Verdict
It ’s not the most exciting business laptop , but the MSI Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M is well - built , sensibly fast and packed with forward - looking connectivity and AI features . In short , it ’s a smart investment .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The unexampled MSI Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M is the latest in MSI ’s line of patronage laptops , and while it leave out out on the Nvidia GPUs of the Divine - focused , non - Evo Prestige business line , it makes up for it with Intel Evo certification and the endeavor - grad security and management features that follow with it .
What ’s more , the deficiency of dedicated graphics is n’t such an topic with this year ’s model . As it ’s built around Intel ’s Meteor Lake Core Ultra CPUs , it incorporate an ARC iGPU , giving you base - spirit level 3D performance that ’s dear enough for everyday apps and some daily gaming , along with the AI quickening signposted in the product name .
This is n’t thebest laptopin terms of figure or features , but that ’s not so important in a market place where usability , security , reliability and functioning are often more of import .
But is it upright enough to make a outstanding home office workhorse ?
Design and Keyboard
As far as its design goes , the Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M tries to strike a counterpoise between the style and portability of today ’s thin - and - light laptops and the functionality of larger business laptop . It ’s compact , effectively cramming a 14 - column inch , 16:10 show into the kind of torso you ’d have a bun in the oven on an old 13.3 - inch machine . The desktop footprint is just 313.4 x 246.5 millimeter while it ’s just under 19 millimetre thick , with a weight of 1.7Kg .
The atomic number 12 alloy chassis feel baffling , though there ’s a little too much flex in the eyelid for my solace , and a small too much bezel at the top and bottom of the screen .
I suspect this is partly for virtual ergonomic reasons . old Prestige 14 AI Evo models had a flexible joint at the can of the grapple , work like Asus ’s Ergolift hinge to move up the keyboard deck at an slant when you had it open on the desk . The fresh model ’s flexible joint sit around on the top of the pack of cards 2 cm forward of the back edge , so the additional bottom bezel gives it some supernumerary summit and makes for a slightly abstruse body with large palm wrests to support your hand while typing .
The thicker form component opens up more scope for airing – there are vents on both sides as well as at the rear – and also more elbow room for connectivity .
Here the Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M beats its thinner , light brethren by pack in twoThunderbolt 4 / USB Type - ampere-second ports on the correct - hand side , plus a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A larboard , an HDMI 2.1 output and a Gigabit Ethernet port on the left . contrive in a just old - fashioned 3.5 mm audio socket , and you have all the connectivity most of us want for day - to - day work within the unit . AddWi - Fi 7and Bluetooth 5.4 , and the wireless stuff is looking future - proof as well .
There are thing I wish about the MSI ’s keyboard . The key have a great , light but crisp action with plenty of change of location , pay me plenty of solid tactile feedback as I typecast . The keyboard backlighting is effective , despite having just three levels , and it has the fresh Windows Copilot key , which could be utile as Microsoft ’s tech ( hopefully ) matures over the next few year .
On the other paw , the keys themselves are fairly small and the layout feels queerly cramp , with the Page Up and Page Down keys squeeze in with the tiny cursor in the bottom - right quoin and the Return key chopped to make space for the Hash . It ’s something I got used to , and the wider Shift and Ctrl keys serve , but I still find myself making more than an modal number of literal , even while writing this review .
There ’s a interchangeable effect with the touchpad , which is a good 12 cm wide but only 7.4 atomic number 96 deep . However , it ’s very still , raw and responsive to multi - touch gestures , so not really much of a job .
The Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M also gain from a fingerprint electronic scanner , build into the recess superpower key next to Delete in the top - right recession of the keyboard . It ’s firm and extremely honest , unlock the laptop instantly and without further hassle every time .
MSI does n’t make any specific claims about sustainability for this particular laptop , but the rather silken promotional material is solely made from cardboard , with no plastic foam inserts to be found .
Screen
The Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M does n’t have some fancy OLED or Mini LED screen , but what we ’ve got is a decent example of an IPS screen .
Sure , you do n’t get the sodding blacks and infinite dividing line of an OLED venire , but it ’s very lustrous , at 491.4 nits , and relatively crisp . The 1920 x 1200 resoluteness could bet dumpy on a 15 - inch or larger filmdom , but there ’s minuscule pixelation visible on a 14 - column inch video display , while the special height of the 16:10 panorama ratio clear it seem slightly larger than it is . It ’s good for comfortable multi - tasking and Windows ’ split - screen views .
Colour carrying into action is n’t perfect , but it ’s easily good enough for productivity workplace , light creative task and amusement . I measure sRGB coverage at 95.1 % and DCI - P3 reporting at 71.9 % , lay the Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M ’s CRT screen in the same park as the Huawei Matebook 16 ’s 16 - inch display .
Colour accuracy is also fine for worldwide image - editing aim , with an ordinary delta - E of 1.76 . Most of all , there ’s enough punch here to make stills and streaming television spirit great , even without the flawless dividing line and full HDR support of other screens . The vibrant colouring material count .
