Msi alpha 15 review in Spanish (full analysis)

In the end they have gaming laptops with AMD Navi 7nm graphics, and we are going to analyze the new MSI Alpha 15 A3DDK. This version is clearly inspired by the design of the GE Raider series being a 27.5 mm thick device with a 15.6 Full HD screen available in 144 and 120Hz.

We will soon receive the new generation of Ryzen Mobile 7nm processors, but for now what we find is an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with 4 physical and 8 logical cores built in 12nm, yes, along with a new generation Radeon RX 5500M GPU that we want to see how far it can go. Will AMD break the hegemony of gaming laptops with Intel CPUs?

And of course, thank MSI for continuing to trust us and temporarily transfer this laptop exclusively to us for analysis.

MSI Alpha 15 technical characteristics

Unboxing

We start as always with the Unboxing of the MSI Alpha 15, a laptop that has arrived in a rigid black cardboard box in its entirety. As a premiere we have the logo that distinguishes this Alpha series with AMD processors installed and that curiously is green instead of red, thus recalling the color of Nvidia despite being rivals.

It is not large, but it is very good to have a handle to carry it. The opening is as always a case type. Inside we find the laptop wrapped in a cloth bag and another plastic bag in turn accommodated in a polyethylene foam mold on another base of the same material. Next to it we find another cardboard mold to house the rest of the elements. Of course, security has been implemented, good work.

The bundle in this case has the following elements:

• MSI Alpha 15 A3DDK Portable 180W External Power Supply Instruction and Warranty Manual

Quite concise in terms of accessories, although it is not that many more are needed, since the drivers are available on the website and always updated. Without further ado, let's move on to analyze its design.

Exterior design

As you can see, the design of the MSI Alpha 15 is clearly inspired by the manufacturer's GE Raider series notebooks. It combines an aggressive look with a relatively conservative standard thickness design although it is not necessarily bad, in fact one of the best notebooks that tested during 2019 was precisely a Raider with a great performance / price ratio.

Also, a good thing we can get is that we have interior space for a good cooling system and even a 2.5 ”unit. The measurements in this case will be 357.7 mm long, 248 mm deep and 27.5 mm thick, weighing 2.3 kg. This means that we have a 15.6-inch screen that in this case fits on a cover made of aluminum with good rigidity against torsion and a double hinge system with just the right hardness. Even so, we recommend opening it from the central area to avoid future problems with the panel.

Continuing with its outer shell, we see in it the new logo that MSI has designed for this series, replacing the typical distinctive dragon of the manufacturer that gives it freshness, but also a certain loss of identity as it is so different. This does not have lighting. The rest of the protection elements are made of plastic, both the inside and the bottom, something that also happens in the Raider.

Focusing a bit on the keyboard and screen area, we have opted for a silver painted case with an ergonomic design to improve the position of the hands while operating the equipment. To this is added the SteelSeries RGB keyboard that is present in most MSI gaming equipment and with a slightly sunken position so that it is at the same level as the base. It includes a numeric keyboard and the touchpad also says present with physical buttons.

On the part of the bezels of the screen of the MSI Alpha 15, we have a surface used as much as possible for a laptop. At the bottom we have a not inconsiderable 35mm frame, while the sides measure 7mm and the top frame 8mm in the thickest area. Remember that in the latter we have the webcam and the array of microphones installed.

And before reaching the side area where we have the ports, we are located at the bottom of the MSI Alpha 15. And here we have again a design identical to the GE Raider, with a huge mesh opening that will allow maximum air flow inland. Just below the four openings for the speakers that in this model are facing the ground. To all of this are added a few rubber feet that raise the equipment above the ground to allow air flow.

Sides and ports

We now turn to see the sides of the MSI Alpha 15 to focus mainly on the ports that it integrates, which are quite varied.

The front stands out mainly for its sobriety, without unnecessary edges and a fairly clean area with slight bevelling on the non-remarkable ends. The rear part itself is much more aggressive and also thick, with a central part enlivened by a non-lighting red line and finned sides that give way to two openings to expel the hot air from the interior. They are not small, but they could still have been opened a little more to gain in effectiveness.

