The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ is a next-gen update to one of our favorite AI PCs

MSI may be best known as a gaming company, but more and more we’ve seen some impressive laptops come through on their business and creator sides as well. The MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo was one of the first Intel Core Ultra (Meteor Lake) laptops we saw in late 2023 and the performance and battery life offered by the Prestige 16 AI Evo really won our reviewer over.

On June 4 at Computex in Taipei, MSI unveiled a new series of Prestige business laptops including the AMD Strix Point -powered Prestige A16 AI+ and the Intel Lunar Lake -powered Prestige 16 AI+ Evo. The Strix Point edition of the Prestige was available to be poked and prodded by attendees while the Lunar Lake-powered Prestige lineup remained under glass.

Considering just how well the Intel Meteor Lake Prestige 16 AI Evo performed, I was excited to take a closer look at the next-gen Prestige lineup on both the Intel and AMD sides. Considering the Lunar Lake models were under glass, we’ll focus on the AMD Strix Point version, the Prestige A16 AI+.

MSI Prestige A16 AI+: Specs

MSI Prestige A16 AI+: Pricing and configurations

Pricing is only currently available for one configuration of the AMD-based Prestige A16 AI+, though other models will be available closer to launch. While $1,599 isn't cheap, with 32GB of storage, 1TB of RAM, and an OLED panel, it's not bad. The Prestige A16 AI+ will be available in Q3 of this year.

MSI will also have an Intel-based version, the Prestige 16 AI+ Evo which uses the latest Intel Core Ultra Lunar Lake processors. The Intel version will be priced similarly to the AMD models and will be available in Q4 of this year. The Intel-based Prestige will also come in 14 and 13-inch versions, we would expect slightly reduced pricing for those models, but of course no official details yet.

MSI Prestige A16 AI+: Design

The A16 AI+ doesn't change much from the chassis of the Prestige 16, though MSI does have different colorway options for the Intel and AMD versions of the laptop. It’s still a thin, light, portable design with a minimalist aesthetic intended to appeal to business professionals.

With a large touchpad and wide-spaced keyboard the Prestige A16 AI+ aims for comfort and precision control on the touchpad. You won't mistype due to cramped keys on this expansive keyboard. If anything, the keys are a little farther apart than I prefer, but nothing that would prevent me from typing comfortably on the Prestige A16. For folks with larger hands, the key-spacing and large trackpad are clear pluses to the design.

MSI Prestige A16 AI+: Display

The Prestige A16 AI+ unit at Computex had a 16-inch UHD+ (3,840 x 2,400) OLED panel. Like most glossy OLED panels there was a bit of glare on the screen, particularly with the bright expo hall lights at the MSI booth. But there was less glare than I was expecting.

The colors on the demo video looked vibrant and held a sharp contrast in will-lit and shadowed scenes. If its anything like the panel from the Prestige 16 AI Evo, it will be a quality OLED display. Naturally, we will have to wait until we get a review unit in our lab to test it with proper display testing equipment, but to my eyes, the panel looked great.

MSI Prestige A16 AI+: Performance

Currently, we only have claims from AMD regarding its performance, as no Strix Point laptops have shipped yet and the demo unit was locked to playing one promotional video during the expo.

We expect that the Strix Point processors are capable of keeping up with a variety of daily tasks including video calls, photo editing, and keeping more than 20 browser tabs open at a time during your workday. But whether it can handle some casual gaming or anything more intensive will need to wait until we can get the Prestige A16 AI+ into our test lab for benchmarking.

Outlook

The Prestige 16 AI Evo was outpaced by a few laptops on our Laptops with the best battery life page, but its stunning display, sturdy lightweight chassis, excellent performance, and all-day battery life impressed us. So we are very much looking forward to reviewing the two next-gen versions, the Prestige A16 AI+ and the Prestige 16 AI+ Evo.

Because of the launch dates of AMD and Intel’s next-generation AI PC silicon, we will see the Prestige A16 AI+ before the 16 AI Evo, so a face-off will have to wait until the latter arrives.

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