MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) 18" VS MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) 18"

Both the MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) are gaming laptops, but they differ in size and weight. The Raider 18 HX is heavier, weighing 3600 g, compared to the Stealth A18 AI Plus at 2890 g. This difference in weight may impact portability, with the Raider being notably heavier.

In terms of physical dimensions, the Raider 18 HX is larger, with a width of 404 mm, height of 307 mm, and thickness of 24 mm. The Stealth A18 AI Plus is more compact, with a width of 399 mm, height of 289 mm, and thickness of 19 mm. While the Raider is slightly wider and taller, the Stealth has a thinner profile.

Both laptops feature backlit keyboards and neither uses a fanless design. However, the Raider 18 HX has a larger volume of 2976.672 cm³, while the Stealth A18 AI Plus is smaller at 2190.909 cm³. Neither model is weather-sealed or has a rugged build, which means both are standard consumer-grade devices without added protection against environmental factors.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) both feature 18″ displays with Mini-LED technology, ensuring high-quality visuals. However, their resolutions differ slightly. The Raider 18 HX offers a resolution of 3840 x 2400 px, while the Stealth A18 AI Plus has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 px. This results in a slightly higher pixel density for the Raider at 251 ppi, compared to 244 ppi on the Stealth.

Both laptops have a 120Hz refresh rate, which should deliver smooth visuals for gaming and other high-motion content. Neither display is touch-enabled, and both lack anti-reflection coating, meaning you might experience glare under bright lighting.

Additionally, both models support up to four displays, providing flexibility for multi-monitor setups. Despite the differences in pixel density and resolution, the overall display technology and capabilities are quite similar between the two laptops.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) are both high-performance gaming laptops with very similar specs, but there are some key differences. Both laptops have 64GB of RAM and use flash storage with NVMe SSDs, but the Raider 18 HX offers double the internal storage capacity at 4096GB, compared to the Stealth A18 AI Plus's 2048GB. Additionally, the Raider 18 HX has a higher RAM speed of 6400 MHz, while the Stealth A18 AI Plus uses 5600 MHz RAM.

In terms of processing power, both laptops feature 24 CPU threads and utilize multithreading, with the Raider 18 HX using a mix of 8 cores at 2.8 GHz and 16 cores at 2.1 GHz, whereas the Stealth A18 AI Plus has a 12-core processor with a uniform 2.0 GHz speed. The Raider 18 HX has a turbo clock speed of 5.5 GHz, while the Stealth A18 AI Plus reaches a slightly lower turbo clock of 5.1 GHz. The GPU specs are identical for both models, with 24GB of VRAM, a 990 MHz GPU clock speed, and a 1515 MHz GPU turbo speed. Both have the same GDDR7 memory version, floating-point performance of 31.8 TFLOPS, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate.

For expansion, both laptops come with 2 memory slots and support up to 96GB of maximum memory. They also share the same PCIe 4.0 interface and have a 4nm semiconductor size. Neither model features XeSS (XMX) support, but both support 64-bit processing. In terms of display and graphical performance, both machines offer identical texture and pixel rates: 496.9 GTexels/s and 193.9 GPixel/s, respectively.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) show notable differences in their benchmark results. The Raider 18 HX achieves a PassMark result of 62297, significantly higher than the Stealth A18 AI Plus, which scores 35142. When looking at single-thread performance, the Raider 18 HX also leads with a score of 4784, compared to the Stealth A18 AI Plus’s 3872. These differences indicate that the Raider 18 HX has a stronger overall performance, both in multi-threaded and single-threaded tasks.

These benchmark scores highlight a clear distinction in processing power between the two models, with the Raider 18 HX offering superior performance in both categories. However, both laptops are still powerful, with the Stealth A18 AI Plus providing solid performance for demanding tasks, just at a lower overall level compared to the Raider 18 HX.

