MSI Katana 15 HX B14W Review

MSI’s Katana range has been one of the more-popular lines of budget gaming laptops since it was introduced in 2021. The new, 2025 models have now landed and are available in a wide variety of SKUs to suit all wallet sizes. This, the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W, is from the top-end of the new range and actually stretches just out of budget gaming laptop territory into the lower-mid-range. That’s because it features a CPU and GPU that have dripped down from premium gaming laptops from the beginning of this year. So, who should buy the new Katana and, if this variant doesn’t suit you, will there be a version that does?

MSI Katana 15 HX B14W Specs

Features, Ergonomics and Design

I’ve been keen to put MSI’s Katana 15 HX B14W through its paces since my first play with it. It has stylish, all-black livery that belies its budget designation. The embossed dragon logo on the lid is classy and yet, everything is subtle enough for it to just about hide inside an office.

Opening it up mostly continues in this theme, save for the translucent WASD keys, though they can be tricky to pick out when the lights are off.

Turn the four-zone RGB lighting on, however, and the Katana 15 becomes an unmistakable gaming laptop that will easily fit in at a LAN.

The rubberised, Scrabble-tile keyboard (with translucent sides) is one we’ve seen many times before on MSI gaming laptops (of all budgets) and it’s one of my favourites. It’s very comfortable and accurate to both type upon and game upon for extended periods. It’s not got squished arrow keys (though they are slightly reduced in size), there’s a number pad and there are plenty of useful shortcuts scattered around it. The trackpad is smooth and accurate and the buttons (while perhaps a little loud) have well-weighted actuation.

The 15.6-inch screen is very good. The 2,560 x 1,440 resolution display suits the screen-size well: ensuring that there’s plenty of real-estate to use and that text is sharp and readable (without being too small). The matte finish means there are no annoying reflections. While colours aren’t as vibrant as some premium screens, they’re far from dull. This means multimedia is generally good to watch. It’s not an HDR display, though, and this creates a couple of issues: contrast is generally good with details remaining present in dark areas (meaning enemies can’t hide in shadows) and in brighter areas too. However, objects can get blown-out in bright highlights.

Gradients aren’t the best either, as light stepping is visible in colour transitions while monochromatic equivalents can become quite blocky and noisy. It’s not overly distracting, though, and I’ve certainly seen much worse elsewhere – it’s certainly no deal breaker.

Meanwhile, the 165Hz refresh rate is fast enough to marry with the quick pixel-response time to significantly reduce blur from fast-moving objects. It’s certainly not the fastest screen around, but only competitive FPS players would grumble.

The twin, 2-Watt speakers are decent. They get relatively loud, offer good fidelity from the top to bottom ends and there’s even a modicum of bass. I’ve heard better, but I’ve heard plenty worse.

Above the screen is an HD webcam. It’s naturally not the sharpest and it can geta bit grainy in low light, but, it’s functional for most undemanding tasks. The partnering microphone array is also functional in that it will capture clear audio, but try not to use it in noisy environments. I suspect few users within the target market will have issues, mind.

Ports & Connectivity

Inside there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. While it’s not got bleeding-edge connectivity, it’s got the best of the last generation and few users will feel delayed by any transfer speeds.

All in all, the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W has no real weak points in terms of usability. It feels like a high quality laptop – one that’s much closer to premium models than it is to cheap-and-nasty ones.

Features, Ergonomics and Design Score: 3.4 / 5

Performance

Inside the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W is a 14^th-Gen Intel (Raptor Lake) Core i9 14900HX processor which has 8 Performance cores and 16 Efficient cores that operate between 1.6GHz and 5.8GHz across 32 threads. There’s no NPU for dedicated Ai workloads, but the pure grunt afforded by this processor (and the Nvidia GPU – see below) negates this omission to a degree. It’s partnered by 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and a 512GB NVMe drive. I always like to see at least 1TB on gaming laptops, but the relative (in)convenience of this depends on which games you play and how large their file sizes are. You can always make a (relatively simple) capacity upgrade at the end of the day.

The processor has integrated, old-school Intel UHD graphics but few people will be relying upon them when there’s an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics chip with 8GB of GDDR7 RAM available.

You can read how we test laptops, here. Also note that, in addition to raw benchmark scores, we publish a mathematically derived, sliding-scale Star Rating where 1 is the least-good score that we’ve seen since the beginning of last year and 5 is the best.

General Computing & CPU Tests

Our first group of benchmarks focus on the processor and whole system in general. Here are the raw scores…

While the PCMark 10 score is a good indicator of all-round performance, it’s currently conflicting with Nvidia’s new drivers so we can’t run it. Similarly specified laptops have managed just under 9,000.

Other tests include the UL Procyon Microsoft Office benchmarks, but these, too, have recently changed owing to deprecated features from Microsoft, so they’re incomparable. For reference though, Procyon version 2.10.1729 saw scores of 7,615 in the regular test and 314,000 in the multi-platform variant.

Another test was the Procyon Ai Computer Vision benchmark and the Katana scored 133. The Core Ultra (Arrow Lake) sporting MSI Crosshair (which has an NPU) scored 180. I still couldn’t tell you what these scores mean, but they’re also largely irrelevant owing to the superior Ai chops of their Nvidia GPUs.

