This MSI Prestige A16 AI+ review explores how the laptop meets the needs of freelance creators who require flexibility and office designers who want dependable performance. With the AMD Ryzen AI 9 processor, long battery life, and a vivid display, it’s well-suited for handling a full day of demanding tasks.
Featuring a sharp 16-inch 4K OLED display, the Prestige A16 AI+ excels as a high-end business laptop for professional creators. Built for intensive content creation, it blends robust hardware with software optimized for creative projects.
MSI Prestige A16 AI+ Review
Design
The name “Prestige” perfectly reflects the reliability of this AI-powered laptop’s design and hardware. The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ combines minimalism and elegance while maintaining a sleek, sharp, and sophisticated build, showcasing MSI’s meticulous craftsmanship in every detail.
Compared to the MacBook Air models from 2022 onward, which boast the world’s thinnest Ultrabook body at 1.1 cm, the Prestige is slightly thicker at 1.7 cm—just 0.6 mm more. However, its sharp, sophisticated edges and Urban Silver finish create a visual illusion, making it appear slimmer than its actual 1.7 cm thickness.
Of course, a 16-inch laptop can be thin, but it is not too light. However, MSI still keeps the weight of the Prestige A16 AI+ under 2kg, specifically 1.9kg, so that professional content creators who often travel here and there do not feel burdened.
The entire body is crafted from aluminum alloy, with the A-side and most angular surfaces offering a surprisingly smooth touch. The Urban Silver color effectively conceals sweat and fingerprints. The updated MSI logo, featuring the letter “M” with three diagonal chrome stripes, now appears brighter and more prominent than before.
The hinge assembly on the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ feels solid and dependable, as expected for a $1,400 laptop. Hinge issues, such as shaking or loosening, are not concerns with this laptop. However, the hinge is quite stiff, so it’s best to open the lid using both hands for ease and stability. The hinge is also flexible enough to allow the screen to open a full 180 degrees, laying flat on the table.
The intersection of the screen’s bottom edge and the body’s top edge feels familiar, featuring a beveled design similar to Acer Aspire office laptops in the mainstream segment. However, it has a sharper, more refined look, delivering a classier, more mechanical aesthetic than Acer’s.
Take a moment to appreciate the beveled angle of the screen’s bottom edge, particularly where it meets the corner of the laptop body. This beveled angle is not too large, but you can still see the diagonal edge on the square corner area of the lid. Next to it is a silicone spur, which helps to raise the bottom edge of the screen when placed on the table to avoid direct contact causing pain and scratches.
The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ features compact cooling areas, including a discreet grille slot beneath the screen edge and a larger rectangular grille on the bottom. The grille slot below the screen is spacious, with circular holes of moderate width. This design ensures efficient cooling for both light and heavy tasks.
Connectivity
This powerful business laptop features two USB4 Type-C ports that are also compatible with the Thunderbolt 4 standard, offering the powerful Type-C connectivity creators love, akin to the MacBook. The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ delivers on this need, satisfying the demands of creative professionals.
The USB4 ports support up to 100W charging and are compatible with various chargers and cables. Additionally, the laptop includes an HDMI port capable of ultra-smooth output at 8K @ 60Hz or 4K @ 120Hz, a USB-A 3.2 Gen2 port for high-speed data transfer, a MicroSD card reader, and a 3.5mm AUX port.
While the limited number of USB-A ports and the absence of an RJ45 LAN port might seem like drawbacks, removing the LAN port has allowed for a thinner design in this segment. If more USB-A ports are needed, an affordable expansion hub can easily resolve this.
Keyboard and Touchpad
One aspect of the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ keyboard design that feels puzzling is its resemblance to a gaming laptop rather than one tailored for professional creators. The keys have black surfaces, but their transparent bodies allow LED illumination—a feature that feels unnecessary since LED-lit characters alone would suffice.
The keystrokes feel smooth but lack any standout difference compared to other laptops. Key clusters on gaming laptops from Asus, or even the MSI GF63, offer a similar typing experience. MSI could elevate the Prestige A16 AI+ by incorporating a premium chiclet keyboard, enhancing its high-end appeal and adding a more professional touch to its design.
The touchpad is exceptionally smooth, a feature increasingly common as modern Ultrabooks continue to surpass MacBooks in many hardware aspects. Next to the large touchpad is a small square that houses a fingerprint sensor, providing secure and highly private unlocking capabilities.
Display
I have always been very familiar with the mirror screen clusters with Lumina OLED panels of Asus Zenbook, S 14, S 15, etc… From the very first glance, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ captivated me with its stunning display quality, setting it apart from other OLED screens I’ve encountered.
Let’s discuss the specifications: the Prestige A16 AI+ features a 16-inch OLED panel with 4K UHD resolution (3840×2400). The 60Hz refresh rate may be standard, but the 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy is crucial for creators. The OLED display, powered by advanced technology, offers a visually stunning experience that is both captivating and inspiring.
While the screen resembles the mirror-like design of the Asus Zenbook, it effectively minimizes reflection and glare outdoors. I comfortably used the laptop on my lap in the garden area of a coffee shop, working at 80% brightness without any issues.
