If you've been holding off on gaming hardware upgrades, then hang tight just a little bit longer, because one of the best times of the year to nab yourself a bargain is upon us. Starting at midnight July 16 and running through July 17 is Amazon Prime Day, and that means steep discounts on gaming goodies for Prime members.
PC manufacturing giant MSI has long been a big player on the laptop scene, and is now bringing its best deal game to Prime Day, cutting prices on a wide range of laptops. Whether you want to crank out demanding titles like Alan Wake 2 with full ray tracing, hit frame rates in the mid-hundreds on twitchy online shooters for an edge over your rivals, or simply get a solid laptop for your studies (that you can dip into for some light indie gaming from time to time), there's a great deal awaiting every discerning laptop shopper.
The best bit? The bulk of these discounts are already active and sticking around until the end of July, with extra £10 discounts (bringing the laptops to the prices listed below) kicking in on Prime Day (July 16-17).
MSI Katana 15 B13VGK-1095UK
Specs: Intel i9-13900H, GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, 8GB*2 DDR5 RAM, 1TB storage
Starting with the star of the show with the steepest discount, the latest generation of MSI's classic Katana range is a mid-range gaming powerhouse, capable of handling just about any game you throw at it with commendable frame rates. The full HD 15.6" IPS-level display has a 144Hz refresh rate, which is plenty enough to make the most of the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU contained therein.
Being a third-generation RTX card, the 4070 grants access to the all-powerful ray-tracing and DLSS technologies, the latter of which gains you huge performance gains at no power cost, futureproofing your gaming setup for years to come.
And, if you buy it before August 19, you'll get the stunning upcoming soulslike Black Myth: Wukong—which we think looks very promising indeed—bundled in for free (as part of MSI's promotion involving select RTX 40 Series laptops).
MSI Katana 17 B13VEK-015UK
Specs: Intel i7-13620H, GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, 8GB*2 DDR5 RAM, 1TB storage
Coming in comfortably under £1000 (for Prime Day only), the Katana 17 strikes a balance between solid gaming performance and productivity. The big highlight on this laptop is the FHD 17.3" display, which may not sound like a big jump over the 15.6" you see on most laptops, but when it's in front of you makes a tangible difference in the amount of screen real estate you have to work with.
It's a great workstation laptop, and the RTX 4050 Laptop GPU is a great entry-level card that still gets you all the bells and whistles of DLSS and ray-tracing. For perspective, this thing should run games like Horizon Forbidden West on medium settings at around 75fps, or the still-stunning Cyberpunk 2077 at around 60fps on medium (via Notebookcheck).
MSI Cyborg 15 A12VF-025UK
Specs: i7-12650H, RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, 8GB*2 DDR5 RAM, 512GB storage
If you're willing to trade off screen size and processing power for graphical firepower, then the MSI Cyborg 15 is just about the best value for money you can get for a gaming laptop. With a retro-inspired translucent chassis and cool blue-backlit keyboard, it looks the part, and (as per Notebookcheck) will comfortably get you over that all-important 60fps on high settings in games like Horizon Forbidden West and Cyberpunk 2077, making for some pretty serious gaming at a modest price.
It comes in slim and light too at just 1.98kg and 21.95mm thick, making it an easily portable sidekick for your gaming on the go.
MSI Prestige 14 AI Evo C1MG-003UK
Specs: Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, Arc Graphics, FHD+ 144Hz, 8GB*2 DDR5 RAM, 1TB storage
If productivity is your priority, you can't go much better than this. The 14" display makes the Prestige 14 super-easy to carry around, while the 16:10 1920x1200 display offers that bit more vertical screen space, which is super-handy when reading or working with documents.
The CPU combined with 16GB DDR5 RAM should breeze through multitasking and bouncing around between documents, and while the integrated Intel Arc Graphics aren't designed for hardcore gaming, they'll still handle older and graphically lighter indie games with ease.
MSI Modern 14 C7M-074UK
Specs: AMD Ryzen R5-7530U, AMD Radeon™ Graphics, 8GB, 512GB storage
For the thrifty-minded who don't want to sacrifice style, this ultra-compact laptop is a great shout. At just 17mm thick and 1.3kg weight, the Modern 14 is the perfect companion for college, library visits, and travel. Once again, the 14" 1920x1200 offers a great balance between portability and screen size, while the Ryzen CPU and 8GB RAM will do the job for everyday tasks.
A nice touch here is you can lay the screen completely flat, then rotate the display with the press of a button, making for easy sharing of whatever's on your screen with those around you; a strong look in the workplace.
There are plenty more deals from MSI, including 4K and QHD powerhouses for gamers who'll accept no compromise, so head over to Amazon's MSI storefront before July 18 to see the entire Prime Day lineup.
