MSI has unveiled its new Creator series revamp with Intel 11th Gen H-series processors. MSI's highlight product is the Creator Z16, which it intends to pit against the likes of the MacBook Pro.
The Creator Z16, Creator M16 and Creator 17 are available for pre-order starting today and will ship out by May 16, 2021. The Creator Z16 starts at $2,599, but we're still waiting on price points for the Creator M16 and Creator 17.
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MSI Creator Z16 specs and highlights
The MSI Creator Z16's design is reminiscent of the MacBook Pro, so it's clear who MSI is trying to appeal to: people to want a MacBook-esque product but for Windows 10. It has a sleek CNC-milled aluminum chassis and a Lunar Gray color.
The highlights of this machine are its 16-inch, 16:10, QHD+ display, 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM and huge 90Whr battery. At the very least, that's bound to knock out the MacBook Pro's graphical performance.
You'll also catch the MSI Creator Z16 with way more ports than a MacBook Pro. This thing has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB Type-A ports, a microSD card slot and a headphone jack.
MSI Creator M16 specs and highlights
The MSI Creator M16 isn't as decked out as its older sibling. Instead of the gray MacBook-esque design, you'll find a clean black chassis that's home only to a blacked-out MSI logo. The interior is similarly dark apart from the white painted outline around the keys.
Highlights in this system include its 16-inch, 16:10, QHD+ display, 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU with 4GB of VRAM. Unfortunately, this laptop skimps on the battery with a 53.5Whr pack.
You won't find any Thunderbolt 4 ports on this machine, either. There's only one USB Type-C port, three USB Type-A ports, an RJ45 port, an HDMI port and a headphone jack.
MSI Creator 17 specs and highlights
Similar to the MSI Creator Z16, the Creator 17 features an aluminum chassis, but sports a Core Black color over a sandblasted lid. It weighs just 5.4 pounds, which is impressive for a 17-inch machine.
The major highlights of this machine are its 17-inch, 4K Mini LED display, Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake H-Series processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM, and a whopping 99.9Whr battery.
The Creator 17 packs one Thunderbolt 4 port, one USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, one HDMI 2.1 port, an SD card slot and a headphone jack.
Outlook
MSI's creator series blurs the line between gaming laptop and workstation, as each laptop are targeted towards consumers that want the best video editing laptops or the best photo editing laptops.
We're excited to get these laptops into our lab to see what they're really made of.
