MSI Creator M16 HX C14VFG-059CA 16" 240Hz QHD+ Content Creation Laptop, Intel Core i9-14900HX, RTX 4060, 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVMe SSD, Co-Pilot Key, Windows 11 Home

First, the Windows setup and update process was super super slow... Like longer than a half day and some update failures that are still not updated. The Web cam does not work. Device manager says it's not connected. There is no physical on/off switch other than the camera shutter. There are no function keys to toggle the camera on/off. Battery life is dismal. We're talking in the range of 2 hours. That's not gaming or doing anything intensive other than updates and trying to Google for solutions. I'm going to try a couple more days before this gets returned.

Love it so far

This power house of a laptop is jam packed with high performing components that puts most typical desktops to shame. I won't get into the specific performances of the Intel i9-14900hx processor or the Nvidia RTX 4060 dedicated video processor because I think they speak for themselves as top of the line processors on the market. But what I will say that this is a desktop in a laptop format. What comes with all of that power into such a small form factor is heat. And lots of it. To manage that heat, you need a powerful fan and a good heat distribution system, which this laptop does really well. It has two large centrifugal fans that exhaust out the sides and a long series of heat pipes that distribute the heat from the components to the fans. It intakes from the bottom of the laptop, so to accommodate that, the rubber feet set the laptop pretty high off the table to all airflow underneath. This adds to the thickness of the laptop. 1 & 1/4 inches of thickness to be exact. This is pretty thick. What you'll also find on the inside is an extra M.2 format SSD slot that will accommodate a 2280 card. It has two fully removeable RAM slots, with 2x16 GB SK Hynix modules. It all works quite well. At full tilt though, you will definitely hear the fans. Under normal usage, not so much. The included MSI software AI component will adjust performance based on usage patterns and actually performed quite well. I ran PC Mark10 tests on 3 different performance settings: Max Performance, Battery Saver Mode and AI Performance Controlled. I've included a picture of how each one performed. Even fully neutered on Battery Saver Mode, it performed quite well. Results: Max Performance = 7871 Battery Saver Mode = 5229 AI Performance Controlled = 7775 MSI made this Gamer's laptop into a Content Creator's laptop simply by changing the casing. It has all the hallmarks of a mid-high end gaming laptop without the LED lights and flashy colors. It would fit nicely in an office setting where a power user needs high performance, but its bulkiness and heavy weight (5lbs 7oz) make for a lousy executive laptop where portability is a must. I would not want to be lugging this thing around from airport to airport or boardroom to boardroom. It's a fantastic laptop that has had no problems thus far and is perfect, depending on your use case. Around the house with the right docking station and a NAS, this is a desktop replacement that can be taken upstairs, downstairs or on the patio. Wherever. But if you travel frequently, you may want a different option.

Basically, this laptop is meant to be used for gaming, productivity etc. Because of this, it is not really a premium laptop in terms of build quality and overall use. The laptop build is not that good, cheap plastic and sharp edges. What you're paying for is the performance, which is REALLY good. Cannot comment on battery life. The AI stuff is all marketing. It SUCKS. The AI picture app keeps crashing and doesnt make any good images at all, its basically useless. Dont even pay attention to that. Overall. its not bad, for the price you pay there are other options out there with similar performance.