MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo review: This tiny MSI laptop means business

MSI makes killer gaming laptops, but it’s also carving out quite a name for itself in the business category, especially with laptops like the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo.

For just $1,399 (remarkably affordable for a business notebook), the Prestige offers a jaw-dropping 13.3-inch OLED display, over 14 hours of battery life, a crisp keyboard and touchpad experience, and speedy SSD and graphics performance. However, it falls short on overall performance from its Intel Core Ultra 7-258V processor, and I have some concerns about the build quality (despite its military-grade rating).

The positives far outweigh the negatives on this one, though, so I could easily see the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo landing on our best business laptops page. But does it? Let’s jump in.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Specs and benchmarks

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Price and configurations

The MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo is one of the few business notebooks that offer a killer value. The model I reviewed comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7-258V processor, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1800, OLED display all for $1,399.

For the same price, you can get the 1TB SSD model at Best Buy. Don’t do that. You can find the model I reviewed at Amazon. Between the additional RAM and storage, you're getting a sweet deal, especially for a laptop with security and durability features.

However, there are cheaper business notebooks out there, and if that's what you're looking for, I recommend checking out our best laptops under $1,000.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Design

“What the—?” was my response when I pulled out one of the tiniest little laptops that I’ve ever seen. The MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo is small, arguably too small. Yet, despite resembling the size of my daughter’s toy laptop, it is elegant with a dark gray colorway over an anodized aluminum hood. The lid itself features a glossy MSI logo, corners that are a bit too sharp, and a cool blue hinge with another MSI logo (you could’ve written “Prestige” there).

However, I found myself immediately concerned about the build quality. MSI tested the Prestige against MIL-STD-810H military standards (I’ll go into that later), but the lid and hinges flex under slight pressure. And the display isn’t flat with the deck; there is some give to it. I felt like I was handling a frail piece of plastic when I picked it up with one hand.

The deck itself felt sturdy, although its edges are pretty sharp (more on the keyboard experience later). But as far as the keyboard looks, it features black keys with white accents that lay flat against the deck, while the touchpad sits below it with no change in incline. It looked fine, until I saw the display. The top bezel is a major eyesore, with a thick chunky piece of plastic accompanied by multiple sensors and a lip and angles toward the viewer. At the very least, there’s a privacy shutter.

At 2.13 pounds and 11.77 x 8.27 x 0.67 inches, this is one of the lightest and smallest laptops I’ve ever reviewed. That may not be the best thing, however, depending on the user. Here’s how the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo holds up against its competitors:

• Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405): 2.8 pounds, 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• MacBook Air 13-inch (M3): 2.7 pounds, 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
• HP EliteBook Ultra: 2.9 pounds, 12.31 x 8.79 x 0.44 inches

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Ports

Image 1 of 2

There’s a decent number of ports across the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo’s chassis, especially for business users.

• 1x HDMI 2.1
• 2x Thunderbolt 4
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A
• 1x headphone jack
• 1x microSD card slot
• 1x Kensington Lock Slot

Need more ports? Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Battery life

Whether you're creating videos or punching numbers on a spreadsheet, you need a laptop with good battery life, and the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo fulfills that requirement.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which tasks it with surfing the web continuously over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Prestige survived 14 hours and 27 minutes. That stays within a competitive range with its rivals:

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Security and durability

In terms of security, the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo is outfitted with a discrete dTPM 2.0 security chip, a fingerprint reader, an IR 5MP webcam for Windows Hello, and a webcam privacy shutter. The MSI Center also offers the Smart Guard feature, which automatically locks your PC when you walk away and can also wake the PC upon your return.

Despite my concerns with the build, the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo passed 12 MIL-STD-810H tests, which subjected it to extreme temperatures as well as drops, vibration, shocks, sand, humidity, and more.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Display

Wow, I've never seen a more stunning display on a business laptop. In fact, I've rarely seen displays like this in premium gaming laptops. The MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo rocks a 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1800, OLED display that is as bold as it is sharp. The brightness is on the dimmer side, but the color more than makes up for it. However, it's unfortunate that it supports only a 60Hz refresh rate — even non-gaming laptops have been moving to 120Hz.

I watched the ridiculous Novocaine trailer, and even the regular ol’ hardware store popped with color, as the yellow labels contrasted against the blood-soaked bullet Jack Quad’s character pulled out of his arm. However, due to the lower brightness and glossy panel, the ambient light in my room was caught in the darker corners of the store.

