Most people are fans of MSI’s GS Stealth series: it’s impressively thin, adorned in Ninja-black livery and is very powerful. However, the MSI Stealth 15M series – sometimes called the Baby Stealth – is a smaller, watered-down version that sacrifices performance and features for a slashed price tag. Both laptops have a history of thermal issues – getting hot and loud quickly. However, we were impressed with how the 11th Gen Intel CPUs improved heat and efficiency across all laptops – including the MSI GS76 Stealth that we reviewed recently. Now here’s an engineering sample of the latest MSI Stealth 15M B12UE with a 12th Generation Intel CPU. While we’re not able to properly performance-test this early version, are there any clues about what to expect?
UPDATE: Check out the 12th Gen MSI Stealth GS77 review!
The first thing you notice (beyond the svelte, 17mm thickness) is that it’s no longer so stealthy. The matte, black lid is now adorned by a glossy black badge with rainbow-glinting, light-catching MSI moniker and dragon logo. It’s a bit bling for a stealth device but we like it. However, it is a bit of a fingerprint magnet.
Opening the MSI Stealth 15M B12UE up reveals an all-black chassis with RGB keyboard that’s lit in three different zones. The keys are generally well-weighted, accurate and comfortable to type upon for extended periods and we were pleased to see it sport full-sized arrow keys.
The trackpad is smooth but the buttons on our sample took a fair amount of pressure and travel to activate which was annoying. Above the screen is an HD webcam but it’s not Windows Hello compatible for easy, face-recognition-based sign-on.
The MSI Stealth 15M B12UE’s screen itself is a matte, 15.6-inch, 144Hz display that is very smooth and has minimal ghosting. Colours aren’t the most vibrant but we’ve few complaints. Gradients (both colourful and monochromatic) are mostly smooth and the Windows Desktop is crisp and clear.
While it’s not fair to judge the laptop’s performance based on this early sample’s components, it’s worth noting that inside there’s a 12-core, 12th Gen, Intel, Alder Lake, 1.4GHz – 4.8GHz Core i7-1270P (Engineering Sample) CPU. This has four performance cores and eight ‘Efficient’ cores. There’s also 32GB RAM, a 1TB NVMe hard drive and an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU.
We’ve no benchmark scores for the MSI Stealth 15M B12UE but we did run torture tests to see how the twin-fan-and-four-heat-pipe-based Cooler Boost 5 cooling system performed when under consistent load. What we can say is that when the GPU was operating at 100% in Extreme Performance mode for extended periods on a firm, fabric base (not ideal) it would typically operate between 70oC and 78oC – relatively low for a high performance laptop with this spec. At this temperature the fans would fire up and deliver a consistent, moderate whine. It’s perhaps a little louder than other laptops its size but it’s far removed from the noisiest out there. When doing casual work in Silent mode, the whine was still present but it wasn’t overly intrusive. It’s still there, though.
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Unfortunately, we couldn’t test the MSI Stealth 15M B12UE’s speakers as they weren’t functioning.
We were impressed with the connectivity…
It seems to be impressively portable. The main PC weighs an impressive 1.8KG while the power brick and cables add a modest 630g to that bulk. Other 15.6-inch rivals can easily hit 2.5KG. We don’t have details on the battery yet.
Prognosis for the MSI Stealth 15M B12UE
It’s a little too early to determine the value of the MSI Stealth 15M B12UE, but online stores are already listing it at just over $2500. The primary retail versions appears to have the same CPU and GPU but with 16GB RAM and a 512GB hard drive. Another, premium version has a slightly faster CPU (i7-1280P with 14 cores) and a larger, 1TB hard drive and costs $2699. It all amounts to a potentially high-value proposition and we’re fascinated to see how it performs when the final retail version lands on our doorstep.
SpEcIaL oFFeR!!!!
MSI is celebrating this first look by giving away an MSI Dragon plushie and an MSI string bag to the first ten people to comment on this post! So add your thoughts below! Leave your contact details as part of the message or using our contact form.
