The MSI Katana is now the best budget gaming laptop I've tested so far, beating Asus for the first time in years

The MSI Katana is now the best budget gaming laptop I've tested so far, beating Asus for the first time in years The best budget gaming laptops get a shake up in 2026 Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? After weeks of testing the MSI Katana (specifically the RTX 5060 15 HX B14W model), and running benchmarks against the Asus TUF A15 and Acer Nitro V 16 AI this budget-minded giant has reclaimed its throne in February. The configuration I tested (Intel Core i7-14650HX / RTX 5060 / 16GB RAM) made short work of in-game QHD benchmarks, often scoring higher framerates than the Lenovo Legion 7 Gen 10 and even the Alienware 16X Aurora in this RTX 5060 testing pool. Right now you can expect to pay between $700 and $1,000 for a previous generation RTX 4050 or RTX 4060 gaming laptop, with newer RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 rigs taking you from $1,000 to $1,300 when at their cheapest.