Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 review

Frame rates

1920×1080, High preset, upscaling off.

Measured on this machine. Source: Notebookcheck, 2021-11-14.

In use

The short version

The Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 is a strong 1080p gaming laptop on the evidence available. Its RTX 3070 and Ryzen 7 5800H combination produces high frame rates across a broad set of measured games, from 205fps in Back 4 Blood to 75fps in X-Plane 11, all at 1920x1080 on the High preset with upscaling disabled. That is an important spread: this is not a machine that merely posts a good result in a couple of favourable esports titles. It is regularly fast enough for the fitted 144Hz display, and where it does not reach 144fps, it still delivers clearly playable figures in substantially heavier games.

The headline limitation is not gaming speed. It is that this is a large, 2.56kg laptop with a relatively small 49Wh battery for its class. The available specifications therefore point towards a machine best used as a transportable desktop replacement: something that can move between a desk, a shared home workspace, a university room or an occasional LAN session, rather than something to carry all day. The 17.3in IPS display gives it a proper big-screen gaming-laptop character, but weight and battery capacity make it a less convincing choice for frequent untethered use.

For a buyer whose priority is high-refresh 1080p gaming on a 17.3in screen, the benchmark data is persuasive. The measured average across the five scoring-suite games is 129fps. That sits close enough to the 144Hz refresh ceiling to make the panel a sensible match for the hardware, even if not every demanding game can maintain 144fps at the stated settings. In games such as Strange Brigade, GTA V and The Witcher 3, it can make substantial use of that refresh rate. In games such as Far Cry 6, Alan Wake Remastered and X-Plane 11, the more realistic expectation is smooth rather than fully saturated 144Hz gameplay.

There is no confirmed UK price for this exact configuration. As a result, the site cannot calculate its full value assessment, because price is a necessary part of that judgement. That does not make the performance evidence uncertain: the benchmark suite is complete, the machine appears normally on the frame-rate leaderboard, and Notebookcheck’s figures give a clear view of what this RTX 3070 system can do. It simply means that nobody should pretend to know whether it is good value without knowing what UK buyers are actually being asked to pay.

Buy the XMG Apex 17 M21 if you want a 17.3in 144Hz 1080p gaming machine and care most about strong conventional gaming performance at High settings without relying on upscaling. Do not buy it on the assumption that its 144Hz display means every modern game will run at 144fps, because the measurements show a more nuanced reality. It has enough performance to make the panel worthwhile, but the panel remains ahead of the machine in the toughest titles. That is normal for a gaming laptop; it is not a reason to dismiss the Apex. It is a reason to set expectations correctly.

Performance

What the measured figures say

Notebookcheck measured the Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 at 1920x1080, using the High preset with upscaling disabled. Those settings matter. They show the laptop’s native 1080p gaming capability rather than a result assisted by resolution scaling or a reduced quality preset. The machine was measured at 205fps in Back 4 Blood, 183fps in Strange Brigade, 174fps in The Witcher 3, 170fps in Hitman 3 and 158fps in GTA V. That top end is exceptionally well suited to a 144Hz panel.

There is a clear dividing line in the results. Some games run beyond the display’s 144Hz refresh rate, some sit close enough that a high-refresh experience remains plausible, and some fall well short because their workloads are more demanding. The important point is that the lower results are not a collapse into poor performance. The measured list bottoms out at 75fps in X-Plane 11. Even the slowest result is comfortably above the frame rates generally associated with an unresponsive gaming experience. What changes from game to game is not whether the Apex can play them at the stated settings, but whether it can fully exploit its 144Hz screen.

Back 4 Blood at 205fps is the clearest example of the Apex operating beyond the panel’s refresh limit. The display can show up to 144 refreshed frames each second, so a measured figure above that does not mean the panel itself becomes a higher-refresh display. It means the hardware has performance in reserve at the stated settings. That reserve can be useful where frame rate varies through a game, but it also shows that buyers expecting a high-frame-rate experience in this title are well served.

