MSI’s Prestige 16 AI Series lands with top-shelf specs and dedicated AI smarts

Everyone from your neighbour’s dog to your grandmother knows about AI at this point, and the artificial intelligence hype train refuses to slow down. It won’t be long before your kettle is suggesting exotic brew combinations during your morning appliance debrief. But for now, we’re seeing it become more widespread in more sensible applications — one of which is in MSI’s new Prestige 16 AI Series laptop range, which features Intel’s integrated NPU (or Neural Processing Unit). 

If you’re not quite sure whether this is a good thing or not — it is. Dedicated to handling AI tasks (which can include anything from blurring backgrounds in video calls to biometric security recognition), the NPU can increase the efficiency of any machine it happens to find itself in. Not only does this result in nippier performance but it can improve battery life to boot.

In the case of the Prestige AI Series notebooks, the NPU also plays the useful role of automatically adjusting hardware settings in conjunction with MSI’s new AI Engine, to help optimise performance and efficiency depending on what you’re doing. Different (and self explanatory) modes include “Intelligent Gaming”, “Intelligent Work”, “Intelligent Meeting” and “Intelligent Entertainment”, all of which are automatically optimised to provide the best, most efficient performance.

Specs for the Prestige AI 15 Series include a 16in OLED display, up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, 32GB of RAM, and a beefy Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU for the higher-end model. There’s also a smaller Prestige 13 AI Evo variant with a more compact 13in screen, which weights in at an impressive 990g, with a 75WHrs battery thrown in. MSI prides the latter on having a 50% larger capacity than other similar-sized laptops in the market, so battery life hopes are high.

All variants of both the 16in and 13in models are available to buy now, for users in the market for a notebook that’s a little smarter than the average.

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Esat Dedezade Contributor

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.