MSI Prestige 16 Studio review: creator laptop looks nice, lacks grunt

The MSI Prestige 16 is a creator laptop that looks the part but doesn't put in the performance.

A silver MSI Prestige 16 Studio sitting on a wooden desk
(Image: © Ian Evenden)

Our Verdict

The MSI Prestige 16 Studio certainly looks the part, with its Mini-LED screen, aluminium casing and handsome looks, but it suffers in benchmark tests, and doesn’t have advanced features like Thunderbolt that users of fast connectivity will be looking for.

For

  • Mini-LED screen
  • Solid aluminium chassis
  • Decent specs

Against

  • Benchmark performance lacking
  • No face recognition
  • No Thunderbolt

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With its robust aluminium shell and vibrant 16:10 screen, the MSI Prestige Studio 16 is the epitome of a creator’s laptop. Inside there are top-end components, with a fast CPU and accompanying discrete GPU giving it the ability to rip through video and graphics tasks. Unfortunately, while on paper it should contend for a spot among the best laptops for graphic design or photo-editing, in our hands, it provided poor performance and a short battery life, making it hard to recommend.

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CPU:Intel Core i7 13620H
GPU:Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050
RAM:16GB
Storage:450GB SSD
Screen:16in 2560x1600 mini-LED IPS, 165Hz
Connectivity:3x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x USb 3 Type A, HDMI, headphones, Micro SD, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
Dimensions:16.9 x 358 x 259mm
Weight:2.1kg
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Cinebench R23:Single-core: 1,630Multi-core: 5,934
PC Mark 10:Test: 5,878Battery life: 6h51m
Geekbench 6:Single-core: 2155Multi-core: 6982
Row 3 - Cell 0 GPU: 68042Row 3 - Cell 2
Handbrake:9m23sRow 4 - Cell 2
The Verdict
6

out of 10

MSI Prestige 16 Studio

The MSI Prestige 16 Studio certainly looks the part, with its Mini-LED screen, aluminium casing and handsome looks, but it suffers in benchmark tests, and doesn’t have advanced features like Thunderbolt that users of fast connectivity will be looking for.

Ian Evenden

Ian Evenden has been a journalist for over 20 years, starting in the days of QuarkXpress 4 and Photoshop 5. He now mainly works in Creative Cloud and Google Docs, but can always find a use for a powerful laptop or two. When not sweating over page layout or photo editing, you can find him peering at the stars or growing vegetables.