Put very simply, choosing a gaming laptop essentially comes down to two things: The graphics card it has on board, and price. The former determines its gaming performance, while the latter applies to pretty much everything in this capitalist world of ours. At AU$1,199 this Prime Day, the MSI GF63 Thin with its RTX 4060 offers both capable performance and more importantly: Value for money. A win-win!
The RTX 4060 is what I would consider the first tier of the current Nvidia graphics card lineup that can be used to play all modern games. MSI has configured it to run at a surprisingly low 45W, which costs it a chunk of performance compared to more expensive RTX 4060 competitors, so you might have to dial the settings down on particularly demanding titles. But when you add DLSS and Frame Generation to the mix, it won't fall over in punishing titles, unlike cheaper cards which can really struggle when you add things like ray tracing to the mix. At least its fans won't need to scream to keep it all cool.
Beyond the GPU, the MSI GF63 Thin has a smart choice of partnering hardware. The Intel i5 12450H is an 8-core model with four performance cores and four efficient cores. Don't be worried about this being a 12th Gen processor, its architecture is the same as that used in 13th and 14th Generation CPUs. It's more than capable of keeping the RTX 4060 humming along at its best.
Other key features include 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. Would a larger SSD be nice? Sure, but you can always swap that out later if you choose. You can also upgrade the memory in the future. That's a plus over many modern laptops with soldered RAM. Remember we're talking about a gaming laptop here at under AU$1,200. That's not far above what you would consider budget territory.
The screen is a 1920 x 1080 15.6-in IPS affair with a 144Hz refresh rate. Again, it's a good match for the RTX 4060 as it will happily perform at 1080p, giving you solid frame rates with decent colour accuracy too.
It's got a decent set of connectivity options including up to four USB ports, WiFi 6 and a HDMI output for driving an external monitor. And, at 1.86KG, it's light enough to carry around all day on campus or the office should you be looking for an all-rounder.
If you're on a tight budget, this MSI GF63 Thin is a Prime Day standout. As a gaming machine its value is really good, while its relatively light weight and upgradeability give it some measure of future proofing. If you want things like an OLED screen or RTX 4070, be prepared to pay more. A lot more.
