United Kingdom
India
Deutschland
France
Canada
España
Belgium
Netherlands
Poland
Sweden
България
Australia
Singapore
Italia
中国
日本How to open MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) – disassembly and upgrade options
Despite its massive footprint, the MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) only offers one storage slot. This raised a couple of eyebrows in our office. However, here is a quick guide on how to open the laptop.
Check out all MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) prices and configurations in our Specs System, or read more in our In-Depth review.
1. Remove the bottom plate
To access this notebook’s internals, you need to undo a total of 13 Phillips-head screws. Then, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool, starting from the front of the device.
2. Remove the battery
Inside, we find a 53.5Wh battery pack. To take it out, unplug the connector from the motherboard, and undo all three Phillips-head screws that secure the battery to the chassis.
3. Upgrade memory and storage
There are two SODIMM slots for memory, stacked one over another. They support up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in total. As for storage, you get one M.2 PCIe x4 slot for Gen 4 SSDs.
4. Cooling system
Here, the cooling comprises a total of four heat pipes, three heat sinks, two fans, and a couple of heat spreaders.
Check out all MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) prices and configurations in our Specs System, or read more in our In-Depth review.
MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) in-depth review
If there is a brand known for its gaming devices, this surely has to be MSI. Its gamut consists of budget machines, premium laptops, and everything in between. Today, we are going to review a gaming notebook, which sits closer to the first part of the brand's portfolio.It is the MSI Sword 17 (A12UD). Interestingly, this particular notebook can be found by the (A12UDX) and (A12UCX). The last two come with DDR5 RAM and two M.2 slots on the inside, while the one we have, has DDR4 memory, and only one storage slot.Regardless of that, our particular configuration features the Intel Core i7[...]
Pros
- Competitively priced
- Two SODIMM slots, and one M.2 PCIe x4 slot
- Rigid structure
- No PWM (AUO B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F))
- 144Hz refresh rate (AUO B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F))
Cons
- 53% sRGB coverage (AUO B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F))
- Slow pixel response times (AUO B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F))
- No SD card reader and limited USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1)
- Short battery life
- Keyboard gets quite warm during gaming
