MSI is kicking off its Computex announcements with four laptops that couldn't be more different. Sure, there are some new business laptops and a new AMD gaming machine, and we'll get to those, but can we focus on the fact that MSI is making a laptop with Mercedes?
The flagship announcement is a variant on its Stealth 16 laptop: the Stealth 16 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. MSI is pushing the laptop as a "luxury gaming experience," and insists that this collaboration makes sense because both MSI and Mercedes-AMG are focused on performance and elegant design.
The Stealth 16 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport comes in "selenite" gray with joint MSI and Mercedes-AMG branding on the lid (the MSI dragon shield is relegated to the bottom right-hand corner).
The system comes with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU (which is not overclockable, in the spirit of racing — but allows for a 0.78-inch thick chassis), paired with either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 laptop GPU. It will sport a 16-inch, 3840 x 2400 (16:10) OLED screen. MSI didn't specify how much RAM and storage will come on board — as that will vary by region — but it supports up to 64GB of DDR5-5200 and has two M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD ports.
Beyond the joint branding on the lid, that combination logo will also appear on the power brick. The space bar will feature a pattern that looks like carbon fiber, while the thermal inlets above the keyboard spell out "AMG." The power button reads "Start Engine" as if it were an ignition, which is delightfully cheesy. At the very least, the look alone may make it the best gaming laptop for some racing enthusiasts.
The Stealth will be sold in a bundle that also includes a mouse, mousepad, USB drive, a pouch (presumably for said drive?) cable ties, and postcards. MSI hasn't stated prices for availability just yet, but I have to imagine that this will be expensive if MSI is partnering with Mercedes-AMG to push itself as a luxury brand.
Alpha 17 Gets Dragon Range
MSI is updating its Alpha 17 gaming laptop to use AMD's "Dragon Range" Ryzen 7945HX CPU (the Alpha line is the only place in its laptop line MSI uses the red team's chips) alongside Nvidia's RTX 40-series GPUs.
The other big update is that the Alpha 17 will support Wi-Fi 7, thanks to Qualcomm FastConnect 7800.
The Alpha 17 will start at $1,849 with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, 32GB of DDR5-5200 RAM and 1TB of storage. A $1,999 model uses an RTX 4070 and 16GB of RAM, while the top-end $2,299 variant combines an RTX 4070 with 32GB of RAM and doubles the storage to 2TB.
All three will feature the same 17.3-inch 2560 x 1440 (one of the rare 16:9 gaming laptops this year) with a 240 Hz refresh rate. We don't have an exact release date for this one, but we're expecting to see it soon.
MSI Makes a Boring Business Laptop
MSI has been trying to break out of being just a gaming brand for years with its Prestige, Creator, Summit, and Modern laptop series. But for Computex 2023, it’s stepped into the boring business laptop realm with the MSI Commercial 14.
MSI claims that this is a laptop for enterprises looking for security features, and it’s tossing in NFC, an optional smart-card reader, Windows Hello with login credentials delivered via facial recognition and fingerprint reader, and Intel vPro. The laptop also meets Microsoft's Secured Core PC standards.
I’ll give credit where it's due: the Commercial 14 is packed with ports, including Thunderbolt 4 with power delivery, USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, HDMI, an SD card reader, a Kensington lock slot, an audio jack, and optional Ethernet. You sure won't need a dongle.
MSI's new business notebook has a spill-resistant keyboard made of post-consumer recycled materials, which it claims "may" give you more time to save your work and shut down your computer if you accidentally knock over that second cup of coffee.
I'm told this laptop will arrive in Q4 of this year, and that no price has been determined just yet.
A New Studio Laptop
Lastly, MSI is updating its Prestige 16. The new Prestige 16 Studio Evo will use Intel Evo standards and Nvidia GeForce RTX Studio drivers. This also has no price, but MSI is planning a Q4 launch.
MSI says it's using a Core i7 Evo processor and RTX 40-series laptop GPUs in the Prestige 16 Studio Evo, but it doesn’t disclose which ones — perhaps something new will come in Q4? Whatever parts they are, they'll support 140W power delivery. MSI also says it’s packing in a 99.9 WHR battery in the 18.9 mm chassis, but is otherwise being tight-lipped on specs, only mentioning it will use LPDDR5 and a 16:10 display. Hopefully we'll learn more soon.
