Prestige 15 A10SC laptop review

MSI looks to add executive chic to a winning laptop formula

Once upon a time MSI’s laptops were big, loud, gaudy and fast. Not now. Today’s range features outstanding models that are suited to performance-hungry gamers, portability-demanding road warriors, noise-intolerant designers and ergonomically-engrossed of office-based employees.

Enter the Prestige 15 – which aims to deliver the final flourish: executive chic.

Key specs

15.6-inch, 4K IPS LCD; Intel Core i7 10th Gen. U-processor; Up to 64GB RAM; 1 x M.2 NVMe slot; 1 x M.2 NVMe/SATA combo slot; Nvidia GeForce® GTX 1650 with Max-Q design, 4-cell 82Wh battery; 357 x 234 x 16mm, 1.6KG.

Design and Handling

Despite its large 15.6-inch screen the Prestige 15 is ultraportable. The display and thin bezel provide plenty of desktop real estate – both 4K and Full HD variants are offered – but  the slim, aluminium chassis only weighs 1.6kh.

Dressed in cool grey casing with blue trim with an understated MSI dragon logo, the laptop is more low-key and sophisticated than its predecessors. But what’s it like to use?

The screen is bright, well-lit, but also highly-tuned for accuracy – it can display 100 per cent of the Adobe RGB colour gamut, has a Delta-E rating of <2 and its True Colour technology is certified by CalMan. Each screen is individually tuned in the factory so designers and creative professionals can rest assured that the screen is colour correct.

The keyboard is full-sized (including arrow keys) and is both comfortable to type on and responsive enough for gamers. It’s backlit so you can easily see what you’re doing in a darkened studio or business-class flight cabin. The large mousepad is sensitive and has Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint sensor built-in. It, in turn, supports Fido 2 cryptography for secure log-ins.

The hinge folds down flat to make sharing ideas and designs easier in face-to-face meetings (F12 quickly flips the screen).

And while the Prestige 15 may be lightweight, it’s tough enough to withstand drops, vibrations and extreme temperatures. MSI claim it has a military-grade MIL-STD-810G certification.

Performance

Sporting the latest Intel 10th Generation processors, the laptop delivers fast, hexa-core processing with utmost power efficiency. The CPU is flanked by up-to 64GB of DDR4-2666 RAM and there is room for two M.2 hard drives. They can be super-speedy NVMe units or one can be used to support a regular SATA drive.

GPU options are based around Nvidia’s GTX 1650 with Max-Q heat efficiency. This means the laptop easily handles popular games such as Fortnite and Overwatch. It is also very handy at rendering which will please designers who will warm to a 50 per cent boost in Cinebench R15 performance.

Even when the Prestige 15 is pushed to its limits, MSI’s Cooler Boost 3 technology – with its two fans and three heat pipes – efficiently escorts heat from the chassis without making a racket. It generates less-than 30 decibels, when under load, and this has been recognised by Quiet Mark certification.

Battery Life and Portability

The 82 Watt-hour battery can manage a 10-hour workday and stretch to 16-hours if required. Fast charging means it can quickly absorb a two-hour charge in 15-minutes.

Connectivity and Other Features

There is a full completement of connectivity ports so there is no need for lots of different dongles. The Prestige 15 has two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, s DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 (with PD charging), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, HDMI and a UHS-II MicroSD card reader. There is plenty of potential to both display and transfer high-quality multimedia files quickly and efficiently.

Two 3.5mm audio jacks cater for digital and analogue audio connections. Wi-Fi comes from the latest, super-fast Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) chip. Bluetooth is version 5.

Multimedia

The webcam supports 720p resolution and the 2-Watt speakers provide punchy audio that belies the thinness of the chassis.

Conclusion

The handling and performance of previous portable powerhouses from MSI has been impressive, but the Prestige 15 looks suave and sophisticated, as well. Whether you are an executive, marketer, creative or media professional – or perhaps you just want to secretly play games in your downtime without raising any suspicions – the Prestige is a good choice for demanding and sophisticated users.

You can buy the Prestige 15 A10SC at JB Hi-Fi.