Verdict
The MSI Stealth 16 Studio is a smooth and light-weight machine that’s probably the most enticing gaming laptops I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing. However, with such a excessive worth and a disappointing efficiency, its premium design can solely go thus far.
Execs
- Nice gaming keyboard
- Vibrant and punchy show
- Refined and light-weight design
- Relaible battery life
Cons
- Followers get loud underneath stress
- Heats up in a short time
- Some efficiency points
Availability
- UKRRP: £2399.00
- USARRP: $2549.99
- CanadaRRP: CA$2501.99
- AustraliaRRP: AU$3999.99
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Light-weight magnesium-aluminium alloy chassisThe MSI Stealth 16 Studio weighs simply 1.99kg, placing it on par with some productiveness gadgets by way of portability. -
Smooth, premium design The Pure White and Star Blue colourways are magnificently delicate and smooth, making it an appropriate selection for workplace or college work. -
Stunning per-key RGB lightingPer-key RGB lighting on the keyboard permits for a number of types and brings in plenty of character.
Introduction
The MSI Stealth 16 Studio is a luxuriously designed laptop computer that’s filled with character, however lacklustre on the subject of efficiency.
Not like a lot of the behemoth gaming laptops on the market, the MSI Stealth 16 Studio weighs in at a greater than acceptable 1.99kg, with MSI encouraging me to take it out on the go and have it double as a piece machine.
The thinner design of the Stealth 16 Studio hasn’t stopped it from that includes the mid-range RTX 4070 GPU, in addition to a Raptor Lake Intel i7 processor. These specs can’t evaluate with the top-end Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) – which comes kitted out with the RTX 4090 – however it’s a really affordable mixture for anybody hoping to sport in Quad HD (1440p).
The $2549.99/£2399 price ticket has pushed it previous the boundaries for one of the best funds laptop computer, and the execution might also preserve it from making an look on our coveted finest gaming laptop computer roundup. Right here’s my assessment.
Design and Keyboard
- Packed stuffed with ports
- Splendidly elegant keyboard
- Light-weight for a gaming laptop computer
MSI’s tagline for the Stealth 16 Studio is “Slim, Sharp, Trendy”. The completed alliteration hits the nail proper on the top, because the Studio 16 Stealth is among the sleekest gaming laptops I’ve had the pleasure of utilizing.
The magnesium-aluminium alloy chassis is fashionable, polished and light-weight, with the machine weighing 1.99kg. There’s an understated lid – with no RGB lighting in sight – and would completely go well with an workplace or college setting. My assessment pattern got here within the Star Blue colourway, however there’s a extra hanging Pure White choice obtainable, too.
The keyboard could be very trendy, touting per-key RGB lighting for intense customisation, accessible through the MSI Centre. The deep presses of the keys offered a satisfying click on, which mixed with the good quantity of journey to create a really nice typing expertise.
My solely qualm is that the keys are slightly giant. This resulted in some missteps whereas gaming and grammar errors whereas typing, though I did acclimate to the dimensions after utilizing it for a number of days.
The big touchpad was responsive and easy to the contact and was greater than serviceable for day-to-day work duties, though I might suggest an exterior mouse for gaming.
Contemplating the 19.95mm slim type issue, MSI managed to cram plenty of ports onto this laptop computer. It got here with the whole lot I wanted to sport comfortably: a HDMI 2.1 enter, USB-A3.2, USB-C, Thunderbolt 4, a MicroSD Card Reader, an Ethernet (RJ45) port and an audio jack.
MSI has not been touting the sustainability of this machine, so it’s unlikely that it’s been developed with the setting in thoughts. Nonetheless, the packaging was comprised utterly of cardboard, with two small 4 LDPE plastic pouches to comprise the wires. These pouches may be recycled within the UK, though you’ll need to verify along with your native authority to search out out the place.
The laptop computer has a magnesium-aluminium alloy chassis – which is among the most eco-friendly metals it might be fabricated from – with no listed supplies for the remainder of the machine. The HP Omen Transcend 16 has a extra clear method to sustainability, however it’s clear that MSI has made some effort on this division.
Show and Sound
- Quad HD (1440p) decision is crisp
- Surprisingly good color accuracy
- Punchy sound system
There are three totally different display configurations on the subject of the Stealth 16 Studio; Full HD+ (1920×1200) with 165Hz refresh fee, Quad HD+ (2560×1600) at 240Hz and Extremely HD+ (3840×2400) at 120Hz. I examined the center variation, which places 4K gaming out of the query however does permit me entry to a excessive refresh fee.
