Table of Contents
MSI Creator Z16 is a business laptop created for creatives as an Nvidia Studio laptop. It combines the advantages of a AAA gaming laptop with those of a mobile workstation. The MSI Creator Z16 appears to be designed to compete with Apple MacBook laptops with powerful hardware tailored for professional creators, even though MSI currently offers some of the largest professional ultrabooks for gaming and hybrid style.
The MSI A11UET-043, the unit under review, traces the MacBook Pro line, but its most notable feature is its 16-inch 16:10 aspect ratio display, which has recently become the “Swiss army knife” of creative professionals, as it boosts productivity while maintaining an elegant and classic look. Although it lacks the visual features and fashion statements of flashier devices such as the Acer ConceptD series, it is exceptionally well equipped internally, making it an ideal choice for a wide range of videomakers.
The display’s 100% DCI-P3 color coverage and touch screen are ideal for professional video and photo editors, while those who want to play contemporary AAA games will appreciate the 120 Hz refresh rate supported by the Intel Core i9-11900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. In this article we will discuss the review of the MSI Creator Z16. Overall, MSI Creator Z16 is a well-designed creative laptop that will not disappoint you if you buy it during sales. However, its high price is not that attractive, especially when you consider that there are more powerful and better optimized machines that are available for less money.
Design
The MSI Creator 15 appears to be a gaming laptop that has had some features removed to attract manufacturers. It has an IR camera for Windows Hello, a 4K OLED screen instead of a high refresh rate FHD screen, and the style is simply more understated, for example. The color in which it is available is Core Black, sometimes known as street black.
The MDI emblem is obviously stamped on the lid, but it is not noticeable because the lid is simply a deeper shade of black rather than a flashier chrome finish. But as can be seen from the side perspective, it has a boxy appearance. This is not necessarily a negative aspect. It’s just a design we expect to see more often on gaming devices. It contains many ports, all on the left and right sides. Unlike MSI’s gaming laptops, which include ports in the back, this one contains none.
And that’s the surprising thing about the ports: The three USB Type-A connectors are all USB 3.2 Gen 2 and allow 10 Gbps data transfer speeds. Two of these, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, a headphone jack and an Ethernet port are located on the right side of the device. The USB Type-C port can be used to connect a second display, as it also supports the DisplayPort port.
On the left side of the device are a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and an HDMI port capable of sending output to an 8K 60Hz or 4K 120Hz monitor. Thanks to Thunderbolt, the USB Type-C port on this side is obviously much more flexible than the one on the opposite side, capable of 40 Gbps data transfer rate, two 4K monitors and even an external GPU. As always, we don’t like the idea that users should be able to distinguish between two visually identical ports, but at least they are labeled.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard has a built-in mini-LED backlight, so each letter can have a distinct illumination color. An automatic configuration with a moving light is available. You must install Mystic Light if you find it annoying or if you want to configure other colors or combinations. Unfortunately, MSI Center Pro does not allow you to change the key lighting.
SteelSeries input is characterized by large keys, a sturdy base that does not give way even with a firm blow and a very hard stroke. The sharp pressure point of the keys, which offers excellent feedback despite the short stroke, is what we like about them. However, typing becomes tiring because of the hard stroke and short travel. In conclusion, the SteelSeries keyboard is not shoddy at all and is usable even by people with large hands. A longer stroke, however, would increase the speed. you can read our article on the MSI Creator Z16 review.
Some consider MSI’s narrow ClickPad a design flaw. Competitors, such as the MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 and the Dell XPS 15 9510, often use wide ClickPads (15 x 9 cm), while the MSI uses only 12 x 6 cm. The low height can be very annoying, especially when sliding objects vertically. This is unfortunate because the pad itself has a smooth surface, a defined pressure point, and modest travel at the bottom of the pad.
MSI Creator Z16 review: Display
The MSI Creator Z16 is an Nvidia Studio-certified laptop, thus earning Nvidia’s seal of approval and certifying that it was built with creative professionals in mind. Taking a closer look at the display, it is obvious that it also deserves this badge. Like the MacBook pro, it boasts thin bezels around the 16-inch display. However, the display has touch capabilities, which distinguish it from Apple’s flagship and can be useful when browsing websites and programs. The resolution is a bit underwhelming, 2560 x 1600, compared to the 3072 x 1920 or even 4K panels found in many modern creative workstations.
