MSI Katana 15 HX B14WEK

70% MSI Katana 15 HX Review: A Good Enough Gaming Laptop for Under $1,000
Source: Life Hacker EN→zh-CN
The Katana is far from a perfect machine or the golden ideal of laptop gestalt. It is, however, priced very appropriately for what's on offer. While the Walmart website (the primary and perhaps only retailer for the model I tested in the US) lists the MSRP at $1,200, the actual price has been frozen at $999 since launch. In fact, according to price tracker aislegopher.com, it was originally listed at $999 MSRP, with the new higher MSRP and "sale" price being recent additions. It's a good thing, too, because at $1,200, I'd look askance at this machine. For that price, your options begin to get a bit wider, and the competition fiercer. But at the sub-$1,000 mark, the Katana has far fewer reasonably-specced competitors. It's also worth noting that the Katana comes in a number of other configs, including those with better processors, more RAM, additional storage or up to an RTX 5070 GPU.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/13/2025
Rating: Total score: 70%

80% MSI Katana 15 HX Review: A Surprisingly Effective Budget Gamer
Source: PC Mag EN→zh-CN
For entry-level shoppers, the MSI Katana 15 HX gives gamers most of what they need. A larger SSD would be better, but that’s how the cost quickly rises away from the $1,000 mark. That’s its biggest limitation, though the chunkier plastic body and dim screen are also worth noting. The biggest offset to all that? The RTX 5050 GPU serves up quite a bit of gaming performance for the price, though, as we see more laptops with the lower-tier RTX 5050 and 5060 GPUs roll out, that won’t be unique to the Katana. Despite all that, the Katana hits the main marks for a budget gaming laptop. The battery life is decent, the inputs are comfortable, the ports are plentiful, and the parts generate potent mainstream computing performance.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/18/2025
Rating: Total score: 80%

72% I Tested MSI's $999 Gaming Laptop and Liked Its 1080p Performance but Little Else
Source: CNet EN→zh-CN
If you want the best frame rates for the lowest price, then it's a solid pick. But you'll need to live with some budget touches, the worst of which is the dim display. If you can extend your gaming laptop budget from $1,000 to around $1,300, then the Acer Nitro V 16S AI or Lenovo Legion 5i provides a brighter display, lighter design, higher-resolution webcam and bump to RTX 5060 graphics along with double the RAM and storage.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/21/2025
Rating: Total score: 72%