It's only natural that a person's tastes and preferences change over time. So after years of thirsting for big, beefy gaming laptops with shiny lights, I've started gravitating towards more understated all-rounders that don't scream "Look at me." And for the last few generations, MSI's Stealth 15M line has been one of the best at balancing good performance with a discreet appearance. But unfortunately, it feels like MSI is coasting with the 2022 model. While there aren't a ton of major flaws, things like the Stealth's display, battery life and audio just aren't quite as nice as I would've liked.

Design

For a gaming notebook, the Stealth 15M is about as incognito as it gets. It's got a simple, somewhat boxy build with a matte black finish (which is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, by the way). The only visual flair, at least on the outside, is MSI's dragon logo, which gets a new holographic treatment for 2022.

Then you open it up and you get MSI's lovely Spectrum backlit keyboard, a big speaker grill that runs the width of the deck and a smallish touchpad. Along its sides MSI includes a good selection of ports including four USB 3.2 ports (two Type-A and two Type-C, one of which supports DisplayPort), a full-size HDMI 2.1 connector and a combo headphone/mic jack. And with a weight of just under four pounds (3.96 lbs), the Stealth is actually a touch lighter than a lot of other 15-inch gaming laptops (and some 14-inch systems too).

Display, sound and webcam

On paper, the Stealth 15M's screen looks like a perfect match for its specs. It's a 15.6-inch IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. It even has a matte finish to help prevent distracting reflections. The issue is that because it has somewhat dull colors and a tested brightness of around 250 nits, movies and games look kind of lifeless. Sure, if you like gaming in darker environments, it's not a big deal. But its mediocre light output also means that in sunny rooms, it can be difficult to read text, especially if you're someone who prefers dark mode apps.