MSI is well-known for its spectacular catalog of gaming laptops — and lots of the staples in its lineup have obtained updates in time for us to listen to about them at CES 2026. However there is a distinct shift in focus.
Essentially the most hardcore avid gamers (with the largest wallets) may be upset that MSI’s highest efficiency gaming laptops within the Titan collection had been handed over this 12 months. However hobbyists and fans will doubtless admire that a variety of MSI’s extra reasonably priced gaming laptops had been touched up, together with the slim Stealth collection and the midrange Raider and Crosshair collection.
It appears like MSI would not need to solid the highlight on its gaming staples for too lengthy this time round. Whereas the corporate touched up its gaming laptops, the true stars of the present are the overhauled Status enterprise laptops. They’re slim, they’ve good battery life and MSI has dedicated to a design that permits you to service the laptop computer your self.
We have now all of MSI’s massive bulletins from the present collected for you right here. However much more is going on at CES 2026, so you should definitely sustain with the CNET crew as we catalog what’s new on the planet of tech this 12 months.
Status 14 AI Plus and Status 16 AI Plus
MSI’s Status enterprise laptops are slimming down significantly as the corporate tries to shift its nongaming catalog into the highlight. Along with a pleasing design overhaul, these laptops give attention to the variables that matter most to working professionals: the show, portability and battery life.
The Status 14 AI Plus and Status 16 AI Plus each have rounded edges, and the MSI brand is now branded on the again. These adjustments add some character to what would in any other case be very pedestrian wanting laptops.
The Status 16 AI Plus has a a lot nicer display than its 14-inch counterpart, that includes a 2,880×1,800-pixel OLED show and 120Hz refresh charge. The Status 14 AI Plus has a 1,920×1,200-pixel OLED show, so photographs will not look fairly as sharp on this mannequin. Corning Gorilla Glass protects the show from scratches and smudges on each the 14- and 16-inch touchscreen fashions.
Each laptops have all-day battery life, although the Status 14 AI Plus ekes out as much as six hours of extra uptime in comparison with the Status 16 AI Plus. It is under no circumstances unprecedented for contemporary work computer systems to have this form of uptime between prices, but it surely’s definitely essential.
The inner specs between these machines are principally the identical. The Status 14 AI Plus and Status 16 AI Plus can each home as much as an Intel Core Extremely X9 processor with built-in Intel Arc B390 graphics, as much as 64GB of RAM and a single M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5/Gen4 x4 SSD.
Stealth 16 AI Plus
MSI unveiled an improve for one more of its midrange gaming laptop computer collection with the Stealth 16 AI Plus. That is a pc that will not fairly eke out the degrees of efficiency afforded by the most recent and biggest Titan fashions, MSI’s beefiest collection of gaming laptops. It trades in efficiency for a sleeker kind, and regardless of its hefty weight, it is a laptop computer that gaming fans ought to comfortably be capable of tote alongside nearly anyplace.
The Stealth collection goes again to being stealthy, eschewing an replace to the 2025 18-inch show mannequin in favor of a extra normal dimension laptop computer. The tapered black chassis adjustments top throughout the size of the design however stays skinny all through.
The earlier iteration of the Stealth 16 AI Plus weighed shut to five kilos — it is a heavy laptop computer — whereas the brand new iteration is far nearer to 4 kilos. In a pleasant high quality of life improve, the brand new mannequin additionally contains two Thunderbolt 4 Kind-C ports, which had been lacking solely from the 2025’s iteration of the laptop computer.
The 16-inch laptop computer has an OLED panel with a 2,560×1,400-pixel decision and a 240Hz refresh charge. The display is fabricated from Corning Gorilla Glass, which serves as higher safety from scratches and smudges.
Updates had been made to the pc’s inside specs, too, in fact. Intel’s silicon goes to be inside the most recent iteration of the Stealth 16 AI Plus, whereas final 12 months’s mannequin contained an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU. The brand new Stealth 16 AI Plus homes an Intel Core Extremely 300H collection processor. The Stealth 16 AI Plus additionally has two Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 collection GPUs, as much as 128GB of RAM and two M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 SSDs.
You higher like dragons in case you’re within the Raider 16 Max HX. The massive grey dragon on the highest cowl provides numerous visible noise to an in any other case clear design.
Raider 16 Max HX
It is no MSI Titan, however the Raider collection is the second strongest lineup of gaming laptops the corporate has on provide. The corporate has refreshed the Raider 16 Max HX laptop computer with a brand new design and a few mild inside spec touch-ups.
The newest iteration of the Raider 16 Max HX has loads happening visually — the black pc has a large dragon motif on its prime cowl and an RGB strip built-in into the hinge. Per-key RGB lighting within the keyboard means you’ll be able to keep on with one colour or assault your eyes with all the rainbow directly. The laptop computer additionally has an OLED show with a 2,560×1,600-pixel decision and 240Hz refresh charge.
Maybe most significantly, the brand new Raider laptop computer incorporates a small detachable again panel that grants you quick access to the RAM and SSD. In case you have the fundamental know-how, this design permits you to service among the components on this laptop computer by your self within the occasion that one thing goes improper.
The Raider 16 Max HX can home as much as an Intel Core Extremely 200 HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 collection GPU, as much as 128GB of RAM and twin PCIe Gen4x4 and PCIe Gen5x4 SSDs.
The Crosshair 16 Max HX is one in every of MSI’s extra reasonably priced laptops. It would not have per-key RGB lighting, but it surely does have 24 RGB lighting zones.
Crosshair 16 Max HX
MSI’s most accessible and casual-friendly gaming laptops — the Cyborg collection — have not been showcased at CES 2026. However there are nonetheless some laptops on show that avid gamers with tighter purse strings would possibly discover thrilling. MSI’s Crosshair collection mixes pretty high-performance components with a extra reasonably priced price ticket. The corporate unveiled the most recent replace to the Crosshair 16 Max HX at CES 2026.
The dragon is subdued on the Crosshair 16 Max HX’s prime cowl — the visible motif is contained to a small blue emblem, which appears to be like a lot cleaner than the Raider 16 Max HX. No RGB strip is constructed into the hinge right here, however the keyboard has a 24-zone lighting setup. The Crosshair 16 Max HX has an OLED show with a 2,560×1,600-pixel decision and 165Hz refresh charge.
This laptop computer can home as much as an Intel Core Extremely 200HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 collection GPU, as much as 128GB of RAM and twin PCIe Gen4x4 and PCIe Gen5x4 SSDs.
All these laptops are anticipated to launch this 12 months, however MSI hasn’t launched pricing but.