Strange Brigade at 183fps, The Witcher 3 at 174fps and Hitman 3 at 170fps are similarly strong results. These are not just figures that technically clear 144fps by a negligible amount. Each is far enough above the screen refresh rate to indicate that the laptop can drive the panel at its ceiling in these measured scenarios. GTA V, at 158fps, also exceeds 144Hz. The practical implication is straightforward: the Apex’s 144Hz specification is not wasted in this group of games.

Below that group, Monster Hunter Stories 2 reaches 143fps. This is essentially on the display’s refresh target without quite matching it in the published result. It is the kind of figure that demonstrates an excellent fit between system performance and panel refresh, while also reminding buyers that a single benchmark number is not a guarantee of a fixed frame rate in every scene. At 143fps, however, the argument is not about whether the laptop is fast enough. It plainly is. The distinction is simply between approaching the 144Hz maximum and exceeding it.

Days Gone is measured at 140fps. That is again close to the display limit, and it reinforces the same conclusion: in a substantial part of the tested library, this laptop can provide the sort of high-refresh experience that justifies a 144Hz panel. Dota 2 reaches 127fps, which is below the panel maximum but still firmly in high-frame-rate territory. The measured 129fps mean across the five scoring-suite games is consistent with that pattern. The Apex is not a universal 144fps machine at High settings, but it is much closer to that target than to ordinary 60fps gaming.

The middle of the range is still strong

The second group of results is where the XMG Apex 17 M21 looks like a capable mainstream gaming laptop rather than a machine chasing an unrealistic “everything at maximum refresh” claim. Far Cry 5 is measured at 119fps, Outriders at 117fps, Riders Republic at 114fps, Guardians of the Galaxy at 111fps and Deathloop at 106fps. These are all below 144fps, but none should be described as disappointing on their own terms. They remain well above 100fps.

For someone moving from a 60Hz display, figures between 106fps and 119fps represent a substantial step into high-refresh gaming. For someone specifically buying the Apex because it has a 144Hz screen, the more careful conclusion is that these titles use much of the panel’s capability without saturating it. The gap between 106fps and 144Hz is visible in the simple sense that the hardware is not delivering a new frame for every refresh. But 106fps is still a high result at native 1920x1080 with the High preset and no upscaling.

Final Fantasy XV is measured at 100fps. That is a neat threshold in practical terms: it does not hit 144Hz, but it gives the laptop a large performance margin over basic 60fps gaming. It also demonstrates why it would be wrong to reduce the review to the best figures alone. A buyer looking only at 205fps in Back 4 Blood might expect the same outcome everywhere. Notebookcheck’s wider set of measurements says otherwise. The Apex is powerful, but game engines and graphical workloads vary greatly.

New World at 93fps and Far Cry 6 at 91fps form the next tier. These results remain comfortable for conventional gaming, but they are no longer close to the panel’s maximum refresh. The laptop’s screen can refresh at 144Hz; the benchmark data indicates that the GPU and CPU combination does not always have enough headroom to feed it at 144fps under the stated settings. Buyers who prioritise the highest possible refresh rate in every game should take that seriously. Buyers who simply want smooth, high-quality 1080p gaming should see these as good outcomes.

There is also an important distinction between a machine that needs immediate compromises and one that gives the owner choices. At 91fps or 93fps, the Apex is already producing a strong experience at High settings without upscaling. A user who prefers to target the highest possible frame rate has options through in-game settings, but no specific outcome should be assumed because the available data does not measure those altered settings. The responsible conclusion from the published figures is limited but useful: the machine starts from a strong baseline in these games, rather than starting from a position where reductions are mandatory just to achieve acceptable performance.

The demanding games reveal the limits

The most demanding end of the measured list is Alan Wake Remastered at 79fps and X-Plane 11 at 75fps. These are the figures that keep the overall assessment grounded. They are not poor results, but they are far from 144fps. A buyer choosing this laptop specifically for a 144Hz display should understand that the screen is an upper limit, not a promise of a matching frame rate across every game and every workload.