Even outdoors, the visibility of the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ is not reduced, and if it is, it is not significant. Software with a predominantly black interface, such as CapCut, Lightroom, and Photoshop, does not have glare in black areas. Feel free to edit photos and clips without fear of color deviation or incorrect details.
The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ excels in image processing and display, making it ideal for creators focused on photo editing, design, and video production. Its exceptional clarity and high brightness enhance color vibrancy and detail across the frame. Working on this high-performance laptop consistently delivers satisfying results for creative projects.
The 4K OLED screen on the Prestige A16 AI+ delivers excellent contrast and handles challenging color tones like white, red, and green with impressive harmony. Combined with its 16:10 aspect ratio, it has made reading articles and working on Office files noticeably easier and more comfortable for my eyes.
The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ delivers an exceptional visual experience, rendering movies, TV shows, and even YouTube’s interface with stunning clarity and appeal. Its OLED panel, widely celebrated for its vibrant colors and deep contrast, provides everything content creators and casual users like me need to enjoy an immersive and elevated viewing experience in every frame.
MSI Prestige A16 AI+ review test
The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, launched alongside the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 in July this year, can be considered a slightly less powerful counterpart to its sibling. Despite the minor difference in power, it delivers consistently strong performance. Paired with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, it provides ample capacity for tasks ranging from basic to highly demanding.
The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 features 10 cores and 20 threads, while its predecessor, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, offers 12 cores and 24 threads. Their clock speeds differ slightly, at 5 GHz for the 365 and 5.1 GHz for the 370. Both chips share the same power consumption (TDP) of up to 54W. Based on my experience with Ultrabooks equipped with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, I anticipate a similar power efficiency from this chip.
To manage operations and adjust performance levels for various tasks, the laptop comes with MSI Center software, giving users full control over their powerful creative machine.
Benchmark Scores
First, please join me to see the Benchmark scores on the software in the section below:
Cinebench R23:
Cinebench R24:
Geekbench 6:
3DMark Time Spy/Night Raid:
PCMark10:
PugetBench (Measuring performance and graphics processing time):
Crystaldiskmark:
First, let’s examine the benchmark results from the Cinebench R23 software. I tested the laptop under two conditions: plugged in and unplugged. The results revealed that when unplugged, the multi-core CPU score of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 dropped to just over 14,000 points. This highlights the importance of ensuring adequate power supply for the MSI Prestige during use.
The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ achieves impressive benchmark scores across Cinebench R24, Geekbench 6, 3DMark, and PCMark10. Its multitasking capabilities and performance for basic office tasks and content creation are exceptional, handling demands with ease.
I used PugetBench software to measure the ability to handle graphics tasks on Adobe software, with different task completion times on each software. It can be seen that the ability to quickly process video clips, render, edit photos, and generate photos with AI all happen quickly and easily.
In this MSI Prestige A16 AI+ review, I had limited time and couldn’t test the laptop’s gaming performance or battery life. I apologize for the omission and will provide an update on its gaming performance soon.
Performance comparison with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
As I mentioned, AMD launched the Ryzen AI 9 365 and its more powerful sibling, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, simultaneously last July. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 has slightly fewer cores and threads, with a clock speed of just 0.1 GHz lower. Similarly, the integrated iGPU, the AMD Radeon 880M, shows a minimal difference in performance compared to the Radeon 890M.
Comparison scores with the recently released Asus Vivobook S 14 2024 (REVIEW) highlight the notable performance advantage of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor in this laptop. However, when evaluating its performance, the ability to handle graphics tasks is not as robust as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365. This is expected, as the MSI Prestige is designed as a specialized graphics laptop, prioritizing more powerful CPU performance for intensive workloads.
For daily workflows, from simple tasks to complex combinations, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 isn’t as powerful as the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 found in the Vivobook S 14. This difference is understandable, as each device caters to distinct needs. MSI focuses on creators, while Asus targets professional office workers who handle occasional graphic tasks.
Final line
If you need the best high-end business laptop capable of handling daily tasks along with intensive graphic, image, and video processing, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ is an excellent choice. Its sharp 16-inch 4K display and consistently stable performance make it a reliable and comprehensive MacBook alternative.
The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ is a powerhouse business laptop designed with professional creators in mind. Its sleek, elegant design, combined with a stunning 16-inch 4K OLED display, makes it an excellent choice for content creators who require top-notch performance and visual quality. With its powerful AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and ample connectivity options, this laptop is well-suited for demanding tasks such as photo editing, video production, and design work.
From its premium build quality to its robust performance, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ strikes a fine balance between style and substance. While there are minor areas for improvement, such as the keyboard design and hinge stiffness, the overall experience is polished and satisfying. Whether you’re a freelance creator or a professional designer, the Prestige A16 AI+ delivers the tools needed to elevate your creative workflow.
In this MSI Prestige A16 AI+ review, it’s clear that this laptop delivers an exceptional user experience, blending powerful hardware, a high-quality display, and a sleek design.
This professional productivity laptop is available on Amazon.com for $1,399.99 and Amazon.co.uk for £1,499.