Specializing in the mannequin I examined, the show carried out admirably. The QHD+ decision allowed for crisp and clear imagery in all situations and I didn’t discover myself craving for a 4K decision while binging by means of Misplaced.
I examined the show utilizing a colourimeter and located that it had a powerful peak brightness of 460 nits. Creatives will even have an interest to know that it scored 98%, 91% and 98% within the sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamuts, respectively, making it a dependable choice for colour-sensitive work.
The excessive peak brightness and refresh fee meant that gameplay regarded easy and vibrant. My farm in Stardew Valley was filled with color and nuance and I didn’t discover any display tearing or juddering throughout my intensive benchmarks in Cyberpunk 2077. My watch-through of Misplaced additionally regarded beautiful; the blues of the ocean and greens of the jungle popped off the display and an enormous quantity of element in each shot, making a extremely immersive expertise.
The audio was additionally glorious. The soundtrack of Misplaced felt impactful and balanced, with no distortion on the excessive finish and loads of emphasis on the low finish. Gaming was an identical story; I might hear off-screen cues in Batman Arkham Evening and the sounds of the town felt eery and enveloping.
Efficiency
- Will be configured as much as the RTX 4070 GPU
- Gaming benchmarks are slightly lacklustre – till DLSS is turned on
- Can get sizzling and loud
I’ve examined a few gaming laptops in my time and it’s often anticipated that laptops with comparable internals can have a comparable efficiency. Within the case of the MSI Stealth 16 Studio, it falls behind its friends in a number of key areas, regardless of coming with an Intel Core i7-13620H and Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU.
My business benchmark outcomes show that the Stealth 16 Studio is lacklustre compared to its friends; it did handle to outpace the Asus TUF Gaming A15 (2023) and the Lenovo Yoga Professional 9i 16 from time to time, however it fell behind in most of my checks.
I discovered that this laptop computer did run very loudly and received comparatively sizzling when harassed, which might be attributed to some underlying throttling points. Apparently, leaving a sport on pause for round 10 minutes triggered the laptop computer to massively overheat, to the purpose the place I felt like I wanted to show it off, so I wouldn’t suggest leaving it idle for too lengthy.
The gaming-focused benchmarks had been an identical story, however they got here with a caveat. Understandably, the Stealth 16 Studio couldn’t evaluate to the RTX 4090 buried contained in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023), however it struggled to maintain up with the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 laptops, too.
The RTX 4070 GPU contained in the Stealth 16 Studio has a most TGP of 105W, which can clarify why the gaming efficiency just isn’t on par with different laptops in its vary. The Alienware M16 comes with the identical card at 140W and the Razer Blade 14 – which comes with an RTX 4060 – may attain as much as 140W TGP. This low wattage clearly doesn’t play into the Stealth 16 Studio’s hand, as you’ll be able to see from the FPS outcomes beneath.
Apparently, the Stealth 16 Studio does have a trick up its sleeve, coming within the type of Nvidia’s DLSS. In my Cyberpunk 2077 check with DLSS enabled, it powered previous each laptop computer apart from the Lenovo Yoga Professional i9 16, even beating out the RTX 4090 laptop computer by 15fps. This received’t be a profit that impacts all video games, however it’s good to know that the Stealth 16 Studio can tackle ray tracing, offered DLSS is enabled.
Throughout my playthrough of Stardew Valley, I did encounter some lagging and looking the online felt slower than I might anticipate for such highly effective internals. In comparison with comparable gaming laptops that I’ve examined, the Stealth 16 Studio did really feel barely gradual compared and I might say that its most important strengths lie in its display and aesthetics fairly than its uncooked energy.
The efficiency of the SSD was extra spectacular, however I don’t assume it may well make up for the aforementioned benchmarking outcomes. My checks got here out at 7108.92MB/s learn and 5266.79MB/s write, which is on par, if not above, lots of its key rivals. Resulting from my particular workload, these constructive SSD scores didn’t impression my expertise with this laptop computer, however it will be useful for anybody who often transfers plenty of information.
Software program
- MSI Centre isn’t as huge as I might have appreciated
- Not plenty of bloat to take care of
When it comes to software program, the principle attraction of the Stealth 16 Studio is the MSI Centre. It may be used to observe {hardware}, verify on the GPU utilization and see how a lot reminiscence is left over on the machine.