Alan Wake Remastered at 79fps is comfortably playable from the information available, but it uses only a little over half of the display’s 144Hz capacity. That is still a better position than being limited around 60fps, especially at the same 1920x1080 High setting and without upscaling. Yet it is also a reminder that visually demanding games can consume the performance margin very quickly. The difference between 205fps in Back 4 Blood and 79fps in Alan Wake Remastered is not a contradiction in the data. It is evidence of how differently games stress laptop hardware.

X-Plane 11 at 75fps is the lowest published result. It is still above 60fps, but it is plainly not a high-refresh result in the same sense as 170fps in Hitman 3 or 158fps in GTA V. This makes the Apex more convincing as an all-round smooth-gaming machine than as a no-compromise 144Hz machine. That is not faint praise. The evidence suggests it has a broad performance floor rather than sharp failures. But it also gives buyers a clear reason not to overbuy the 144Hz marketing line in isolation.

The full range from 205fps down to 75fps is therefore one of the most useful facts about this laptop. The average tells part of the story, particularly the 129fps scoring-suite mean, but the range tells the more practical story. Averages can hide the difference between a laptop that is consistently near one performance level and one that swings massively depending on the title. Here, the spread is large. The correct buying decision depends on the games a person actually plays.

• Best match for the 144Hz panel: Back 4 Blood, Strange Brigade, The Witcher 3, Hitman 3 and GTA V, all measured above 144fps.
• Very close to full refresh: Monster Hunter Stories 2 at 143fps and Days Gone at 140fps.
• High-frame-rate gaming without full 144Hz saturation: Dota 2, Far Cry 5, Outriders, Riders Republic, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deathloop and Final Fantasy XV.
• Smooth rather than full-refresh results: New World, Far Cry 6, Alan Wake Remastered and X-Plane 11.

What can and cannot be said about GPU power

The RTX 3070 name alone does not tell the entire performance story in a gaming laptop. Laptop graphics chips can be configured differently by manufacturers, and the supplied information for the Apex does not state a GPU power limit. It would therefore be wrong to assign a wattage to this machine or claim that the measured results come from a particular RTX 3070 power configuration. The benchmark data is the evidence to rely on here, not assumptions based on the GPU label.

What can be said is that the published figures place this particular RTX 3070 implementation in a strong position for 1080p High gaming. It reaches or exceeds the fitted panel’s 144Hz target in several measured games, lands close to it in others, and remains above 75fps even in the slowest result available. That practical result matters more to a buyer than an unsupported claim about a power limit. The figures show the outcome; the fact sheet does not provide the configuration detail needed to explain every part of how Schenker achieved it.

The rival comparisons also underline why laptop GPU branding must be treated cautiously. The Apex is compared with other RTX 3070 laptops and is effectively level with two of them in the available shared-game data. It is far ahead of an RTX 3050 Ti machine, while a far more powerful RTX 3080 Ti system has a clear advantage. That is a useful and believable shape for the results, but it should not be turned into an invented wattage narrative. The data gives direct performance comparisons, and those are enough to make a buying judgement.

The screen

The XMG Apex 17 M21 has a 17.3in IPS display with a 1920x1080 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. That is a practical gaming-oriented specification. A 17.3in screen gives more physical display area than smaller gaming laptops, while 1920x1080 is a resolution that the RTX 3070 can drive strongly in the available results. This is not a specification that asks the hardware to chase a higher-resolution target before it can deliver high frame rates. The panel and GPU are broadly aligned.

The 144Hz refresh rate is meaningful because the machine can actually approach or exceed it in a number of measured games. There is little value in fitting a high-refresh display if the hardware can only produce low frame rates in ordinary use. That is not the case here. At the stated test settings, Back 4 Blood reaches 205fps, Strange Brigade 183fps, The Witcher 3 174fps, Hitman 3 170fps and GTA V 158fps. Those are all above 144fps. Monster Hunter Stories 2 at 143fps and Days Gone at 140fps are close enough to show that the hardware can make serious use of the panel even where it falls just below the maximum.

