The Cheapest RTX 4080 Gaming Laptop! MSI GP68 Review

MSI’s Vector GP68HX is the cheapest RTX 4080 gaming laptop I’ve ever seen, but lower price means corners have to be cut elsewhere - find out if it’s worth it in this review!

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MSI Vector GP68HX (2023) Review Timestamps:
0:00 The Cheapest RTX 4080 Gaming Laptop! But…
0:47 Design & Build Quality
1:12 Size & Weight
1:35 Laptop Specs
1:43 Keyboard, RGB Lighting & Touchpad
2:33 Ports
3:59 Getting Inside & Internals
4:29 Wi-Fi Speed, SSD & SD Card Speed
4:56 Upgrade Options
5:27 Speakers & Latencymon
5:44 Battery Size & Power Saving Features
6:11 Battery Life Comparison
6:35 Video Sponsor - Pulseway!
7:08 Cooling Design & Thermal Modes
8:03 Temperatures / Clock Speed / TDP
9:15 Game Performance in Different Modes
9:29 Cinebench CPU Performance (On & Off Battery)
10:24 Does it Feel Hot - Keyboard Temperatures
10:54 Weird Fan Noise Bug…
11:29 My Main Problem With The GP68
11:41 Screen Options
12:10 Screen Color, Brightness, Contrast & Bleed
12:34 Screen Response Time & Latency
13:25 MUX Switch, Advanced Optimus & G-Sync Status
13:40 Camera & Microphone Test
13:54 3 Game Comparison at (4K, 1440p & 1080p)
16:23 3DMark & Content Creation
16:49 BIOS - So Much Customization!
17:09 Linux Support
17:26 Pricing, Availability & Laptop Deals
18:23 Is MSI GP68 Worth Buying? The Good & Bad
20:25 Must See Before Getting RTX 4070 Instead

Disclosure: Purchases made through store links above may provide some compensation to Jarrod'sTech.

[JarrodsTech]

1st


Update November 2023: It looks like the BIOS from October 31st E15M1IMS.30A might fix the fan noise bug we reported with the comment "Fixed the fan noise when applying Balanced and Silent mode in the User Scenario setting". Unfortunately we do not have the GP68 anymore to confirm this.

[d-o.o-b]

Honestly if the main issue is the screen I could see this being good for someone who wants one device to do work on the go and also game at home while connected to a 1440p monitor.

[hawkeryouthful]

I bought this laptop model in Japan but mine has a 2560x1600 resolution. Ive been having a good time with it especially upgrading from a RTX 2060 laptop.

[aknzortuk]

Jarrod I can't believe the timing. I was going to buy this exact same laptop and have been searching proper YouTube review for last 2 days.

[chrissteven]

Now the review comes out. I bought this a couple weeks back, somewhat out of frustration as the alternative options I considered never seemed to come back in stock. This appeared to be a good deal regards specs and right on the edge of my budget.

So far I have to say I’m pretty happy with it, I’m no hardcore gamer so I don’t really notice the whole issue with the screen resolution, it does what I need it to. If need be I’ll buy a monitor for it in time. It effortlessly plays games on ultra settings. The only real issue I have with it are the fans, they’re like jet engines but the computer stays cool and when playing with the headset I don’t hear them so it’s something easily remedied.

Only time will tell if my thoughts on this laptop will change but for now it seems like a good deal for someone like me. A casual gamer who occasionally works away from home and wants something decent to bring along for the evening downtime.

[TrusteftTech]

The FullHD screen makes sense for someone like me who has a laptop solely as desktop replacement connected to an external monitor. It's a waste of money to get the better screen.
Not everybody buys laptops to use them on the go and their monitors as the main one. I like when laptop manufacturers provide options for lower specced monitors.

[operations]

I got it two days ago. Balanced fan mode works fine in my unit although temps are higher in balanced mode (both GPU an CPU in 80s range) so some undervolting is needed for quieter fans. Build quality is phenomenal. No cost cuts there. Performance is ridiculous. My MSI GP75 RTX 2070 is pulling 60fps in Witcher 3 on uber setting in Novigrad. This one does 180fps. As Jarrod said the weakest point is display. Comparing to my GP75 colors are noticably muter. While greens and blues aren't as vibrant they're ok. The worst are reds which are either orange or brownish but for this laptop you want external display anyway.

