MSI, which is usually known for making gaming hardware, announced a bunch of laptops at Computex 2023, and it’s interesting that none of them are made for gaming. Instead, the company seems to be putting a lot of effort into the high-end lifestyle market with its mid-2023 products.
The new Commercial 14 series, a line of business laptops meant to compete with high-end enterprise PCs like the ThinkPad, is one of the most important of these releases. I think this because MSI’s press release talks about how it offers “tailor-made solutions to enterprises through a series of optional security measures, NFC (near-field communication), and a built-in Smart Card Reader.” If that isn’t a ThinkPad pitch word for word, I don’t know what is.
MSI has tried to make business lines before, like its Summit Series, but we haven’t heard much about it in a while. These were solid, useful devices, but they didn’t have the build quality or long list of enterprise security features to compete with the top players in that space, and they weren’t priced to do so either. The Commercial, which comes out in the second half of this year, looks like it could be a few steps up that ladder.
I’m also interested in the Prestige 16 Studio Evo, which is also coming out in the second half of this year. This is yet another product that is aimed straight at the high-end enterprise market. I’ve always thought of the Prestige line as mostly devices for work that can also be used for gaming here and there. But this version is for creative professionals, as the name “Studio” suggests.
It has Thunderbolt 4, a 99Whr battery, and Nvidia’s Studio platform, as well as RTX discrete GPUs. I’m always on the lookout for powerful 16-inch devices that don’t weigh ten thousand pounds, since video editors are always asking for big-screen workstations that are still portable. If it’s good, this Prestige Studio could be a nice thing for those people to get.
The Creator Z17 HX Studio, which is also a big professional product, was announced earlier this year. It’s made for people who work in all kinds of creative fields, from video professionals to digital artists, and it works with a crazy stylus that can also be used as a pencil. This is also a big part of MSI’s booth at Computex. This shows that MSI isn’t just a gaming brand, everyone, we promise.
MSI hasn’t said how much the Prestige or the Commercial will cost yet. The Creator starts at $2,999, which isn’t cheap. These numbers will give us a better idea of where MSI thinks these products fit in the current market and how high-end it thinks they really are.