Related: What’s the best laptop in June 2022?
Related: Best Portable Laptop
That’s gonna be awesome if it handles thermals better!
YO I would love a plushie and a bag to transport my msi gear!
That laptop is more powerful than my actual PC. Looks great though🔥🔥🔥
If I could afford this I would for sure by this god like laptop
Looks like a solid laptop
Now that is some God teir stuff right there isn’t it! amazing as always from our Bois over at Msi.
I’m hoping that MSI manage to make the MSI Aegis Ti5 new model next level good because I really want to buy it or maybe a GE66 Raider or higher.
This would go well with my Aegis Ti5
The new laptop looks sick plus the plushie looks cool too
I would love to own this MSI Gaming Laptop, as well the Bag and Plushie to go with it!
Let’s see! Time will show its success or failure…
Love the look and would love to get one.
Comment for a plushie so it can be next to my GP66 Leopard
Looks pretty epic so far, so fingers crossed
Good looking unit!
For the slim chance someone who commented don’t claim their Plushie. I NEED IT!
Looks great laptop 🙂
Looks epic always guys – MSI the best
Great stuff for my on the go gaming
Better than my desktop 🥲
Damn, That laptop looks the goods. be great if i had the cash atm
Any word on battery life or a potential Ryzen model?
Ahh, 15th that’s too bad for me!
Awesome laptop though
Can’t wait….this will be next on the cards to purchase!
I like the io on the laptop, keyboard looks sick too!
Looks awesome!
Damn! Just missed out! That dragon is so cute too!
Now this is a rig I could use (& sell) happily! Time to talk to the boss about that!
I like this new MSI Gaming Laptop, as well the Bag and Plushie to go with it!
Fantastic laptop, a powerful piece of art. A dream machine for me, would love to be able to afford it.
I have an earlier model. Great to use but I have had to replace the keyboard and one USB port does not work. I would take the extra warranty if you are considering buying one.
Nice Can I have one Please
Nice design and nice RGB keyboard, I love this design.
Carnt say 1250 its still plastic plus the vents under say throttle all the way plus the screen is to small to my taste it has the looks but not the engine as i call may pc in the industry the science of conotologie.
ok there now can i get the prize lol
Ah how wonderful to have a new pc ,But i am still using a second-hand msi cx62 6QD that i have rebuilt as it was non functional when i bought it and yes it has problems almost daily but i continue to use it as i have very little choice at the moment and foreseeable future i only use it for gaming and Video/music editing ,It does over heat a lot so when it gets to 50c and above i turn it off to cool down but it is a MSI .
I’ve quite grown font of the MSI laptops but the only downside is there’s no number pad. Working in finance sector, the number pad has been the go to for everything. Thus why I always go for 17″ laptops, it feels strange without it. That explains why I have the MSI GE76 Raider because of that numberpad and that sexy feel to it.
This sounds great & would love to win it looks awesome too 🙂
Sounds great looks awesome
I have owned an MSI gaming laptop for 5 years and it is still going strong although Microsoft will not allow it to upgrade to Windows 11.
Hi.Am in the market for a new laptop in about 3 weeks cant wait..Have had such fun with my MSI. But need to update..Have just been flooded out would love a bit of luck… Thanks 😱
I am so so disappointed with MSI… I always loved their products and was a complete fan till I bought the MSI GE72VR 7RF Apache Pro. I bought 2 of them one for my husband and one for myself. Performance wise I couldn’t fault them but the quality of the laptop hinges where ridiculous. The hinges were off on a weird angle and from day one the screen caseing was bubbled at the bottom of both screens. We took them back but was told they are all like that and they actually showed us 2 more with the same problem. After a few months they were no longer able to be closed. These were 2 laptops that NEVER left their desks were treated with great care and were never transported anywhere as they couldnt be closed up. There were for us VERY expensive and quite top of the line. It ruined my feelings for MSI and even though the specs are great I wouldnt ever touch another MSI laptop again….. I guess its called buyer beware as both MSI and the seller wanted nothing to do with them 🙁