It is not necessary to have a 4K display, and its inclusion would undoubtedly slow the refresh rate, but with such a high price tag it seems unfair to try to strike a balance between playing games and editing high-definition images and videos. The display is very glossy, making it difficult to use the device in very bright environments. Brightness is good, with a resolution of about 398 nits, which is above average for a high-end laptop.
If you use the laptop indoors, such as in an office, you should not encounter problems, but you should make sure to avoid open windows during the day. MSI Creator Z16 offers amazing saturation and depth with 100% sRGB, 91% AdobeRGB and 93% P3 coverage. If you need color accuracy, this product will satisfy you. Although you do not get sharp contrast because it is not an OLED display, it is still a high-quality screen.
MSI Creator Z16 review: Audio
The audio experience of the Z16 was loud and detailed enough to be heard clearly throughout our apartment-studio, with some depth. It features four Dynaudio stereo speakers with Nahimic software to fine-tune the listening experience. In addition to the normal audio settings for music, movies, games and conversations, there is also an automated Smart option that allows the system to flawlessly produce sounds based on what you are doing at the moment. This made it possible to clearly hear Anderson Paak’s falsetto voice and at the same time produce a pleasant bass in Bruno Mars’ “Leave The Door Open.”
The audio proved crisp and pristine while watching What If Killmonger saved Tony Stark on Disney Plus. The Nahimic surround sound setting did a good job of providing the audio with real spatial quality during the battle sequences. The sound is fine for a laptop, but in the end this is a workstation, not a theater, so it is still a bit tinny. For optimal audio quality, it would be wise to purchase computer speakers or a pair of wireless headphones.
Graphic and gaming
When editing videos with Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU in the MSI Creator Z16 with 6 GB of VRAM behaved rather quickly and we never experienced any performance stuttering. The delay between photos was minimal when we used Capture One to take tethered photos because they appeared immediately on the monitor. Despite being designed for content creation, the 3060 GPU performed excellently with Borderlands 2: the game’s fast-paced gameplay and animation-style graphics ran at an average of 62 frames per second on the 120 Hz display.
The Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark was used to evaluate the GPU. The Z16 outperformed the premium laptop’s average of 32 frames per second with a score of 95. Moving to native resolution (1600p), the XPS 15 recorded 67 FPS, while the Z16 scored 89 FPS. Our Creator Z16 scored 15,528 in our 3DMark Fire Strike test, outperforming the category average of 5,770 and the XPS 15’s 8,433. However, it failed to compete with the XPS 15. However, it failed to compete with the ZenBook Pro Duo or the Blade 15 (19,467). (16,380).
Compared with regular Nvidia drivers, the Nvidia RTX Studio drivers do not offer the best gaming performance. In addition, MSI reduced the TGP of the RTX 3080 Ti from a maximum of 150 watts to 90 watts. In the 3DMark Time Spy test, in which the Creator Z16P lagged behind rival laptops equipped with the RTX 3080 Ti, this is readily apparent. In addition, the frame rate was set to 60 frames per second even with all frame-limiting options turned off on the system and in games (fps). We tried to solve the problem by contacting MSI, but to no avail. in this article we will show you MSI Creator Z16 review.
Performance
For the most demanding applications used by creatives, the 11th-generation Intel i9 processor and RTX 3060 GPU are perfect, making it a great choice for video and photo editors. If it had an HDMI connector, it would also be great for digital artists, but if you use a mouse for sculpting or rendering, you will still benefit. Our unit’s 16 GB of RAM is adequate for gaming, but seems a bit limited for doing creative work. We could only open about 20 tabs of Chrome and Adobe Photoshop before the laptop started to slow down, which is not what you want from a machine with such powerful hardware.
If you work with 3D programs such as Maya or Blender and want the ability to run multiple programs at once, you will need to upgrade to 32 GB. In both cases you will receive only 6 GB of VRAM, since the RTX 3060 GPU is the only graphics card offered in all the various specifications we have seen. Again, thanks to the magic of Nvidia’s DLSS, this is more than enough to run most recently released games, but if you are using more powerful mobile hardware, such as an Nvidia or AMD workstation GPU or even a more powerful model than the current RTX 30 series, the power may be insufficient.
