When it comes to gaming laptops, there are a few brands that stand out. If you are serious about gaming, then MSI and ASUS are two brands that should have come up to your mind by now.
In the gaming arena, MSI has been producing some stunning gaming laptops over the years. They are not as expensive as other brands and have an impeccable record when it comes to making gaming laptops that make you a solid gamer.
This is not to say that MSI easily gets an edge over ASUS. ASUS has been making some amazing gaming laptops that are geared towards competitive games. The ROG series is a breath of fresh air in the world of gaming laptops and makes mobile gaming a thing.
This debate of MSI vs ASUS is nothing new. If you are going to get a gaming laptop, you will come across this debate and we are here to help you find an answer.
Design
Both brands do a pretty good job when it comes to design.
MSI makes excellent laptops that look beautiful, but there is also a bit of elegance to it. Once you take a look at an MSI laptop, you already know that this is a gaming laptop purely because of the design.
Gaming laptops usually come with African and a design that is dedicated to their breed. MSI is a master of those designs and the latest gaming laptops from MSI are just a pleasure to look at.
But you do get laptops that are gorgeous in design and aren’t as bulky as one would expect. The stealth series from MSI has a 17.3″ laptop that comes with a super slim design and is a great example that you can make huge laptops without a bulky footprint.
But not all designs from MSI are fantastic. One look at their Prestige series, you would be colored unimpressed. The design in that particular line of this kind of bland and doesn’t give us the same enthusiasm we get from other gaming laptop models from MSI.
ASUS also does a brilliant job and it comes to designing gaming laptops.
The ROG series is a fantastic one and has some of the best design laptops you can find from any gaming brand. One nice touch that ASUS does is bringing a slim profile to gaming machines.
The gaming laptops from ASUS are stylish, have their own design language, and also are very elegant which is something you don’t see in other brands.
In the design department, both MSI and ASUS does a pretty good job. They have made gaming laptop design modern and have proved that you don’t need a gaming laptop to be huge and bulky. We cannot pick a winner here as both brands are amazing at design.
Components
Let’s talk about the components and the choices between these two brands.
Display
When it comes to the display, we have to say that MSI takes the win here.
Both MSI and ASUS offer displays that are 15.6” and 17.3”. These sizes are the best-suited ones for gaming laptops and both brands offer various resolutions like full HD, Quad HD, and even UHD resolutions.
Where MSI easily defeats ASUS is in the refresh rate section. Most gaming laptops from MSI have a refresh rate of 144 Hz which is a lot better than what ASUS offers. The latest flagship from MSI has a refresh rate of 240 Hz which is just outstanding.
Coupling this refresh rate with outstanding response time, MSI gaming displays have always outperformed ASUS ones.
Processors
Both MSI and ASUS are very careful when it comes to choosing the right process for the right gaming laptop.
If you are going to be dealing with an entry-level gaming laptop, both these brands go with an Intel Core i5 processor that has four cores minimum. This selection plays a vital role as you give the gaming laptop enough processing power without cheap-ing out.
But when it comes to high-end gaming laptops, both these brands are very particular in getting the best hexa-core or even octa-core processors on their laptops.
As far as processors are concerned, there is not a very big difference between these two brands.
Memory And Storage
When it comes to memory, we can give a slight edge to MSI here as they always give you more memory on a gaming laptop. This is not to say that ASUS is bad at memory management, but there are gaming laptops where ASUS starts at 8GB and MSI can go up to 16GB within the same price range.
Once again, there is nothing much to separate these two brands when it comes to storage. Both these brands are very careful in picking the right storage for gaming laptops. In most scenarios, both MSI and aces go with a fast solid-state drive that gives the user the best gaming experience.
In budget gaming devices, they go with a hybrid storage solution that has both a mechanical hard drive as well as a solid-state drive. We are going to call the storage section a tie as both MSI and ASUS have the same philosophies.
Graphics Cards
When it comes to picking the right graphics card for their gaming laptop, we have to give a slight edge to MSI here. MSI gives you a better bang for your buck when it comes to graphics card within a certain price range.
At a given price find, you’ll find more value from an MSI gaming machine than an ASUS gaming laptop when it comes to the graphics card. Having said that, that is what will be no difference when you are dealing with high-end gaming laptops as both these brands have a similar selection of graphics cards in that price category.
Cooling System
MSI laptops come with an excellent cooling system. You can see that their laptops have a lot of heat pipes and fans that try to keep the optimum temperature as minimum as possible.
MSI also gives you an option to control the cooling system in such a way to get better performance or to save battery depending upon your situation.
There are also laptops very good liquid cooling which we think is the best way to keep your laptop cool.
Most ROG gaming laptops come with an excellent cooling system.
The cooling system in ASUS laptops comprises of fans, heat pipes, and also a design that enables efficient cooling.
The laptops can get a bit loud when the fans are running at the highest speed, but that is a compromise you have to make to keep your device running at an optimum temperature.