That does not mean the screen will always be fully driven. The lower results establish the other half of the picture. Final Fantasy XV is measured at 100fps, New World at 93fps, Far Cry 6 at 91fps, Alan Wake Remastered at 79fps and X-Plane 11 at 75fps. The screen remains capable of 144Hz in those games, but the laptop does not deliver 144fps under the measured conditions. This is an important distinction for buyers moving from marketing specifications to actual game performance.

At 1080p, the Apex makes a coherent case for a 144Hz panel because its performance is often in the range where higher refresh matters. The average of 129fps across the scoring-suite games sits below 144fps, but not remotely near a basic 60fps target. It suggests a laptop that frequently makes the display feel more responsive than a standard-refresh screen, while not claiming the impossible in demanding titles.

The IPS panel type is another relevant part of the specification, but the supplied information does not include measurements for brightness, colour coverage, contrast, response times or outdoor visibility. Those characteristics should not be guessed. The available evidence supports a judgement about resolution, refresh rate and panel technology, not a full image-quality verdict. Anyone whose priority is colour-critical work, unusually bright-room use or a detailed response-time comparison needs further measured display data before making a decision.

For gaming, the key message is simple. The screen is neither obviously underspecified for the hardware nor so ambitious that it becomes a constant burden on it. The 1920x1080 resolution gives the RTX 3070 room to generate high frame rates, and the 144Hz refresh rate gives those frame rates somewhere useful to go. The fit is strongest in lighter and better-scaling games, less complete in the heaviest measured titles, and still credible overall.

Build, size and portability

The available physical specification gives one firm portability figure: the Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 weighs 2.56kg. That places it in the territory of a large gaming laptop that can be moved, rather than a machine that disappears into everyday life. The 17.3in screen already points in that direction. This is a laptop for people who value screen space and gaming performance more than minimum carrying weight.

At 2.56kg, the Apex is likely to feel substantial in a bag before any accessories are considered. That does not make it unsuitable for travel, commuting or moving between locations. It does mean that a buyer who carries a laptop every day should think carefully about whether the 17.3in screen and performance profile justify the mass. The best use case is regular but purposeful transport: taking it to a different room, a workplace, a university setting, a relative’s house, or an event, then using it as a proper gaming machine once there.

The fact sheet does not provide dimensions, so there is no basis for claims about its footprint, thickness or how easily it fits into a particular bag. The 17.3in display and 2.56kg weight nevertheless establish the broad category clearly. This is not the compact option for someone who wants the least noticeable laptop possible. It is the larger-screen option for someone who accepts a more substantial machine in exchange for a screen that is better suited to immersive games and a keyboard-and-screen setup that does not feel as constrained as a smaller notebook.

The 49Wh battery deserves equal attention. Battery capacity alone does not establish a measured battery-life result, so no runtime should be claimed here. It does, however, indicate that the Apex is not specified around a particularly large battery. Combined with the 17.3in display and 2.56kg weight, that reinforces the desktop-replacement interpretation. Buyers should not select it primarily for long periods away from mains power, because the supplied information does not provide evidence for that use.

This does not undermine its value as a gaming laptop. Many buyers use machines of this type mostly near a socket and care more about the screen, GPU and game performance than all-day unplugged operation. For that person, the Apex’s size can be a benefit. The 17.3in display is a tangible advantage for games, and the benchmark data shows that the RTX 3070 is capable of making the 144Hz 1080p panel worthwhile. The trade-off is that portability is functional rather than effortless.

The 32GB of memory is a generous specification alongside the Ryzen 7 5800H and RTX 3070, though the measured game figures are the more useful proof of how the complete system performs. The 500GB SSD is the listed storage capacity. Whether that is enough depends on the buyer’s own library and file needs, but the fact sheet does not provide upgrade information, usable capacity or storage performance measurements. It should therefore be treated as a specification to check against personal requirements rather than a basis for assumptions about expansion or loading performance.

How it compares

The comparison set is useful because it includes a lower-tier GPU machine, two closely matched RTX 3070 systems and a much more powerful RTX 3080 Ti laptop. All comparisons are based only on games held in common, with preference for scoring-suite games. That matters: a direct comparison using shared games is more meaningful than lining up unrelated headline frame rates from different test lists.