After this, let's see what are the ports located in the right side area:

• Power and charging jack (19.5V / 9.23A) SD card slot (XC / SH) 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A

In this case we have a high-speed card reader and no presence of Gen2 USB, something normal in this generation of notebooks that will surely be substantially updated with the Ryzen 4000.

An interesting detail is that the USB ports are all illuminated in red for easier access in dark environments.

So on the left side we will have the rest of the elements:

• Kensington slot for universal padlocks RJ45 Ethernet Gigabit HDMI 2.0 Mini DisplayPort 1.21x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C2x 3.5mm jack for audio and microphone

So in total we have 4 USB ports working at 5 Gbps in the equipment as well as the possibility of connecting two 4K @ 60 FPS monitors thanks to the integrated HDMI and DisplayPort ports.

On this side we have a ventilation grille to expel the hot air from inside the heatsinks, something especially necessary in this area where more heat is concentrated due to the CPU and GPU. On the opposite side we do not have any opening, so the manufacturer must be relying on the solvency of their system, something that we will see in the corresponding testing section.

Display and calibration

We left behind the design and aesthetics part to focus more on the multimedia and hardware sections of the MSI Alpha 15, without avoiding buying it with what notebooks with Intel components offer.

In the screen section we find exactly the same as in other families, this is normal and has nothing to do with what the laptop has inside. We know that the panels that MSI installs are always of good quality both in calibration and in color and gaming performance, and this is precisely what we are going to see now.

We are talking about a 15.6-inch panel with IPS LCD technology that will give us a native resolution of 1920x1080p in 16: 9 format. The version that we analyze is the A3DDK, which offers us a refresh rate of 120 Hz with AMD FreeSync that we believe is the correct one for the hardware that it has installed if we are looking for image quality versus performance in games. Nothing is commented on the response of its pixels, but surely it is 1 or 3 ms as in the panels of other models.

Nor are its benefits detailed in terms of coverage in color spaces or brightness or contrast, so we will have to discover it for ourselves in the next section. What we can assure is an 8-bit depth and viewing angles of 178 ^or as usual in IPS panels. These are perfectly fulfilled both on the sides and in the top view. There is also no Pantone X-Rite or HDR certification, so in this sense it will be a fairly normal panel.

We would also have liked to have included support for MSI's TrueColor software, a utility that we think would be necessary in all of the manufacturer's laptops whether or not they are design-oriented, since it allows us to modify the color temperature parameters, image modes and even calibrate the monitor. We will also not have different image modes available in Dragon Center, we do not know if it will be due to the manufacturer's decision or due to incompatibility with AMD cards.

We have another version with a 144 Hz screen and FreeSync where we can squeeze a bit more the FPS speed that the Radeon RX 5500M Navi GPU will not give if we put a somewhat less demanding graphics configuration. For now we do not have equipment with a 17.3-inch screen or in 4K.

Calibration

We have run some calibration tests for this IPS panel of the MSI Alpha 15 with our X-Rite Colormunki Display colorimeter and the free DisplayCAL 3 and HCFR programs. With these tools we will analyze the color graphics of the screen in the DCI-P3 and sRGB spaces , thus analyzing their calibration and other technical parameters.

Ghosting, flickering and other image artifacts

We have configured the test at 960 pixels per second and a separation of 240 pixels between the UFOs, always with a Cyan background color. The images taken have been tracked with the UFOs at the same speed at which they appear on the screen in order to capture the trail of ghosting that they may leave.

During this test with the aforementioned conditions we can see a stable one that belongs to the ghosting of the screen, which is more noticeable the higher the pixel contrast. this means that the response time is not too optimal.

We also have nothing to modify the features of the panel, although during games and content playback this effect largely disappears as usual in other monitors.

Contrast and brightness

All the color tests have been carried out with 100% brightness without touching any parameter with external programs.

Measurements	Contrast	Gamma value	Color temperature	Black level
@ 100% gloss	1494: 1	2.15	6445K	0.1956 cd / m 2

Let's start by analyzing the results of this small table, where we see, for example, with enough high contrast to be an IPS panel, almost touching 1500: 1 when normal is 1000: 1. Also we have a very good color temperature close to 6500K, although later we will see in the graphics that RGB profiling could be improved. The gamma value adjustment is below 2.2, which is considered ideal, while the black level is kept at a good depth thanks to being a panel that is not too bright.