When put to the test, we found that the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo’s display is close to the dimmest among the competitors, but it’s also the most colorful by nearly two times the DCI-P3 coverage. Here’s how they compare:

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Keyboard and touchpad

Given how small the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo is, I expected a terrible typing experience. However, the keys are punchy and bouncy. And despite the sharp corners of the deck, my forearms weren’t stabbed. (Although, please never make them that sharp again; I literally bruised my palm picking this thing up.)

I hit 83 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. While there’s not a lot of room to type, my fingers found a good rhythm typing on the MSI’s keyboard. That’s thanks to the wider spacing between the keys. But it still might take some getting used to for others.

The 4.7 x 2.9-inch touchpad is pleasantly smooth and offers a soft yet firm click that makes navigating the web feel natural.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Audio

The MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo’s bottom-firing speakers aren’t very loud, and there isn’t a lot of bass, but the audio is clean.

I listened to “Dangerous” from the musical Epic, and Troy’s vocals were as crisp and melodic as ever. The synthetic percussion, however, came off flat and lacked the proper bass to make it shine. Meanwhile, the stringed instruments actually sat front and center alongside the vocals, but they didn’t overpower them.

MSI includes the DTS Audio app, which provides presents for Music, Movies, and Games as well as a custom EQ. The sound drastically changes between them, so you have a few options if Music doesn’t work out (that’s what I used).

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Performance and heat

At this point, packing an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor feels a bit like carrying a relic, even with 32GB of RAM. Don’t get me wrong, the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo is competent, and will get you through most low-taxing tasks. However, it simply cannot compare to its rivals on performance.

I popped open a couple Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos and noticed a slight slowdown when opening new web pages, but not enough to be concerning. The Prestige ranked the lowest in overall performance tests, and second to last in video editing.

Despite that, the Prestige 13 packs a killer fast 2TB SSD, speeding past the MacBook Air and closing in on the ExpertBook P5 by a dozen megabytes per second.

With regard to heat, the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo managed to remain incredibly cool.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Gaming and graphics

Gaming with integrated graphics isn’t exactly how I want to spend my time as a gamer, but the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo’s Intel Arc 140V 16GB iGPU is pretty decent.

It managed an average of 46 frames per second on the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (Medium, 1080p) benchmark. That takes it steadily ahead of the 30-fps minimum threshold for playability.

I ran around in the Dark Souls III starting area and chopped away at some undead at an average of 54 frames per second. That was at 1080p on the lowest graphics settings. The game was pretty choppy despite those numbers, but the MSI Center app was set to Balanced Performance. When I switched it to Extreme Performance, it pushed the game up to a steady 60 fps and the choppiness all but disappeared. However, the keyboard ran pretty hot after only a few minutes.

Overall, you can get some gaming in on select AAA titles, as long as you tear down those graphical settings and turn up the laptop performance.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: AI features

We’re in the era of AI, so it’s not a surprise to find an NPU within the Intel Core Ultra 7-258V chipset. Although I was expecting a more interesting name than Intel AI Boost. You might be familiar with the term “Copilot+ PC,” but the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo isn’t exactly that. That’s a marketing term that doesn’t bear much impact on the Prestige, as it still supports Copilot features.

MSI does include branded AI features via the MSI Center. There’s the AI Engine, which automatically adjusts hardware settings to “achieve the best performance and experience. There’s a tab for AI Zone, which includes settings that can reduce background noise in your microphone, monitor your network bandwidth, automatically adjust brightness based on ambient lights, and use the aforementioned Smart Guard feature. There’s also a prompt to take you to the Windows Studio Effects settings — this lets you add background effects and automatic framing to your video calls.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Webcam

Despite rocking a 2592 x 1458 webcam, the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo produced an image grainier than sand — hyperbole, but still bad.

The image recreated the color of my red sweater and balanced the contrast of the gray wall behind me well, on the surface at least. But a closer look reveals the mesh of RGB pixels all over the image. As a business notebook, you want the best webcam for your meetings, so this may not cut it.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo: Software and warranty

The MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo features the MSI Center, which offers all of the aforementioned AI features as well as general settings for performance, battery life, keyboard, USB power share, sleep, and hardware monitoring. There’s also a support center that provides links to MSI’s webpages for support and drivers.

The Prestige offers a one-year limited warranty.

Bottom line

Falling below competitors in terms of overall performance isn’t ideal, but the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo more than makes up for it with its incredible 13.3-inch OLED display, long battery life, and snappy keyboard experience. Not to mention that its speedy SSD and decent graphics performance mitigate some of that poor overall performance.

However, if you want something a little more powerful and with longer battery life, I recommend checking out the MacBook Air 13-inch (M3).

But a comparable configuration of the MacBook Air is going to cost you a couple hundred dollars more. You simply cannot beat the value that the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo provides, especially with its 32GB of RAM and huge 2TB SSD.