The MSI Cyborg 15 A12VF is a gaming laptop inspired by Cyberpunk. The Laptop delivers strong gaming performance powered by a 13th Gen Intel Core CPU and an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU. MSI Cyborg 15 is built for gamers with cost-performance value. With mobility, long battery life, and low power consumption the MSI Cyborg 15 is the newest lineup entry into the PC gaming world.
MSI Cyborg 15 A12V Appearance Overlook
Certainly, MSI Cyborg 15 should be viewed as a portable 15.6-inch laptop designed for gaming. The laptop weighs just under 2 kilograms, which a few years ago with an RTX-xx40 graphics card would have been unimaginable. Cyborg 15 is equipped with a laptop-oriented GeForce RTX 4060 45 W version to fit into a relatively slim and lightweight chassis. It should be noted that GeForce RTX 4060 laptops can also have up to 105 W TGP, which can lead to a significant difference in performance between the 45 W and more powerful, seemingly similar graphics card variants.
I appreciate that MSI Cyborg 15 can be opened with one hand, and the build quality is decent, with some semi-transparent plastic visible in places. Unlike many other gaming laptops, Cyborg 15 can be opened up to 180°, which is a huge plus if you plan to use the laptop on a stand in an upright position.
The number of ports is as expected, with one USB A port on each side, on the right side there’s also the power cable, HDMI, and USB C, which also supports DisplayPort signaling. The ports are shifted towards the user’s side to make space for the cooling system, but this solution might not be very comfortable.
Cyborg 15 stands on rubber feet, and the bottom is removable to replace the NVMe SSD, RAM (two DDR5 modules), and even the Wi-Fi card. Cyborg 15 is cooled by a single fan, which can get quite loud during gaming. The speakers are directed towards the table; they aren’t the best I’ve heard but could have been a bit better given the price.
MSI Cyborg 15 Technical Specifications
| Processor | Intel Core i7-12650H, 3.5 – 4.7 GHz (24 MB cache, 6 P cores, 4E cores) |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, 8 GB GDDR6, 1470 MHz Boost Clock, 45 W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR5 SO-DIMM (up to 64 GB) |
| Screen | 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080), 144 Hz, IPS-Level |
| SSD | 512 GB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |
| Ports | 1x Type-C (USB3.2 Gen1 / DP), 2x Type-A USB3.2 Gen1, 1x HDMI 2.1 (4K @ 60Hz), 1x RJ45 |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Dimensions | 359.36 x 250.34 x 21.95~22.9 mm |
| Weight | 2 kg |
| Battery | 53.5 Wh, 120 W charger |
| Extras | Backlit keyboard in one color |
| Price | $999 |
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Screen
MSI calls the Cyborg 15 screen IPS-Level, but it’s most likely a good TN screen with 1080p resolution and 144 Hz refresh rate, not an IPS screen. The colors are rather dull, and the screen’s maximum brightness reaches about 245 cd/m², which isn’t much. For gaming, the IPS-Level screen of Cyborg 15 will do, but it might lack for color-sensitive tasks.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Cyborg 15 features a quite reasonable keyboard with a numeric keypad. There are almost full-size arrow keys, and the left Shift and Ctrl keys are larger. MSI has moved the Fn key farther away to avoid interference during gaming. The keys on Cyborg 15 are backlit, but in just one slightly bluish color.
The touchpad is sufficiently large, and it appears accurate and responsive. Overall, it must be said that Cyborg 15 has one of the nicest keyboards (and also a fairly good touchpad) seen in laptops that are not very expensive recently. Yes, Cyborg 15 is still relatively expensive, but you can find it with an i5 processor and without an OS at a decent price.
Application
Cyborg 15 comes with a simplified MSI Center application. It allows adding applications and games to a list that switches the laptop to the highest available performance mode. I conducted several performance tests with both MSI Center engaged and without this special mode, but saw no improvements. MSI Center offers insights into the laptop’s performance, load, and disk usage, but that’s about it.
MSI Cyborg 15 Performance
I must say that Cyborg 15 with the RTX 4060 slightly surprised me; this laptop showed similar frame rates in demanding games as a laptop equipped with an RTX 3060 graphics card. A good example of this is the previously reviewed MSI Stealth 15M.
However, Cyborg 15 can perform better where the previous generation graphics cards couldn’t – with the mentioned DLSS 3. The DLSS 3 trick of adding frames lifts not only the average frame rate per second in Cyberpunk 2077, but mainly increases the minimum frame rate from 28 to 51 frames per second. And this parameter is very noticeable in the game, not only in CP 2077’s built-in performance test.
It should be noted, though, that the range of DLSS 3-supported games isn’t very extensive. One can filter DLSS 3 games individually.
Cyborg 15 heats up quite quickly, and the laptop is relatively noisy. The size and weight of Cyborg 15 might be to blame; some compromises might have been needed to reduce size and weight.
In the Passmark Performance Test 9.0 test, this laptop achieved a relatively low score of 3527 points, and considering the price, one would have expected more. The aforementioned MSI Stealth 15M reached over 4700 points in the same test.
Cyborg 15 has only a 512 GB NVMe SSD, which nowadays, after installing a few modern games, is almost filled. The memory is reasonably fast, but it won’t break any records. The write speed, for some reason, is much lower than what can be expected from an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD.
Conclusion
Overall, I must say that Cyborg 15 pleasantly surprised me with its build quality, size, and weight. Cyborg 15 has a few semi-transparent details that give it its charm. Visually, everything is well done here; I really liked that the screen can be opened up to 180°.
The screen itself has a 144 Hz and 1080p resolution, but it looks somewhat dull, and it certainly could have been brighter, especially if you plan to use it in well-lit rooms.
In terms of performance, Cyborg 15 with RTX 4060 responds similarly to a laptop equipped with an RTX 3060 graphics card, but the RTX 4060 will show its power specifically in games where DLSS 3 with frame insertion is available. However, all of this is presented with relatively low energy consumption; there’s a 120 W charger, which would have seemed impossible years ago along with a GTX 1650 graphics card. As far as I looked, GTX 1650 laptop graphics cards came with chargers of around 130… 150 W. It should also be noted that Cyborg 15 uses the RTX 4060 graphics card’s 45 W modification, which can lag behind the full 105 W TGP RTX 4060 in many scenarios.
I have to admit that I was initially skeptical about Cyborg 15, but after spending several days with it, Cyborg 15 became, possibly, the closest gaming laptop at a reasonable price that I’ve encountered in the past year. Ideally, it would come with at least a 1 TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD, as 512 GB is too little for modern games nowadays.