The uniformity of the brightness on the screen is very good, with minimal differences between the least bright point with 268 nits and the brightest point with 282 nits, thus avoiding the total existence of glow IPS. As for power, it is a fairly standard panel, with less than 300 nits and therefore below those used in the MSI GT and GT series. We also do not have support for HDR as already discussed.

SRGB space

Now we continue with the power of this MSI Alpha 15 in terms of color coverage. In this undemanding space we have obtained 56.5% coverage, which is certainly very low and clearly below the MSI GS and GE series. Likewise, we have an average Delta E of no less than 5.25, which is very high to consider good, and only maintains the type in the gray scale due to its IPS nature.

In the HCFR graphics we see this reflected in an improved RGB adjustment, especially in red and a somewhat low Gamma, which may be the cause of this Delta. However the blacks and whites setting is pretty good so we stick with that.

DCI-P3 space

In DCI-P3 things do not improve, delivering a total coverage of 40% and a Delta E greater than 6. The graphics are obviously similar to the previous case, so there is not much more to comment on this aspect, only that we miss the possibility of modifying the color temperature to improve these data, since it is a panel with room for improvement.

Giant Speaker sound with 4 speakers

The sound system of the MSI Alpha 15 is considered to be at a very good level, at least for the enjoyment of multimedia content or even for games where we do not need to squeeze every detail of the environment.

And it is that a system of 4 speakers has been installed, of which we have 2 2W speakers of rectangular type and another two 2W speakers of circular type. All of them integrate the MSI Giant Speaker system with Nahimic 3 technology manageable from software. To this we must add an integrated DAC for headphone audio output in high definition capable of reproducing audio at 192KHz and 24 bit.

For practical purposes what we perceive is an audio with enough detail in its output, (we are talking about the integrated speakers) although a little canned as usual in laptops. The presence of bass is noticeable at a good level, although its maximum volume is not too high, possibly to avoid distortion in treble. The truth is that this MSI Alpha 15 complies with note in this aspect, also facilitated by a larger resonance chamber as the equipment is thicker. If we connect headphones we will not see differences in quality compared to desktop computers, which is fantastic.

As for the webcam, we have no surprises, since it is exactly the same that other portable computers mount, that is, a sensor that captures both video and images at HD resolution (1280x720p) at 30 FPS. MSI has kept the camera setup in the upper area in minimal space but that is appreciated as we like this location more than the lower one. The available microphones will be able to record in an omnidirectional pattern and in stereo at a sufficiently far distance and in standard quality.

This camera will offer us compatibility with Windows Hello and its facial recognition.

Touchpad and keyboard

Good news, we think, for gamers is that the MSI Alpha 15 incorporates the best-performing laptop keyboard that Taiwanese have, more specifically SteelSeries, the brand that runs in all families.

In this case it is the SteelSeries Per-Key RGB Backlight Gaming Keyboard. One of the ones that we like the most from the current generation, and that we have already tested on a huge number of teams always with the same good feelings. It has a high- quality membrane and minimal travel for maximum speed. The keys on this one are of a standard size and island type and a miniscule travel of approximately 1.3mm. So our hands won't need a long adaptation period to write fluently, although they certainly are a little bit apart from each other. This, for example, is good to play and not make wrong clicks, although in writing it costs a little more.

Something that can be improved is the general layout, since by including a numeric keyboard we have a panel without section separations and too homogeneous that does not favor the location of specific keys. Part of the row of F keys, which are smaller than the rest, have secondary functions, typical of a laptop, although it is in the direction keys where we have the volume control and screen brightness.

In the upper right area we have the power button, which is located in the upper right corner, along with two other buttons that serve to set the fans to maximum speed and to change the keyboard's RGB animation.

And of course, another of the great advantages of this keyboard for gamers is that it has N-Key Rollover to be able to press more keys simultaneously, ideal for playing online. And we also have RGB LED backlight lighting, which basically illuminates both the character and the side edges of the key. This allows better vision for the user, as well as the possibility to customize color and functions from the SteelSeries Engine 3 software.

