ASUS ROG Strix G18 (2026) / MSI Stealth 18 HX AI A2XWJG-035US

Arrow Lake-HX generation 24-core processor (8 performance, 16 efficiency) on the Intel HM870 chipset. There is no Hyper-Threading, so each core runs one thread.

The laptop RTX 5090 is not the same card as the desktop RTX 5090. 150 W is the ceiling MSI sets for this thin chassis, so slightly lower GPU performance than thicker 175 W models is expected. MSI quotes 1824 AI TOPS.

The 16:10 panel is an LCD lit from behind by many small LED zones; local dimming gives high brightness and contrast in HDR content, though halos can appear around bright objects in dark scenes. MSI’s family page describes the panel as "IPS-Level".

There is no second SSD slot; MSI advises consulting a service centre before upgrading the SSD.

Both slots come populated, so an upgrade means replacing the modules. MSI lists support up to DDR5-6400; the actual speed depends on the memory combination and the CPU.

Thunderbolt 4 carries 40 Gbit/s data and video over the USB-C shaped port. This model has no Thunderbolt 5.

SD Express uses a PCIe/NVMe interface for much faster transfers with compatible cards; ordinary SD cards are still read.

The IR camera enables Windows Hello face sign-in.

99.9 Wh is just under the common airline carry-on battery limit. Full GPU performance needs the 280 W adapter.