MSI Katana

Katana is MSI’s value gaming range. The design brief is straightforward: put the budget into the graphics card and the cooling, and spend less on the chassis, the lighting and the extras.

That makes it a sensible buy if you want frames per pound. What you give up against MSI’s higher ranges — Vector, Raider and Titan — is chassis material, keyboard quality, display specification and some of the cooling headroom.

Two things to check before comparing two Katana models, or a Katana against a rival. The graphics power limit, where MSI publishes it: two laptops with the same GPU can perform noticeably differently depending on how hard the chassis lets it run. And the display: a capable GPU paired with a basic 60Hz panel wastes the frames it produces, so look for 144Hz or better.

Also check whether memory is on slots — on many gaming laptops it is, which makes a later upgrade to 32GB cheap.

See the wider gaming laptops range.