/p>\n

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

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15.6-inch “IPS-Level” <\/p>\n

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

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2560 x 1440 <\/p>\n

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

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165 Hz <\/p>\n

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

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75 Whr <\/p>\n

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Power brick<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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240 W <\/p>\n

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

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2.4 kg <\/p>\n

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

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359 x 262 x 25.5 mm <\/p>\n

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

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\u00a31,299 \/ $1,799 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

So, we’ve covered the basics already, chunky GPU that kinda pairs nicely with the 2560 x 1440 “IPS-level” display, 115 W TGP which should give the card a bit of leg room to clock-up nice and high. Should<\/em>. You get WiFi 6E, and Bluetooth as standard. As well as three USB Type-A ports, a USB-C, Ethernet, 3.5 mm audio, and HDMI out too. That’s not a huge amount of connectivity; you may need a USB hub or dongle if you’re going to spin this up as your main rig with a few extra periphs, but it’s a comfortable enough experience if you’re on the move, and I’ve seen worse recently. Razer’s Blade 16<\/a>, doesn’t even come with ethernet and that thing costs a staggering five grand or thereabouts (although to be fair it is very good).<\/p>\n

The SSD is a bit underwhelming mind you. It’s one of Samsung’s\u2026 well, I’m not going to reel off the serial code because it’s one of those cryptic OEM-only designations that makes no sense to any human that reads it, but in short its an OEM PM9C1b, PCIe 4.0 SSD, that should top out at 7 GB\/s on the read and 5.7 GB\/s on the writes. It’s based on Samsung’s in-house Piccolo controller, and taps into 236-layer TLC V-NAND, it’s not too dissimilar to the 990 Evo Samsung launched a couple of years back at this point. So y’know, eh\u2026<\/p>\n

As for the chip, that’s Intel’s Raptor Lake Core i7 14650HX. Again a little dated, but you do get eight performance cores and eight efficient cores for fully 24 threads, and a max turbo clock speed of 5.2 GHz at full tilt. But it’s hot, real hot, and that is I think the biggest issue that the B14W currently has. Certainly if we compare it to something like Asus’ TUF Gaming A16<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MSI Katana 15 HX – Value<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\"MSI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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

Alright, yep let’s talk value. Ahem… It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. Something that ironically a traditional Katana isn’t, and it’s mostly dependent on which part of the globe you sit. If you’re in the US $1,800 for this kit-out is absurd. Particularly when you have laptops like the Lenovo Legion 5 available for a near identical spec, but with a far better OLED screen for less than that.<\/p>\n

And it’s that screen that really lets down the whole affair. MSI has it listed as “IPS-level”, and to be frank, it doesn’t look anything like an IPS. I’ve got it sat next to two separate IPS monitors right now, and the brightness is dull, the contrast underwhelming, and the color difference between the three genuinely astounding. If you’d have told me this was a TN panel, I’d believe you, and even then go “man, it’s a bit rough by modern TN standards, aint it?” Like yes, it’s great it’s got that 165 Hz refresh rate, and a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a pixel density that puts 4K 32-inch monitors to shame, but it just absolutely pulls you out of the immersion when you see just how dull it looks by comparison to most modern offerings.<\/p>\n

That’s almost excusable at the \u00a31200 – \u00a31300 mark, and unconscionable at $1,800 (I have seen this cheaper during my time testing, but let’s not assume it’s always on offer). Even so, it just leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth, particularly when compared to that A16, or the Lenovo Legion 5.<\/p>\n

MSI Katana 15 HX – Sound<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\"MSI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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

I’ll talk more about this momentarily, but the fans are not particularly that noisy under load. They are spinning and going at what I assume is full-tilt, but compared to the likes of the Lenovo, it’s a whole other ball game. Dare I say, you don’t need a set of noise cancelling headphones to drown out the sound of this thing.<\/p>\n

As for the speakers, they’re ok. Bass is a bit muted, there’s not a lot of breadth to the soundscape (perhaps unsurprising given the form factor), but clarity is up there, and there’s no tinniness in the upper trebles. If you’re listening to Blood in the Bayou by River Lume and Spearfisher, you can hear every single note of the banjo as clear as day. Yes it does lack the warmth and thrum you’d expect from a full setup, but again, it’s two tiny tweeters.<\/p>\n

MSI Katana 15 HX – Performance<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\"MSI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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

Things don’t fair particularly better in the performance department either. Although yes it does have a dual-channel RAM setup (thank god, because I don’t think I could cope if it didn’t), CPU performance is woefully under par compared to even the Core i7 13650HX in the Legion 5, and in-game things get considerably less impressive, even though it has that 115W TGP.<\/p>\n

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