Review of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK: Optimizing Power with AMD CPU and GPU

MSI gaming laptops are always highly praised not only for their performance but also for their design and other supporting factors. That's why the release of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK has received a lot of attention from users, especially because it's a computer using both CPU and GPU from AMD. So how does MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK perform? How long does MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK battery last? What is the design of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK like? And how much does MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK cost? Let's review MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK together to find out!

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MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK: Bold Design, Next-Gen Gaming Essence

The development of the new generation of gaming laptops has brought about a new design trend, with current laptops being sleeker while still ensuring the necessary gaming performance, no longer bulky and heavy as before.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK also strikes a fairly good balance between gaming prowess and mobility. Although not as slim and light as high-end gaming laptops, the weight of 2.35 kg and a thickness of 23.95 mm still don't burden me too much when carrying the laptop in a backpack.

Overall, MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK impresses me with its rugged, powerful appearance, especially with the angular cuts on the chassis. The device also features many similar design elements to its predecessor, the MSI Alpha 15 A3DDK.

The front of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is made of metal material with a matte finish, giving it a sleek look. Although the design approach is not new, I still appreciate it as it creates a raised block effect, making MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK look more rugged and powerful. However, the front of the laptop is prone to sweat and fingerprint marks, so you should keep it clean by wiping it regularly!

The B, C, and D sides are made of plastic, which helps reduce weight, optimize costs, and improve heat dissipation. The plastic material used in the laptop has a high level of finishing, so it doesn't feel cheap or flimsy.

The hinge of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is also very sturdy, it doesn't wobble when typing even with considerable force. I can also open the laptop with one hand, and the hinge can extend up to 180 degrees. The feeling when opening and closing the laptop is smooth and seamless.

Overall, the design of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK doesn't bring much innovation, but it's enough for users to feel the essential gaming vibe of the laptop. Besides, the device is optimized to provide users with a portable yet durable and reliable machine.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK ports meet users' connectivity needs effectively

The connectivity ports of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK are distributed on both left and right sides, specifically including:

• 1 USB 2.0 port.
• 3.5mm headphone jack.
• 2 USB 3.2 ports.
• HDMI port.
• RJ45 LAN port.
• 1 USB Type-C port.

It's noticeable that most common connectivity ports are present on MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK. For a gaming laptop, connecting peripheral devices is quite essential, especially external mouse and keyboard. Therefore, I appreciate this investment by MSI in the device, which somewhat compensates for its thickness.

Especially, the RJ45 LAN port will provide you with a more stable network connection, reducing interruptions during intense gaming battles due to 'network dropouts'. Additionally, since MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is built on the AMD platform, the absence of a Thunderbolt 4 port is understandable.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK mouse and keyboard offer a decent user experience

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is equipped with a full-size keyboard including the numeric keypad. The layout undergoes a slight change as the arrow keys are enlarged, which I quite like. However, to accommodate the larger arrow keys, the right shift key is narrowed, shifted entirely to the left, and concurrently, the left fn key is also reduced in size. Hence, you might need some time to get used to this, just like me.

The key travel of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is relatively deep, with moderate key bounce, so I rarely experience finger discomfort even during prolonged typing sessions. Moreover, the keys are large and well-spaced, reducing the likelihood of accidental presses.

Furthermore, the keyboard of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is enhanced with RGB backlighting, which can be controlled by pressing the F8 key or customized further using the MSI Center app. This feature not only facilitates easier usage in low-light conditions but also allows for deeper personalization, showcasing the gaming essence of the product.

Overall, the keyboard system of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK meets my needs for typing and gaming.

On the other hand, the touchpad of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is something I haven't rated highly. With dimensions of only about 10.5 x 6.5 cm, I find this touchpad to be quite small and not very comfortable to use. However, this is almost a common point for gaming laptops because gamers often use an external mouse instead to ensure gaming performance. Therefore, the size of the touchpad is not a major issue with MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK.

