Deal | Beastly MSI Vector 16 HX AI sees big $350 price cut: RTX 5080 gaming laptop with 240 Hz display is on sale at Best Buy

We reported last week that the MSI Vector 16 HX AI with an RTX 5070 Ti, a Core Ultra 7 255HX CPU, and an FHD+ display was selling for just $1,549.99 on Amazon. However, the offer, which is still available on Amazon, might not have pleased some fans who wanted a much more powerful gaming laptop with a higher-resolution panel. Best Buy has now come to the rescue, as the retailer is now offering the laptop with a more powerful CPU/GPU and a QHD+ panel.

The MSI Vector 16 HX AI with an RTX 5080 laptop GPU, a Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, and a QHD+ 240 Hz panel can now be yours for just $2,149.99 at Best Buy. This $350 discount also brings free copies of Battlefield 6 and Borderlands 4, both of which are releasing in the coming months.

In addition to the specs mentioned above, the MSI Vector 16 HX AI also features 16 GB of DDR5-6400 memory, 1 TB of Gen 4 storage, Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.4, and Gigabit LAN. Both the RAM and the storage can be expanded to a maximum of 96 GB and 4 TB, respectively. Moreover, one M.2 slot supports PCIe Gen 5 SSDs, so you can outfit the laptop with a blazing-fast Gen 5 SSD.

Looking at the ports, the MSI Vector 16 HX AI boasts a pretty stellar collection with:

• Two Thunderbolt 5 ports
• Two Type-A connectors
• An SD card reader
• An HDMI 2.1 out
• An RJ-45 jack

MSI Vector 16 HX AI: Speedy performance meets a fast display

Thanks to the inclusion of the RTX 5080 laptop with a 175 W TGP and a 20-core Core Ultra 9 275HX, the MSI Vector 16 HX AI should be one of the fastest gaming laptops on the market. Our testing shows that the RTX 5080 laptop is a beast of a mobile GPU, as it comes second only to the RTX 5090 laptop. As such, you will be able to run almost all AAA games at QHD resolution with high frame rates and elevated graphics settings.

The 16-inch, 240 Hz QHD+ display of the MSI Vector 16 HX AI will complement this performance quite well. The panel posted pretty strong numbers in our review with more than 400 nits of average brightness, 97% DCI-P3 coverage, fast response times, and accurate colors. So, aside from gaming, you can comfortably edit videos and images on the laptop.

However, powerful internals also mean more heat and noise. As we noted in our review of the RTX 5070 Ti and Core Ultra 7 255HX variant, the MSI Vector 16 HX AI can be loud and quite hot under load. Add a hefty chassis, and it is easy to see how the MSI Vector 16 HX AI is more suitable as a desktop replacement than a portable gamer.

All in all, the MSI Vector 16 HX AI is a speedy QHD gaming laptop. Although not cheap at over $2,100, the laptop will continue to offer stellar gaming performance for many years to come. This should make the MSI Vector 16 HX AI a good investment for serious gamers.

Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.