Gaming laptop buyers are running into ugly pricing, and The Verge’s Cameron Faulkner points to one configuration that looks less absurd than the rest: MSI’s Katana 15 HX is listed at Amazon for $1,133.67 with a 15.6-inch 1440p display, an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU, an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 1TB SSD.
Faulkner attributes the broader price pressure to a sharp increase in RAM costs, with storage also rising to a smaller degree. That has made low- and midrange gaming notebooks more expensive than their spec sheets would suggest. The annoying bit for shoppers is that the money no longer stretches as far: The Verge notes that laptops with RTX 4070 or RTX 5070 GPUs have sometimes appeared near this price in the past, but that is not the current deal climate.
The Katana deal is not magic. It is a midrange gaming laptop with a current Nvidia GPU and enough memory and storage for a sane starting point. The parts that make it more defensible at this price are the 1440p panel with a 165Hz refresh rate and a port layout that does not treat useful connectors as a luxury add-on.
According to the listing and MSI’s specifications, the machine includes three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port with video output, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, a headphone jack, and a barrel charging connector. The HDMI port supports output up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz.
MSI says the Katana supports up to 96GB of DDR5 memory at 6,000MHz through two user-accessible slots. That matters because soldered or hard-to-reach memory is where laptop “upgrades” go to die. Storage is less flexible: MSI lists one M.2 SSD slot.
Other deals in the same roundup
The Verge also highlighted several smaller hardware, media, and game discounts.
- Ugreen’s 10-port gigabit Ethernet switch is listed at Amazon for $37.97. Eight of its ports support power over Ethernet, which lets compatible devices receive both network connectivity and power through one cable. The switch can provide up to 60W to certain devices, according to the roundup, and its price has been moving between about $38 and $50.
- The limited edition bundle of the 1990s live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy is listed for $39.09 at Amazon and Walmart. The set includes the films on 4K Blu-ray with Dolby Vision and HDR10 support, plus posters, cards, other physical extras, director commentaries, interviews, and lossless audio.
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is $55.99 on Steam during the platform’s summer sale through July 9. Newegg is offering it for $10 less with the checkout code 5DSUMMER. The PC version arrived months after the PlayStation 5 release and includes 21:9 aspect ratio support and graphical improvements not present in the console version, according to The Verge.
The throughline is less glamorous than the discount stickers: PC hardware pricing is still making buyers compromise. The Katana deal stands out because it keeps the compromises visible, rather than hiding them behind a gamer-font badge and a nonsense “was” price.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
