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Let’s be honest, there’s not much glitz and glamour to the MSI Katana GF66 laptop. Its design is far from sleek, it feels undeniably plasticky, and the quality touches are rationed. But that’s potentially fine given that MSI has prioritised its combination of hardware at an affordable price point.
Squeezing a 105W RTX 3060 Laptop GPU and Core i7-12700H into a £1399 laptop is OK. Just OK. Adding in the 16GB of DDR4 memory and solid 1TB SSD is good, and the 240Hz Full HD screen sweetens the deal. But, competing models often throw an RTX 3070-class GPU into their models around the £1399 price point. This MSI model that we have tested is a way off RTX 3070-level performance.
Still, we had no real issues running our test games close to their maximum image quality settings at perfectly playable frame rates. Plus, lesser demanding titles will look smooth at lofty FPS numbers on the 240Hz display. Nevertheless, the performance uptick from a bundled RTX 3070 would have been noteworthy.
There is definitely CPU performance left on the table. And that’s particularly true if you opt for the – sensible and recommended – Balanced power profile that limits sustained CPU package power to just below 40W in our testing. Of course, the Extreme Performance profile fixes that, but it brings along a significant noise and efficiency penalty.
In fact, there's no way around it, the MSI Katana GF66 has plenty of downsides.
The screen quality is mediocre – at best – aside from the refresh rate. The battery life is atrocious and charging options feel archaic. Physical port connectivity is out of touch with the 2022 market. And the glaringly cheap chassis construction leaves plenty to be desired.
But, if you are looking for a cost-effective gaming laptop that is simply going to sit there and push pixels from your favourite games onto the high refresh rate 1080p screen, MSI’s Katana GF66 will do a reasonable job.
It’s not fancy or finesse, but its hardware is cooled well and the 12th Gen Intel CPU will appeal to many.
At £1399 though, there are better options on the market. Particularly the Ryzen 7- and RTX 3070-powered Lenovo Legion 5 or Acer Nitro 5, or the Ryzen 9 and RTX 3070 Gigabyte Aorus A5 X1, or the Ryzen 9 and RX 6800M ASUS ROG STRIX G15. A price point of £1399 really is RTX 3070 (or RX 6800M) territory, but the Katana GF66 12UE sample that we have reviewed in this article does not offer that.
We had initially filmed our video review in the context of the Katana GF66 being priced at £1099. For that money, the laptop and its compromises make a lot more sense. Unfortunately, the £1099 price was only a temporary promotion, and at the new £1399 asking price, the GF66 fails to impress.
We found the Katana GF66 on sale for £1399 at Currys in the UK.
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Pros:
- Solid gaming performance from the RTX 3060 and Core i7-12700H.
- High refresh rate 240Hz screen.
- Keyboard and trackpad are good.
- Speakers are decent.
- Sensible, balanced choice of core hardware.
- Solid 1TB SSD with a spare M.2 slot.
Cons:
- Awful battery life.
- Large power brick with no USB-C charging.
- Mediocre display image quality.
- Poor port connectivity.
- Uncompetitive at the £1399 price point.
KitGuru says: If playing games is your core concern and you don’t really care for slim bezels or fancy laptop materials, the MSI Katana GF66 12UE was a solid, budget-friendly option at the previous price of £1099. But at £1399, the hardware and design are not up to the standard of competition from the likes of Acer, ASUS, Gigabyte, and Lenovo.