The SteelSeries Engine 3 software already comes natively installed on the system along with Dragon Center and other programs, so it is just to run and customize. In it we can configure the lighting of each key independently, either with solid colors or effects and transitions. We also have a panel where you can configure the different functions of the F keys and other keys. In this case, the possibility of placing different layers of effects is not included, as in the case of Razer Chroma or Corsair iCUE.

We move to the lower area of ​​the keyboard of the MSI Alpha 15, where we have the touchpad, one of expanded size with measures of 110 mm wide by 63 mm deep. Obviously it offers compatibility with the Windows 10 Precision Touchpad drivers, whose functionality gives us a total of 17 gestures with two, three and four fingers.

Something that always seems to us a focused option for gamers is that the touchpad has the click buttons separate from the touchpad. This provides greater durability and stability in a panel that does not need to move in its corners to click so it will always remain well glued and without sag. In addition, the buttons offer a higher durability and a more direct sensation on pulsations.

The size is more than enough for all types of users, with correct sensitivity and responses to fast or slow movements. Obviously the best thing to play will be a physical mouse, but this one looks quite robust and of quality. No fingerprint sensor has been included, something common in gaming equipment although it would be quite useful.

Network connectivity

We now continue with the network connectivity of the MSI Alpha 15, which we will also consider as standard and that meets expectations.

Regarding wired network connectivity, we find an RJ45 port controlled by a Killer E2600 chip. This is the best performance version for the 10/100/1000 Mbps standard with the possibility of software management.

And regarding the wired network, we have an M.2 2230 Realtek 8822CE Wi-Fi 5 card or under 802.11ac. A network card that will deliver Dual Band connectivity with 1.73 Gbps at 5 GHz 2 × 2 and 533 Mbps at 2.4 GHz 2 × 2. Bluetooth 5.0+ LE is included as it should be. We would have liked a Wi-Fi network 6 more for having been in the market for more than a year, although frankly there are not many users who have routers of this standard.

Internal features and hardware

We enter the most important section and that you expect from the MSI Alpha 15, where we will talk in detail about its hardware characteristics to enter directly into the testing phase.

CPU and GPU

We start with its processor, being an AMD Ryzen 7 3750H that honestly will have little to do in terms of performance with the new Ryzen 4000 that will soon be released. It is a CPU with manufacturing process in 12 nm FinFET Zen + with a total of 4 physical and 8 logical cores. These work at a case frequency of 2.3 GHz and a turbo frequency of 4.0 GHz, although in this MSI model it reaches 3.7 GHz if we do not touch Ryzen Master and choose the Extreme Performance profile.

Along with these properties, an L3 cache of only 4MB and L2 of 2 MB are added. They do not have their cores unlocked, their TDP rises to only 35W with a maximum temperature in union of 105 ^o C. It is not all, because it is also an APU with IGP Radeon Vega 10 Graphics of 10 cores at 1400 MHz that in this case does not We will use unless the system decides to save energy, since we have a dedicated graphics card.

And it is there where the main novelty and claim of this laptop lies, since it will be the prelude to the new generation of Ryzen. AMD has implemented its RDNA architecture via a Navi 14 to 7nm TSMC chip in the form of an AMD Radeon RX 5500M dedicated graphics card . One that can finally fight with Nvidia's GTX 1650 and 1660 Ti on laptops. In it we have a total of 1408 transmission processors through 22 computation units working at 1448 MHz in base frequency and 1645 MHz in maximum frequency. This increases performance to 32 ROPs and 88 TMUs which is not bad.

We see similar properties to the desktop RX 5500, also thanks to a total of 4 GB of GDDR6 memory working at 14 Gbps, a bus width of 128 bits and a bandwidth of 224 GB / s. The total TDP rises to 85W, so that together with the CPU it is a fairly adjusted consumption and that it will provide a low heating of the components as we will see later.

Board, memory and storage

The motherboard of the MSI Alpha 15 A3DDK where everything is installed is manufactured in-house, model MS-16U6. In it we have a total of 16 GB of DDR4 RAM memory signed by Samsung and in principle with 2666 MHz of maximum speed of SO-DIMM type obviously. Thus we take advantage of the Dual Channel that this dual module offers, although we see in CPU-Z that the JEDEC capacity is deactivated, working at only 1866 MHz maximum frequency. We have explored the BIOS and it does not allow us to activate XML or raise the frequency, not at least in the current version of BIOS that we have on the computer.