While the PassMark results reflect a significant gap, the practical impact for users will depend on the specific tasks they intend to use the laptop for, with the Raider 18 HX being better suited for more intensive workloads that require higher multi-core and single-core performance.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) offer a range of connectivity options, though there are some differences. Both laptops feature 2 USB 4 40Gbps ports, but the Raider 18 HX has 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A ports, while the Stealth A18 AI Plus offers 2. Neither laptop includes USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-A, nor USB 4 20Gbps ports. The Stealth A18 AI Plus does have Thunderbolt 4 ports, with 2 available, while the Raider 18 HX has none.

Both laptops have HDMI outputs, with one HDMI 2.1 port each, and both support Wi-Fi versions 7, 6E, 6, 5, and 4. They also share the same Bluetooth version (5.4) and external memory slot support. Both models include AirPlay support but lack DisplayPort, mini DisplayPort, and VGA connectors. The Raider 18 HX does not have RJ45 ports, and neither does the Stealth A18 AI Plus, making both laptops reliant on wireless networking for Ethernet connectivity.

In summary, while both laptops offer solid connectivity options, the Stealth A18 AI Plus stands out with its Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the Raider 18 HX offers slightly more USB-A ports. The connectivity features for both products are otherwise quite similar.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) have nearly identical battery-related features, with just a slight difference in battery size. The Raider 18 HX is equipped with a 99 Wh battery, while the Stealth A18 AI Plus has a slightly larger 99.9 Wh battery. Both models feature sleep-and-charge USB ports, allowing users to charge devices even when the laptop is in sleep mode. Neither laptop includes a MagSafe power adapter, meaning both rely on traditional charging methods.

In terms of battery size, the difference of 0.9 Wh is minimal, so the overall battery life should be quite similar between the two, assuming similar usage patterns. Both laptops also offer the same useful charging features, such as sleep-and-charge ports, making them equally convenient for charging external devices.

Ultimately, the battery specifications are very close, with the slight increase in battery size for the Stealth A18 AI Plus offering a negligible difference in real-world performance compared to the Raider 18 HX.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) share many of the same features, making them quite similar in terms of user experience. Both models come with stereo speakers, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and support for ray tracing and DLSS, ensuring a high-quality multimedia experience. They also both feature a fingerprint scanner, 3D facial recognition, and a front camera, offering robust security and convenience features. Additionally, both laptops include a single microphone for audio capture.

There are no differences in the essential features like the video recording capability (1080 x 30 fps), the lack of Dolby Atmos, voice command support, or the inclusion of an optical disc drive. Both also lack advanced sensors like a gyroscope, GPS, accelerometer, or compass. Neither model has an S/PDIF Out port or voice commands.

In summary, both laptops offer nearly identical feature sets, with no clear distinctions between the two in this category. The features listed are all aligned across both models, with no notable differences in functionality.

The MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW (2025) and the MSI Stealth A18 AI Plus A3XW (2025) share a number of similar features, but there are some distinctions in their specifications. Both laptops feature Intel Resizable BAR support and Blackwell GPU architecture, with the same Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 95W. Both also support 3D and multi-display technology, as well as OpenCL version 3 and OpenGL version 4.6. The memory bus width is the same for both at 256-bit, and the effective memory speed is 25400 MHz with the same maximum memory bandwidth of 811.5 GB/s. Additionally, both support ECC memory and have 128 render output units (ROPs), 328 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 10496 shading units, alongside a GPU memory speed of 2000 MHz.

However, there are some differences in the clock multiplier, with the Raider 18 HX using a higher clock multiplier of 28, compared to 20 on the Stealth A18 AI Plus. The Raider also has an unlocked multiplier, which the Stealth A18 AI Plus lacks. The L3 cache is larger on the Raider at 36 MB, while the Stealth has 24 MB, and the L2 cache is also larger on the Raider at 40 MB compared to 12 MB on the Stealth. In terms of CPU temperature, the Raider reaches 105 °C, while the Stealth reaches 100 °C. The RAM speed is also slightly different, with the Raider supporting a maximum RAM speed of 6400 MHz, while the Stealth supports 7500 MHz.

The Raider 18 HX uses big.LITTLE technology, whereas the Stealth A18 AI Plus does not. Both laptops have integrated graphics, but the other differences in clock multiplier, cache, and RAM speed could lead to varying performance in certain scenarios.