It used to be that a laptop was strictly seen as the type of device that you’d hammer out pure white-collar work assignments on, but the times are changing. These days a good notebook can be used to pump out some documents, have a few rounds of Fortnite on, and watch a few Netflix movies while you’re in bed.
Laptops have also become an essential part of a content creator’s lifestyle, as the ability to take your latest video editing tools with you has become a lifesaver in the age of instant updates. MSI is looking to cater to that market with its latest range of laptops, that feature Intel’s brand-new Tiger Lake H processors.
As revealed at its latest event, the new line of Creator laptops are designed to not only provide the best hardware for content creation, but they’re also produced in a manner that looks rather gorgeous. Not too ostentatious, not too plain, but hitting that sweet Goldilocks zone of style and substance thanks to its metal frame being milled from a block of resources to create a more seamless look.
The Creator Z16 will be the flagship model, and will be available in two configurations. Both feature a 120Hz 16:10 touch display with QHD+ resolution that can cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, and 32GB of RAM. From there you can opt for a 1TB or 2TB of storage, and you can finish the package off with either a Core i7-11800H or a Core i9-11900H processor.
If you’re looking for something a bit more modest in terms of hardware and cost, the Creator M16 also has a a QHD+ display, a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, and a Core i7. Plenty of bang for your buck right there. Local pricing hasn’t been revealed just yet, but in the US of A the Z16 will start at $2599 and M16 pricing will be announced at a later date.
Lastly, there’s the Creator 17 which packs in a 17.3-inch UHD display that can blind dragons with up to 1000 nits of brightness, an 11th-gen Core i9 processor, and three GPU configurations: A GeForce RTX 3080 with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, the GeForce RTX 3070 with 8GB of GDDR6 memory, and the RTX 3060 with 6GB of GDDR6 memory.
It’s not all content creation on the MSI front though! The company has long been a name in the land of gaming laptops, and its latest flagships are sticking to its premium legacy. Retaining the sleek and sexy design, are a bunch of new devices fine-tuned for maximum frames per second and high resolution action.
The 17-inch GE76 and 15-inch GE66 Raider are MSI’s new gaming laptop flagships that come with either GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, or 3060 GPUs, and up to 16GB of GDDR6 RAM. Both models have a 360 Hz refresh rate, and pricing will start at $2300. If you need both a blue-collar working device and something to do Destiny 2 raids on, the 17.3-inch GP76 and 15.6-inch GP66 Leopard laptops should be up to the task. The more premium GS66 Stealth models feature LeopardCore i7 processors and GTX 3070 GPUs with 8GB of GDDR6 RAM, QHD panels with a 240 Hz refresh rate, and Intel’s Core i9 processor.
Next on the list are the GL76 and GL66 Pulse laptops, that come with not just Nvidia’s RTX 3060 GPU but also a very clever redesigned heat pipe that will redistribute heat much more efficiently. This model features more modest specs as more of an entry-level device, but it’s also priced to match a tighter budget, starting at $950 and going up to $1550. Not too bad!
Last but definitely not least are MSI’s sharpest laptops, the Katana GF76 and Katana GF66. Both come with GF66Core i7 processors, GeForce RTX 3060 and 3050 GPUs with up to 6GB of GDDR6, and the sexiest white chassis you’ve ever seen on a gaming laptop. Pricing starts at $1050. MSI helped define an era of gaming laptops with a big emphasis on flashy RGB, but it’s looking to roll out a more sophisticated aesthetic as it expands on just what its devices are truly capable of.
And I’m not complaining if the end result is a device that looks like it belongs in an art gallery as a new showcase piece of modern design.
Last Updated: May 18, 2021
