MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V Review (Intel Core Ultra 7, RTX 4060)

MSI is a well-known computer brand in both the laptop and PC segment. The brand manufactures notebooks in different lineups. In the laptop segment, the company has many lineups, each with different purposes and serving customers with those purposes. However, our today’s focus is the gaming segment. In the gaming segment, we have around eight series from MSI, including the Stealth, Titan, and Crosshair series. We have also reviewed the MSI Crosshair 16 HX gaming notebook, one of the best gaming notebooks from MSI.

The notebook we got in-house for today’s review is MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V. The notebook belongs to the gaming segment of MSI, but from its name, >we can judge that this notebook can also do rendering (photo or video editing) work, and yes, it can. Thanks to the all-new Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, the notebook also supports AI functions that are beneficial in rendering work. In addition, the notebook also comes with RTX 4060 Independent GPU, which makes it a proper gaming notebook.

In addition to all these things, the notebook also has a 16-inch IPS display. The 16 in the notebook’s name (MSI Stealth 16) also represents the display’s size. Moreover, it also has DDR5-5600MHz RAM and PCIe 4.0 SSD support, which are standard notebook protocols in the current era’s notebooks. With these specifications, we can expect a robust and smooth performance. Let’s check how this notebook can perform better in comparison with other competitor models.

MSI Stealth16 AI Studio A1V: Specifications

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Body Design and Appearance:

The notebook is only available in one color, i.e., Star Blue. This Star blue color resembles the midnight blue color of the iPhone 12 Pro series. In addition, its matte appearance reminds us of that color even more. In terms of design, the notebook comes with a new mold design.

The entire notebook has a magnesium-aluminum alloy texture, providing a proper flagship feel when handling. On the display shell, we have MSI’s logo, which consists of a small-sized dragon inside a shield. Under the display shell, we have a bumped area with heat ventilation holes.

Regarding portability, the notebook has the following dimensions: 355.8×259.7×19.95mm and weighs around 1.99kg. In the gaming segment, these dimensions and weight are considered to be very slim. Usually, the manufacturers also compromise the term portability in this segment because gamers always look for higher specs instead of the slim profile of a notebook.

Also Read: Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 14AHP9 Review

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Display

Before going into the detailed discussion of Display, it is worth noting that the manufacturer provides two display options in this model. The first option is an IPS-level display that supports QHD+ (2560×1600) resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, while the second option is a MiniLED Display, which supports UHD+ (3840×2400) resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. A gamer always prefers a higher refresh rate display, so we chose the first display option for our MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V.

On opening the notebook, you will be greeted by a display with a narrow bezel. This display supports a 2.5K+ resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, and 16:10 aspect ratio. As per the official claim, the display covers 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. The laptop also comes with MSI True Color tuning software, which provides different preset modes of display that let the user meet the visual experience in various scenarios, as per the user’s needs.

To test this display, we used the Spyder X. On completion of the test, we found that this display covers 100% sRGB, 87% AdobeRGB, 98% DCI-P3 (3% less than the official claim), and 85% NTSC color gamut. In terms of brightness, the peak measured brightness was 468.4nits with a contrast ratio of 950:1. For the display’s color accuracy test, there were many color presets mode, so we selected the DCI-P3 mode for this test, it was revealed that the average Delta-E value was 1.07 (with a minimum 0.25 and maximum 2.31 value).

In the top-narrow bezel of the display, the notebook is integrated with an IR Camera sensor that can record 1080p resolution videos at 30fps and two built-in spatial array microphones. The webcam sensor also supports the Windows Hello feature, which lets you to sign in Windows quickly in seconds. In addition, the notebook also supports 3DNR+ technology (HDR 3D Noise Reduction+), which eliminates noise and is quite a beneficial feature in video conferencing. In addition, there is a physical shutter on the webcam, which allows the camera view to be blocked by just sliding it (for protection purposes).

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Keyboard and TouchPad

Under the display, we have an RGB Keyboard with a small numeric keypad named “Per-Key RGB Gaming Keyboard by SteelSeries” from the officials. Using this keyboard for a while, we found that the key travel is moderate and the key pressure is low, but it doesn’t feel soft. When pressed, the keys provide a distinct rebound feedback and a strong sense of rhythm. The key spacing is also very reasonable.

The keyboard’s name also mentions that every single key supports RGB Backlit and can be customized through SteelSeries GG software. If you don’t like the RGB lighting, you can also turn off the backlit. Under the Arrow keys, we have a fingerprint sensor that lets you log in to Windows with just one touch.

