The MSI Titan 18 HX is the company’s gaming desktop replacement. With unparalleled specs, it brings the latest and greatest from Intel and Nvidia into a unique and durable chassis. Designed to appeal to the most elite gamers on the market, the Titan 18 HX holds nothing back and is perhaps the most powerful gaming laptop I’ve seen to date.
As an 18-inch laptop, the Titan 18 HX is an impressive sight to behold. Measuring 404 mm (W) by 307.5 mm (D) by 32.05 mm (H), this is a true desktop replacement. While it does weigh in at an impressive 3.6 kilograms, the chassis is made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy, which offers both a durable finish and, considering its size, a relatively lightweight construction.
MSI has included what it calls a “Seamless RGB Haptic” touchpad. This is a departure from the traditional touchpads found in most modern gaming laptops and blends perfectly into the rest of the palm rest. When powered down, the touchpad essentially disappears, giving the laptop a seamless, solid surface. Only when powered on and the RGB lighting is enabled does the touchpad become visible.
“The Titan 18 HX is the muscle car of gaming laptops—loud, powerful, and unapologetically overbuilt.”
I have a few thoughts on the design. Overall, I appreciate the concept—it looks visually unique and offers a fun level of creative freedom with the lighting, as the touchpad provides zoned RGB. The haptic feedback also performs well, simulating physical button presses exceptionally well.
My one critique, which has led me to disable the touchpad on more than one occasion, is its placement. While most laptops centre the touchpad with the spacebar—effectively offsetting it from the full width of the device—MSI has chosen to centre it properly. While I love the look, it becomes a functional issue if you need to do any amount of typing. Because of the centred position, a large portion of your right palm rests on the trackpad while typing, leading to some awkward mouse clicks.
The keyboard, though, is a welcome treat. Featuring Cherry Mechanical low-profile switches, the SteelSeries keyboard provides solid feedback and a satisfying click when engaged. It also features per-key RGB lighting, which complements the touchpad’s zoned RGB nicely. All lighting is managed through the SteelSeries GG Engine software, giving users full control over the experience.
The Titan 18 HX comes with a solid selection of I/O as well. The rear panel includes a DC-in port, an RJ45 jack and an HDMI 2.1 port supporting up to 8K at 60Hz. The left side houses two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and an SD card reader, while the right panel supports an additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, two Thunderbolt 5 ports, and a combo audio jack.
As for wifi connections, MSI has packed in some impressive gaming-focused hardware. The Titan 18 HX sports an Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 BE1750 as well as Bluetooth v5.4. Both are exceptional for gaming and maximize wireless connection to ensure low-latency gaming and communications. For a system targeting the most hardcore gamers, I’d expect nothing less.
To help accommodate the progressively larger games continuing to be released, MSI has included an impressive 4 SSD slits including support for the new Gen 5 SSD. Preset with RAID-0, the transfer speeds on the Titan 18 HX are some of the fastest I’ve worked with. With 6TB of storage on the AI A2XW model we have for review, gamers shouldn’t have any issue managing their vast library.
“Even at $6,182, the Titan 18 HX feels like a no-compromise showcase of what portable hardware can do.”
The audio experience on the Titan 18 HX is solid, providing a fairly loud experience. This is supported by a 6-speaker system with 4x2W speakers and 2x2W subwoofers. While it cannot compete with the latest gaming headsets on the market, it nonetheless produces an above-average laptop audio experience for gaming.
Shifting to the display, I was surprised to see MSI go with the miniLED panel over an OLED display. However, after extensive use for the past few weeks, I’ve come to appreciate the bright 18-inch HUD+ miniLED display. With an impressive 3840×2400, 16:10 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate, the Titan’s display is beautiful and provides sharp, bright images. I did my whole DOOM: The Dark Ages playthrough on the Titan 18, and the Slayer has never looked so good.
MSI’s cooling solution for the Titan 18 HX comes in the form of a two-fan, four-exhaust setup. Designed to drive heat away from the system via a vapour chamber cooling system, the Titan 18 HX even includes an additional heat pipe for the Gen 5 SSD. From a performance perspective, it works well, easily keeping up with the high-end hardware inside. There are, however, two observations.
The laptop gets warm across the keyboard and trackpad—not too hot to touch, but noticeably warm. Over my two-day binge playthrough of Doom: The Dark Ages, I noticed the device remained consistently warm. While that may be understandable given the powerful hardware tucked inside, I’ve recently tested other comparable laptops that didn’t run quite as warm. I suspect this has to do with how the cooling chamber is laid out, with the majority of it located under the keyboard.
The other note is that when running a game at max settings or performing long renders, the fans can get quite loud. Again, this is somewhat expected, but I’ve tested similarly specced performance laptops that were significantly quieter while offering similar cooling performance. It’s not a major critique, but it’s something I’d love to see MSI refine in future iterations.
This brings us to performance, and as advertised, the Titan 18 HX is built for hardcore gamers. It features the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285HX, the most powerful processor in the series, and it shows. This 24-core (eight P-cores and 16 E-cores) CPU delivers impressive performance with a focus on small language model (SLM) AI processing. It blends robust power with high-efficiency cores, creating a chip that is both incredibly fast and relatively power-efficient.
Compared to the Intel Core i9-14900HX, long considered the king of CPU benchmarks, the Ultra 285HX performs approximately 25 percent faster overall. While I had access to internal test data from Intel showing these gains across a range of applications and processes, I haven’t been able to independently verify those figures. Still, based on what I’ve experienced, this latest HX-series CPU offers serious horsepower—performance that will only improve as more developers optimize for it.
“Compared to similar rigs that cost $1,000 less, the Titan 18 HX offers incremental gains—but at a premium.”
That power isn’t limited to gaming, either. It also improves efficiency in productivity and content creation workflows. Depending on the software, apps can leverage the Core Ultra 285HX to significantly boost performance. Ultimately, widespread gains will depend on developer adoption, but for those that support it, the 285HX offers real advantages.
To complement one of the most powerful processors is one of the most powerful GPUs: the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop Edition. Featuring 24 GB of GDDR7 RAM, the RTX 5090 pulls no punches. In benchmarking, the Titan 18 HX shredded through Cyberpunk 2077, easily holding ultra settings at full 4K. With frame generation and DLSS enabled, the frame rates reached hilariously high levels. In short, the Titan 18 HX crushes any game it runs.
For those looking to push a little extra out of the Titan 18 HX, MSI has included its OverBoost technology. In this application, OverBoost Ultra mode delivers an impressive 270 watts of power, allowing for a significant performance boost across the system. That said, during testing, I never encountered a game that required me to leverage the Titan 18 HX’s OverBoost capabilities.
On the topic of 4K gaming, I’ve been impressed by what the Titan 18 HX can do. While other gaming laptops with similar specs often settle for 1440p, MSI has gone all-in by delivering a true 4K experience. It comes at a price, though. While I appreciate what the Titan 18 offers in terms of processing and performance, its $6,182 price tag is a tough pill to swallow.
When compared to other similarly equipped systems that cost $1,000 less, there’s an undeniable case of diminishing returns. The Titan 18 HX does outperform many of those options, but the incremental gains in performance may not fully justify the added expense.
The Titan 18 HX AI is the muscle car of gaming laptops. It’s packed with the most powerful hardware I’ve seen in a portable system, and it performs exactly as you’d expect. While the premium price will be a pain point for many gamers, for hardcore players looking to push the limits of portable 4K gaming, nothing else really compares.
