MSI Titan 18 HX AI Laptop Review
Back at CES earlier this year, we got a glimpse of the new Titan laptops from MSI. I've now had some hands on time with the Titan 18 HX AI, the laptop with a spec sheet that reads like a wishlist from the most ambitious of PCPartPicker users! It's packing an RTX 5090 Mobile and Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, accompanied by 64GB of DDR5 memory, 6TB of SSD storage and a UHD+ 120Hz mini LED display. This laptop isn’t cheap though, coming with a price tag reading £6099.98 – could it possibly be worth that much?
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:54 Pricing
01:41 Intel 285HX
02:19 Nvidia RTX5090 Mobile
03:09 Memory
03:26 SSD Storage
04:35 Display
05:27 Battery / Charger
06:20 Weight / Design / Build Quality
07:32 Ports / Connectors / Wireless
07:54 Mechanical Keyboard / Sound Test
08:34 Trackpad
09:25 Speakers / Webcam
10:07 Gaming Testing Methodology
10:35 Cyberpunk 2077
11:09 Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
11:38 F1 2024
12:07 Hogwarts Legacy
12:27 Call Of Duty Black Ops 6
12:58 A Plague Tail Requiem
13:23 Forza Horizon 5
13:56 Assassins Creed Shadows
14:39 Mat’s thoughts on gaming
15:29 CPU Power Usage and Temperatures
17:44 Thermal Camera
18:08 Noise Sound test (100% fans)
18:23 Closing Thoughts














Specifications:
- CPU – Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX
- GPU – Nvidia RTX 5090 Mobile
- RAM – 64GB DDR 6400MT/s
- Display – 18” 3840×2400 Mini-LED 120Hz
- Storage – 6TB (3x2TB) NVMe M.2 SSD (Configured in Raid 0)
- Wireless Connectivity – WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
- I/O
- 2x Thunderbolt
5 (DisplayPort
/ Power Delivery 3.1)
- 3x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2
- 1x SD Express Card Reader
- 1x HDMI
2.1 (8K @ 60Hz / 4K @ 120Hz)
- 1x RJ45 (2.5Gbps)
- 2x Thunderbolt
The core specs are confirmed in the following CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshots:




Game testing on the Titan HX AI was carried out using only the native resolution of 3840×2400 as, with a machine of this price, it's fair to assume that reducing the resolution wouldn't be something that most users would be particularly open to. To counter this, I tested all titles configured without any form of scaling or ray tracing and then with the addition of DLSS, frame generation and ray tracing where available. All titles were running at their maximum settings (excluding RT) throughout the testing.
Native, rasterised performance varied from title to title, was decent on the whole, especially when we take the resolution in to account. Adding in RT, frame generation and DLSS saw significant FPS improvements in some titles, such as Cyberpunk but then marginal gains in others.
For full details of all titles we tested, check out our full video review on YouTube.
Cyberpunk 2077 (3840×2400 – Max Settings – DLSS Balanced , 4X MFG, Ultra RT)
Cyberpunk 2077 (3840×2400 – Max Settings – No Scaling , MFG or RT)
Forza Horizon 5 (3840×2400 – Max Settings – DLSS Balanced, FG On, High RT)
Forza Horizon 5 (3840×2400 – Max Settings – No Scaling , FG or RT)
A Plague Tale: Requiem (3840×2400 – Max Settings – DLSS Balanced, FG On, RT On)
A Plague Tale: Requiem (3840×2400 – Max Settings – No Scaling , FG or RT)
Closing Thoughts
The Titan 18 HX AI is a stunning laptop with an eye watering price tag.
The core specs are impressive – the combination of an Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, Nvidia RTX 5090 mobile, 64GB of DDR5 memory running at 6400MT/s and a whopping 6TB of Raid 0 configured SSD storage combine to deliver truly top tier mobile performance. The design is eye-catching and the machine definitely has the ‘wow factor' – The seamless, haptic trackpad and fully mechanical keyboard are exceptional and the best I've seen in any gaming laptop.
There are some downsides though – the obvious one being the price – but if portability is high on your priority list then the 18″, 3.6KG behemoth of a laptop that is the Titan 18 HX AI may not be for you. What's more, the laptop does suffer from slight thermal throttling when running in its highest performance mode, but not to the level we've seen in previous high end, Intel based gaming laptops.
Also, while the screen is good, there are other options available with higher refresh rates which may suit anyone playing competitive titles a little better, though 120Hz at UHD+ is still very appealing.
All in all, this is a seriously impressive piece of tech, with a price tag to match, given you can buy the Titan 18 HX AI for £6099.98 from Scan HERE.
Pros:
- Stunning design.
- Exceptional fully mechanical RGB keyboard.
- Seamless, haptic trackpad with full RGB backlighting.
- Good native gaming performance with DLSS and Frame Generation.
- Very fast 6TB Raid 0 NVMe SSD array.
Cons:
- Very expensive.
- Mediocre battery life.
- Poor quality webcam and speakers.
KitGuru says: The MSI Titan 18 HX Ai is truly a stunning laptop, but with a price this high, it had to be.
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