[leaolln]

I just bought mine and paired it with a Alienware AW2724DM QHD monitor and couldn't be happier. The only downsides are really the screen, which in fact is very cheap and not even supports HDR, and the 16 Gb of RAM which is not ideal to take the most advantage of the I9 processor. So I've also upgraded the RAM memory to 32 Gb and now my notebook is a beast! The webcam is also bad and have a weird shadowing around the bottom corners, which in my case look worse than what it is showed on the video.

Performance wise, I have nothing to complain about, this laptop delivers in every game I've played so far and have been also great for photoshop and multitasking.

The keyboard and audio drivers provided by Steelseries are amazing and offers tons of customization options. The audio quality is also incredibly good.

PS.: It is incredibly hard to open this laptop, on top of that there is a case covering the RAM slots, which are also hard to open because you need to carefully bend back some metal pieces around it.

[gordonclarke]

Great to know it’s okay to dock the laptop with the lid closed. Love the amount of detail your videos cover! One question though before I go ahead and do it, I’ve read people saying closing the lid could put the screen too close to heat and cause damage… would you say that’s something to worry about?

[inky]

Its now available with the i9-13980HX for £1899 (MSI Vector GP68 HX 13V) and has an advertised 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut on a 144hz 1080p panel. I have recently purchased the TUF A15 Ryzen 9 7940HS and RTX 4070 for £1, 200 (an offer at the time) - I immediately upgraded the ram to 32GB and added a 4TB WB Black for editing - it works very well (there's a review of it on this channel) but I feel I may have missed the true bargain with 4080 13950HX MSI. The M.2 drive and additional 32GB kit has made the TUF a £1, 500 unit. It is still a very good deal but the intel CPU and RTX 4080 would be masterful for editing, especially the i9 with Quick Sync. I'm on the cusp of buying the MSI in the hopes I'll be able sell the TUFF for £1, 400 as it's price is £1300 during black Friday and will likely go up again.

[UnknownYT]

The good thing about having a high-tier GPU on a low (1080p-ish) resolution screen is that it has high FPS on it's native resolution, even without these modern GPU software features. So this model isn't as bad as it looks, especially since 40 series cards below 4080 have a voltage limit.

[ExtremeGs]

Bought the refreshed model MSI vector 17 with i9 13980hx and 4080 performance is top notch and to my surprise the monitor has been also been upgraded to 1080p 100% srgb the only "downside" are the aggressive fans but at the same time the temperatures are amazing especially after undervolting the CPU -120 -100 -100 whilst at the same overclocked the GPU +255 core for a total of 2700-2715mhz and +1000 memory for a total of 10000 memory clock 🎉

[Chronoless]

The thermals on this are awesome! Pretty good laptop if you're using a good external monitor.

[dmfamzo]

What a strange feeling watching this from my Vector with 1600p screen picked up 3 weeks ago.
😁
Got tempted by the thought of playing Starfield @ 60fps (loudly)along with Cyberpunk, so this became my very 1st gaming pc after owning a Series X and PS5.
The value is great and I´m very satisfied with it.
Only negative might be the weight, this thing is HHEEAAVVYY!!
😂

[Agent_Alpha]

The screen being 1200p is unfortunate since this has a 4080, but i would assume that whoever is interested in this is not gonna bring it outside a lot, so it's gonna be docked and hooked up to an external monitor anyways, and the $400 difference compared to the Legion is gonna be spent on a very nice 1440p gaming monitor

[chrisbullock]

The first 4080-class laptop to make me reconsider getting over the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i and new Legion Pro 5 AMD/4070 version laptops.

[corty]

I'am looking at getting a 3D scanner and as a result I need to upgrade my old laptop. It seems that most of the Laptops come with 8GB of video ram and anything with more seems to be alot more expensive. Then I came across this laptop, well very similar with some updated specs. The one I have seen is the MSI Vector GP68HX 13VH, which has a 13th gen i9 1380HX, 32GB Ram, 12GB 4080 GPU, 2TB SSD and the 2560x1600 240Hz 16" display.

[cyclicwarrior]

I, for some reason, thought this was a jayztwocents video by notifications

[projunder]

I have one, it's a budget product, great for its price. Very powerful. Using external screen.

[ryanparrish]

I got my ROG Strix G18 with a 4080 and 13980HX for $2200 about a month ago. Zero issues. Runs like a champ.