As I type this on my MSI P65 Creator Laptop, I fondly think back on another MSI Laptop I recently had the pleasure of using, more so as a delightful content creation accessory but that’s another story.
The MSI Prestige 14, which I got to see firsthand at MSI’s launch event earlier this year, is a sleek, stylish ultrabook specifically made to power content creators, especially those who are constantly on the go. Though available in white and black varieties, the Prestige 14 is also available in a limited edition Rose Pink colour, which I had the pleasure of using.
Design
Like with MSI’s more recent Creator Series of laptops, the Prestige 14 is svelte and elegant, in keeping with its Rose Pink aesthetics. The 14” size, smooth texture, super thin chassis and light-weight design gives off an air of class and sleekness that will appeal to many, particularly those who love bold fashion statements. And that is exactly what this Rose Pink laptop really is…a fashion statement.
With the addition of a Rose Pink laptop carry bag, wireless mouse and even a Rose Pink MSI Dragon keychain, carrying this laptop around will surely capture the attention of your peers. I certainly received a lot of messages upon showing the laptop off on social media. Sadly, given that we’re currently in isolation lockdown due to COVID19, I wasn’t really able to take the Prestige 14 out and about with me. It would have been ideal to test whether its 1kg weight would weigh me down when carrying it around. Obviously, around the house, it was super light and so easy to just pick up and put down.
One key part of the Prestige 14’s design that I really liked (beyond the colour of course) is the size of the bezel on the screen. Having such a thin bezel meant that there was more screen for me to work with, which from a content creation perspective is handy, as it meant being able to open up multiple windows on screen and essentially do more.
Features
The Prestige 14 comes with your standard ports to allow you to connect other devices, including USB and Thunderbolt 3 ports. It also has a pre-installed Creator Centre that allows you to enhance your laptop to better suit your needs. I didn’t really use the Creator Centre due to a lack of time to really push the laptop to its limits, so I can’t really say for certain how useful it is, however, from what I understand, the Creator Centre essentially enhance the performance of different software when working on different projects.
For example, working on artwork requires different functions and capabilities from the laptop compared to playing high-end video games. The Creator Centre allows for better optimisation to enable the laptop to better function to suit your needs, like remaining cool despite heavily using up the CPU and GPU while playing games. There are various settings and options to play with, and each are tailored for different creator needs.
Performance & Usage
There’s no doubt that the Prestige 14 is powerful despite its small size. With an in-built NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU and 512GB SSD, the laptop definitely packs a good punch. Not only does it boot up fast but it’s also able to open programmes within milliseconds (blink and its open sorta thing). This was true with opening up high-res photos and videos, as well as trimming videos using online tools (I’m not an expert with fancy software).
Though, because I don’t use tools like Photoshop, Premiere Pro and such, it’s difficult for me to truly say whether or not the laptop made the difference or if it was my Internet connection. That being said, the responsiveness of the laptop was quick, much faster than my own personal HP laptop. When it comes to basic everyday work, the Prestige 14 worked like a dream. Having a personal laptop that is sluggish tends to put you off doing any work, which is one of the many reasons why I struggle getting content up here on the site from time to time. It’s like loading up a website. If it takes longer than a few seconds, I’ve lost interest and will move on to another website or use my phone instead.
The screen has an interesting texture to it that is different from laptops I’ve used in the past. There’s no visible gloss to the screen, which makes watching dark videos a lot more eye-catching since there’s not much reflection or glare. From a power consumption and eye-health point of view, this meant not having to turn up the brightness of the screen all that much, which was a nice change.
Now, technically, with a GTX 1650 GPU, you should be able to play some games on the Prestige 14. Sadly I didn’t have much time to test games out on the laptop to really judge how well it would run. I do suspect though, that the screen size would make it tough to play games, while also being able to have other programmes like Discord on. This is where I believe the Prestige 14 comes in more as a travel laptop. Since it weighs so little and is small enough to fit into a small backpack, this particular laptop would make an ideal travel companion for both work and entertainment. It would be so easy to open up a game of Hearthstone while waiting at the airport lounge or working on last minute projects while on the go.
One thing to note with small laptops like the Prestige 14, though, is its smaller battery capacity. Unlike my P65 laptop, which can last about a day on battery, the Prestige 14 didn’t quite match up. However, the battery life is still quite significant. Leaving it on and using it for browsing, working on some tedious projects and doing ‘basic’ tasks, allowed the battery to last for about half a day. This went down further if I decided to watch videos and listen to music while trying to edit content.
Physically, the machine was a delight to use. The keyboard and trackpad were smooth and responsive without any kind of drag, though, I preferred using the wireless mouse that came with the laptop compared to the trackpad.
The Cons
One of the major cons of the laptop that I noticed upon using it for more than a few hours is that the laptop grew quite warm, quite fast. This was a challenge when using the laptop on my lap, though when putting it on a surface, the laptop would instead make a fair amount of noise, likely indicating overheating. This could be from not utilising the Creator Centre appropriately, so I can’t really fault the laptop without further investigation.
The other aspect of the Prestige 14 that I found interestingly lacklustre was the bright colours of the screen. Considering it is built for content creators, the depth of colours on the screen weren’t as good as my P65 laptop, which felt a lot richer, in my opinion. However, I don’t claim to be any kind of expert when it comes to display visuals so this is simply my own personal thoughts.
Considering the laptop is similar in style and use as a Microsoft Surface notebook and has that ‘premium’ feel, I was surprised that the screen was not a touchscreen. Though not a big deal for me, it may be to others who might find the feature useful.
Finally, even though I am a content creator, the content I work with is predominantly written in nature or created via my mobile phone. When it comes to new laptops, what interests me more is whether or not it’s able to stream and play games clearly and with no interruptions. The Prestige 14 definitely cannot offer that, which makes me ask the question: “Why spend over $1000 on a basic laptop when you can spend a bit more and get the added advantage of being able to play games?”
The Pros
Even though there were small aspects of the Prestige 14 that I wasn’t a fan of and had some doubts, I still love the Rose Pink laptop and would use it as my everyday laptop in a heartbeat.
It’s elegant aesthetics, bold fashion statement, light weight and high quality make are more than enough to convince me that this laptop is for me. Coupled with the fact that it’s got a good amount of power under the hood to make my work life much easier to get through, makes it a laptop worth seriously considering. This is especially so if you’re wanting to take it with you everywhere and make all those around you incredibly jealous.
Want to learn more about the MSI Prestige 14 Rose Pink Limited Edition? Check it out here.