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amazon MSI Creator Z16 reviews
The MSI Creator Z16 (A11UET-043) is an authoritative laptop marketed for commercials but truly a hybrid device for content creators as well as gamers. While it strives to outdo both, it faces a quagmire that makes it more of a delectable average than a champion of both worlds despite its excellent performance and value.
The MSI Creator Z16 is a professional laptop that combines the benefits of a portable AAA gaming laptop with a mobile workstation, designed for commercials as an Nvidia Studio laptop. MSI already offers some of the best gaming and hybrid professional ultrabooks, but it looks like the MSI Creator Z16 was created to satisfy Apple MacBook laptops with powerful hardware optimized for creators.
Our review unit, the MSI A11UET-043 is inspired by the MacBook Pro series, but the standout feature should be the 16-inch 16:10 display, more recently the ‘Swiss Knife’ among creators. Professional creation enhanced productivity with style, and timeless design. While it doesn’t come with the design flourishes and fashion statements compared to flashy products like the Acer ConceptD series, it has some incredibly powerful internals that makes it the perfect product for many content creators.
Professional video editors and photographers will love the display’s touchscreen and 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, while anyone looking to run modern AAA games on the side will appreciate the speed. 120Hz refresh rate is supported by Intel Core i9-11900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU.
Overall, the MSI Creator Z16 is a finely tuned innovative laptop that won’t disappoint if you buy it during the sale, but its hefty price tag isn’t too appealing, especially when you get it out there are better-optimized devices with better specs.
The MSI Creator Z16 can be described as a laptop that offers the ‘best’ of both worlds, with an appeal to creative professionals who want the power to run high-demand games as well as equally resource-intensive applications. It’s a rather innovative approach that hasn’t eliminated the idea of a gaming laptop that sports weird RGB lighting and an edgy chassis.
The only downside to being an all-rounder is that better creative workstations and standalone gaming laptops are available for much less. If you don’t mind owning a machine with a ‘gamer’ design and unique RGB lighting on the body, a device with better specs than our review model can be picked up for the price. under $2000, such as the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 (Intel Core i9-12900H, RTX 3070 Ti), but you have to sacrifice the 16:10 aspect ratio.
Again, the only GPU option on the MSI Creator Z16 is the RTX 3060 which feels a bit impressive, and it could greatly benefit from an additional option for the RTX 3070/3080 for those who need more power than one little. MSI didn’t include HDMI, you get Thunderbolt instead, but that’s still a nuisance for those who regularly use additional displays and makes the A11UET-043 incompatible with devices like tablets draw graphics.
Specifications
CPU: Intel Core i9-11900H processor
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB VRAM
RAM: 32 GB
Memory: 2TB SSD
Screen: 16-inch, 16:10, QHD 2560 x 1600
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.2
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
Camera: 720p 30fps
Dimensions: 14.13 x 10.08 x 0.64
Weight: 4.9 pounds
Design
The MSI A11UET-043 design will be a mixed bag, but there’s a lot to love about this machine. It’s a plain metallic gray with an MSI dragon on the lid, but it’s engraved in a way that’s hard to see unless you catch the right light. MSI ensures everything is safe by not including any frills or bold designs, as we see in most gaming laptops. It’s a smart design approach since you now have a laptop capable of running modern AAA games, but it has the look to give you peace of mind on your desk.
Overall, the design is fine, nothing offensive but it gets a bit boring when you consider what’s being offered elsewhere. The muted industrial look is good and it’s arguably a breath of fresh air from the vibrant vents and flashy RGB lighting available on the gaming laptops out there.
Its build quality is solid and the chassis is made from solid metal, weighs 4.9lb, and measures 14.13 x 10.08 x 0.64 inches. For that size, this laptop is completely portable and it will fit into a standard backpack easily, and the sturdy construction feels reassuring if you need a laptop to carry on the daily commute. You can take it to college, work on cross-country flights and it won’t get scratched at all.
Port selection is good, but not so good due to a glaring issue. The left side has a standard headphone/mic jack, a USB-Type C port, a USB-A port, and a power port. On the right side, you have a MicroSD reader, another USB-Type C port, and an additional USB-Type A port.
