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MSI Prestige 14 review: A quick but flawed laptop

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June 30, 2022

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MSI Prestige 14

MSRP $1,499.00

“The MSI Prestige 14 is mighty fast, but its battery life and old-school design hold it back from greatness.”

Pros

• Excellent performance
• Great keyboard
• Display has superior contrast
• Solid construct quality
• Decent entry-level gaming

Cons

• 16:9 display
• Poor battery life

There are such a lot of 14-inch laptops currently that it takes so much for a latest machine to face out — especially if you happen to throw the 14-inch MacBook Pro into the combination. You would like excellent performance, a stellar display, great battery life, or some superior combination of features and functionality.

MSI’s Prestige 14 is an example of a laptop that’s advanced in some areas but behind the curve in others. For instance, it offers each 28-watt Intel Twelfth-gen CPUs and a discrete GPU (albeit the entry-level Nvidia RTX 3050), while being saddled with an old-school 16:9 display.

I reviewed the high-end configuration of the Prestige 14, coming in at $1,499 for a Core i7-1260P and the RTX 3050. I discovered it to be a mixed bag with each excellent performance and poor battery life. With competition this tight amongst the perfect laptops you’ll be able to buy, the MSI Prestige 14 just doesn’t do quite enough to face out from the pack.

Design

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Prestige 14 sports an easy design, with easy lines and angles and nil bling adding any additional style to the all-black chassis. Even the MSI logo on the lid is dark and hard to read. Given its simplicity, it’s still a horny laptop. Only the plastic display bezels detract from a premium feel. Go searching and yow will discover more elaborate designs, just like the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 convertible 2-in-1 that sports rounded chrome edges and a surprising aesthetic. But most laptops I’ve reviewed currently have been minimalist of their designs, and the Prestige 14 matches right in.

It’s constructed of all aluminum, and you’ve got to try hard to get it to bend, twist, or flex. It’s not quite as solid because the Yoga 9i Gen 7 or the Dell XPS 15, however it’s close enough. The hinge allows opening the lid with one hand, however it holds the display firmly in place, and it props up the keyboard deck at an aggressive angle for higher airflow and more comfortable typing. It’s a feature that’s quickly gone out of fashion in modern laptops.

The Prestige 14 enjoys thin bezels on the edges, reasonably thin on top, and a bit thick on the underside chin. Given the 16:9 display aspect ratio, it’s barely wider than other modern laptops with 16:10 displays however it’s not quite as deep. In comparison with the Yoga 9i Gen 7, for instance, it’s only a fraction of an inch wider and almost half an inch shallower. That’s not necessarily a bonus, though, as taller displays provide more room on the palm rest for larger touchpads.

The Prestige 14 is 0.63 inches thick and weighs 4.64, making it barely thicker but significantly heavier than the Yoga 9i Gen 7 that’s 0.60 inches and three.09 kilos. Despite MSI listing equivalent dimensions for the MSI Summit E14 Flip, the 2-in-1 is lighter at 3.61 kilos.

Ports

Connectivity is a bit limited for a 14-inch laptop. It features two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a microSD card reader. I’d wish to see HDMI on machines like this one, and perhaps even a second USB-A port.

Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, nonetheless, do provide up-to-date wireless connectivity.

Performance

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

My review unit used the Intel Twelfth-gen Core i7-1260P, a 28-watt, 12-core (4 Performance and eight Efficient), 16-thread CPU. We’ve reviewed several laptops with this chip, most of them 14-inch models, and it’s been a powerful productivity performer with a rise over Intel’s Eleventh-gen CPUs in CPU-intensive creative tasks. The Prestige 14 also equipped an Nvidia RTX 3050 GPU.

The Prestige 14 performed well in our benchmarks. I used the MSI Center Pro utility to modify between balanced and performance modes, and I recorded each leads to the table below. The switch to performance mode was more impactful in some benchmarks than others, and there wasn’t the extremely wide performance swing that I saw within the MSI Summit E14 Flip. I noticed some minor throttling in performance mode but little or no in balanced mode, and overall, the laptop’s thermal design was effective. I noticed that the palm rest and bottom chassis remained warm even when the laptop was idle, exceeding 100 degress F. But I didn’t notice either location getting particularly hot during benchmarks.

