MSI PS42 Modern 8RA-280XES

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Reviews for the MSI PS42 Modern 8RA-280XES

MSI PS42 Modern 8RA-280XES: ¡Muy Difícil de Superar!
Source: Mi Mundo Gadget ES→EN
Positive: Slim size; light weight; powerful processor; nice connectivity. Negative: Noisy under loads; no Thunderbolt port.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 05/16/2020

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Series: MSI continues to impress the tech-savvy community with more simple and elegant laptop designs which are guaranteed to appeal to modern aesthetic views. The MSI PS42 enters the scene with much anticipation and more promising prospects to deliver. First of all, let us touch on the design of the laptop itself. MSI has made itself known to come up with laptops with a distinguished theme which typically revolves around prestige and elegance. This does not come short for the MSI PS42 as this particular laptop model retains the signature MSI look with its ultra-light chassis framework foiled with hair-brushed aluminum. The keyboard emits comforting white lights to complement with the entire theme of the laptop. Moreover, it is to be noted that the MSI PS42 is very thin and only measures up to 1.19 kilograms in weight. This makes the MSI PS42 extremely portable for frequent laptop users who are always on the go.

The MSI PS42 comes with a distinct cooling system of its own. Aptly named as the Cooler Boost 3, this dual thermal cooling system harnesses the strength of two dedicated fans and three heat pipes to channel out built-up heat efficiently under the pressure of intense workload. Generated noises caused by the Cooler Boost 3 are significantly mitigated to ensure that unwelcomed nuisance is removed from the equation. The Cooler Boost 3 technology works in tandem with high-end components such as the Core i7 Extreme CPUs and GTX880M 8GB graphics. This highly suggests that the Cooler Boost 3 is designed with the latest innovation in mind in order to improve cooling performance up to the next level.

The MSI PS42 also comes equipped with the exclusive True Color Technology which provides a variety of modes tailored for different settings and usage. The True Color Technology introduces up to six different profiles for screen color optimization. Users can opt for a profile of their choice, be it the Anti-Blue Mode or the professional Designer Mode, as long as the selected preset pleases the eyes without sacrificing viewing comfort in place of work efficiency. Not only that, users are bound to realize that the True Color Technology displays colors as close to 100 % sRGB. Suffice to say, each color-correcting mode is tailored with a specific target audience in mind, be they interior designers or avid gamers alike, the presets which are made available by the True Color Technology strive to deliver the best screen experience to whoever and wherever the users are.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

NVIDIA GeForce MX250: Successor of the MX150 and still based on the same Pascal GP108 chip (similar to the desktop GT 1030) but with higher clock speeds. Available in two versions, a normal 25 Watt version and a low power version with 10 Watt TDP and reduced performance. The 25 Watt version e.g. offers a 21% higher boost clock than the old MX150 leading to a 5% performance gain.

Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.  

i7-8565U: Whiskey Lake based low power quad-core processor (technically identical to Kaby Lake but produced in a further improved 14nm++ process). The four cores are clocked between 1.8 and 4.6 GHz (Turbo Boost) and support HyperThreading.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

14.00":

Above all, this display size is used for subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles. For all three types, this size is quite large. The biggest variety of subnotebooks is represented with this size.

Large display-sizes allow higher resolutions. So, details like letters are bigger. On the other hand, the power consumption is lower with small screen diagonals and the devices are smaller, more lightweight and cheaper.

1.2 kg:

In former time,s this weight was typical for big tablets, small subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles with a 10-11 inch display-diagonal. Nowadays, often 15 inch laptops weigh as much.

MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI), is a Taiwan based computer hardware manufacturer since 1986 best known for desktop computer motherboards. MSI also designs and manufactures graphics cards, barebone PCs, notebook computers, networking products, servers, multimedia, consumer electronics, and storage devices. MSI, as most Taiwanese computer manufacturers, sells products on OEM/ODM basis. It also sells products worldwide based on its own brand name "MSI". The market share of laptops with the MSI brand is rather low.

MSI is not present in the smartphone market. As a laptop manufacturer, MSI has a medium market share and is not among the Top 10 global manufacturers. The ratings of MSI laptops are above average in the tests (as of 2016).

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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