The MSI Raider 16 Max squeezes 300W power into a 16-inch chassis, but it's anything but compact

MSI Raider 16 Max gaming laptop on a wooden desk with blue backlighting.

For a long time the trick to making one of the best gaming laptops was simply to pump more power into it. Then we hit the ceiling. There's only so many watts a portable rig can take, and only so much backpack space for power adapters.

The MSI Raider 16 Max made waves on announcement, promising a massive 300W experience in a 16-inch form factor. In my testing, that full 300W throttle does make a difference in raw framerates - pushing the 16-incher into benchmark territory usually reserved for far more cumbersome 18-inch devices. Without it, the MSI Raider 16 Max would struggle to differentiate itself from far cheaper RTX 5080 options.