Intel Alder Lake-H Core i9-12900HK Review: MSI's Raider GE76 Goes Hybrid
by Brett Howse on January 25, 2022 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- MSI
- Laptops
- Alder Lake
- GE76 Raider
- 12th Gen Core
- Alder Lake-H
The Test Platform: MSI's Raider GE76
For 2022, MSI has not updated the underlying chassis for the new Alder Lake product, and as such our review of the GE76 Raider from 2021 with Tiger Lake does not fundamentally change in terms of chassis design and cooling. This is still a big, relatively heavy desktop-replacement system. It features an aluminum surface where you will be touching it, and a polycarbonate base.
MSI generally builds a very solid product, and for 2022 they have upgraded the cooling with a new phase-change thermal pad which allows them to wick heat away from the processor and GPU quicker, without some of the negatives of a pure-liquid thermal compound and crystallization that can occur.
The system offers a per-key RGB backlit keyboard from SteelSeries. There is a 1080p webcam as well, and the system now offers an AI-based setting to let the system automatically switch the power levels for the user without having to manually do it, although the manual options are still there. MSI has updated their Silent mode to now leverage the microphones on the system to match the noise floor of the room, which lets them extract more power from the processor, and more fan speed, while still being inaudible.
The Raider GE76 offers lots of connectivity, including a single Thunderbolt 4 port, an additional USB Type-C port, and several USB Type-A ports. There is also a SD card reader which is still convenient when uploading from a camera.
The system offers Wi-Fi 6E support thanks to the Killer AX1675 Wi-Fi adapter, and also includes the Killer E3100G 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter.
MSI offers a range of display options, with a 1920x1080 144 Hz panel on their least expensive Raider GE76, a 1920x1080 360 Hz panel which is in the sampled unit, a 2560x1440 240 Hz panel, and a 3840x2160 120 Hz offering.
On our Tiger Lake sample we reviewed late last year, the display accuracy was not up to par with typical MSI offerings. Thankfully that appears to have been a one-off, which we do see from time to time even on devices that are hardware calibrated at the factory. MSI does allow you to use a built-in tool to calibrate the display, but you do need a supported colorimeter.
Thanks to Portrait Displays for the use of their Calman software so we can continue to accurately measure displays for our reviews.
As you can see, the color accuracy of this sample is much improved over the Tiger Lake model from last year that we received.
Brightness and Contrast
Grayscale
Gamut
Saturation
Gretag Macbeth
The MSI Raider GE76 is a fantastic test bed for Intel's Alder Lake system, with a powerful cooling system, and a great build quality.
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Timoo - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
Yes, and if you want your gaming rig to be portable, because you love gatherings and hate to drag around your 36" screen, case, cables, mouse, keyboard, etc., then this is a good solution.melgross - Wednesday, January 26, 2022 - link
Sure, and when ten or more people are together, they find that they can’t all plug in at the same time. Wonderful!TheinsanegamerN - Friday, January 28, 2022 - link
And when 100 get together they'll find they cant talk over each other! I love strawmen arguments!PeachNCream - Friday, January 28, 2022 - link
Its more of a kids oriented laptop than performance oriented given the branding, colorful light bulbs, and other presentation methods for the hardware. Something designed for performance in the laptop space is more along the lines of a Dell Precision for example. This is instead a toy for little boys that want to be gamerz0rz.TheinsanegamerN - Friday, January 28, 2022 - link
Kids are not buying several thousand dollar RGB PCs. Adults are.Just like games. It's not kids buying microtransactiosn by the billions. It's adults in their 30s. They're the biggest market.
Millenials never grew up.
vlad42 - Friday, January 28, 2022 - link
You're right adults are buying them...for their kids.vlad42 - Friday, January 28, 2022 - link
The overwhelming majority of the target market for these types of laptops are people in middle school through undergraduate. The thing is, most grow out of this aesthetic and, because they have more disposable income as they get older, are likely to have a lighter laptop/tablet paired with a console/desktop for high performance computing/gaming.Think about, if the millennials who were interested in this type of device/aesthetic when they were in middle school to undergraduate were generally still interested in it, then there would be far more devices like it available from Dell, HP, Lonovo, etc. Instead, for every device like this one, there are a dozen(s) ultrabooks with more of a MacBook/ThinkPad aesthetic.
Ananke - Tuesday, February 1, 2022 - link
Intel H series targets portable workstations aka HP Z Book and Dell Precision. It's irrelevant to compare this MSI to a corporate market class laptop. I would prefer this 12900H instead of the Xeons in my Z-Book for example. This is what large corporations are buying, none of them buys AMD regardless any performance. Priority is security and manageability. A comparison to M1Pro would be somehow relevant, it falls in the same price segment and corporate market.vladlazlo - Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - link
Intel and security... That's a good one...Haven't heard that since the last time there was a news about 240+ security vulnerabilities that you get for free with intel processors. AMD and all the ARM based processors combined can't put a dent on that record, even if you triple the number of vulnerabilities they 'offer'.
Maybe these adventurous people you speak of want more vulnerabilities?
vladlazlo - Thursday, February 3, 2022 - link
You might want to read this...https://www.tomshardware.com/features/intel-amd-mo...
Or this
https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/all-the-major-intel...
before you start talking about security.....