The only drawback, however, is that for some reason MSI doesn’t include an HDMI or Display Port, which is unusual given how useful they are in both creative offices and gaming environments. You’ll have to attach the devices using a thunderbolt connection via a dock, but that’s still not enough for those who need to use a graphics tablet for their projects.
The touchpad is in one respect small compared to the amount of space available on the base of the laptop. The keyboard has the same problem, it seems too small for the device itself, but typing on it is absolutely a wonderful experience. It will take you some time to get used to it from a design perspective, but it still offers a comfortable typing experience. This keyboard is powered by SteelSeries, which is known for its gaming keyboards, but aside from the RGB lighting, there’s nothing to suggest it’s a ‘gaming first’ keyboard.
where can you get a MSI Creator Z16 online
MSI Creator Z16 Professional Laptop: 16″ QHD+ 16:10 120Hz Touch Display, Intel Core i9-11900H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, 32GB RAM, 2TB NVME SSD, Thunderbolt 4, Win10 PRO, Lunar Gray (A11UET-043): Buy it now
MSI Creator Z16 Fujiwara Hiroshi Limited Edition 16″ QHD+ 165hz MINILED 100% DCI-P3 Premium Professional Laptop Intel Core i7-11800H RTX3060 16GB DDR4 1TB NVMe SSD TB4 Win10PRO – Black (A11UE-226): Buy it now
MSI Creator Z16 16″ QHD+ 120hz 100% DCI-P3 Premium Professional Laptop Intel Core i9-11900H RTX3060 32GB DDR4 2TB NVMe SSD TB4 Win10Pro – Lunar Gray (A11UET-254): Buy it now
MSI Creator Z16 16″ Premium Professional Laptop: Intel Core i7-12700H RTX 3060 16GB DDR5 1TB NVMe SSD, QHD+ 120hz 100% DCI-P3, Thunderbolt 4 w/ PD Charging, Win 11 Pro: Lunar Gray A12UET-031US: Buy it now
Screen
The MSI Creator Z16 is an official Nvidia Studio laptop, a badge awarded by Nvidia indicating that the machine has been designed from the ground up with creative professionals in mind. In the case of the Creator Z16, the display emphasizes that badge more than anything else.
It’s a 16-inch screen with thin bezels, just like the MacBook Pro. However, far beyond the MacBook Pro, the MSI Creator Z16 offers a very convenient touch screen when flipping through websites and apps, giving it an edge over Apple’s flagship.
The resolution is a bit disappointing, at 2560 x 1600 we expect something higher, be it 3072 x 1920 or even the full 4K display we see in many bright workstations created today, like the Apple MacBook Pro (M1 chip, 2021) or the Lenovo ThinkPad P15, both of which have 3840 x 2160 resolution screens.
In practical terms, having a 4K display is not a requirement for a creative machine and its inclusion would certainly push the refresh rate down but for such a high asking price, it sounds like you did not achieve the best success by trying to compromise between playing games and editing high-resolution photos and videos.
The display is bright enough, measuring around 397 nits, which is above average for a premium laptop, but the rather glossy screen makes it difficult to view the screen in brightly lit environments. You shouldn’t have any problems viewing the laptop indoors, such as in an office, just remember to stay away from open windows during the day.
The MSI Creator Z16 offers excellent color accuracy with 100% sRGB, 91% AdobeRGB, and 93% P3 coverage resulting in incredible saturation and color depth. Well, this isn’t an OLED display so you won’t get absolute sharp contrast, but it’s still a very professional-grade display.
Efficiency
Under the hood, the Creator Z16 has all the power an ad ever needs. It packs an 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11900H processor and an Nvidia 3060 CPU, which is all you need to power the most demanding applications, making it a laptop. This becomes perfect for video and photography editors. We’d easily recommend it to digital artists if it only had an HDMI port, but if you use your mouse for sculpting or rendering, you’ll find this machine much more valuable.
The 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD storage on our review unit is great for gaming and storing large files, and it’s certainly ideal for practical creative work, managing over 25 Chrome Tabs along with Photoshop, and the laptop showing no signs of slowing down, this is really what you’d expect from a device packing some serious hardware.
