With the Prestige 15, MSI wants to provide the perfect device for business and content creation. With a slim format, great 4K display, and dedicated GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, it looks promising. We will introduce you to the device in more detail.
Actually, it doesn’t take that much to turn a good business notebook into a suitable notebook for media professionals, photographers, and the like. Take the slim form factor, practical security features, good input devices, and long battery life, and add a dedicated graphics card, modern connections, and a suitable display with a high resolution and good color coverage.
Sounds like a simple recipe, but in reality, this equipment is only found in a few notebooks. This also includes the MSI Prestige 15, whose design and equipment we will look at in detail below.
The Prestige 15 makes a chic and robust impression
The Prestige 15 is a chic notebook and comes in dark gray. In keeping with the intended use, unnecessary beads and edges have been dispensed with, and the display bezels are narrow. I also like that the Creator Notebook can be opened with one finger and that there is a notch on the front for this. The workmanship makes a good impression, so the upper side of the keyboard can only be dented with a lot of force, and the gap dimensions are narrow and even. The lid and keyboard surface are made of aluminum, and the display border and bottom are made of plastic.
The four-level backlit keyboard uses a normal key layout without a number block. The key feedback is okay and after a bit of getting used to it, longer texts can be written without any problems. The touchpad with a glass surface is not above average at 6.5 cm, but it is very wide at 14 cm. It also reacts precisely to multi-touch gestures and has an integrated fingerprint reader, which can be used to unlock the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro just like the integrated IR webcam. Unfortunately, the webcam is still a 720p variant. At least: the image quality forgives small shaving breaks.
Modern connectivity with Thunderbolt 4 and WiFi 6E
Let’s get to the connections. Here, users can access a modern and diverse range of services. On the right are two USB-A 3.1 ports and the microSD card reader. On the left are two modern USB 4 ports with Thunderbolt 4 support as well as an unspecified HDMI and a combo jack.
This means that the Prestige 15 is well equipped for everyday life as a creator; an even higher compatibility score would only have been possible with an SD card reader. Incidentally, one USB-C port is also used for charging with the compact 100-watt power supply. Incidentally, the Creator Notebook is also very well positioned in terms of wireless connectivity thanks to Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6E.
Great display with very high color coverage and dot density in 16:9 format
For image and video editing, however, the display is the most important. In addition to a high resolution, the color coverage and fidelity, but also the format, play a decisive role. The Prestige 15 relies on a 4K UHD resolution with 3840*2160 pixels in 16:9 format. According to MSI, the display offers a dot density of over 220 PPI and is factory calibrated. The color space coverage is said to be 100% AdobeRGB and fidelity at a Delta E of less than 2.
At first glance, the presentation looks very good. With a 15.6″ diagonal, the resolution results in approx. 282 PPI and is therefore even significantly higher than specified by MSI. I also measured the display with our SpyderXElite. Although the factory specifications are not quite achieved with an average Delta E of 2.27 and 92% AdobeRGB, the color reproduction is still on a very good level. Only the white point is a bit too cold at 7000K at 100% brightness. Incidentally, in the case of the Prestige 15, maximum brightness means almost 400 nits. Also flawless: The maximum deviation is only 8%. Only OLED displays are even better. At the same time, notebook displays in 16:10 or 3:2 format are on the rise again, as they offer more space for creator tools.
Intel Core i7-1280P with high multi-core performance for applications
A current Intel Core i7-1280P, 32 GB RAM, and the dedicated RTX 3050 Ti should ensure sufficient performance in the MSI Prestige 15. The CPU, which sounds like a resolution, offers a total of 14 cores and thus a lot of multi-core performance, which is particularly important for applications such as Resolve, Blender, and Co. At 28 watts, it’s also pretty energy efficient. Compared to the Apple M1 processor, the Core i7-1280P is about 19% (single-core) and 43% (multi-core) faster in CineBench R23. Compared to the M2 it is still about 4% / 37%.
In CineBench R23, the processor achieves 1785 and 11163 points in the single and multi-core benchmarks. With 32 GB of RAM, the Creator Notebook is also well-positioned for RAM-hungry programs such as Lightroom or Photoshop. In my opinion, it should have been DDR5.
