MSI Sword 17 A12UD

Specifications

Price comparison

Reviews for the MSI Sword 17 A12UD

[REVIEW] MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) - Perhaps one too many sacrifices?
Source: Laptop Media
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 05/05/2023

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MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) review – does the low price justify the compromises?
Source: Laptop Media
As an affordable gaming notebook, the Sword 17 (A12UD) has some shortcomings, which are expected. Some of them are disappointing – like the short battery life (only 4 hours of light use at once). Others are surprisingly negligible – all plastic feels good to the touch, and frankly doesn’t compromise the structural integrity of the device.MSI Sword 17 (A12UD)’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. The display doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment, but unfortunately – covers only 53% of the sRGB color gamut. It is good that it has a 144Hz refresh rate, but we measured a rather slow pixel response time. However, there is one feature that could have been better without the need of spending more money – the keyboard. While its key travel is decently long, the feedback is too soft for comfortable typing and gaming. On the bright side, the cooling is quite capable. Well, that’s true only when you use the CoolerBoost option, which not only blows the heat away but also your eardrums. Plus, the upgrade options are on point – two SODIMM memory slots(albeit for DDR4 RAM), and one M.2 PCIe x4 Gen 4 slot for storage. Again, unfortunately, there is very little insulation between the motherboard and the keyboard, which leads to excessive heat in the center part of the keyboard. Add to that the lack of an SD card reader, and the neutered USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and you can easily be disappointed. The good thing is that the Sword 17 (A12UD) supports Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. So, if you are into gaming, but you don’t have a huge budget for the best on the market, the Sword 17 (A12UD) will surely have popped on your radar. However, the Nitro 5 (AN517-55) is arguably a better option.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 02/15/2023

Foreign Reviews

Обзор MSI Sword 17: рыцарь в белых доспехах с RTX 3050 Ti
Source: Hi-Tech Mail RU→EN
Positive: Powerful hardware; high gaming performance; big screen; excellent display.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 03/02/2023

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU: Mid-range gaming laptop graphics card based on the Ampere GA107 chip.

With these GPUs you are able to play modern and demanding games fluently at medium detail settings and HD resolution.

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

i7-12700H: Alder Lake based mobile CPU with 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores. The performance cores offer hyper threading, leading to 20 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.

17.30": This display size is a standard format for desktop replacements (DTR). The DTR laptops are heavier to carry, need more power, but texts are easy to read and high resolutions are no problem. DTR are mainly intended for stationary desk use, where weight and energy hunger don't matter. In return, you enjoy the advantages of high resolutions (more details, better legibility).» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

2.6 kg:

With this weight, a laptop is rather heavier than average. Devices in this range shine more with screen size and performance than with mobility.

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.

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

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