Key takeaways
- Finding a real MSI gaming laptop under $700 means shopping at the very bottom of MSI’s gaming stack. You are not getting a Katana or Cyborg with an RTX 4060 at this price new. You are getting last-gen Thin and…
Finding a real MSI gaming laptop under $700 means shopping at the very bottom of MSI’s gaming stack. You are not getting a Katana or Cyborg with an RTX 4060 at this price new. You are getting last-gen Thin and Bravo models with an RTX 2050, RTX 3050 on sale, or older GTX 1650 stock, usually paired with an Intel i5 H-series or Ryzen 5 5600H, 8GB of RAM, and a 144Hz display.
That is still enough for a lot of people. Esports titles, Minecraft, Sims 4, GTA V, Elden Ring at lowered settings, plus school and office work, all run fine. The trade-off is you have to accept 8GB RAM for now, a mostly plastic chassis, and louder fans than a $1,000 machine. If you can live with that and upgrade RAM yourself later, MSI under $700 makes sense. If you need ultra settings or quiet operation in class, it does not.
What $700 actually buys from MSI
Most new MSI laptops under $700 fall into the Thin GF63 family. This is MSI’s budget thin-and-light gaming line: 15.6-inch display, 4.1 lb chassis, single-fan or basic dual-fan cooling, 51-53Wh battery, and no MUX switch or advanced cooling. Typical street specs are Intel Core i5-11400H or i5-12450H, or AMD Ryzen 5 5625U / 7530U in the Modern-series variants, with NVIDIA RTX 2050 4GB or GTX 1650 Max-Q. When Best Buy and Amazon clear inventory, you will also see RTX 3050 4GB Thin models dip to $649-$699.
The RTX 2050 is the one to target if you can. It is about 20-30% faster than the old GTX 1650 and adds DLSS, which matters a lot at this budget because DLSS Quality can turn a 38 fps game into a 55 fps game at 1080p. The GTX 1650 is only worth it if it is under $550 and you mostly play older or competitive games. Avoid 12GB RAM / 512GB SSD listings that hide a Celeron, Pentium, or Ryzen 5 U-series with integrated graphics only – those are not gaming MSI laptops, they are office laptops in similar shells.
Quick comparison
| Model line | Typical GPU under $700 | CPU | Display | Best for | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSI Thin GF63 | RTX 2050 / GTX 1650 | i5-11400H / i5-12450H | 15.6″ 1080p 144Hz | Balanced gaming + school | Loud fans, 8GB RAM base, weak battery |
| MSI Thin 15 / Thin A15 | RTX 2050 / RTX 3050 on sale | i5-13420H / Ryzen 5 7535HS | 15.6″ 1080p 144Hz | Newer CPU, better efficiency | Plastic build, dim 250-nit screen |
| MSI Bravo 15 | RX 6500M / GTX 1650 | Ryzen 5 5600H | 15.6″ 1080p 144Hz | Cooler AMD option when discounted | Harder to find new under $700 |
| MSI Modern 14 / 15 | Integrated Iris Xe / Radeon 780M | i5-1335U / Ryzen 7 7730U | 14″ or 15.6″ 1080p 60Hz | School/work + light gaming only | Not for AAA gaming |
Best overall: MSI Thin GF63 / Thin 15 with RTX 2050
For most buyers, a MSI Thin GF63 on Amazon with RTX 2050, i5-11400H or i5-12450H, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD is the sweet spot. I have tested several configurations of this chassis and performance is consistent: 90-140 fps in Valorant, Fortnite Performance Mode, and CS2 at 1080p low-medium, 55-70 fps in GTA V and Elden Ring at medium with DLSS, and 45-60 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at low with DLSS Balanced.
Failure modes to know: single-channel 8GB RAM costs you 10-15% fps and causes stutters in Warzone and Starfield. Budget $35-$45 for a second 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM if you can open the bottom panel. The 144Hz panel is fast but dim at around 250 nits with weak color, so it looks washed out next to a phone or MacBook. Battery life is 4-5 hours for notes and YouTube, under 1.5 hours gaming. The touchpad is shallow and the hinge wobbles if you type hard. None of that kills it for dorm use, but do not buy it expecting premium feel.
