A HIGH-OCTANE DISPLAY
The 144Hz full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) screen is an ace in the hole at a price
point where a 60Hz refresh rate is more common. The addition of AMD
FreeSync technology to reduce glitches and screen tearing is equally big-league,
given that Nvidia-based notebooks with G-Sync generally run well into four-
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Praise for the non-touch 15.6-inch screen doesn’t stop there: Its picture is
bright, with well-saturated colors and no glare, thanks to a matte coating. Its
in-plane switching (IPS) technology also provides wide viewing angles. You
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Physical connectivity is abundant. Along the Alpha 15’s sides are Ethernet,
HDMI, mini DisplayPort, one USB 3.1 Type-C, and three USB 3.1 Type-A ports,
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wireless card supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.
In an interesting twist, the USB-A ports are backlit in red, a feature you can
tweak or disable in the MSI Dragon Center app. Not all of them are well-placed,
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be to the user. So devices plugged into them have the potential to encroach on
mouse-pad territory. The included AC adapter fortunately has a right-angle
connector to avoid that.