First Impressions
This laptop is gigantic. It has an 18inch 120hz 4k screen, but it also has a large shelf behind the screen that houses ports and additional cooling, meaning this laptop is closer to a 20-inch. The laptop took 42 minutes to boot for the first time, but that's Microsoft's fault, because the initial software update process is incredibly slow.
When Windows finally launched, the fans started to spool up before I opened my first application. As I started to use the computer, the fans got louder and louder, and just when I thought they had to be maxed out, they doubled in speed and volume again. This is the loudest and hottest computer I've ever used. It's so loud that I really don't even like being in the same room with it while it's working, and it's so hot that it can become uncomfortable to use. It blows hot air on your mouse hand and radiates heat off the keyboard onto your other hand.
The speakers sound very thin for how loud this machine is. The keyboard has a mechanical feel that I personally do not like. The mousepad is seamless, meaning that you can't feel when you've reached the edge. As you use it, you may feel like the computer has frozen, but in reality, you're trying to click beyond the active pad. The trackpad doesn't move, but it has a taptic engine that vibrates from below when you click. This simulated "click" is very inconsistent and requires different levels of pressure depending on where you press.
Unmatched Power
Nobody is buying this laptop for convenience and battery life. This thing is all about top-of-the-line components and speed, and it does not disappoint. The MSI Titan exported images in Lightroom almost four times faster than my M3 Pro Macbook Pro. It exported a video in Premiere twice as fast. I played a few modern video games with max settings, and although I could hardly hear the audio over the fan noise, I experienced the most beautiful visuals at the highest frame rate I've ever seen.
User Profiles
My biggest complaint with this laptop is the fan noise. After posting my initial video, a few people mentioned that MSI has an "eco/silent" user profile. In this profile, the laptop does indeed become silent. Sadly, in eco mode, the computer becomes noticeably slower, and software becomes unreliable. I had some software freeze and require a restart, while others required a total computer reboot before they would fully work again.
After one full restart I was able to get Adobe Premiere to export a video in both "extreme" and "eco" mode, but aside from that, the experience was pretty buggy.
Battery Life
Some laptops may see a slowdown when on battery power, but the MSI Titan is extremely limited when it isn't plugged in. The good news is that the laptop runs silently on battery power, but the bad news is that it's extremely slow on battery, and even with the limited performance, battery life is horrific. Modern games become unplayable on battery, and even simple applications become noticeably laggy.
This is to be expected, though, as this is more of a "mobile desktop replacement" than it is a normal laptop.
Conclusion
The MSI Titan isn't just the most powerful laptop I've ever used, it's the most powerful computer in general I've ever tested. That being said, its incredible performance is not worth the noise and heat it produces for me personally. If however, you enjoy gaming and you want to be able to bring a top-of-the-line PC with you, the Titan may be the perfect computer for you. Just remember to bring headphones, and don't forget your power brick.
Most high end gaming laptops, have really bad speakers since they typically expect people to use headphones to block out the noise generated by the fans. If you were to take both laptops apart, you would likely see that the macbook has larger speakers. As for keyboards,they tend to try and aim for a design that is in between the full travel desktop mechanical keyboards, and a laptop keyboard.
For that laptop, also consider checking their performance software and the bios, as often those laptops will have an additional even higher performance mode that allows the fans to run at an even higher speed and for the CPU and GPU to pull more power, thus more performance at the cost of it being much louder. Then all you need are some good closed back headphones or headphones with noise cancelling and you can have a decent experience.
Battery life for those systems tend to always be bad, especially since they tend to use many desktop parts, e.g., a desktop GPU with a lower power target.
As for noise, some gaming laptops will offer a "silent" mode where it drops the overall power limit to around 20-30 watts, and then does the usual passive cooling below 60C and slow fan speeds above it, though that can be inconvenient to switch between.
Outside of that, the new macbooks are extremely quiet for the performance they offer. I don't think anyone else in the industry can beat them in that respect so far.
I guess it's all what you get used to. I personally can't stand wearing headphones all day.
I wonder who wants this. If you need that kind of power for any length of time away from AC, factor in the size of a generator or giant power bank. Ugh. And, if AC is available, might as well just bring an M4 Pro Mac mini or high-end Studio and desktop display.
Also, Lee, one has to wonder how this would compare to an M4 Max MBP. I mean, your M3 Pro MBP is no slouch, but it's hardly cutting-edge. The M4 Max is 77% faster than the high-end M3 Pro on Geekbench "multi-core" and 139% faster on "compute".
https://www.macworld.com/article/556384/apple-processors-pro-max-ultra-i...
If it's a dog when unplugged, why bother? Just get a desktop if you need to keep it plugged in.
The issue is mainly due to making a laptop that is TSA compliant, limits it to 99.9 watt hours. With a 400 watt TDP, that would mean a 4C drain rate and a 15 minute battery life if left at that power target. That level of drain is similar to what a battery powered drone would do, thus even if someone were okay with that drain, they would likely shorten the cycle life of the battery down to 100-200 charge cycles.
Sadly those laptops are more designed for the battery to be a UPS as you move from one power outlet to another, especially since parts like the GPU are often the desktop version but with a special vbios that allows for a lower power target and dynamic adjustments. PS, never flash a laptop video card with a desktop vbios, they use different controllers for the VRMs and many other changes, thus they will instantly brick and you would need to physically remove the bios chip and reflash it with an external programmer.
I wouldn't buy over my MacBook M4 Max.... It's not about performance it's about the way Macs work and the reliability. Nice machine, but no thanks
more personance than any photographer needs? is price before or after tariffs? Luckily here in SOuth Africa we can import from asia without them.
Geez, how do you select your PCs. Microsoft and MSI Titan. Try the AMD AI Max series
"The colors are still accurate"?!? According what? Your eyes? What a vague description, is it AdobeRGB 99% or not? Is the screen 4k? What about frequency?
PS: NO, gaming is not the ONLY reason you buy a laptop like this, what an obtuse take. In fact is quite a stupid idea, for less than this you get a PC.
Why would you compare it with the small mac, if you think it's just for gaming?!? Is that even an even comparison? What's the relevance of this?!?!?
What about Photography and Video Editing? You post this on a photography website and you say gaming is the only reason you would buy it???
What a crappy review.
Whaddya want, a refund? If you don't like the review, write a better one.