Our best laptop for Once Human

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If you’ve been excited about playing the new free-to-play MMORPG survival game, you want to have the hardware to match. Although the Once Human system requirements aren’t anything too demanding, you can still enjoy a stunning and smoother experience with the right builds. Or if you’re looking for a more portable solution, then maybe the best gaming laptop for the game is what you’re after.

As we’ve slowly started out our laptop testing suite, we’ve started to see what makes up a good choice for getting the job done in either gaming or productivity tasks. They have certainly got a lot more powerful but expensive compared to the hardware of comparable gaming PCs. But you don’t need the top-notch for Once Human as it even runs on mobile and requires a minimum of 10-year-old hardware. So we go through our top pick of the MSI Raider GE78 HX 14VHG.

Why the MSI Raider GE78

MSI Raider GE78 HX 14VHG

Hands-on Review

4 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

CPU: Intel Core i9-14900HX
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop
RAM: 32GB (2*16) DDR5
Storage: 4TB NVMe
Max Refresh Rate: 240Hz
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Screen Size: 17″
Panel Type: QHD+

The MSI laptop is a better middle ground than the ranges we tested from the manufacturer. The Titan stands strong above, and a bit more expensive, but not as muted and less performing Stealth series. Instead, it’s a more gaming-focused laptop that isn’t afraid to hide it. With quite a bit of RGB around it and plenty of heft and thickness that allows all the hot air to spew out and really warm your hand when using your mouse.

Or if you’re not a fan, there’s plenty of control through the MSI App on its behavior. It’s nice to have a lot of control between discrete or hybrid graphics and the fan ramp of it. Choosing between performance, silence, or somewhere in between allows it to be quite the versatile device, as you can also turn off the RGB. Even the keyboard and touchpad make for a good experience from the get-go.

As for the hardware inside it comes with an Intel Core i9-14900HX and an RTX 4080 laptop GPU. These combined allow it to run at great framerates on any game, and we later test this in Once Human as well to see how it handles that. Along with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 4TB of NVMe SSD, it has fast loading times in support of the core components as well. Although the display can be a bit disappointing, compared to the other MSI models the IPS is a bit bland instead of the MiniLEDs that bring a lot of vibrancy and color. But still, the 1600p resolution and 240Hz refresh rate make it a great gaming screen to enjoy.

Additionally, the build quality and finish of the laptop make it a strong option in the long run to run. Along with the small details like the arced hinges that lift the screen above the back vents, or interesting see-through buttons. Although it might not be for everyone there is a place for it on someone’s desk or backpack, so let’s see how well it does.

Performance

Steam’s transfer feature is a savior, as thanks to it we could transfer the game over our network to the laptop a lot quicker than downloading it. It did take a second for the game to load up our character and server info, but loading in we were greeted by incredible graphics. As the game started up in the very high settings it does have a nice look to it. We tested this out and then turned it down to medium and very low to get a range of performance you might expect. Below are our findings of the framerates we got in the game.

Once Human benchmarked on MSI Raider GE78 HX 14VHG, Image by PC Guide

As you can see, it does very well across the board. Although none of the options quite reach the 240FPS to match the refresh rate it does stand higher than the 60FPS making it a lot smoother and nicer to view. Although the frame drops can get a bit frustrating with the hitches, we experienced that on other hardware as well so it is unlikely to be a laptop issue. Plus as it’s just come out we imagine more updates to come to resolve any issues on the way.

The game does not support any upscaling either, so although there’s an RTX 40 series GPU on board, you won’t be able to run DLSS 3 or anything yet. The devs have said optimization and integration of certain features have pushed that back instead but there could be a potential for it down the line. Although as an AMD-featured game, it might opt for FSR first anyway, which should help with smoothing out the gameplay and boosting up the FPS to reach that mark.

Final word

Overall, the MSI Raider GE78 offers a great all-around experience. A gaming-focused laptop, it has a lot of control over its performance and behavior making it a versatile PC. It might be a bit more expensive choice but its still a good value compared to the higher end models instead. But either way it makes for a good device to play Once Human on. If you want to find out more about the laptop you can read our MSI Raider GE78 HX 14VHG quick look review to find out more.