MSI’s utility features a setting that robotically matches performance to the duty and a feature that measures the ambient noise and ensures that the fans don’t get loud enough to exceed it. I didn’t officially test these features.

The Prestige 14 is the fastest laptop with this processor we’ve tested.

Just like the Summit E14 Flip, the Prestige 14’s single-core performance was barely behind the remainder of the sector, but its multi-core performance led the pack. It took first place in Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R23, and in performance mode, it got here in second to the Summit E14 Flip in our Handbrake test that encodes a 420MB video as H.265. The Prestige 14 also took first place within the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark, with the very best rating we’ve seen from a Core i7-1260P.

I also ran the Pugetbench Premiere Pro benchmark that runs in a live version of Adobe’s Premiere Pro through a comprehensive series of video editing tasks. The benchmark can use discrete GPUs, and I used to be curious to see how well the RTX 3050 would perform. It did pretty much, scoring 553 in balanced mode and 583 in performance mode.

Though that’s below the 700+ we often see with laptops running 45-watt Twelfth-gen CPUs and higher graphics, performance-wise, it actually makes for an honest content creation machine for a starter. Definitely higher than smaller laptops with only Intel Iris Xe graphics.

The truth is, the Prestige 14 is the fastest laptop with this processor we’ve tested. It might probably handle demanding productivity workflows with ease, and it will possibly tackle some creative tasks as well.

The Prestige 14 did well within the 3DMark Time Spy test, almost matching the Dell XPS 15 with an RTX 3050 Ti. Nevertheless, in Fortnite, it managed just 23 frames per second (fps) at 1080p and Epic graphics. That’s only a couple of fps faster than Intel’s Iris Xe graphics and lower than half the fps that the XPS 15 achieved. I ran Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 1080p and ultra high graphics, and the Prestige 14 hit 20 fps (29 fps in performance mode).

That’s much like the MSI Summit E16 Flip with an RTX 3050 that hit 19 fps (17 fps in performance mode). The MSI Prestige may be counted on to run modern titles at 1080p if you happen to turn the graphics down far enough — however it’s removed from a dedicated gaming laptop.

Display

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Essentially the most disappointing thing concerning the Prestige 14’s display is its old-school 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s weird to make use of a premium laptop with a display that’s not taller at 16:10 or 3:2. That said, out of the box, the panel looked reasonably brilliant and colourful with deep blacks for an IPS display. It runs at only Full HD (1920 x 1080), so it isn’t as sharp as many other 14-inch laptops I’ve reviewed currently. There’s also a 14-inch Full HD display option with a low-power panel that I didn’t review.

After I applied my colorimeter to the display, the outcomes were average at best with a few exceptions. First, the panel was just brilliant enough at 317 nits, exceeding our 300-nit threshold for displays that may overcome typical ambient lighting. Colours were average for a premium display at 97% of sRGB and 72% of AdobeRGB, but accuracy was a disappointing Delta-E of three.67 (lower than 2.0 is nice enough for creative work).

This display isn’t ideal for creators.

The one brilliant spot was the contrast ratio, which got here in at 1,820:1 — greatly exceeding our preferred 1,000:1 ratio and high for an IPS display. As you’ll be able to see from the tablet below, this was mostly a lower-quality panel in comparison with competitive laptops.

The MSI Prestige 14’s display is nice enough for productivity work, especially for anyone who works with black text on a white background. It isn’t ideal for creators, though, with too narrow and inaccurate colours. That’s too bad, as this machine has the performance to back up that form of work.

Two downward-firing speakers provide the audio with DTS support. They put out sufficient volume to fill a small office, with clear mids and highs and little bass. Nothing to jot down home about, but they’re adequate for the occasional YouTube video and Netflix show.

For anything more involved, you’ll want an excellent pair of headphones for music and long binging sessions. It sounds measly in comparison with laptops just like the Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 14-inch.

Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The keyboard has large keycaps and excellent key spacing, occupying just about all available space. The switches are light and springy, with a snug bottoming motion that’s precise and responsive. It’s a wonderful keyboard that ranks up with the perfect Windows versions, including Dell’s XPS and HP’s Spectre lines.