Under the keyboard, we have a sufficient-sized touchpad positioned at a bit right. The surface felt smooth on use, and the control accuracy was flawless. With its good size, you can navigate the entire window with just a single swipe. However, the touchpad quality matters little in gaming notebooks because users usually use an external mouse with these laptops.

Also Read: HP Pavilion Plus 14 2024 Review (14-ew1000, Intel Core Ultra 7-155H)

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Ports

Undoubtedly, the notebook has a slim profile compared to other gaming notebooks. MSI has done another excellent job by providing a sufficient number of ports. In total, the notebook features nine ports (also including the Kensington Lock). These ports can easily cater to the needs of laptop operations in daily life.

Starting from the left side, the notebook features a Kensington Lock port, an RJ45 LAN port, an HDMI 2.1 port (8K@60Hz and 4K@120Hz), a microSD card slot, and a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port. On the right side, we have a DC-in (charging port), a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.

It is worth mentioning that the Thunderbolt 4 port supports PD 3.0 charging (further discussed in the battery and charging section), and the other USB 3.2 Type-C port supports DisplayPort. The number of USB Type-A is just one, which might be less for some users. But you still don’t need to worry; you can purchase a USB dock to increase the number of ports.

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Audio

The MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V consists of 2x 2W speakers and 4x 2W dual force-cancelling woofer, professionally adjusted by Dynaudio. The speaker’s opening can be seen at both the left and right of the palm rest area. Moreover, the officials also claimed that the speakers had passed the Hi-Res high-quality sound effect certification and came with Nahimic sound effect software. This speaker setup provides users with a highly immersive and atmospheric audio-visual while gaming.

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Battery and Charging

A gaming notebook must have discrete graphics memory to be a proper gaming notebook. However, with these graphics, power consumption also increases. That’s why a more extensive battery should be integrated into a gaming notebook. If we talk about the MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio, the laptop is powered by a 99.9 WHr 4-cell battery, which is reasonably sufficient for this type of laptop.

The officials had no claim regarding the battery’s timing, so we did our battery test. For this test, we used the PCMark 10 Modern Office test. Before testing, the volume was set to 30%, the screen brightness was 40%, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were turned on, and the energy-saving mode was selected in power mode. We got a battery backup of 8 hours and 40 minutes on these settings, enough for an 8-hour office shift. A battery backup of more than eight hours is quite rare in these kinds of gaming notebooks.

The manufacturers have provided a 240W (20V/12A) AC Adaptor for charging. If you lack the original AC adaptor, use the PD 3.0 charging technology through the Thunderbolt 4 port, which allows you to charge at 65W (20V/3.25A) and 100W (20V/5A) at the system running. However, it is worth mentioning that MSI recommends its own PD chargers for using this technology.

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: RAM and SSD

The all-new MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio supports the latest DDR5-5600MHz RAM modules. The model we are reviewing has 32GB of Dual Channel RAM (2x 16GB RAM modules). Moreover, the laptop consists of 2 RAM slots and supports a maximum of 96GB of RAM. The speed of RAM modules is not as fast as LPDDR5 technology, but it is still a good option for a gaming laptop and also allows you to upgrade the RAM capacity, unlike this technology, which comes as soldered on the motherboard.

In addition to 32GB RAM, the laptop also comes with 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD. The notebook consists of two SSD slots, eliminating the user’s tension while upgrading or degrading the storage capacity. This is because many notebooks come with a single SSD slot, which users must replace with the current SSD to upgrade the storage. In the case of this notebook, all you need to do is add another SSD if you want to upgrade the storage. It is worth mentioning that the manufacturer has also provided for both lower RAM and SSD capacity.

Regarding network, the notebook comes with the Intel Killer BE Wi-Fi 7 network card and Bluetooth 5.4 support. As officials said, the new Wi-Fi 7 offers multi-gigabit performance, reaching peak speeds of 5.8Gbps on 5GHz and 6GHz connections. With 320MHz channel bandwidths, it delivers substantial throughput gains.

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: CPU and its Benchmarks

In terms of CPU, the global variant of MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio comes with the Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU. However, the company also provides a variant powered by Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU in some regions. The one we are reviewing is the one powered by the Core Ultra 7 CPU. It is worth mentioning that the new Core Ultra series is the replacement of Intel P-Series CPUs that were specially designed for notebooks with slim profiles and high-level performance. The Intel Core Ultra series also targets the same segment of laptops.

