TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- Watch out creators, MSI is coming for you. The company unveiled at Computex 2019 a handsome hardware couple comprised of a sleek yet powerful desktop along with a gorgeous 34-inch, 5K resolution monitor.
MSI hasn't released pricing for the Prestige P100 desktop or Prestige PS341WU monitor, but you can expect them to ship sometime in Q4 this year.
MSI Prestige P100 desktop
MSI has had its foot on the accelerator in the gaming space for some time, but now the company is gaining speed in mainstream markets with its Prestige products.
New to the lineup is the Prestige P100, a slim desktop that packs a serious performance punch. But before we get into the power this beasts processes, let's revel in the desktop's beautiful design.
With its fresh white finish, the P100 has a very clean look –– it’s like something you'd find at a mid-century modern furniture store. Gold accents elevate the design and add a bit of class while customizable sRGB lights emit a soothing glow from the front of the desktop.
Now, back to the components: housed within the P100's small frame is up to an Intel Core i9-9900K CPU, up to two M.2 SSDs and two 2.5-inch HDDs, along with dual memory slots for up to 64GB of RAM. That should be enough power to run even the most demanding tasks.
While the P100 isn't necessarily meant for gamers, you won't have any problems playing the latest titles on Ultra graphics settings. That's because the P100 can be configured with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GPU with 11GB of GDDR6 VRAM.
Port selection is also pretty impressive. On the front of the desktop are a USB 3.1 Type-C port, a Type-C input, separate mic and headphone jacks, and a USB 2.0 port. Reach around to the rear and you'll find four more USB 3.1 Type-A ports, another pair of USB 2.0 inputs, a DisplayPort connection, an HDMI, an RJ45 Ethernet, more audio jacks and an S/PDIF port.
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MSI PS341WU monitor
Creators who want their hardware to look as good as the work they produce will want to pair the P100 with MSI's new Prestige PS341WU, a 34-inch monitor with the same sleek aesthetic as the desktop.
The monitor's understated rectangular frame has a white finish with gold MSI branding while the cylindrical arm in the back has chrome and gold accents. Ports include two HDMI inputs, a DisplayPort, a Type-C connection and separate headphone and mic inputs.
As elegant as the PS341WU's design is, the frame is simply overshadowed by the monitor's 34-inch, 5K by 2K-resolution (5120 x 2160) IPS display.
With an ultrawide aspect ratio of 12:9, the PS341WU gives creators 33 percent more surface area to work with, according to MSI.
Text looked extremely sharp on the display during my eyes-on demo, even when I used split-screen viewing with three separate web pages open. The folks at MSI told me that you can comfortably fit five web pages on the monitor at once. I'm not sure my brain could handle all that multitasking, but I could see it being useful for sharing projects with coworkers.
Having all of those pixels at your disposal is great for reading text or zooming in close on an image, but sheer resolution can only get you so far. Thankfully, the PS341WU supports DisplayHDR 600, which means it's certified to deliver high contrast ratios as well as accurate and vibrant colors. To that end, the PS341WU covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 98% of the DCI-P3 standard, a metric used in Hollywood by the American film industry.
With a 60Hz refresh rate and 5 millisecond response time, the PS341WU isn't the best for gaming, but remember, that's not what MSI is going for here.
From what I've seen, the PS341WU seems like a great monitor for creators who want the largest possible canvas to edit their content on. We'll find out how it holds up once we get a review unit in later this year or in early 2020.