The RTX 3060 GPU is also the only graphics card option available across all the different MSI Creator Z16 specs we’ve seen, so either way, you’re only getting 6GB of VRAM. Again, this is enough muscle to play more recent games, fueled by Nvidia’s DLSS and Ray Tracing technologies. Again, for the price, we just wish it had more powerful mobile hardware like an Nvidia or AMD workstation, or even a more powerful model from the current RTX 30 series.
However, it does play modern games well at even high settings. For example, it averaged 44 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum settings with DLSS enabled, so the moniker of a ‘part-time’ gaming laptop is potentially entirely justifiable. It’s well-suited to running less demanding games like Valorant that will take advantage of the 120Hz display. The 720p webcam is just mediocre, but so are most laptop webcams, you should buy a better one on a device like this.
Battery life
The allure of battery life depends on whether you’re coming from a gaming or workstation perspective, lasting 6 hours 13 minutes in the PCMark 10 battery simulation and 6 hours in the looped video playback test.
As a gaming laptop, that’s quite commendable with most laptops averaging 4-5 hours, but we did see the Asus ROG Zephyrus last for more than 8 hours on a single charge. Others like the Alienware m15 R7 are hugely popular gaming laptops with solid hardware but barely get past the three-hour mark.
For a mobile workstation that’s much lower than most machines in this range, like the Dell XPS 15 and MacBook Pro-16-inch that last more than 12 hours on a single charge. So, if you plan to stay away from a power outlet, you may want to consider the Creator Z16’s battery life before you buy.
Audio and Webcam
The MSI Creator Z16 features a quad-speaker setup with support for Nahimic audio. The speakers deliver clear and loud sound, with good bass and mid-range performance. This makes the laptop suitable for media consumption and casual gaming. However, for professional audio work, external speakers or headphones are recommended for the best sound quality.
The laptop also comes with a 720p HD webcam, which is adequate for video conferencing and casual streaming. The image quality is decent, but it would have been nice to see a 1080p webcam in a laptop of this caliber. The webcam also features an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial recognition, providing a secure and convenient way to log in.
Thermals and Noise
Managing heat is crucial for maintaining performance in high-end laptops, and the MSI Creator Z16 does a commendable job in this regard. The laptop features a cooling system with two fans and multiple heat pipes, designed to keep the CPU and GPU temperatures in check.
During extended periods of heavy usage, such as 3D rendering or gaming, the laptop’s fans can get quite loud. However, this is to be expected given the powerful hardware inside. The keyboard and palm rest areas remain relatively cool, thanks to the efficient cooling system.
In terms of thermal performance, the CPU and GPU temperatures remained within acceptable limits during our stress tests. The CPU temperature peaked at around 90°C, while the GPU temperature stayed below 80°C. These temperatures are typical for high-performance laptops and do not indicate any thermal throttling.
Software and Additional Features
The MSI Creator Z16 comes with Windows 10 pre-installed, with an option to upgrade to Windows 11. MSI also includes its Creator Center software, which provides a suite of tools for optimizing performance, monitoring system resources, and customizing the keyboard backlighting.
The Creator Center software is user-friendly and offers various performance profiles, allowing users to balance performance and battery life according to their needs. The software also includes a color calibration tool, which is useful for ensuring color accuracy across different applications.
Another noteworthy feature is the inclusion of MSI’s True Pixel technology, which ensures that each display is individually calibrated for color accuracy. This is a significant advantage for professionals who require precise color representation in their work.
Conclusion
The MSI Creator Z16 is a top-tier laptop that excels in almost every aspect. Its combination of powerful hardware, stunning display, and sleek design makes it an excellent choice for creative professionals. The high-resolution, color-accurate display is perfect for photo and video editing, while the powerful CPU and GPU can handle demanding tasks with ease.
The laptop’s build quality and design are also commendable, offering a premium feel and a professional look. The keyboard and touchpad provide a comfortable and responsive user experience, and the selection of ports ensures that users have the connectivity options they need.
While the battery life could be better, it is still decent for a laptop with such powerful hardware. The cooling system does a good job of managing heat, although the fans can get loud under heavy load.
Overall, the MSI Creator Z16 is a versatile and powerful tool that caters to the needs of creative professionals. Whether you’re a graphic designer, video editor, or 3D artist, this laptop has the performance and features to help you bring your creative visions to life.