Finally the storage consists of a single 512 GB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD. Fortunately, it is a Samsung PM981, a unit that we know well and that is one of the best that can be installed in a laptop due to its excellent performance / price ratio. This gives us figures of 3500 MB / s in sequential reading and 2000 MB / s in writing. We can also install a second 2.5 ”SATA drive in the available space, although we do not have any more M.2 expansion capacity.

Refrigeration

The cooling system of the MSI Alpha 15 gives us very good feelings from its first visual. In it, a total of 7 black painted copper heatpipes that take heat from the GPU and CPU have been used to transfer it to the two blower fans that we have on both sides and that are capable of rotating at more than 4000 RPM at maximum regime.

4 of these tubes go over CPU and VRM to the right side, while another 3 plus two shared ones go from the GPU and GDDR5 memories to the left side. The result is extremely good, with CPU at 50 ^o C at rest and only 74 ^o C in continuous stress. Of course, the system is somewhat noisy as is normal in gaming equipment.

Autonomy and food

How will this MSI Alpha 15 be with AMD hardware in autonomy? Well enough we must say, and it is that a Ion-Lito battery with 6 cells of capacity and 51 Whr has been installed in it. And for external charging and power, we have a fairly compact 180W “flask” of power.

We have tested its autonomy with a balanced profile in Dragon Center, 50% brightness and performing basic tasks of navigation, multimedia content playback and document editing. The result is about 2 hours and 40 minutes, which is an acceptable figure to be a gaming computer with a 120 Hz screen. Something that facilitates this performance is that by using the GPU integrated in the CPU, instead of the dedicated one, in order to reduce consumption.

Perhaps with the extreme battery profile we can scratch about 30 minutes or even more optimized the use of the equipment.

Dragon Center Software

Dragon Center software has been updated and its interface has completely changed since our last laptop review. In fact, some functions such as the wizard in the form of a dragon and the number of buttons have been removed.

Now we have a total of 5 sections although the ability to manage the SteelSeries keyboard directly from it has not been integrated. The first two sections will be used to access applications that we have installed either in creator mode or in gamer mode.

Meanwhile, the third section will be used to modify the performance profile of the team with the possibility of customizing it to our liking in the last option. The 4th section includes quick options such as sound profile, USB lighting, WebCam activation, Windows key and Switch Key. The performance monitor has been moved to the last option which continues to show more or less the same despite the change in style.

Performance tests and games

It is time to see the results that this MSI Alpha 15 has given us in the different performance tests that we have subjected it to. Of course we have all done them with the Dragon Center Extreme Performance profile, the connected external power supply and the automatic cooling profile.

SSD performance

Let's start with the unit benchmark on this solid 512GB Samsung PM981, for this we have used the CristalDiskMark 7.0.0 software.

Samsung's SSDs don't fail, and as always we see excellent performance in both read and write in all tests. Without a doubt one of the best we can find today in assembled laptops, being MSI one of the manufacturers that use it the most.

CPU and GPU benchmarks

Let's see below the synthetic test block. For this we have used:

• Cinebench R15Cinebench R20PCMark 83Dmark Time Spy, Fire Strike and Fire Strike Ultra

Where we find the greatest weakness is in the performance of the CPU, since it is even below the 9300H of Intel, something that we already knew. That is why we are looking forward to the new Ryzen 4000, because they promise to give good luck.

Regarding the results of the graphics card, they are quite good and are located more or less where we expected, above the GTX 1650 comfortably and very close and above equipment with GTX 1660 Ti. RDNA architecture was undoubtedly what AMD needed to reappear on the GPU map.

Gaming performance

Now we go to see the performance that we will get with this new RX 5500M card that implements AMD in its new generation, specifically in the MSI Alpha 15. For this we have used these titles:

• Final Fantasy XV, standard, TAA, DirectX 12 DOOM, Ultra, TAA, Vulkan & Open GL Deus EX Mankind Divided, Alto, Anisotropico x4, DirectX 12 Far Cry 5, Alto, TAA, DirectX 12 Metro Exodus, Alto, Anisotropico x16, DirectX 11 Shadow of the Tomb Rider, High, TAA + Anisotropic x4, DirectX 12 Control, High, without RTX, DirectX 12

We also verified the performance of the laptop in these games in high quality, rising above equipment with GTX 1650 and very close in most cases to the GTX 1660 Ti, as in the case of benchmarks. Despite being a 4-core CPU, it performs very well in games, giving us rates above 60 FPS despite its demanding configuration. In the case of DOOM we have chosen to put the result obtained in the Vulkan, since this game in Open GL + AMD does not seem to get along too well, giving only 46 FPS.

