MSI today announced a refresh of its Alpha series of laptops, which are known for using both CPUs and GPUs from AMD. The latest members of the family include an AMD Rzyen 7 4800H processor and a Radeon RX 5600M GPU, and they come in either 15-inch or 17-inch variants.
Both size variants have similar specs across with board, and the displays themselves, while different in size, are both 1080p and have a 144Hz refresh rate. Naturally, they also support AMD's FreeSync Premium technology. For sound, two 2W speakers provide stereo sound with support for Hi-Res Audio.
RAM options are available up to 64GB of DDR4-3200, and there are two M.2 slots for SSD storage. It features a SteelSeries keyboard, which can optionally be fitted with per-key RGB lighting. In terms of ports, there's one USB Type-C, three USB Type-A (all four are USB 3.2 Gen1), one Mini DisplayPort, one HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, and an SD card reader. Powering the whole thing is a 65Wh battery, which is the same on both sizes of the laptop.
The Alpha laptops are fairly bulky, weighing in at 2.4kg for the Alpha 15 and 2.6kg for the Alpha 17. However, they do have dual fans and seven heat pipes running through them to keep them cool.
MSI didn't specifically announce availability and pricing, but the Alpha 15 is already available to order in a couple of retailers in the United States. It starts at $1,299 with a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM on XOTIC PC, though you can configure RAM and storage to your liking. This is for the variant with per-key RGB lighting.