I used to be slightly dissatisfied by the customisation settings; per-key keyboard customisation wasn’t too in depth and navigating the app was extra cumbersome than I anticipated. There’s plenty of additional software program that may be downloaded right here that’s associated to gaming, content material creation, work, training and extra, which I did recognize.
Battery Life
- Depleted by 80% over two hours
- Lower than an hour and a half of gaming
When it comes to endurance, the Stealth 16 Studio was a dependable machine, particularly because it comes with a devoted GPU. My checks confirmed that this laptop computer is able to lasting for six hours and 1 minute for a productiveness workload.
This places it virtually utterly on par with the 1 hour and three minutes of the HP Omen Transcent 16, however it does fall properly beneath the ten hours and 18 minutes of the Razer Blade 14 (2023). Throughout a playthrough of Stardew Valley, the battery dropped from 89% to 10% in slightly below two hours, though it did robotically allow battery saver mode at 40%.
The endurance of the Stealth 16 Studio will depend upon another components, like what sport you’re enjoying, the brightness of the display and if the RGB keyboard is enabled, however it must be greater than serviceable for many players.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
You desire a light-weight and trendy gaming laptop computer
The MSI Stealth 16 Studio (2023) is light-weight for a gaming machine and really smooth. The per-key RGB keyboard could be very trendy and feels nice to kind on, and its battery will get you thru an hour or two of gaming without having a cost.
You need extra bang in your buck
Trying previous the aesthetics, the Stealth 16 Studio is a really costly machine and comes with a few niggling efficiency points. It runs extremely popular and feels slower to make use of than a few of its friends.
Closing Ideas
The MSI Stealth 16 Studio (2023) is a mixture of highs and lows; the QHD show is fantastically immersive, offering me with clear and crisp visuals whereas streaming media content material and enjoying video games. The huge array of ports meant I by no means needed to attain for a dongle and the loud and punchy audio system allowed me to forgo any gaming headsets or exterior audio system.
Nonetheless, the efficiency of the Stealth 16 Studio did go away one thing to be desired. Lagging and gradual loading instances whereas looking the online made this laptop computer really feel a lot slower than it ought to, particularly when you think about the above £2000/$2000 asking worth. That’s to not say that it may well’t run triple-A video games at a dependable body fee, however you’re prone to incur some stuttering alongside the way in which.
Should you’re on the lookout for one thing that strikes an incredible steadiness between portability and efficiency then the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) is among the finest choices on the market, and the Asus TUF Gaming A15 is a unbelievable selection if you wish to avoid wasting cash. For much more choices, check out our greatest gaming laptop computer roundup.
How we check
Each laptop computer we assessment goes by means of a sequence of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues, together with construct high quality, efficiency, display high quality and battery life.
These embrace formal artificial benchmarks and scripted checks, plus a sequence of real-world checks, equivalent to how properly it runs widespread apps.
We use assessment machines as our most important laptop computer for a minimum of every week.
We check the efficiency through each benchmark checks and real-world use.
We check the display with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We check the battery with a benchmark check and real-world use.
FAQs
Sure, the MSI Stealth 16 Studio does have a per-key RGB keyboard that may be adjusted within the companion software program.
The MSI Stealth 16 Studio depleted by 80% in two hours throughout a gameplay session.
Throughout my check interval, the MSI Stealth 16 Studio received very loud and sizzling throughout benchmarking, however this drawback was not as obvious throughout gameplay periods.
Trusted Evaluations check information
PCMark 10
PugetBench for Premiere Professional
Cinebench R23 multi core
Cinebench R23 single core
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench 5 multi core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn velocity
CrystalDiskMark Write Pace
Brightness (SDR)
Black degree
Distinction ratio
White Visible Color Temperature
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Quad HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + RT)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + Supersampling)
Returnal (Quad HD)
Returnal (Full HD)
UK RRP
USA RRP
CA RRP
AUD RRP
CPU
Producer
Display Measurement
Storage Capability
Entrance Digicam
Battery
Battery Hours
Measurement (Dimensions)
Weight
Working System
Launch Date
Mannequin Quantity
Mannequin Variants
Decision
HDR
Refresh Charge
Ports
GPU
RAM
Connectivity
Colors
Show Expertise
Display Expertise
Contact Display
Convertible?