The touchpad could be very wide and narrow, giving it loads of horizontal surface area. It’s an unusual size, however it works. The surface was comfortable for swiping, with Microsoft Precision drivers for reliable Windows 11 multitouch gesture support. Nevertheless, the surface was also a tiny bit loose and made a faint noise when tapped, and the button clicks were a little bit loud.

The display isn’t touch-enabled, and that’s disappointing. So far as I can tell, there’s no option for a touch display on this model.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Windows 11 Hello passwordless support is provided by a fingerprint reader embedded within the touchpad, which is my least favorite location for that sensor. It does, nonetheless, include facial recognition via an infrared camera. Each methods worked quickly and consistently.

The webcam is just 720p, and its image quality was just okay. Many premium laptops have switched to 1080p webcams, so the Prestige 14 is behind the curve here again.

Battery life

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Prestige 14 has 52 watt-hours of battery capability, which isn’t so much for a 14-inch laptop. I’ve not seen any indication that the Core i7-1260P is a very efficient CPU in comparison with Intel’s Eleventh-gen, however the Prestige can also be equipped with a Full HD display that shouldn’t be too power-hungry.

Because it seems, battery life was disappointing. In our web browsing test that cycles through a handful of popular and sophisticated web sites, the Prestige 14 managed just five hours. That’s well below average and at the underside of our comparison group, most of which had higher resolution displays and, within the case of the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 and Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED, rather more demanding OLED panels.

It performed even worse, relatively speaking, in our video test that loops a neighborhood Full HD Avengers trailer, hitting just six hours. Most laptops last 10 hours or longer on this test, and it’s surprising to see the Prestige 14 perform so poorly given its low-res display. I ran the test twice with a reboot in between simply to be certain there wasn’t some rogue task running within the background, and I got the identical result. It’s possible that there’s a display driver or other issue at play, and it’s something MSI will need to look into.

Finally, I ran the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, the perfect indication of productivity longevity. The Prestige 14 hit seven hours on this test, which is lower than the 10-hour or so average across all of the laptops we’ve tested and the bottom amongst our comparison group.

Overall, battery life is disappointing. You’re unlikely to get near a full day’s work even running a straightforward productivity workflow. Push the CPU hard, and you may not make it to lunchtime.

Price and configurations

MSI has a big selection of configurations available with the Prestige 14. My $1,499 review unit was the most costly model, equipped with the Core i7-1260P, 16GB of LPDDR4 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, and the 14-inch 16:9 Full HD IPS display. The least expensive model you’ll be able to buy is $929 for a Core i7-1240P, 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, Intel Iris Xe graphics, and a 14-inch 16:9 Full HD low-power IPS display. Several configurations offer as much as 32GB of RAM (only with Iris Xe graphics), a Core i7-1280P, and a 1TB PCIe SSD. These prices start on the midrange and find yourself as premium. They compare to the Yoga 9i Gen 7 at $1,449 for a Core i7-1260P, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 14-inch Full HD+ display, and Intel Iris Xe graphics. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is one other competitor that is available in with a $1,220 model with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED display.

Our take

The MSI Prestige 14 offers strong productivity performance and may tackle some creative tasks as well. It doesn’t last long on a charge, though and it has a couple of old-school design elements. It has the fundamentals covered, even when it’s removed from probably the most cutting-edge laptop.

Are there any alternatives?

I’ve reviewed several excellent 14-inch laptops in the previous couple of months, most convertible 2-in-1s. The most effective has been the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7, which provides strong performance, a surprising aesthetic, a solid construct quality, and a superior display.

I haven’t mentioned the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon on this review since it’s based on the previous generation Ryzen 7 5800U processor. Nevertheless, it’s a well-built and speedy laptop with a 90Hz OLED display that’s still value consideration.

Finally, you’ll be able to’t ignore Apple’s MacBook Pro 14, which is the perfect 14-inch laptop if you happen to’re not married to Windows. It offers the same old MacBook quality, Apple’s super-fast M1 Pro or M1 Max CPU, and class-leading battery life. It’s expensive but value it.

How long will it last?

The Prestige 14 is durable enough to last for years of typical use, and it’s equipped with all the correct components for years of productive service. The usual one-year warranty is disappointing, as usual.

Must you buy it?

Yes, if you happen to need the perfect productivity performance but don’t need a laptop that can last all day on a single charge.

Editors’ Recommendations