In terms of user experience, the touchpad of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is smooth and provides quick feedback, allowing for gestures with two or three fingers to be performed easily.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK features a smooth 144Hz display

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is equipped with a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display, a specification that I consider to be quite optimal for the device's size because when using a laptop, we often place it quite far from our eyes, so there is no need for excessively high resolution.

Additionally, MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is equipped with a display that has a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, a high refresh rate that enables smooth display with seamless transition effects frame by frame. Moreover, the 144 Hz refresh rate enhances the accuracy and responsiveness of on-screen actions, optimizing your gaming performance significantly.

In practical experience, I evaluate the brightness of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK's screen to be moderate, with display capabilities quite similar to other competitors in the same segment as they mostly use Full HD screens. Additionally, the screen of the device features Anti-Glare support and relatively thin bezels, providing a high screen-to-body ratio.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK delivers superior performance with AMD platform

First, let's take a look at the specifications of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK.

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 - 5800H.
• RAM: 16 GB, DDR4 2 slots (1 slot 8 GB + 1 slot 8 GB), 3,200 MHz, expandable up to 64 GB.
• Storage: 512 GB SSD NVMe PCIe (Upgradeable, unlimited capacity). Supports an additional M.2 PCIe 3.0 SSD slot for expansion (unlimited capacity upgrade).
• Display: 15.6-inch IPS, Full HD (1,920 x 1,080), 144 Hz.
• Graphics Card: Dedicated - AMD Radeon RX 6600M, 8 GB.
• Operating System: Windows 11 Home SL.
• Battery: 4-cell Li-ion, 90 Wh.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 - 5800H processor, a high-end CPU introduced by AMD in 2021, featured in gaming laptops, graphic design, delivering powerful performance. This chip is built on the modern TSMC 7 nm FinFET process, Zen 3 architecture, equipped with 8 cores, 16 threads, boosted clock speeds up to 3.2 GHz base, 4.4 GHz max.

Accompanying the powerful chip is the dedicated GPU - AMD Radeon RX 6600M, designed for gaming laptops to deliver vivid visual experiences. With a base clock speed of 2068 MHz, and a boost clock speed of up to 2177 MHz, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M enables users to game at high speeds and minimize lag effectively.

The combination of AMD CPU and GPU on the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is highly praised for its optimization and outstanding performance. The MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK handles all tasks exceptionally well, from gaming to basic office work like word processing, spreadsheet creation, and demanding graphic tasks such as photo and video editing, music production, model design, and technical drawing.

Moreover, the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK boasts 16 GB of RAM, providing users with excellent multitasking capabilities and reducing the need to reload applications during work or gaming sessions. The machine also features a 512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD with high-speed data read/write capabilities, offering ample storage for users.

To provide you with a more visual understanding of the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK's power, I tested its performance using software such as Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, and 3DMark. Here are the results I obtained:

- GeekBench 5:

• Single-core/Multi-core: 1,438 points/8,255 points.
• GPU Compute: 62,464 points.

- Cinebench R23 (Single-core/Multi-core): 1,380 points/11,411 points.

- PCMark 10: 6,773 points.

- 3DMark: 7,501 points.

After evaluating the performance of the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK, it's evident that the results achieved are impressive, especially when compared to other competitors in the same segment. The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 - 5800H processor and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M graphics card truly optimizes the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK for powerful performance, which is a significant advantage for the device. While the single-core scores of the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK may not be exceptionally high compared to Intel Tiger Lake-H processors, its multi-core and 3D scores are very promising, surpassing its competitors.

Not only in terms of benchmark scores, but also in real-world experiences, the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK leaves a remarkable impression. Many users who have purchased the device at Mytour have provided positive feedback about this product. The MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is praised for its powerful performance, smooth gaming experience, cool operation, and excellent build quality, making it a worthwhile choice in its segment.

Initially, when reading the specifications of the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK, many people, including myself, may have had doubts about the graphics processing capabilities of the AMD Radeon RX 6600M card, especially since most other laptops on the market are using GPUs from NVIDIA. However, after the experience, all my doubts were dispelled as the laptop provided excellent graphics processing capabilities, not inferior to its competitors.