ASUS also has gaming laptops that come with liquid cooling options. As far as cooling is concerned, that isn’t much of a big differentiator between ASUS and MSI.
Connectivity And Battery Life
When it comes to connectivity options, both these brands offer all the essential ports you need. The latest flagship laptops come with the latest WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 which are fantastic in terms of external connectivity without using any wires.
One aspect where both these brands fail together is in the battery life department. When you are dealing with gaming laptops, having a good battery is the least of anyone’s expectations and these two brands do not meet them anyway.
With light use, the best gaming laptops from these brands can last about 6 to 7 hours which will dwindle when you start some serious gaming.
Customer Support
MSI is a mixed bag when it comes to customer support.
The gaming laptops from MSI come with one free year of tech support. So any issues you come across, you will get free tech support which is awesome. Plus, MSI also offers one-year incident accidental damage which can cover the cost of your clumsiness.
But when it comes to customer support, MSI does take a backseat. Contacting them through social media and getting a reply is awaited exercise because you’re not going to get a reply any time soon. On average, it can take up to 2 days for social media experts to reply which is not that good.
The phone support is much better but there is a lot of scope for improvement. While they don’t make you wait a long time, the expertise in answering and helping you out still needs an overhaul.
ASUS is a much better option when it comes to customer support.
With ASUS, you also get a one year warranty which covers most of the accidental damages that could happen during the period. But this warranty is not something you get with all the ASUS gaming laptops so be careful in which laptop you select.
ASUS offers customer support through multiple channels like their website, social media, and phone. Phone support from ASUS can test your patience as the waiting times are a bit too much.
That social media customer support is a lot better and you can get quick and helpful responses.
Pricing
Both these brands offer gaming laptops in various price ranges.
In MSI, you will find the GF series to be more of a budget laptop series. You can find gaming laptops that are around the $700 to $1300 in this line-up. If you want to game on a budget, then this might be a good choice for you.
MSI also offers the Titan series which is their flagship lineup. The best laptop in the series can go up to $5000 which is just insane. You can also find laptops around the $2500 range in the Stealth series.
You can see a similar set up in ASUS laptops as well.
ASUS has budget gaming laptops from the $700 range $2500 range in the TUF series. These are gaming laptops that come with mid-range specs but can still offer you a very good gaming performance.
The ROG Strix and Zephyrus Series are far much more advanced gaming laptops. You can find flagship laptops in this line ups and if you are a competitive game, this is where you should belong.
If we had to pick a winner, we have to go with MSI has MSI offers more value in their budget laptops that ASUS. But when it comes to flagship laptops, we have to call it a tie as both laptop brands are capable of offering the same performance for the same price.
Innovation
MSI does well when it comes to innovations.
Right from including a higher refresh rate display, MSI has brought in a lot of innovations in the name of display and even the steel series gaming keyboard.
Most gaming laptops from MSI come with a refresh rate of 144Hz or higher. This refresh rate gives you an extraordinary and fluid gaming experience that is not possible in other simpler displays.
The Silent Storm Cooling along with a patented TORX 2.0 fan is an excellent innovation that helps in keeping the laptop cooler over longer periods.
In addition to these, you will also find other innovations like Mystic light infinity, Dragon center, SHIFT, Anti-flicker, and many others.
ASUS also brings in a lot of innovation with gaming laptops.
One of the paradigm shifts ASUS did is to make gaming laptops thinner and more stylish. With their flagship laptop series, ASUS started making slim laptops that are excellent when it comes to gaming. This forced other competitors to go for a slender profile which is now changing the way gaming laptops are made.
The gaming laptops from ASUS comes with an excellent cooling system. In most laptops, the cooling system is usually handled by the fans and the heat pipes within. But in ASUS, the entire laptop’s body is designed in a way to aid better cooling.
Overall, if we had to pick a winner, we will give the innovations to MSI. For a brand that doesn’t have a lot of capital or fanfare, MSI does a lot of innovations that others copy. They have truly been an inspiration when it comes to innovation in gaming laptops.
MSI Vs ASUS – Wrap Up
Though we are primarily dealing with gaming laptops, we have to take into consideration the needs of other uses as well. So let’s discuss how these brands fair when it comes to various use cases.
Let’s talk about gamers. If you are on a budget and want to game without any compromises, the wise thing to do is to get an MSI laptop. If you are a pro gamer who wants to have the best laptop in the business, then you can go with either MSI or ASUS as both brands offer excellent options as their flagships.
If you are a creative professional, say a video editor, a graphic designer, or even an animator, You can go with either brand as they both offer excellent laptops at different price points that can cater to the needs of creative people. If you want to save some money, then we suggest going with MSI laptops.
If you are in the market for Chromebooks, then ASUS is your only option as MSI does not make any Chromebooks.
That’s all we have for this comparison. We hope you were able to help you make a decision. If you have any questions do not hesitate and let us know, and we will get back to you at the earliest.