MSI Katana 15 2023 Series
Processor: Intel Alder Lake-P i7-12650H, Intel Raptor Lake-H i7-13620HGraphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Laptop GPU, NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
Display: 15.60 inch
Weight: 2.25kg
Price: 1450 euro
Average of 10 scores (from 22 reviews)
MSI Katana 15 B13VGK
Specifications
Notebook: MSI Katana 15 B13VGKProcessor: Intel Raptor Lake-H i7-13620H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU 8192 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.25kg
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Price comparison
Average Score:
Reviews
Source: Digit week
The MSI Katana 15 occupies an upper spot in the budget gaming laptop category. With an asking price of around $15000, the Katana 15 checks all the right boxes with a strong Intel Core i7-13620H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. That’s impressive given that most gaming laptops at that price point give you just 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD (or smaller). The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 makes the deal even better, and this is likely to be the new standard for low-priced, midrange gaming laptops, a spot previously reserved for the RTX 3070. On the other hand, the display is mediocre at best, favoring a high refresh rate over image quality. Additionally, the plastic chassis is uninspiring, and the short battery life significantly lags behind its peers. But they are not dealbreakers, but just worth keeping in mind when comparing it with competitors out there.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 07/18/2023
Source: Digit week
The MSI Katana 15 occupies an upper spot in the budget gaming laptop category. With an asking price of around $15000, the Katana 15 checks all the right boxes with a strong Intel Core i7-13620H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. That’s impressive given that most gaming laptops at that price point give you just 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD (or smaller). The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 makes the deal even better, and this is likely to be the new standard for low-priced, midrange gaming laptops, a spot previously reserved for the RTX 3070. On the other hand, the display is mediocre at best, favoring a high refresh rate over image quality. Additionally, the plastic chassis is uninspiring, and the short battery life significantly lags behind its peers.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 06/15/2023
Rating: Total score: 78%
Source: USA Today
The MSI Katana 15 provides an affordable on-ramp to the newest generation of gaming laptops. There’s no mistaking the RTX 4070 and Intel Core i7-13620H’s potent combination, especially with Nvidia-specific features like DLSS, 144Hz display, and a MUX switch. Getting a new laptop at such an affordable price comes with important trade-offs, though. Battery life is abysmal and you can’t buy a small GaN charger to replace the laptop’s bulky AC adapter because the only USB-C port lacks power delivery. The screen is also quite dim and dull. For another $250, something like the Gigabyte AORUS 15 offers a brighter display and the largest battery possible for about triple the battery life. But MSI’s Katana 15 is still a good option if you want the highest frame rates possible while saving as much money as possible. It won’t blow you away with the screen, battery life, or materials, but it’s an option worth considering.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 05/03/2023
Source: PC Mag
If you're a strict utilitarian when it comes to gaming hardware, you can go right ahead and buy the MSI Katana 15. This gaming rig has substantial power and a fine price to match. Even if its design leaves a lot to be desired, it's not flimsy or frail or starved for cooling. Finding a similarly configured Lenovo Legion will likely provide a better all-around experience, but it's hard to ignore the price/performance ratio MSI brings to the table here (especially with a lower-end configuration selling for $999 at Micro Center(Opens in a new window)). For that, we highly recommend the 2023 MSI Katana 15...if you can see past the screen shortcomings.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/15/2023
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Laptop Media
Support, online available, Very Short, Date: 03/29/2023
Source: Laptop Mag
The Katana 15 is a beast of a gaming laptop for those who refuse to spend anything over $2,000. With its phenomenal RTX 40-series graphics performance and great productivity scores, it’s hard to say no when faced with such powerful hardware at this price. We were also impressed by its aesthetically alluring design, satisfying keyboard, decent sound system, and its additional functionality that will make nitpicky gamers happy. The $1,599 price tag isn’t some sort of miracle, however, as the Katana 15’s incredible performance comes at the detriment of its battery life and display. Graphics performance is important, but it will feel nowhere near as impactful if the screen it’s attached to presents environments without their luster, while also being held back by shockingly dim peak brightness. Its sub-three hour battery life does it no favors, either. While you could just connect the laptop to a superior monitor or TV, if you’re looking for something with a gloriously colorful display and are willing to deal with worse gaming performance, we recommend the MSI Crosshair 15 R6E. If you don’t particularly care, the Katana 15 is an otherwise phenomenal gaming laptop.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 03/27/2023
Rating: Total score: 80%
Foreign Reviews
Source: Multiplayer IT IT→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 05/17/2023
Rating: Total score: 75%
MSI Katana 15 B13VFK
Specifications
Notebook: MSI Katana 15 B13VFKProcessor: Intel Raptor Lake-H i7-13620H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU 8192 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.25kg
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Price comparison
Average Score:
Foreign Reviews
Source: MuyComputer ES→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 04/27/2023
Rating: Total score: 76% price: 75% performance: 90% mobility: 60% workmanship: 75%
Source: DGL.ru RU→EN
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/21/2024
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Prohardver.hu HU→EN
Positive: Powerful processor; great GPU; 16GB RAM; 1TB SSD ROM. Negative: Poor display.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 03/27/2024
Source: Pemmzchannel ID→EN
Positive: Premium design; solid workmanship; powerful processor; great dedicated graphics card; high gaming performance; good cooling system. Negative: Poor display.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 03/16/2023
MSI Katana 15 B13VEK
Specifications
Notebook: MSI Katana 15 B13VEKProcessor: Intel Raptor Lake-H i7-13620H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU 6144 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.25kg
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Price comparison
Average Score:
Reviews
Source: Expert Reviews