The sound recording is n’t quite so good . There ’s some depth to the outturn and a relatively spacious soundstage , but the miserable - goal is a little weak and the mid - range of mountains has a slimly tinny quality . telecasting calls wo n’t be a trouble – the mic does a good job of capturing vox and the incoming phone is always clear – but you might want headphones for ground music or catching up with TV on the commute home .
Performance
With its Core Ultra 5 125H mainframe and 16 GB of DDR5 RAM , our low - end version of the Prestige 14 Evo C1 M is focused on delivering good performance across quotidian productiveness and creative applications rather than being some sort of creative powerhouse . A Core Ultra 7 155H variation is available if you need higher speed , but this version will be fast enough for most business users , and then some .
In fact , its score in Geekbench 6 and PC Mark 10 put it beforehand of some good example carry 13th - genesis Core i7 central processing unit , include theAcer Swift X 14 , last year ’s MSI Prestige 14 Evo and theAsus Zenbook S13 OLED . In microcomputer Mark 10 it even pip some rival based on the Core Ultra 7 155H , including the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED and the newfangled 2024Dell XPS 14 ,
What ’s more , it has the build - in AI acceleration features inclose with the Meteor Lake cable . lawful , we ’ve yet to see these used in any gravely meaningful ways within mainstream applications , but there has been progress in terminal figure of AI model and developer support , and the Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M gives you everything you postulate to take advantage of apps and future Windows features as these emerge .
The integrated ARC computer graphic also mean there ’s some arcdegree of utilitarian 3D acceleration , though gamers are n’t likely to be convince . The Ultra 5 125H has one fewer artwork core than the Ultra 7 155H , which intend that MSI ’s laptop amaze slightly lower scores than the Core Ultra 7 - powered Acer Swift Go 14 in both the 3D Mar TimeSpy run and Returnal ’s built - in bench mark .
That enjoin , neither is a gaming powerhouse . At 1080 Ultra configurations , the MSI hits a wretched 20fps in Returnal and can only attain 28fps at 1080p Medium configurations , or 33fps at the same configurations with XESS upscaling enabled . If you fancy some after - office - minute gaming , you ’ll be fine play older or less demanding titles , but with AAA biz you ’ll need to take a bang on resolution or detail setting – and sometimes both .
More line - focused users will be more interested in the storage f number , and here there ’s better news . With a 1 TB SSD able of hitting sequential read / write speeds of 7074MB / sec and 5103MB / sec severally , you ’ll find consignment multiplication near instant , while chunky datasets and complex media files will teem in swimmingly .
Software
As a business laptop computer , the Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M comes mercifully free of unwanted software , though you do get a couple of pre - installed apps .
Tobii Experience is an interesting app that harnesses the built - in webcam for a range of concealment and security measure features , for instance , notifying you if someone is look over your shoulder , or smudge the screen when you look away . It ’ll also lurch or re - centre the view if you have more than one person sitting in front of your laptop during a video coming together . These feature process , and are genuinely quite utile .
Otherwise , the key app here is MSI Center , a bundle of organization and symptomatic cock you may utilize to tack between caloric and performance profile , optimise the barrage and computer storage or insure that your PC is running properly and all your driver are up to day of the month . It ’s useful , but the layout of control panels is a bit confusing and it ’s not always obvious where you might find a specific context or control . On the plus side , it ’s good to see an app of this eccentric not focus purely on the gamer audience , with a style that works quite well in a more professional mise en scene .
Battery Life
immix a 90Whr battery and an Department of Energy - effective specification , and it ’s no surprise that the Prestige 14 AI Evo C1 M can easily make it through the mediocre workings day .
In fact , it can do a set well , endure 12 time of day and 46 minutes in PC Mark 10 ’s Modern Office battery bench mark . It ’s warm to recharge too , with the 100W courser getting the barrage fire back from empty to 48 % in 30 moment .
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Should you buy it?
It ’s not the fastest or most stylish laptop or the laptop with the in effect CRT screen technical school , but it ’s near across the display board with cutting - boundary connectivity , speedy storage and support for emerging AI feature . It ’s a smart investment that will keep up as new apps and feature modernise .
There are areas like the screen and the keyboard where this laptop computer puts in a salutary performance , but does n’t quite surpass . Plus , there are other laptop out there that have sleeker and more interesting designs .
Final Thoughts
The specialty of the MSI Prestige 14 EVO C1 M is that it gives you good execution and a potent readiness of features for less money than most rivals .
Some , like theDell XPS 14orSamsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360 , can propose you more style , better specs or a higher-ranking OLED or AMOLED silver screen , but they ’ll cost you a good £ 500 more . Only a few , like theAsus Zenbook 14 OLED , can promise exchangeable specs and EVO certification at a similar price .
Put it all together , and there ’s a lot here for line of work buyers , particularly with the forward - look connectivity , long battery life and decent bioengineering . It might not be thebest laptopfor every emptor , but in its own understate way it ’s just right for the job .