Against the MSI Prestige 15

Against the MSI Prestige 15 with an RTX 3050 Ti at 105W, the Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 averages 61fps more across four shared games. That is a large practical advantage, not a minor leaderboard difference. The Apex’s RTX 3070 class of performance is clearly stronger in the available comparison, and the difference is large enough to affect what buyers can expect from a 144Hz display at 1080p.

The comparison does not need an invented per-game breakdown to be meaningful. An average lead of 61fps across the shared set establishes that the Apex belongs in a different performance tier from this RTX 3050 Ti rival in those games. A buyer choosing between the two should see the Apex as the far better fit for high-refresh 1080p gaming, provided its larger 17.3in format and 2.56kg weight suit their needs.

Neither machine has a confirmed UK price in the supplied information, so this is a performance comparison rather than a value verdict. If the two were priced similarly, the Apex’s benchmark advantage would be highly significant. If they were not, price could change the judgement. Without confirmed prices, the responsible position is to identify the performance gap and leave the financial decision open.

Against the Gigabyte A7 X1

The Gigabyte A7 X1 also uses an RTX 3070. Across four shared games, the Apex averages 1fps more. This is effectively a tie. The important lesson is not that the Apex is meaningfully faster by 1fps; it is that the two machines are closely matched in the available shared-game results.

At 1920x1080, lighter titles in the shared set can become CPU-bound, which compresses genuine GPU differences. In that situation, two laptops with nominally similar graphics hardware can produce nearly identical results not because all implementation details are identical, but because the game is no longer exposing a large enough GPU gap for the benchmark to separate them clearly. The near-zero result is therefore real, but it should not be overinterpreted as proof that every aspect of the two machines is the same.

For a buyer, the practical message is that the XMG Apex 17 M21 does not establish a meaningful performance advantage over the Gigabyte A7 X1 on this evidence. Other considerations would need to decide the purchase, but the fact sheet does not provide enough shared information to judge them fully. With no confirmed UK price for either exact configuration, there is no reliable value conclusion to draw.

Against the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XD

Against the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XD, another RTX 3070 laptop, the Apex averages 0fps more across five shared games. That is not merely close; within the supplied comparison it is a dead heat. The shared-game evidence gives no performance basis for preferring one over the other.

As with the Gigabyte A7 X1 comparison, this result should be understood in context. At 1080p, especially in lighter games, CPU limits can compress differences that might otherwise emerge between laptop GPU implementations. A 0fps average difference across shared games does not prove that the machines have identical internal configurations or identical behaviour in every title. It proves that, on the available shared-game comparison, neither produces a measurable average advantage.

This is valuable information for someone who has been tempted to choose based on GPU branding alone. Both are RTX 3070 machines, and the comparison data backs up the expectation of broadly similar game performance. It also means the Apex should be judged on its own concrete specification: a 17.3in 1920x1080 144Hz IPS display, 2.56kg weight, 49Wh battery, Ryzen 7 5800H, 32GB memory and 500GB SSD. The fact sheet does not provide equivalent non-performance details for the Aero, so it would be wrong to declare either a better all-round purchase.

Against the MSI Raider GE77 HX

The MSI Raider GE77 HX is the machine that beats the Apex by the largest margin in the supplied rival set. It uses an RTX 3080 Ti at 175W and averages 41fps more than the Apex across five shared games. That is a substantial lead. Unlike the near-zero gaps against the two RTX 3070 rivals, this is a difference that should be visible and meaningful in demanding games.

The comparison gives a useful ceiling for expectations. The Apex is clearly capable at 1080p, but it is not the performance maximum represented here. A machine with an RTX 3080 Ti at 175W has a material advantage in the shared games, and a buyer who wants the highest possible frame rates should recognise that the Apex will not match it. In particular, a 41fps average deficit can be the difference between being below a high-refresh target and reaching it in some workloads.

That said, the Raider’s lead should not be used to dismiss the Apex. The Apex already exceeds 144fps in five of the measured games, comes close in two more, and delivers 100fps or more in several additional titles. The Raider is faster; the benchmark data is clear about that. But the Apex still has enough performance for its own 144Hz 1080p screen to make sense. The choice is between stronger performance headroom and a machine whose performance is already high in a wide range of games, not between a capable laptop and an incapable one.