Regarding specifications, the Core Ultra 7 CPU uses the Intel 4 Process Technology, consisting of 16 cores and 22 threads. These 16 cores include 6x Performance Cores (with 1.4GHz base and 4.8GHz max frequency), 8x Energy-Efficient Cores (with 900MHz base frequency and 3.8GHz peak), and 2x Low-Power E-Cores (with 700MHz base and 2.5GHz max frequency). The 3D hybrid architecture of this CPU, which consists of all three kinds of cores, helps balance performance and energy consumption. Mainly thanks to LP E-Cores, which can handle all the small operations at deficient power consumption and eliminate the use of other cores (with higher energy consumption). In addition to these cores, the CPU has a 24MB L3 Intel Smart Cache, while the default TDP is 28W. Following are some benchmark tests of CPU:

CPU-Z: 729.3 on Single-Core and 7769.7 on Multi-Core

Cinebench R23: 1,798pts on Single-Core and 17,921pts on Multi-Core

3DMark CPU Profile: 967 on Single-Thread and 7,411 on Multi-Threads

X264 FHD Benchmark: 77.15 average fps, encoded 2500 frames of 1080p video in 33 seconds

The overall scores represent a good performance from the CPU.

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: GPU and its benchmarks

Before discussing the discrete graphics of the notebook, it is worth mentioning that the notebook’s CPU also comes with an Intel Arc-integrated GPU. In terms of discrete GPU, the MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V is available in all four RTX 40 series (RTX 4060, RTX 4070, RTX 4080, and RTX 4090). The one we are reviewing is the base model with RTX 4060 GPU.

In terms of specifications, this GPU has 8GB of GDDR6 video memory. The GPU uses NVidia’s Ada Lovelace architecture based on TSMC’s 4nm manufacturing process. The GPU also supports CUDA acceleration, which helps provide better graphics rendering and 3D modeling. Moreover, the notebook has 3072 CUDA cores and a core frequency of 1545MHz, while the peak frequency is 2250MHz with 105W power consumption. Following are the benchmark results of GPU:

3DMark Speed Way: 2,587 GPU Score

3DMark Port Royal: 5,949 GPU Score

3DMark Time Spy: Total 9,752 Score including 9,923 GPU Score

3DMark Fire Strike Extreme: Total 11,563 Score including 12,385 GPU Score

The entire benchmark performance of GPU is entirely satisfactory.

Also Read: ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED S5506 Review

MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V: Heat Dissipation and Stress Testing

Before discussing the internal heat dissipation system of the notebook, it is worth mentioning that the notebook has a heat ventilation port on the backside (under the display shell). On the bottom of the notebook, you can see the cooling fans even without removing the case, which is a new trend observed in gaming notebooks these days. When dismantling the notebook, the heat dissipation system of the notebook, which consists of 2 cooling fans and 7 heat pipes, can be observed. The officials have named this cooling system “Cooler Boost 5”, a reforged cooling solution with a shared-pipe design. The shared pipe means that the heat pipes are attached to both the CPU and GPU, helping to improve the thermal capability of the notebook under extreme loads. We also did combined stress testing on both CPU and GPU.

Stress Testing: To stress the CPU, we used the AIDA64 FPU test, and for the GPU, we used the Furmark application. After running the test for a while, the CPU’s temperature was 76 degrees Celsius, while the power consumption was 70.2W. And if we talk about the GPU, the temperature was 78.2 degrees Celsius while the power consumption was 105.1W.

Summary:

The MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V emerges as a versatile gaming notebook equipped to handle both gaming and rendering tasks with aplomb. Powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and an RTX 4060 Independent GPU, it strikes a fine balance between performance and efficiency. Sporting a sleek Star Blue design with a matte finish and magnesium aluminum alloy texture, it exudes a premium feel while remaining portable with its slim dimensions. The display, available in either IPS-Level or MiniLED options, delivers crisp visuals and smooth gameplay with options for Quad-HD+ or Ultra-HD+ resolution, complemented by a high refresh rate and excellent color accuracy. The RGB keyboard, touchpad, and an array of ports ensure a seamless user experience, while the robust sound system with Dynaudio tuning provides immersive audio. With a sizable battery and efficient charging options, it offers extended usage and flexibility. Overall, the MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V stands out as a compelling choice for gamers and content creators seeking a powerful yet versatile notebook. The variant we have reviewed is available at different prices in different regions. However, we got this variant at the price tag of $1800. If you want more robust performance, you can also look for the better GPU or Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU variants.