MSI Prestige 14 Evo review: The ultimate productivity laptop

Two current trends for MSI laptops are broken with the Prestige 14 Evo. The Prestige 14 Evo looks sleek and sophisticated, and unlike the massive and at times oddly square-looking gaming laptops for which the company is probably most famous, it won't look out of place at a business meeting or a presentation in a university lecture. Secondly, unlike MSI's typical POWER UP focus, here we have a sleek but conservative specification consisting of a Full HD display with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and integrated Iris Xe graphics, and a 720p camera attached to the underside. To be specific, the device we took for testing is the B13M variation, which is slightly more expensive and has a newer processor than the A13M.

The Prestige 14 Evo is a general productivity laptop, whether for office workers or students. With this model, the company is directly targeting the market for the best laptops for students or the best laptops for working from home, rather than graphics-obsessed gamers or processor-demanding creatives.

And after a few weeks with it, I'm happy to confirm that if you're looking for a productivity laptop and don't mind the lack of a dedicated graphics card, this MSI should at least make it onto your shortlist.

Design And Build

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo thankfully defies the mould here. I usually have a panic attack when I see MSI branding on a shipping box. With a 14-inch, nearly bezel-less design and a relatively low 1.6kg weight, this device is easy to pick up, carry and move around as needed.

Fortunately, MSI's emphasis on durability hasn't diminished with this newfound (relative) lightweight excitement, as there's very little flex and the internals are securely protected by the sturdy frame.

When you open the laptop, the back of the lid acts as a de facto leg, lifting the back of the bottom half and tilting the keyboard towards you. The ASUS Zenbook 16 Pro we recently reviewed uses a built-in double lift bar to tilt the keyboard towards you (and open the fan vents), but this less techy ergonomics option works just as well.

A normal chiclet keyboard with white backlight that you can switch on and off as needed. The trackpad is very easy to use, even though I'm an old-school computer user and like to use a mouse on every laptop I use. However, it was easy to use and didn't take much power as I moved around and using the touch feature wasn't overly sensitive either, so it struck a great balance.

Compared to other MSI laptops I've used (which are usually gaming-focused machines), this laptop's silver finish and overall chassis layout reminded me more of an HP office laptop, but that's okay because HPs are well-designed laptops for general work.

Features

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo is quite light in terms of scale, but it lacks a lot of ports, although the ports it does have are really useful. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB 3.2 connector, an HDMI port, a MicroSD port and a 3.5mm audio output round off the very limited range of ports. A power outlet is not included in this list, needless to say, rather because there is not one.

This further limits your connectivity options because one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports must always be open and accessible when you need to charge the device. If you don't have a dock or USB hub on an external display (and I'm lucky enough to have both) and you need two devices that each require a USB-A 3.2 port (say, a mouse and keyboard), then you're in a tough spot.

But the 100% sRGB coverage and MicroSD card attachment should make this a good alternative for amateur photographers.

Filmmakers are not included here because only one graphics card option is available: the built-in Intel Iris Xe Graphics. The rather mundane FHD resolution (at a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz) and lack of sufficient processing power means this won't replace your primary gaming laptop or professional film-making setup.

A fingerprint scanner is available on this device, which adds an additional layer of security on top of the various features included in the Windows 11 operating system, such as PINs, passwords and Windows Hello facial recognition functionality. There's also a 720p webcam with a physical webcam lock switch.

Performance

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo (bench) shows itself as a powerful general-purpose workhorse. With outstanding Essentials (almost 10,000) and Productivity (7,751) scores and only middling performance in expected areas such as video editing, the PCMark 10 test clearly demonstrates this laptop's strength as a productivity tool. The Iris Xe graphics are excellent at handling creative work for static images, but it's understandable that they have some difficulty with moving images. Even if it's not the best at producing them, it's still a great laptop for watching films.

With an average multi-core score of 6,942, the 13th-generation Intel Core i7-13700H CPU performed admirably in the Cinebench R23 test, outperforming the similarly priced Microsoft Surface Laptop 5.

Most importantly, it's generally quite pleasant and simple to use for real-world tasks (like writing this review). I had no problems doing basic Photoshop tasks required for my job, and running multiple apps simultaneously along with my usual 38 active Chrome tabs didn't hinder operations significantly (if at all). When working in coffee shops or using a hot desk in the office, the multi-layered security and privacy features provide even more peace of mind. For example, Tobii Aware software blurs the screen when the designated active user looks up or away, and even keeps an eye out for people who might be glancing at your screen from across the room.

It's not designed as a gaming laptop because of the integrated graphics, but I was still able to play simpler games without too much trouble (16 GB of RAM was put to good use), but I didn't expose it to AAA games or other graphically demanding work because it's not intended to be used that way. Therefore, testing Handbrake is not allowed here as it would be unfair.

In my battery test with movies at medium brightness and volume, the device lasted just over 13 hours, which is roughly a season of The Simpsons. I was also able to get through a work day on battery power without having to look at the battery meter with too much concern, which is encouraging for those who are constantly on the go and don't want to search for a power outlet.

If you're a student looking for something to get you through college, the features and performance will serve you well.

Price

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo B13M, as I mentioned earlier, will serve you well if you're looking for a good productivity laptop for work or study. While I generally enjoy using it, I must stress that its potential as a gaming or creative powerhouse is limited by the integrated graphics (apart from quite a bit of use in all areas). The Prestige 14 Evo would be a great choice if you're looking for the best laptop for yourself or a family member to use at school, and it should last you a long time, especially if you can find it at an affordable price.