Yes, Nvidia 50-series gaming laptops are coming. And yes, they’ll cost an arm, leg, and possibly a firstborn. And in an economy where many of us are worried about the price of food and other essentials, spending upwards of $2,000 on a laptop isn’t feasible. In those cases, looking at a previous-generation model or a less powerful system to save some cash is not a bad idea. You definitely should check out the MSI Cyborg 14.
As a sub-$1,000 gaming laptop, the Cyborg 14 is playing the game of compromises. On the one hand, you have a lightweight, surprisingly stylish design, vivid display, comfortable keyboard, decent gaming, and overall performance. On the other hand, the display could be brighter, the audio more powerful, and I’m missing RGB backlighting and macros. However, for budget-savvy or entry-level gamers looking for their first gaming laptop, the MSI Cyborg 14 is a good choice.
MSI Cyborg 14
The MSI Cyborg 14 makes affordable gaming look good, but not without compromises.
Pros
- Lightweight, stylish design
- Comfortable keyboard
- Good gaming and overall performance
- Affordable
Cons
- Dim display
- Weak audio
- No RGB backlighting
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Price and Configurations
MSI has a couple of configurations of the Cyborg on the menu. I tested the $900 version currently available at Best Buy. It has a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i7-13620H processor with 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD Gen 4×4 SSD, an integrated Intel UHD Graphics, a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with 8G GDDR6 of VRAM, and a 14-inch, 1920 x 1200 display with 144Hz refresh rate.
Adorama also has several notebook models ranging from $1,500 to $1,000. The specs start with an Intel 13th Gen Core i5 CPU maxing out at Core i7, with 16-32GB of RAM, 512GB-1TB SSD, and several Nvidia GPUs, including 2050, 4050, and 4060 GPUs.
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Design
Once upon a time, a gaming laptop meant a notebook swathed in a garish mix of black and red. Thankfully, the world has matured somewhat. The Cyborg, despite its mid-tier price, looks rather premium. The onyx anodized aluminum lid is stately, and the MSI emblem is proudly emblazoned in the center. The semi-gloss logo catches just enough light to add some understated flair.
The hinge, vents, and laptop’s undercarriage are made in a transparent bluish-gray plastic. The color plays up the copper heat pipes. But I really like all the intricate patterns etched into the material. The back portion of the undercarriage has a circuit board design, while the front part is more geometric, with a honeycomb pattern with stars interspersed. To lift some airflow, MSI put in four rubber feet in that cool bluish-gray. There’s a pair of bottom-firing speakers on the sides and eight black screws holding everything in place.
I wish the interior had some of the color and embellishments found on the notebook’s bottom, but alas, outside of the transparent WASD, and power keys, it’s a bland affair. The black metal deck isn’t bad; it’s a safe note after teasing folks about the laptop’s bottom. That said, the palm rest is large and comfortable, and the touchpad is large. The keyboard sits above a slightly recessed deck.
The display and deck are held in place by the two hinges. Some rather thick bezels surround the 14-inch display. A big MSI emblem is stamped in the middle of the bottom bezel, while the top extends into a pronounced lip housing the 720p webcam and mics. Regarding ports, MSI gives a modest set with a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port on the right, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and AC power input. On the left, you have another USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port with a headset jack and a secure lock slot.
The 12.4 x 9.2 x 0.88-inch Cyborg 14 weighs 3.5 pounds, just a bit heavier than the 3.2-pound, 12.2 x 8.9 x 0.67 ~ 0.78-inch Asus TUF Gaming A14.
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Display and Audio
The 14-inch IPS matte display is vibrant, but I wish it were brighter. Watching the “Sinners” trailer was disappointing. The movie already has a mild sepia cast, which, with the display’s dim cast, exacerbates the problem. The sky took on a yellow-gray cast, and the skin of the actors Michael B. Jordan and Wunmi Mosaku looked washed out. The most vibrant moment of the trailer was when Jordan was wearing a sapphire newsboy hat, which kept my eye on him.
Things looked better when I played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The jungles were lush and verdant with clear babbling brooks. Intricate details like the joints in a tarantula’s legs or the ugly, raised scars on actor Tony Todd’s face and milky eye were clear even as his character tossed Indy around like a bag of dirty laundry. The 144Hz refresh rate helped the action relatively smooth.
