MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs. MacBook Pro M4 Pro: Which powerhouse laptop gets down to business faster?

If you're looking for a sleek, powerful 16-inch laptop to get work done, the MacBook Pro M4 is probably on your shortlist. But should you be considering the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ instead?

These two business laptops each have their strengths and weaknesses, but there are some critical differences that set one apart as the superior choice — with one major exception.

No matter what tasks you need to get done on the job, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ and the MacBook Pro M4 both have a lot to offer. Here's a look at how they compare and which one is the right pick for you.

MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs. MacBook Pro M4 Pro: Price and configurations

Price is one of the biggest differences between the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ and the MacBook Pro M4. While the MacBook Pro features significantly more configuration options, its starting price is $1,100 more than the MSI Prestige and includes half as much storage and less RAM.

Those are some major trade-offs considering how much more expensive the MacBook Pro is. At the time of writing, the MSI Prestige offers only one configuration, priced at $1,399, but the specs you get for that price include 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which should be plenty for most business users.

So, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ wins this category due to its affordability and good specs for the price.

Winner: MSI Prestige A16 AI+

MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs. MacBook Pro M4 Pro: Design

Design often comes down to personal preference and that's especially true with the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ and the MacBook Pro M4. They have nearly identical dimensions and weight and both feature minimalistic designs and metallic chassis. Unfortunately, they're both on the heavier side, too, weighing nearly 5 pounds.

• MSI Prestige A16 AI+: 14.09 x 10.17 x 0.66 inches, 4.44 pounds
• MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch): 14 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches, 4.7 pounds

Between these two laptop designs, I prefer the MacBook Pro. I personally find its design a bit cleaner and sleeker and really appreciate that it has top-firing speakers. Plus, the MacBook Pro comes in two colors, "Space Black" and silver, while the MSI Prestige is only available in silver. So, the MacBook Pro has a slight edge in this category.

Winner: MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch)

MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs. MacBook Pro M4 Pro: Display

MacBooks are great at many things, but one area where they tend to fall surprisingly short is display quality. The display on the MacBook Pro M4 Pro is sharp and looks great in person, but the MSI Prestige's display is significantly more vivid and color-accurate, which could be deal breakers for some.

In our tests, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+'s 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 165Hz display reproduced 114% of the DCI-P3 color gamut while the MacBook Pro M4 Pro's 16.2-inch, 3456 x 2234, 120Hz panel reproduced only 81.4%, over 30 points less.

That's a significant gap, especially for people in creative professions who rely on a good display for tasks like graphic design or video editing. Even if you don't strictly need a good display for work-related tasks, it's a nice feature to have for things like watching movies or playing games.

Winner: MSI Prestige A16 AI+

MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs. MacBook Pro M4 Pro: Performance

It's tough to beat Apple's M4 Pro chip when it comes to sheer performance in a professional laptop. The MSI Prestige A16 AI+'s AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU was no slacker in our performance tests, but it still came in leagues behind the MacBook Pro M4 Pro.

The MSI Prestige kept up well during my hands-on testing and it's more than capable of delivering a good experience with typical daily tasks like web browsing, word processing, and replying to emails. If you don't usually use your work laptop for resource-intensive tasks like video editing, you would probably be happy with either of these laptops, at least in terms of performance.

However, if you do need a laptop that can keep up with intense workloads and run resource-intensive apps, you would be better served with the MacBook Pro M4 Pro. It scored almost 10,000 points higher on the Geekbench 6 multi-core test, completed the HandBrake video transcoding test almost twice as fast, and stayed cooler than the MSI Prestige. When it comes to raw performance, the competition here isn't even close — the MacBook Pro handily wins this category.

Winner: MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch)

MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs MacBook Pro M4 Pro: Graphics and gaming

While neither of these two laptops is a gaming laptop, graphics performance is still important to consider, especially if you work in a creative field or need to run graphics-intensive apps.

The MSI Prestige A16 AI+'s AMD Radeon 880M iGPU and the MacBook Pro's M4 Pro are both capable of delivering a decent casual gaming experience, although the MacBook still has a clear edge. It outscored the MSI Prestige in every one of our three main gaming tests and delivered average frame rates that would make for a legitimately playable experience. The MSI Prestige, on the other hand, averaged very low frame rates for two of our tested games, hovering under 30 fps.

If you want to run only lightweight, casual games (or don't game at all), that performance gap might not be a deal breaker. However, for power users, gamers, and anyone who needs to run apps like Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop, the MacBook Pro's superior graphics performance makes it the better choice.

Winner: MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch)

MSI Prestige A16 AI+ vs MacBook Pro M4: Battery life

MacBooks consistently earn spots on our list of laptops with the best battery life, so it's tough to compete with them. Unfortunately for the MSI Prestige A16 AI+, this is no exception.

The MacBook Pro M4 Pro lasted an outstanding 20 hours and 46 minutes in our battery life test, just a couple hours short of doubling the MSI Prestige's time. This is especially noteworthy because the MSI Prestige had a lackluster battery life score even without comparing it to the MacBook Pro. Battery life is crucial for a business laptop, so a time under 12 hours is a bit disappointing.

Needless to say, the MacBook Pro M4 Pro easily wins this category.

Winner: MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch)

Overall winner: MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch)

The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ and the MacBook Pro M4 Pro are both sleek, capable business laptops, but the MacBook Pro features a major lead in performance and battery life, making it the top choice for most users.

The exception is business users who are on a budget or just looking to save some money. The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ costs over $1,000 less than the base configuration of the MacBook Pro, which offers less RAM and storage. So, with the MSI Prestige, you can get better base specs for a lower price (along with a much better display), as long as you don't mind sacrificing battery life and raw performance.

If you do need a business laptop that delivers on performance and battery life, though, it's tough to beat the MacBook Pro M4. It far outscores the MSI Prestige in overall and graphics performance and lasted an incredible 20+ hours in our battery life test.

You can also compare the MacBook Pro M4 and the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ to even more alternatives with our guide to the best business laptops.

Overall winner: MacBook Pro M4 Pro (16-inch)