Another gaming laptop drops below $500 on Cyber Monday. The MSI GF63 Thin is $449.99 at Walmart (opens in new tab)has come down to a very rare price point for dedicated gaming hardware.
Featuring an Intel Core i5-11400H, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU, 8GB of RAM, a 15.6-inch, 1080p display, and a 256GB SSD, this configuration was reviewed earlier this month.
The GF63 is thin and light, but with its partial metal construction, the price is a surprise. That said, the 1080p screen is nothing to write home about, and with just 256GB of storage, you should consider upgrading your storage to accommodate more games. Consider checking out the Monday sale.
The system has a reasonable 8 GB of RAM and is usable, but less than ideal. Luckily, you have access to two DDR4 DIMM slots so you can replace your existing memory with 2 x 8GB (16GB) kits in the future.
The GF63’s GTX 1650 won’t run all modern games at high settings, but it should be fine for older games and not-so-intensive esports. But the Core i5 is a decent portion, especially when it comes to productivity.
As you can see in the chart below, the GF63 managed a very playable 35 fps on very high settings in Grand Theft Auto V. That’s lower than competitors with better GPUs, but it’s still a smooth experience. Expect to drop settings to high or medium for more demanding titles.
As we said in our review, “If you put performance first and everything else second, it’s a good laptop for the money.” You can build something even more functional.