If I had three wishes, the first would be for world peace. The second would be that every generation of my family would be comfortably rich, and the last would be the end of bottom-firing speakers. Despite the preinstalled DTS Audio Processing software, the 2W speakers are a quiet riot. No matter the setting, the Cyborg could barely fill my living room with sound. The soft speakers took some of the gravitas away from Indy’s running and gunning. The whip lacked the crispness you expect from being cracked against an enemy’s torso.
When listening to music, I found the percussion tinny, the vocals crowded, and the instrumentals bloated. If you’re a bass fan, this is not your laptop, as the low end is nonexistent. The speakers sound best when the Cyborg rests on a desk, but place it on your lap, and you’re doomed to muffled audio.
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Features and Software
The Cyborg 14 has a full-size island-style keyboard with keycaps accommodating most fingers. The space between keys is good, and the light blue backlighting allows hunt-and-peck typists to see the keys in a dark room. The WASD keys are transparent to help them stand out even more. The keys are firm and springy when typing. I had no problem hitting my usual 70 words per minute on the MonkeyType typing test.
My only complaint is that you can’t switch out the backlighting or create macros like you can on more expensive MSI laptops.
The Cyborg comes with the usual suite of Windows apps, including Microsoft Copilot, found on most laptops. However, MSI Center is the app you’ll use most, as it allows you to check system diagnostics, manage network prioritization, adjust power profiles, and accesss other features. Third-party software includes DTS Audio Processing and Nvidia Broadcast, which is AI-powered and designed to enhance the webcam and mic and add a virtual background during streaming sessions.
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Performance
Armed with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB of video memory, you can expect decent frame rates on most games. You just need to be mindful of the settings. My Indiana Jones playthrough was relatively smooth on low. If I attempted to go beyond low, I promptly got a warning stating that my desires exceeded what the VRAM could handle. Still, the game looked decent on low. However, I did notice the background scenery sharpened if I stayed still and waited for everything to render.
I ran a couple of games with in-game benchmarks to show you how well the Cyborg can game. I ran the Cyberpunk 2077 test with and without ray tracing enabled. With the technology turned on at 1920 x 1200 resolution on Ultra, the laptop produced 35 frames per second, which rose slightly to 39 fps on Medium. When I dropped the ray tracing and re-ran the test, I got 57 and 79 fps on the Ultra and Medium, respectively. Switching over to Black Myth: Wukong, I saw a frame rate of 110 fps on Cinematic and 49 fps on the Medium graphical preset.
The Cyborg’s Intel Core i7-13620H processor allows the laptop to switch from play to work without breaking its stride. I am a tab hoarder. I have 55 Google Chrome tabs running with a mix of G-Suite apps, news, social media, videos, and random bric-a-brac. The MSI notebook kept pushing unabated. I also did some light photo editing in Adobe Photoshop, and the Cyborg was still unbothered.
When it was time to run some benchmarks, the Cyborg continued to hold its own. On Geekbench 6, the notebook produced 2,403 on the single-core test and 11,672 on the multi-core run, putting it on par with most laptops of its ilk. However, the Cyborg was a little sluggish during the Handbrake video transcoding test, taking 5 minutes and 31 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. On the Blender benchmark, where the system’s CPU is tasked with rendering an image of a BMW, the MSI took 3 minutes and 28 seconds. It’s a respectable score but not enough to beat the Asus TUF Gaming A14, which completed the task in 2:15.
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Battery Life
Gaming laptops aren’t known for their battery life, so it was no surprise that the Cyborg tapped out in under four hours. I ran the PCMark 10 Modern Office benchmark with the display brightness set to 100%. The test runs through a simulated workload (social media, spreadsheets, video conferencing, web browsing, etc.) until the laptop’s battery runs down. The MSI lasted 3 hours and 42 minutes. But since this is a gaming laptop, running the Gaming version of the test is only fair. The Cyborg was done after 59 minutes.
MSI Cyborg 14 Review: Verdict
Is the MSI Cyborg 14 the most powerful gaming laptop in the land? No, but it’s also not the most expensive. This sub-$1,000 gaming system delivers solid gaming and overall performance in a stylish, relatively lightweight chassis. The keyboard is extremely comfortable to type on, and there’s a fair amount of ports. But at this price point, you have to expect a few compromises. In the case of the Cyborg, that means a vivid display but not the brightest, weak audio, and a lack of RGB backlighting and macros. Still, for a gaming laptop under $1,000, the MSI Cyborg 14 is a great option for entry-level gamers or folks on a budget.
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