There’s a lot to like about the latest Katana from MSI. It’s compact, graced with a good keyboard and a decent sound system, while performance – both gaming and general – is very impressive. It would have been impossible to recommend with a price of £1,500 thanks to the sub-par display and wretched battery life but, at £1,200, the failings are a little easier to swallow. That said, a half-decent 165Hz display and an 80Wh+ battery is not a ridiculous ask for that sort of money.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 12/04/2023
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: Techradar
The MSI Katana 15 (2023) balances design and performance with a relatively affordable price to be a great option for those seeking their first or at least an affordable gaming laptop. It has solid 1080p performance and everything – except for the battery life and trackpad – is good enough.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 08/17/2023
Rating: Total score: 80% price: 80% performance: 90% mobility: 60% workmanship: 80%
Source: Laptop Media
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/22/2023
Source: Expert Reviews
There’s a lot to like about the latest Katana from MSI. It’s compact, graced with a good keyboard and a decent sound system, while performance – both gaming and general – is very impressive. It would have been impossible to recommend with a price of £1,500 thanks to the sub-par display and wretched battery life but, at £1,200, the failings are a little easier to swallow. That said, a half-decent 165Hz display and an 80Wh+ battery is not a ridiculous ask for that sort of money.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/24/2023
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: Laptop Media
Like in the past, MSI’s Katana 15 has its downsides. But thanks to the early adoption of the RTX 4000 GPUs, this device can become a best seller in no time. In fact, NVIDIA’s RTX 4050 shows an incredible performance jump, making it not only obliterate the RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti, but also trade blows, and even beat the RTX 3060. Unfortunately, this leads to some shenanigans with the pricing of the new laptops. The Katana, which was known for its low price (hence more than one cost-cutting compromise), now is not so friendly towards your budget. This makes it pretty hard to recommend. But what are the aforementioned compromises in the case of the Katana 15 (B13V)? Well, let’s start with the all-plastic build. It doesn’t feel cheap, but its chassis is a little flexy. Not to mention the bouncy lid. Indeed, now all models receive a 4-zone RGB backlit keyboard, but the touchpad is far from the likes of the Lenovo Legion 5 from 2022 for example. Not only that, but there is no Thunderbolt 4 connection, and one of the USB Type-As runs at 2.0 speeds
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 03/29/2023
Foreign Reviews
Source: The Gioididong VN→EN
Positive: Gaming design; decent processor; great GPU; high performance.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/26/2023
Source: FPT shop VN→EN
Positive: Powerful hardware; high gaming performance; big screen; simple design; comfortable keyboard.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/06/2023
Source: Cell Phones VN→EN
Positive: Powerful processor; great dedicated graphics card; high gaming performance; premium design; solid workmanship.
Hands-On, online available, Very Long, Date: 03/08/2023
MSI Katana 15 B12VGK
Specifications
Notebook: MSI Katana 15 B12VGKProcessor: Intel Alder Lake-P i7-12650H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU 8192 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.25kg
Price: 1450 euro
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Price comparison
Foreign Reviews
Source: HardwareLuxx DE→EN
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/03/2023
MSI Katana 15 B13UDXK
Specifications
Notebook: MSI Katana 15 B13UDXKProcessor: Intel Raptor Lake-H i7-13620H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Laptop GPU
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.25kg
Links: MSI homepage MSI notebook section
Price comparison
Foreign Reviews
Source: XT Mobile VN→EN
Positive: Compact size; light weight; premium design; backlit keys; powerful harwdare; high performance; big screen; rich set of ports; good cooling system. Negative: Mediocre design; poor display; relatively heavy.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 09/19/2024
Comment
MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI) was founded in 1986 in Taiwan. MSI is especially known as a manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards for PCs, but also offers computer accessories, complete systems, motherboards, graphics cards, laptops, desktop PCs, monitors and other components. However, the Microstar brand name in Germany belongs to the Medion company. MSI is known for its gaming products and has developed a wide range of gaming laptops and desktop PCs. The company is also active in workstations, servers and industrial automation. MSI has offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
These graphics cards are able to play the latest and most demanding games in high resolutions and full detail settings with enabled Anti-Aliasing.
NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU: High-end graphics card for laptops based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. Offers 8 GB GDDR6 (128 Bit) and is configurable with a TGP of 35 - 115W (+ Dynamic Boost).
NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU: High-end graphics card for laptops based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. Offers 8 GB GDDR6 (128 Bit) and is configurable with a TGP of 35 - 115W (+ Dynamic Boost).
With these GPUs you are able to play modern and demanding games fluently at medium detail settings and HD resolution.
NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU: Mid-range graphics card for laptops based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. Offers 6 GB of GDDR6 VRAM (96 Bit) and is configurable with a TGP of 35 - 115W (+ Dynamic Boost).
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Laptop GPU: Mid-range gaming laptop graphics card based on the Ampere GA107 chip. Offers 2560 shaders and is offered in different TGP (power consumption) variants from 35 to 80 Watt with different clock speeds and therefore performance. Refresh of the RTX 3050 with 6GB, higher shader count but a reduced memory bandwidth of 96Bit.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Raptor Lake-H:
i7-13620H: Alder Lake based mobile CPU with 6 performance cores and 4 efficient cores. The performance cores offer hyper threading, leading to 16 threads that can be processed. The CPU clocks from 1.8 to 4.9 GHz and supports vPro.
Intel Alder Lake-P:
i7-12650H: Alder Lake based mobile CPU with 6 performance cores and 4 efficient cores. The performance cores offer hyper threading, leading to 16 threads that can be processed. The CPU clocks from 1.7 to 4.7 GHz and supports vPro.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
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75.4%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.