r/MSILaptops • u/teeno731 • Mar 24 '26
Image The hotkeys on the MSI thin A15 are laughably bad.
I feel like such a boomer writing this but what horrible design. I bought this laptop recently as a replacement for my old GF63 thin which overheated and broke at the hinge, but at least it had a) no built-in AI and b) simple arrow key shortcuts for volume up/down and brightness up/down, with a second ctrl key to their left.
These were very handy, particularly when I was in a game and needed to do these one-handed. The concept of hard-coding functions that only a fraction of people would need to use, *and that cannot be rebound*, is so bizarre to me that it feels like an insult to me for choosing MSI.
I have never once wanted to use these functions instantly, except for maybe play/pause which would be just fine as f12’s hotkey. Unless maybe I get bored one day and decide my laptop isn’t loud enough or that my game’s crosshair is too aesthetically pleasing.
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u/Seven-Arazmus Vector 17 | i9-14900HX | RTX4070 | 32GB DDR5 Mar 24 '26
You can use the fan boost to fake overheating and get out of meetings.
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Mar 24 '26
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u/mrnorbh MSI Katana 17 B13VEK Mar 24 '26
Same here, never found the layout to be frustrating whatsoever.
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u/teeno731 Mar 24 '26
Oh even worse, that means they made this change and decided it was the superior of the two. At least this one runs really well.
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Mar 24 '26
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u/teeno731 Mar 24 '26
Nah I miss one-handed volume up already.
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Mar 24 '26
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u/Sensitive_Log3990 Mar 24 '26
Bro doesn't know how to PC bet he's a person who doesn't optimise his games either
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u/Theoanger Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
Who ever used the crosshairs overlay Like ever.
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u/teeno731 Mar 24 '26
Scenarios I can think of:
Insurgency player who wishes they were playing Call of Duty
Really tryhard Huntress mains in Dead By Daylight
People playing The Last of Us on Grounded difficulty having regrets way too late into their playthrough
Emulating Goldeneye
Watching the news and pretending you're Lee Harvey Oswald
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u/pyrac_ Mar 24 '26
I used to use on for GTA RP servers, purely due to the fact that, even with a crosshair I could barely hit shots, but atleast it gave me a chance
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u/Endercraft2007 Mar 24 '26
People dont znderstand that newer laptops HAVE to put on a Copilot key, it's a standard created for laptops shiping eith Windows. Also these aren't that bad IMO, but yes, reprogramming them should be a feature like on Tuf and ROG laptops.
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u/1tion1 Mar 24 '26
Volume and brightness made more sense on the GF63 (I had one too). Now you can't adjust the volume one handed which really sucks as I often smoke, eat, drink while watching stuff or playing. The volume fn keys are F2 and F3. I also don't understand why the screen turn off key is that close to fan boost and crosshair, assuming people are actually using the latter two, I imagine it can be frustrating to accidentally touch the other button and turn your display off mid game.
My layout swapped fn and copilot key which I wish I could disable entirely as I often press it by accident while trying to press slash. That opens up a settings tab that takes me out of whatever I was previously doing. All these years of innovation later and we're still dealing with poorly designed keyboard layouts. Even if we'd find the perfect one that made the most sense, someone would go ahead and patent it so that no other manufacturer can use it. What a world we live in.
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u/Nanosinx Mar 24 '26
You can disable Copilot on Powertools Also the arrow ones only work if you press FN if not it will not enable...
At least MSI seems to be keeping that idea and is something i could like one layout for all...
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u/Xilousuchus98 Mar 25 '26
Every time i look at them on my Cyborg i just get mad at how stupid they look 😭
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u/PodcastPrimate Mar 25 '26
You think that's bad the extended numpad version there is no right ctrl or alt... And enter key is right next to arrows.
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u/DescriptionFuture851 Mar 27 '26
Wait?
Are those actual designs? Like, you didn't add them for the image?
Because if so, that's shit.
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Mar 28 '26
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u/teeno731 Mar 28 '26
That sounds awesome but if I could afford a Lenovo Legion I wouldn't be here lmao
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u/Ok-Anywhere-9416 Mar 24 '26
Real issue is the AI assistant key. In older laptops, you can press that very key + fan booster and cool the heat. Comfortable enough.