However, it's worth noting that the AMD platform still does not fully support some games and applications, such as the Forza 4 game that I used to evaluate performance. Specifically, I experienced crashes after launching the game and could not assess the actual gaming experience on the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK. Hopefully, in the future, manufacturers will further optimize to provide the best experience for users.

Besides benchmarking the performance, I also tested playing FIFA Online 4 on the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK. I set the graphics to the highest level and used MSI Afterburner software to measure FPS, CPU temperature, RAM usage, etc., to provide a more visual perspective.

The MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK can maintain an average frame rate of 70 FPS throughout a match. Sometimes sudden scene transitions like goal replays, slow motion, or when just entering the game... may cause the FPS to drop to around 40 FPS, but it's very rare, and overall, the experience is still excellent. In terms of graphics processing, the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK renders images very detailed, from characters to backgrounds, even small details like the grass on the field are depicted very clearly.

Additionally, I used Crystal Diskmark software to measure the read/write speed of the SSD inside the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK. Here are the results:

• Read speed: 995 MB/s.
• Write speed: 974 MB/s.

Based on the results, I evaluate the read/write speed of the MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK to be quite good. I can transfer data from the machine to storage devices relatively quickly without having to wait too long.

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK boasts excellent battery life and cool temperatures thanks to AMD's well-optimized platform

Besides performance, the AMD platform of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK also delivers excellent battery life. Let's explore the details through a battery test conducted using BatteryMon software, where I divided the usage into two different scenarios. Here are the results:

- Scenario 1: Regular tasks without gaming:

• Battery life: 7 hours 9 minutes.
• Measurement duration: 1 hour.
• Screen brightness at 100%, volume at 70%, and no battery saving mode enabled.
• Keyboard backlighting turned on.
• Bluetooth connection enabled for keyboard and USB mouse plugged in.

- Scenario 2: Regular tasks with 20 minutes of gaming:

• Battery life: 3 hours 3 minutes.
• Measurement duration: 1 hour.
• Screen brightness at 100%, volume at 70%, and no battery saving mode enabled.
• Keyboard backlighting turned on.
• Bluetooth connection enabled for keyboard and USB mouse plugged in.

I was quite surprised by the battery life that MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK offers because most gaming laptops I've experienced before have relatively short battery life and are often advised to be used while charging to avoid interruptions due to low battery. With MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK, you'll get 7 hours 9 minutes of usage for regular tasks and 3 hours 3 minutes when gaming. This result once again demonstrates the effective optimization of AMD CPU and GPU that the machine possesses.

However, it's important to note that the actual battery life of the machine will depend heavily on the tasks and settings you apply. If used for light tasks, I believe the machine will have even longer battery life because during the test, I had the brightness set to maximum and the volume quite loud. Certainly, when gaming more, this number will decrease. So, I want to emphasize that the battery life in this article is just for reference!

I also used HWiNFO64 software to evaluate the cooling capability of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK. And the results I obtained are as follows:

The cooling capability of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is also highly praised by me as the machine operates coolly throughout my usage. Specifically, the average temperature of the CPU is 57.1 degrees Celsius and the GPU is 48 degrees Celsius. This is a result that I consider good for a powerful gaming laptop like MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK.

What's the price of MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK? Is it worth buying?

MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK is currently available at Mytour system for 32.49 million Vietnamese dong (prices may vary depending on the timing and promotions). Personally, and those who have purchased it, consider this to be a good price for a laptop with powerful configuration, good battery life, and the effective optimization of AMD hardware platform that delivers an impressive experience.

So what about you? How do you evaluate MSI Alpha 15 B5EEK? Leave your comments below to let us know. Thank you very much for reading through my article.

Additionally, at Mytour, there are many other MSI laptop models currently on sale. If you're interested, you can click on the orange button below to check them out!

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