We’re live from Computex 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan, and it has been an eye-opening experience as computer and tech makers worldwide have come together to launch shiny new products. MSI blasted out of the gate with its Stealth 16 Mercedes AMG laptop, but if you ask me, the laptop that was quietly off to the side is the show's true star.
The MSI Prestige 16 Studio EVO may not have had a fancy press conference with race cars, models, and enough paparazzi to make JLO jealous. Nope, however, it should have because the Prestige 16 studio is the laptop most can afford, and it is the first laptop with a discrete GPU to gain EVO status, which is game-changing.
If you know anything about laptops, EVO status means you’re getting power, performance, and battery life, and it’s that last thing that could make the MSI Prestige 16 Studio EVO the MacBook Killer we’ve been waiting for.
MSI Prestige 16 Studio EVO: Under the Hood
Before I share the specs, I will share that the Prestige 16 Studio is sleek, stylish, and lightweight. It’s the kind of laptop you’ll take anywhere you go because it's a joy to handle and carry. We got hands-on with it and immediately noticed how thin and light it was. It's all magnesium and aluminum alloy chassis and weight distribution made the 3.3-pound laptop feel much lighter than it weighs.
When I popped the hood, I caught a full glimpse of the bright, vivid, 16-inch QHD (2560 x 1600) 16:10 aspect ratio display — it was a treat. The Prestige 16 Studio EVO’s display is a stunner, but there’s more.
Powered by Intel's latest Gen Core i7 processor and by a graphics card validated for content creators, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, you might think that the MSI Prestige 16 is potent, but is it a MacBook challenger? I will get to that in a second. At the moment, we do not know how much RAM the new Prestige comes with, but I’m guessing it will start with 16GB and theorize there will be a 32GB version. Regarding storage, the range should be between 512GB of 2TB of SSD storage.
The other thing MSI got right with the Prestige is ports, as they’re on the back of the sleek chassis. Although you have a couple on the side, there are more on the rear, which gives users a great deal of room to grow and plenty of options for connecting the peripherals you need when creating content.
MacBook challenger, you lie, sir
Here’s the thing: To be rated an EVO laptop, yes, you must have a certain level of performance that comes in within a certain weight. However, the most important thing about the EVO rating is battery life and per-watt performance. Normally, you get stuck with an outdated, underpowered integrated Intel GPU, which I refuse to name here and sully at this moment.
MSI being able to gain an EVO rating for a laptop with a discrete GPU like Nvidia’s 4060, which will allow it to cut up video and edit photos at a speedy clip, means the Prestige 16 Studio EVO is meant to meet the MacBook Pro in a town square for a performance and battery life stare down. We’re all excited about it.
For a long time, battery life has been the real issue behind PC laptops' failure to knock the MacBook from its perch as the king of best laptops for video editing. However, now it looks like MSI is bringing a worthy challenger into the ring with the MSI Prestige 16 Studio EVO, and I can’t wait to review it.
All week, we will have more from Computex 2023 from Taipei, Taiwan. Stick around because laptops are being launched like TIE Fighters chasing the Millennium Falcon through an asteroid belt.