If necessary, you can play video games or watch movies with the built-in MSI Creator Z16 speakers, which are strong and have sufficient bass and depth. Although the Dell XPS 15 has significantly more bass, they are still pleasant to listen to even if they are not the best we have heard. The MSI Creator Z16 handled tasks, games, and benchmarks admirably while maintaining its composure. After opening Adobe Premier for about 15 minutes, the fans started to spin audibly, and even when playing Cyberpunk 2077, the bottom was cool enough to rest on your lap without discomfort.
These fans do make a lot of noise, but even that depends on the context. It’s not particularly outstanding for a gaming laptop, but if you’re working in a shared space, the volume doesn’t compare to the 16″ MacBook Pro without fans. Its merits as a “part-time” gaming laptop are well confirmed by the fact that it was able to average 44 FPS in Cyberpunk with maximum settings and DLSS enabled. Using the 120 Hz display would be preferable for running less demanding games such as Valorant.
MSI Creator Z16 review: Battery life
The battery life of the Prestige Z16P is 90 watt-hours, which is respectable for a laptop with a sizable, high-resolution display and quick components. With the same size battery and a slower CPU, the Creator Z16 didn’t have a fantastic battery life, so it’s not a guarantee either. The Prestige Z16P only managed 4.75 hours during our web browsing test, which cycles through a number of well-known and complicated websites. This is a result we typically see from gaming laptops. The Dell XPS 17 had an almost three-hour longer battery life.
The MSI only managed 5.5 hours in our video test, which plays a local 1080p movie trailer; the XPS 17 easily outperformed it. The Prestige Z16P shut down after around 5.5 hours in the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, which is the best indicator of productivity battery life. Of course, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 stands out in this comparison because it completely destroyed its Windows rivals despite being about as quick. The MacBook’s durability embarrassed the Prestige Z16P. It is not a very portable workstation, the Prestige Z16P. If you engage in any kind of rigorous creative labour, you’ll likely exhaust yourself after a few hours. Make sure to account for the size and weight of the power brick.
Heat
The Z16 uses proprietary Cooler Boost technology with what MSI claims are the world’s thinnest fans (0.1 millimeters). The three-fan system is actually quite quiet, which is surprising for such a thin laptop. During our thermal test, which involved playing a 15-minute full-screen video at 1080p, the bottom end reached 96.4 degrees Fahrenheit, just a bit above our comfort threshold of 95 degrees.
The touchpad remained cool at 78.6 degrees, while the temperature between the G and H keys reached 90 degrees during the test. Overall, MSI’s prosumer system was relatively cool and quiet during our use.
Configuration options
It is difficult to get a regular price for the MSI Creator Z16 because different configurations are available based on geographic location. MSI’s website states that the model we are reviewing can have up to 64 GB of RAM, although we have never seen one configured this way. It also includes an Intel i9-11900H CPU, an RTX 3060 graphics card and 1 TB of SSD storage and costs £2,349 (about $3,120 or $4,400 Australian dollars if converted to euros).
Unfortunately, we could not find this configuration on the U.S. website. However, the lowest configuration we could find is one with an Intel i7-11800H and 32 GB RAM for $2,599.99. Therefore, it is important to examine the specifications carefully before making a purchase, because if something looks too good to be true, it probably is, and you could end up with a laptop that is less powerful than expected.
These costs have two sides. It is not particularly exorbitant for a laptop used as a creative workstation, but it is expensive for a gaming laptop in this configuration. There are many alternative options on the market, because many of the features are available on less expensive machines such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus.
Conclusion
MSI Creator Z16 is one of the best content creation laptops to be released in 2022. This Creator laptop achieves a good balance between power and style. It is exceptionally strong and durable due to its steel composition. The design of this laptop prioritizes portability. This allows it to benefit from reduced weight and longer battery life while having almost the same power as a gaming laptop.
The “Golden Ratio,” which MSI has dubbed for its demonstrated increase in productivity and strikingly simple appearance, undoubtedly draws inspiration from the MacBook. Compared to flashier products such as the Acer ConceptD series, it doesn’t put much emphasis on design, but it has really powerful internal hardware, making it a great option for several videomakers.