MSI
Micro-Star International is a company known for selling laptops and computer parts.
Hinge Issue[edit]
The TL;DR is that MSI hinges tend to break. And remember, broken hinges means that the laptop essentially becomes unusable as a portable laptop.
For over a decade now, MSI laptops have had rampant hinge failures. The hinge failures happen on most of their laptop lineup and has continued to this day. The problem is that MSI doesn't distribute the hinge torque and creates a concentration of torque on the mount. When looking at the hinges of MSI laptops, you'll see either the hinges screwed directly into the plastic lid or glued into the metal lid. The hinge mounts are very short and do not distribute the torque across the entire lid as is seen on most other laptops which have no hinge problems. There is simply no way to make a hinge design like this without putting so much stress and wear on this tiny area where the hinges are mounted without making it weak and prone to breaking. Add that onto the fact that MSI overtightens their hinges and you have a recipe for hinges breaking left and right. Until there is evidence of the laptop properly distributing the hinge torque, it is difficult to recommend any MSI laptop and have customers risk getting a laptop which may break.
Explanation of How Hinges Fail[edit]
When talking about hinge failures, the issue isn't due to the hinges themselves failing. The hinge are usually made of steel which is incredibly rigid and strong. However, the failure occurs at the mount between the lid of the laptop and the steel hinge. When it comes to aluminum laptops made out of sheet metal, there are limited ways to attach a hinge to a lid. One is to screw directly through the metal, which is the strongest solution. However, this leads to the screw heads poking out of the lid, which is unsightly. The other method is to glue either a plastic or metal piece onto the lid. These pieces have screw mounts for the hinge, and the hinge then screws onto these mounts. Here is where the issue lies. All of the torque from the hinge movement is then transferred to these mounts which are glued onto the lid. However, the amount of force that is applied to the mount depends on how the torque is distributed.
it's all about the distribution of the torque from the hinges let's say you're trying to tighten a bolt a longer wrench provides more leverage right? or in other words, it's easier to turn the nut when you a longer lever So with a short wrench, you have to push really hard, requiring a lot of force so applying this logic to laptop hinges, the shorter the distance between the hinge turning mechanism and the end of the hinge mount, the more force is applied to the hinge mount let me give you two extreme examples. a lot of laptops use this type of hinge [insert image here] this distributes the torque all the way up the lid, putting very little force on the hinge mount compare this to the legion 7 and the slim hinge, and the difference in force that's put onto the hinge mount is massive and idk if you guys have ever played around with a laptop hinge before, but these things are unexpectedly tight. If you just take a laptop hinge and try to move it with your hands, you can't or maybe i'm just super weak idk lol