General Computing & CPU Score: 4 / 5

Graphics & Gaming Performance

To establish the 2025 Katana 15’s gaming potential, I started by running the 3DMark gaming tests. The results were as follows…

The above scores show that the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W is capable gaming laptop that can handle just about any game on its 1,440p screen. Only the most eye-candy-rich and demanding games would require a drop in resolution and settings to fend-off any stuttering.

I also ran the built-in benchmark of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. At default settings (native resolution displayed (66% rendered) with automatically optimised settings) the Katana 15 averaged 123fps with the lowest one per cent of frames (1% Low Score) averaging 89fps. With DLSS (Ai frame-generation) turned on, these scores rose to 153fps and 124fps (1% Low).

At Full HD resolution with Minimum Settings, these scores rose to 180fps and 148fps with DLSS off and 248fps and 200fps with DLSS turned on. So, no there are no problems playing CoD 6: Blops on the Katana 15 HX.

I also ran the GPU version of the UL Procyon Ai computer Vision test and the Katana scored 665 (Score: 3.5 / 5). All good.

I’ve been a big fan of the UL Procyon Video Editing test which uses Adobe Premiere, but that too has changed to be no longer compatible with previous tests. For reference, the Katana 15 HX scored 38,607 which means the most difficult rendering test (UHD, H.265, 60fps) took 66 seconds. HP’s 5070-sporting Omen 16 did the same test in 67 seconds, so hopefully, it’s this test will remain comparable.

Ultimately, all of these scores are in-line with a mid-range gaming laptop, rather than a budget model. That means there’s very little it can’t do in terms of gaming (and general video editing).

Graphics & Gaming Performance Score: 3.3 / 5

Cooling

The Katana 15 HX’s cooling comes courtesy of MSI’s mature Cooler Boost 5 technology which has, in recent years, adorned some of its best gaming laptops. It uses five (shared) heat pipes and two fans to cool the primary components. For the most part it runs completely silently. However, under sustained load, the fans can ramp-up quite noisily when it’s forced into Turbo Mode.

It’s worth noting that when I ran the 30-minute version of Cinebench R23, the score dropped by only 0.1 per cent, so there’s no thermal throttling present. The chassis never got more than lukewarm either – and it only did this when under heavy load. That’s an efficient cooling system!

Portability & Battery Life

MSI’s Katana 15 HX B14W weighs 2.49KG which is reasonable for a stacked, 15.6-inch laptop. The (thin) power supply and cables add an extra 745g which is small for a gaming laptop but large compared to other notebooks.

The 75Wh battery ran our PCMark 10 Modern Office Battery Test for a modest 8 hours 28 minutes. That represents a full day out of the office, but newer processors tend to perform better.

Build quality is impressive, though. Budget gaming laptops often feel cheap, flex more than you’d like and have weak hinges. However, the Katana 15 HX suffers from none of this: the chassis is solid, there’s hardly any flex in the lid when a twisting force is applied, plus, the screen’s hinges feel robust (and even recline the screen fully flat). I expect it to survive being carted about from time to time.

Portability & Battery Life Score: 1.6 / 5

Price, Value & Availability

There are multiple variants of the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W available right now. The sticker price for our top-end review sample (SKU: B14WGK-029AU) is a not-inconsiderable $3,100 which is in regular gaming laptop territory. However, its performance, features and build quality are worthy of that designation, so it still represents decent value. Best of all, though, it’s currently on sale in most stores AND can even be found for an extra $100 off thanks to Intel’s Gamer Day event. That means you can pick one up for $2,599 which is enough to win it a Great Value Gaming Laptop Award.

Other Katana 15 HX B14W variants utilise Core i7 processors and/or swap around Nvidia RTX 5050, 5060 and 5070 graphics. They can be found for just $2,199, if you want to save even more money.

Value Score: 3.7 / 5

Sale Value Score: 4.2 / 5

5 Alternatives to the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W

MSI Crosshair 16 HX – The Katana’s award-winning, slightly bigger brother feels very similar but swaps in Intel Core Ultra 2 processor technology, a few more bells and whistles and a higher price.

HP Omen 16 – The new, 16-inch Omen offers similar performance and even styling. It, too, has a few extra features but costs a lot more money.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 10 | 2025) – Lenovo’s flagship gaming laptop costs a great deal more, but has very few weak points.

Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 (H835L | 2025) – Asus’ massive, 18-inch desktop replacement has big performance and an even-bigger price tag.

Pioneer DreamBook Power X56 RTX 5090 – A highly configurable, Aussie-made, 17-inch desktop replacement gaming laptop. But, it’s expensive.

Conclusion: Should You Buy The MSI Katana 15 HX B14W?

Frankly, the main thing stopping would-be purchasers of the new Katana is the relative price difference of the MSI Crosshair at any given time. When that’s on sale (and the Katana isn’t), it can beat the Katana for both price and value. However, with the Katana 15 HX B14W currently being available for $500 off, it represents a great choice in terms of performance, features and quality. I’m more-than happy to recommend it.

Overall Score: 4.1 / 5

MSI Katana 15 HX B14WGK-029AU Awards

Last Updated on 4 November 2025 by Nick Ross