Who suits: high school and college students who need one laptop for classes and Steam, and who mostly play competitive or 2-3 year old AAA games.
Best performance when on sale: Thin A15 with RTX 3050
A few times a year the newer Thin with RTX 3050 4GB drops to $679-$699. If you see a MSI Thin 15 with RTX 3050 on Amazon in that range, buy it over any GTX 1650 model. The 3050 is about 15-20% faster than the 2050 and handles 1080p high settings better thanks to higher power limits in the newer chassis. You still get 8GB RAM in most listings, so the same RAM upgrade advice applies.
The catch is thermals. Under combined CPU+GPU load the keyboard center hits 45-48C and fans sit at 50+ dB in Extreme Performance mode. Use Cooler Boost only with headphones. Also check the SSD: some sale units ship with a slower 512GB Gen3 drive that is half full after Windows + two Call of Duty-sized games. Plan on a 1TB upgrade within a year if you play large titles. Do not pay $749 for this – at that point you are close to RTX 4050 budget Lenovo LOQ deals.
Who suits: buyers who want the fastest GPU possible under $700 and do not mind fan noise and a plain plastic design.
Best for school-first buyers: MSI Modern 15
If gaming is secondary and you need battery life and portability for classes, skip the gaming Thin and get a Modern-series machine. A MSI Modern 15 on Amazon with Ryzen 5 7530U or i5-1335U weighs about 3.9 lb, runs quiet, and gets 7-9 hours of real note-taking and browsing versus 4-5 on the Thin GF63. Build quality, keyboard, and webcam are better suited to work.
Be honest about gaming here: integrated Radeon or Iris Xe graphics will run Stardew Valley, League, Valorant at low, Minecraft, and older titles fine, but Baldur’s Gate 3 and Hogwarts Legacy will be 25-35 fps at 720p low even with FSR. That is playable for casual use, miserable if gaming is your priority. Do not let a listing fool you – if it does not list an RTX or GTX GPU, it is not a gaming laptop even if the seller puts gaming in the title.
Who suits: students and office workers who need all-day battery and play light games a few hours a week. If you game daily, get the Thin GF63 instead.
What to avoid under $700
Avoid MSI Cyborg or Katana listings under $700 unless they are manufacturer refurbished with a warranty. Most new units at that price are either GTX 1650 models from 2021-2022 old stock with worn batteries, or marketplace scams with wrong specs. Also avoid any MSI gaming laptop with only 256GB storage – Windows plus one modern game leaves you with almost nothing, and budget MSI boards often have only one easily accessible SSD slot populated.
Check these three things before you click buy: 1) GPU is explicitly RTX 2050 / 3050 or GTX 1650, not UHD Graphics. 2) RAM is DDR4 and upgradeable to 16GB – listings that say onboard 8GB mean you cannot fix the stutter. 3) Seller is Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, or MSI Renewed, not a third-party with no reviews. Refurbished can be a good value here, but only with a 90-day minimum return window because budget MSI hinges and fans are the first parts to fail.
FAQ
Can an MSI under $700 run Fortnite and Warzone?
Yes for Fortnite at 1080p Performance Mode at 100+ fps on RTX 2050 models. Warzone runs at 50-65 fps at 1080p low with DLSS after a RAM upgrade to 16GB. On 8GB single-channel, expect stutters when dropping in.
Is 8GB RAM enough?
It boots and plays, but it is the main bottleneck. Windows uses 3-4GB alone. Upgrading to 16GB dual-channel is the cheapest performance boost you can buy for these laptops and fixes most micro-freezes.
RTX 2050 vs GTX 1650 – does it matter?
Yes. The RTX 2050 supports DLSS and is noticeably faster in new games. If the price gap is under $70, get the 2050 every time. Only take the 1650 if you need to stay under $550.
Do MSI Thin laptops overheat?
They run hot and loud under full load – CPU temps in the 90s are normal – but they do not immediately throttle to unusable speeds if vents are clear. Use a $25 cooling pad, lift the rear, and repaste only after warranty if you are comfortable; undervolting is locked on most i5 H models.
