The MSI Prestige 16 Studio catches the eye, but it’s more than just a viewing object. Inside is solid hardware, but you have to do your best to live up to it.

The aluminum case of the MSI Prestige 16 Studio shines. The laptop is almost iridescent silver and exudes class. The manufacturer ignores its gaming history and takes a more elegant approach than, for example, the MSI Stealth 16 Studio. This is immediately noticeable when you open the device and you can see the fine writing on the white illuminated keys. NO Cool 2000s characters and no rainbow RGB visible.

The keyboard also feels a bit more comfortable to type on than the MSI Stealth series thanks to the more tactile “click”. A small numeric keypad on the right is a welcome addition that makes optimal use of the 16-inch device’s available space. The touchpad is also spacious and of the highest quality, again with a nice click.

wow screen

The glossy screen adds to the wow feeling. It houses a 165 Hz mini LED panel with 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. The maximum brightness is 416 cd/m². This is rather average, but combined with the gloss makes for limited visibility in situations with a lot of (sun)light. Luckily, MSI has a trump card here. When the need is greatest, the emergency lights kick in and MSI says up to 1,000 nits is possible.

With this laptop, MSI aims at the mercy of color-loving graphic designers. The device must support the entire DCI-P3 spectrum with high accuracy. MSI specifies a DeltaE of less than two out of the box: impressive.

Inside

We don’t let ourselves be blinded by the outside and look inwards. There we see an Intel Core i7-13700H processor, supported by an Nvidia GeForce 4060 GPU and 16 GB of RAM. With the powerful CPU and the fairly robust GPU, we would have preferred 32 GB for more balanced results in our test configuration, but the notebook can definitely keep up.

The performance appraisal is not self-evident. MSI offers a so-called via its software intelligent carMode in which the AI ​​adjusts performance based on usage. With that, the performance should automatically be optimal, but we see something else. In our tests, the performance of the MSI Prestige 16 Studio is completely limited in this mode. We will work with half a laptop. The built-in mode offers no added value and is best switched off immediately.

benchmarking

If we disable the questionable performance lock, we see different results. The CPU of the laptop is then in no way inferior to the MSI Stealth 16 Studio, but the cooling remains quieter. Undoubtedly, the lighter graphics card also has something to do with it.

The results change as we unleash more workstation-oriented workloads on the device. The limited 16 GB of RAM probably thwarts the results here. Today, to run really large professional software suites, 32 GB is not an unnecessary luxury.

On the graphical side, given the specs, we expect the MSI Prestige 16 Studio to perform particularly well. Although MSI doesn’t market this notebook as a true workstation, the device certainly knows how to handle more demanding tasks.

With 3D design, for example, we see results that show that the laptop is more than usable in most cases. The MSI Stealth 16 Studio obviously performs slightly better with its more powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070.

Even when we let the GPU calculate, the notebook gives way. Nevertheless, we can see that MSI prefers cooling to pure horsepower here. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 in the Samsung notebook performs somewhat surprisingly better.

This laptop is primarily intended as a powerful workhorse rather than the ultimate workstation. The performance is right. We see that clearly when we look at the classic PCMark 10 benchmark.

This device is an all-rounder that never blows too loud, but we still have the feeling that the components inside don’t come into their own.

peripherals

MSI actually frames the device. The 1080p webcam is nothing special, but does the job. In addition, the IR sensors for Windows Hello are present. The sound is decent too.

MSI also relies on sufficient connections. On the right side we find USB-A, HDMI, a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack. We have to stick with USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2). One port supports Power Delivery 3.1 charging, the other does not. However, MSI prefers to charge the notebook with the included 150-watt charger, which has its own port on the left.

battery

So it remains for us to discuss the condition of the MSI Prestige 16 Studio. Unfortunately, according to our tests, a whole working day without a socket is a bit too much. That’s not surprising given the hardware inside, but it’s somewhat at odds with how the device is marketed. We would have liked to have seen an hour or two more, especially considering this laptop weighs slightly more than the MSI Stealth 16 Studio at 2.1 kg.

Fortunately, MSI compensates for this relatively limited autonomy with a lightning-fast reload time. You can charge the battery from empty to almost full in less than an hour. For half a tank you hardly need 15 minutes of patience.

Verdict

The MSI Prestige 16 Studio is a business all-rounder with muscles. The beautiful design houses a powerful laptop that lives up to the Prestige name. Looking at the components inside leaves us a little hungry. A little more RAM would have made a difference. Mind you: the notebook is by no means slow, but we still have the nagging feeling that there is more horsepower under the hood than we can squeeze out.

We quickly forget that when we look at the mini LED screen. The glossy, true-color display is the star of this device. The hardware also supports photo and video editing, which makes this laptop great for those who, in addition to classic work, are also responsible for editing and color editing of corporate videos, for example.

The MSI Prestige 16 Studio is a good laptop. If you want more horsepower in a similar package and aren’t afraid of a slightly “sportier” look, then the (slightly more expensive) MSI Stealth 16 Studio is our pick.

Tested Configuration: MSI Prestige 16 Studio A13VF-049NL – Intel Core i7-13700H, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, 16″ 16:10 Glossy miniLED IPS Display (2560×1600), 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro – 1,982 excl. VAT – 2 year guarantee