MSI just went hard

By Luke Larsen January 8, 2024

The MSI Stealth 18 AI Studio on a table. — Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

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Finally, there are some creator laptops that can actually match the MacBook Pro.

There are tons of powerful options for gaming laptops out there that sport the most powerful GPUs and the most high-end displays. But none are true MacBook Pro competitors for content creators and creative professionals. MSI brought a couple of laptops to CES 2024 that might do the trick, though.

The Creator 16 AI Studio and Stealth 18 AI Studio both tick nearly every box, including using the fastest possible CPU and GPU, an HDR-capable mini-LED display, and a six-speaker audio setup — all in a chassis that weighs less than 6.6 pounds. These laptops are the only non-gaming laptop to support both up to a Core Ultra 9 processor and an RTX 4090.

This is important because of how essential GPU performance is in tasks like video rendering. Companies like Dell are going in the opposite direction, shrinking its RTX 4080 XPS 17 to a 16-inch device limited to the RTX 4070.

A rendering of the MSI Creator 16 against a white background. — The MSI Creator 16 MSI

The screens are also quite special. The Stealth 18 AI Studio is the first 18-inch display on a laptop to get the 4K mini-LED treatment, capable of peak brightness of 1,000 nits. That gets it relatively close to what the MacBook Pro’s XDR display can do. The Creator 16 AI has a 16-inch version of that same display, with options for lower-resolution IPS configurations, too.

The Creator 16 AI Studio does manage to get the thickness and weight down quite a bit, at 0.79 inches and 4.4 pounds. That’s fairly close to the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The MSI Titan 18 open on a table. — The MSI Titan 18 HX Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

The only real problem is the look. Both of these laptops still look a lot like a gaming laptop — just slightly toned down. The Stealth 18 AI Studio, in particular, shares many similarities with the company’s other flagship laptop this year, the Titan 18 HX. That system is a tried-and-true gaming laptop but shares the same 18-inch, 4K 120Hz mini-LED screen. It’s a bit thicker and heavier but is clearly based on the same basic concept as the Stealth 18. The Titan 18 HX comes with Intel’s Raptor Lake Refresh chips and adds a seamless haptic trackpad to the mix. That’s definitely a feature I wish MSI had included in the Stealth 18 and Creator 16, too.

Point being, though, a MacBook Pro this is not. It won’t get all-day battery life or have that quiet, efficient performance, either.

But these MSI laptops have their own unique thing going on. If you want a laptop primarily for all-day content work but can also game, these feels like pretty good options. The only thing that really comes close is the Razer Blade 16 and 18, which pull off a minimalist design with a bit more finesse. Although not targeted specifically at creators first and foremost, Razer’s laptops do have crossover appeal due to how slick and powerful they are.

We’ll have to wait and see if the MSI system can perform as well as it claims, but this is one of the most interesting new laptops launched at CES 2024 so far.

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