Again, there is no confirmed UK price for either exact configuration in the supplied information. The Raider’s performance advantage is real, but no price-based recommendation can honestly be built from the available facts. Buyers should not assume that a faster machine is automatically the better purchase without knowing the actual cost.

Who it’s for

The Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 is for the buyer who wants a large-screen 1080p gaming laptop and places actual game performance above thinness and battery-first design. The 17.3in 144Hz IPS panel, RTX 3070, Ryzen 7 5800H and 32GB memory make sense as a gaming-focused package. Notebookcheck’s measured numbers support that description: the laptop is above 144fps in Back 4 Blood, Strange Brigade, The Witcher 3, Hitman 3 and GTA V; it is close to that threshold in Monster Hunter Stories 2 and Days Gone; and it remains at 75fps or above across the entire listed test set.

It is particularly suitable for someone whose regular games resemble the faster end of the benchmark list. Players of Back 4 Blood, Strange Brigade, The Witcher 3, Hitman 3 and GTA V have evidence that the 144Hz screen can be used properly at the tested 1080p High settings. Players of Dota 2, Far Cry 5, Outriders, Riders Republic, Guardians of the Galaxy and Deathloop should also find a high-frame-rate system, even though the measured figures do not always hit 144fps.

It also suits someone who wants a more substantial laptop to use mainly in fixed locations. The 2.56kg weight and 49Wh battery specification do not point towards a lightweight, all-day mobile machine. They point towards a laptop that is best treated as portable in the literal sense: it can be taken where needed, but it is most naturally used after it has been put down. That may be an excellent compromise for a buyer who wants one machine for gaming at a desk and occasional relocation without building a separate desktop.

The Apex is less suitable for the buyer who needs maximum portability. Anyone carrying a laptop every day and prioritising low weight should be cautious about a 2.56kg 17.3in model. The available information does not state dimensions, so exact bag fit cannot be judged, but the basic category is clear. This is a sizeable gaming laptop, not a small travel notebook.

It is also less suitable for someone who expects the 144Hz panel to be saturated in every modern game at High settings. The measurements do not support that expectation. Far Cry 6 is measured at 91fps, Alan Wake Remastered at 79fps and X-Plane 11 at 75fps. Those are good frame rates, but they are not 144fps. Buyers with an uncompromising high-refresh target in demanding games should look towards more powerful hardware, accepting that the MSI Raider GE77 HX is 41fps ahead on average across five shared games.

Someone choosing between the Apex and another RTX 3070 laptop should not expect a decisive frame-rate advantage from this machine alone. It averages only 1fps ahead of the Gigabyte A7 X1 across four shared games and 0fps ahead of the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XD across five. Those comparisons are effectively level, with 1080p CPU-bound behaviour in lighter shared titles helping to compress genuine GPU differences. The Apex should therefore be chosen for its own combination of screen size, 144Hz 1080p format and published performance, rather than on the assumption that every RTX 3070 alternative will be clearly slower.

Conversely, it is a much stronger option than the MSI Prestige 15 with RTX 3050 Ti at 105W if gaming speed is the central requirement. The 61fps average advantage across four shared games is decisive. That is the comparison which most clearly demonstrates the benefit of the Apex’s higher gaming-performance class.

The final recommendation has to remain conditional because the UK price is not confirmed. The performance case is solid and fully evidenced. The value case cannot be completed until a buyer knows the actual price for this exact configuration. If it is offered at a sensible level relative to comparable RTX 3070 gaming laptops, the XMG Apex 17 M21 has the benchmark results to justify serious consideration. If it is priced aggressively above close RTX 3070 rivals, the near-tie comparisons with the Gigabyte A7 X1 and Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XD would become more important. Until that price is known, the honest verdict is performance-first: this is a capable 17.3in 1080p 144Hz gaming laptop, with a strong measured frame-rate profile and clear limits that are visible only in the most demanding games.

How it compares