In the summer of 2021, MSI updated its range of gaming laptops to meet the 2021-2022 requirements. The lineup starts with the low-cost Katana/Sword laptops, at the top of the hierarchy are the top leopard laptops, and somewhere in between are the mid-range Pulse gaming laptops, which highlight the optimal balance between price, functionality and performance.


The configurations shown use bundles of a Core i7 processor and NVIDIA RTX 3070/3080 graphics cards, which were designed with the expectation of the next 3 to 4 years, when the long-awaited new generation of video games enter the market. The processor and graphics card are usually complemented by 16 GB of RAM overclocked to 3200 MHz. And this volume can be increased by the second free slot. Considering the status of Pulse laptops, MSI used extremely fast and bulky NVMe SSDs with a capacity of at least 500 GB. As for the additional features of the Pulse series, this list usually includes a high-quality backlit chiclet keyboard, a fairly comfortable touchpad, stereo speakers, a gigabit LAN port, and the latest wireless modules.

Out of habit, Pulse laptops are easy to confuse with 2019-2020 Leopard models. Appearance is repeated almost one to one, the characteristics are similar, and there, and there, RGB backlighting with MSI Mystic Light Sync is used. Yes, and iron plus or minus one level. As usual, the differences are hiding under the hood: Leopard models have a higher maximum refresh rate, there is an additional PCI-E slot for a second drive, and USB-C ports support connecting external monitors. But the display diagonals in both cases are represented by 15- and 17-inch options with Full HD resolution.