Temperatures

MSI Alpha 15 A3DDX	Repose	Maximum performance	Maximum performance + maximum cooling
CPU	49 ºC	74 ºC	72 ºC
GPU	36 ºC	53 ºC	52 ºC

These results have been obtained with the maximum performance profile activated and the power connected as normal. If there is one thing AMD can boast of, it is that its hardware is fresher than that of Intel in both desktop and laptop computers.

Where the heatsink comes out the most is in prolonged stress processes, with a phenomenal 74 ^o C in the CPU and below 55 ^o C in the GPU, being considerably cooler than in the desktop versions. This also translates into very low surface temperatures of only 33 ^o C in the central area of ​​the keyboard, so it will not influence our experience of use.

There would still be room for improvement as we see if we place the fans to the maximum, but the noise of the system will also go up, which is already high.

Final words and conclusion about MSI Alpha 15

Well we come to the end of this long analysis where we believe that we will see absolutely everything about the MSI Alpha 15. A laptop that starts a new team saga in the Taiwanese manufacturer that we hope will have many more models with the arrival of the new Ryzen 4000 Zen 2 and the RDNA dedicated GPUs.

In this A3DDK model, a Ryzen 7 3750H 4C / 8N and a new generation RX 5500M GPU with RDNA and 7nm architecture have been chosen. Along with an SSD of 512 and 16 GB of RAM we will have a laptop capable of competing with mid-range gaming equipment with Intel 9300H and GPU Nvidia GTX 1650 or even 1660 Ti as we have seen in the graphics, which is not bad for its price. What we do not understand is having limited a RAM from 2666 MHz to 1866 MHz.

Its design does not have much to comment on it, it is the same one used by the GE Raider, and in addition to the new logo in green we also expected an updated and dazzling design. At least it is a compact team, with space for 2.5 "SSD and standard thickness to give us good cooling.

We recommend that you take a look at our guide to the best laptops on the market

Without a doubt one of its main advantages is the cooling, here we do have an update and with the AMD hardware it is fabulous, much better than in the Intel. We can even allow ourselves to lower RPM to maximum performance or even raise the frequency of the CPU a little, which works at 3.7 GHz.

Regarding the multimedia section, we are quite satisfied in general. We have a 15.6-inch IPS panel at 120 Hz and the option of another at 144 Hz. Its calibration is not optimal and it has room for improvement, but its performance is as expected without flickering or bleeding, although it does have a bit of ghosting. The sound system is also at an excellent level, with 4 speakers that give good volume and very good audio quality. Finally the SteelSeries RGB Per-Key keyboard is always a guarantee of success, as well as the touchpad with physical buttons to play.

Finally we will find this new MSI Alpha 15 for a price of 899 euros for the analyzed version, and about 1159 euros for the 144 Hz screen and 1 TB NVMe. Without a doubt, a very good price for everything that the competition offers. We believe that the supremacy of Nvidia will continue in graphics cards, but not that of Intel in CPU, we hope so, since this would be very good for the user and the drop in prices.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ ACCEPTABLE AUTONOMY	- RAM MEMORY LIMITED TO 1866 MHZ
+ VERY FRESH HARDWARE IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES	- LITTLE INNOVATIVE DESIGN
+ NEW GENERATION PORTABLE GPU	- IMPROVABLE SCREEN CALIBRATION
+ STEELSERIES AND TOUCHPAD KEYBOARD
+ BALANCED COMPONENTS AND COMPETENT PRICE
+ 120 HZ PANEL

The professional review team awards him the gold medal:

MSI Alpha 15

DESIGN - 79%

CONSTRUCTION - 83%

REFRIGERATION - 91%

PERFORMANCE - 84%

DISPLAY - 78%

83%