Alongside a wave of new gaming laptops, MSI revealed the MSI Creator Z16, a slim powerhouse aimed at creative professionals, in concert with Intel’s latest silicon. Targeting the same crowd that would consider an Apple MacBook Pro, the Creator Z16 will make use of Intel’s recently announced “Tiger Lake-H” CPUs, as well as Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-Series GPUs. Laptops based on the new CPUs start to go on sale today.
We were able to get a preview tour of this one in a private meeting with MSI to bring you the details. You can check out the video below for a closer look at the design, plus plenty of information on the specs and feature set. If you’d prefer a text rundown, read on below the video.
Aiming at Apple: A 16-Inch Media Machine
This is a model with a 16-inch screen, an uncommon (though emerging) panel size for any type of laptop. That means a roomy 16-inch display fit for media editing, matching the larger MacBook Pro screen size. Obviously, it does not use Apple’s own Retina display, but boasts a QHD+ resolution at a 16:10 aspect ratio, or 2,560 by 1,600 pixels.
For creators editing at higher frame rates (and some gaming), the panel also features a 120Hz refresh rate, and MSI claims 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color spectrum. Also, unlike the screens on Apple’s laptops, the panel supports touch input.
The larger screen doesn’t mean this is a bulky system, though, keeping portability a priority. If you’re buying a laptop for your media editing work, presumably you’d like to use it while traveling, or be able to work on the same machine at home or in the office. To that end, it measures just 0.64 inch thick and weighs 5.07 pounds. That is almost a pound heavier than the 16-inch MacBook Pro, however.
Component Check: Tiger Lake-H and an RTX 3060
Of course, a good media-editing laptop is nothing without potent internal parts. As mentioned, the best from Intel and Nvidia combine in this system for quite a high-power machine for something so slim.
The base model starts at $2,599, which nets you an Intel Core i7-11800H processor (one of the snappy staples in the new wave of Tiger Lake-H chips), 32GB of memory, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and a 1TB SSD.
There’s one other model, priced at $2,999, which bumps the CPU up to the Core i9-11900H and the storage to 2TB, but is otherwise the same. (MSI also mentions that this model should be able to expand the memory to 64GB, but that spec is not currently listed as part of the second SKU.) Both models use the same display described above.
Connectivity Is King
Between peripheral and external-storage needs, port options make a big difference for creatives. The Z16 offers two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, two USB Type-A ports, and a micro SD card slot. With those options, you have multiple ways to support a second screen and connect a mouse and drive at the same time.
Wireless connectivity also includes Killer Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2. Other features include per-key RGB lighting on the keyboard, a fingerprint sensor for logins, a 720p webcam, and a 90-watt-hour battery.
For a more comprehensive look, check out the video above, and visit again soon for a full review of the Creator Z16 when review units become available.