Dedicated GPU accelerates renderings and enables 1080p gaming
However, many ultrabooks fail because only the graphics chip integrated into the processor is available for calculating video effects or 3D models. Example: Our 4K test video is exported from the Prestige 15 in 70 seconds. The new Surface Laptop 5 with Intel Core i5-1235U, 8 GB RAM, and integrated Intel Iris Xe needs almost three times as much as 187s. The comparison lags a bit in view of the energy-saving U processor and less RAM, but the direction is clear.
The Surface Laptop 5 and other Ultrabooks are even more mobile than the Prestige 15 but are hardly suitable for demanding video editing or even moderate gaming in Full HD. So I tried out what business travelers can expect from the Prestige 15 in terms of gaming in the evening in their hotel room. In our CS: GO benchmark, it achieves a good 211 FPS with maximum details and Full HD resolution. Pure business notebooks like the HUAWEI Matebook X Pro 2022 with an Intel Core i7-1260P, 16 GB RAM, and without a dedicated GPU end up at around 67 FPS, i.e. less than a third. Incidentally, 121s are estimated for the video export from above.
Online gaming in the form of Fortnite, LoL and PUBG is therefore possible without any problems, but is the 40-watt graphics card enough for open-world blockbusters like Cyberpunk 2077? I once ran the benchmark with our standard settings “Raytracing Medium” and DLSS on “Quality” in FHD. Not really playable at 21.77 FPS on average. Here you should play around with the graphics settings. In the “Medium” preset and DLSS “Performance” it is at least a very playable 72.3 FPS. Ray tracing and high details are not possible, but with a few cuts, AAA gaming is also possible.
Moderate speakers and additional NVMe SSD can be easily retrofitted
The pre-installed Norton Antivirus also affects the performance. With the uninstallation, there is probably a little more FPS and Windows Defender is a good alternative. The MSI Center Pro is also part of the game and certainly offers added value for some users. If you want, you can install updates, prioritize applications with regard to the performance provided, or monitor the current utilization of components.
The Prestige 15 has two speakers with openings on the underside. MSI did the tuning in favor of the highs, which are very present at full volume. Mids and lows are barely perceptible and the Creator Notebook doesn’t get particularly loud either. It is suitable for occasional meetings, but audio tracks should be mixed using headphones.
A few more words about upgradeability and maintainability. The Prestige 15 relies on seven Phillips screws on the underside that you have to loosen. The two middle screws on the sides are slightly longer than the rest. You can then simply remove the base plate by looking for a starting point on the back with your fingernail. That works without any problems. Once there, you have access to the battery, the WiFi module, and the two SSD ports. One slot is still free, so more storage space can be added quickly and easily. The RAM is soldered and cannot be reached. It’s a shame, but with 32GB pre-installed, there’s no need to worry.
Assessment of the Prestige 15: Chic combination of business and creation
The MSI Prestige 15 makes a good impression. The look and workmanship are simple and robust, appropriate for the purpose. The Creator Notebook relies on modern connections and the wide touchpad should definitely be useful for content creators. Thanks to the fingerprint reader and IR camera, there is no reason to complain about the security functions, but I would have wished for a slightly better webcam camera quality.
The essential working tool for the correct creation of content is the display, and the Prestige 15 also delivers here thanks to the 4K UHD resolution, very high color space coverage and brightness as well as homogeneous illumination. The factory calibration could be a bit more accurate in terms of color fidelity and white point, but the adjustment can also be further optimized via SpyderX Elite. With the next generation, MSI could also take the step to 16:10 or 3:2 format for even more workspace.
The performance is also running smoothly. The Intel Core i7-1280P is created with 14 cores and high multi-core performance for demanding applications, renderings, and exports and is supported in parallel by the RTX 3050 Ti. Despite the energy-saving 40W TGP, the graphics card even enables gaming with medium detail levels in Full HD at around 60 FPS, depending on the title. Pure business notebooks with an integrated GPU fail here. With a height of 1.9 cm and a weight of 1.7 kg, the Prestige 15 remains pleasantly portable despite the 15.6″ display.
I find the pre-installed software a bit of a shame, as it has a noticeable effect on the general performance. I would have hoped for more from the speakers. On the other hand, there are plus points for the high level of maintenance friendliness and the option of retrofitting a second SSD.
At 2,149 euros*, the Creator Business combination is not a bargain, but is almost perfectly equipped for the intended purpose.