CES 2024: MSI’s laptops get smarter, bigger, and more powerful

MSI is very aptly focusing on AI for its newest laptop lineup, unveiling a host of AI ready laptops at the Consumer Electronic Show 2024 (CES), currently underway in Las Vegas. The offering includes laptops with Intel’s hotly anticipated NPU (Neural-processing unit) stacked Intel Core Ultra Processor, which has been especially optimized for sustained AI workloads.

MSI laptops featuring the Intel Ultra chips will be denoted by the suffix ‘AI’ after their name this year. As you would expect, the chips will feature in some of the company’s full-power gaming laptops, like the Pulse 16 AI and 17 AI, but won’t just be limited to these rigs. New MSI Cyborg 15 AI and Thin 15 AI laptops will also get Intel Ultra processors, giving mainstream gamers access to the hardware too.

MSI’s productivity and creator lineups also get an AI upgrade, with the company announcing the new Prestige AI Series of lightweight productivity laptops and a new AI version of the MSI Creator 16 Studio laptop – both offerings born of the need for creators and workers to better handle the increasing AI demands in an everchanging workplace, says MSI.

The new MSI Prestige Series includes Prestige 16, 14 and 13 models, all of which pack Intel’s special Ultra processors, with some models including the top-tier Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor.

The new MSI Creator 16 AI Studio laptop won’t just be optimized for AI, however – it also promises better visuals than its 2023 predecessor, featuring a UHD+ MiniLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. The laptop’s display will also be made in the taller 16:10 aspect ratio, which was highly sought after among creators last year.

Productivity and creator laptops will also feature freshly rejigged designs in 2024 – MSI promises they’ll be lighter than previous years, but with longer battery lives. The new Prestige 16 AI, for example, will sport a magnesium alloy body and weigh just 3.3 pounds, but MSI claims its 99.9WHr battery will last a full 19 hours.

MSI’s 2024 Prestige 13 AI Evo, on the other hand, weighs a miniscule 2.2 pounds but sports a 75WHr battery that MSI claims is 50 percent larger than laptops of the same size by rival manufacturers.

Why are Intel’s new Ultra processors ideal for AI processing?

Intel’s Ultra processors are a new iteration of CPUs in an ever-evolving line of intelligent silicon. CPUs in the series are built on a new Intel 4 processing node and feature dedicated Neutral-processing units (NPUs), especially designed to perform AI tasks faster than previous generation CPUs, and most GPUs.

The big benefit here is that the NPU can reduce the processing load on a laptop’s CPU and GPU when processing repetitive AI tasks, thereby allowing these chips to work more efficiently. The integration of ARC graphics in the Core Ultra chip is also said to offer more than double the graphical output per watt compared to previous generations – which promises a big performance boost for light graphical tasks like light gaming.

Bigger more powerful rigs land in 2024

Laptops with increased power outputs and larger chassis also feature strongly in MSI’s 2024 offering. To be sure, more MSI gaming and creator laptops will get fresh power boosts thanks to Intel 14th Gen mobile HX Series processor upgrades.

Gaming laptops to show off upgraded HX Series silicon include new MSI Vector 16/17 HX models featuring Intel Core i9-14900HX processors, as well as brand new Crosshair 17/16 HX and Sword 17/16 HX models – which will sport Intel Core i7-14700HX processors.

Intel’s 14th Gen HX mobile processors may not be especially designed for AI processing, but they’re similarly well optimized for AI purely since they’re extremely fast and have a low task latency. Top tier 14th Gen Intel mobile HX CPUs, for example, can reach a whopping 5.8GHz maximum clock speed. They also come with Intel Application Optimizer for thread optimization in gaming – so they promise faster and more powerful gaming performance than ever before.

All of these models will come with Nvidia AI ready RTX 40 Series GPUs – which include Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS3 technology and AI Tensor Cores – and with designs that boast six air vent chambers for heat dissipation. These laptops will also sport impressive power outputs – the Vector 17 HX, for example, stands out from the bunch; it features MSI Overboost technology for a maximum output of 250W.

For those that can’t get enough power or immersive visuals, MSI has also just announced a new 18-inch gaming laptop family at CES 2024. The family includes laptop models carrying MSI Titan HX, MSI Raider HX and MSI Stealth 18 AI Studio brand names.

Among this lot, gamers will find models featuring 18-inch 4K,120Hz MiniLED displays with DisplayHDR 1000 and wide color gamuts for brilliant visuals. The Titan HX looks to be the most impressive of the selection – its top tier configuration will be a beast of a laptop, packing no less than an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, 18-inch 4K display, Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU and a whopping 270W power.

MSI’s new AI Software Suite

It’s a no brainer that hardware is only as good as the software that runs off it, which accounts for why MSI has also announced a suite of AI-driven software at CES 2024. Dubbed the ‘MSI AI Software Suite’ by the company, the collection includes three programs: AI Engine, AI Artist and AI Noise Cancellation. We’ve summarized these below:

AI Engine – Automatically optimizes laptop settings such as the display, audio, power profiles and the keyboard backlight based on the application that you’re currently using. It aims to automate a lot of the fiddly background settings adjustment you may have previously had to do.
AI Artist – An offline text-to-image service that eliminates network latency and data leakage. It offers features like image-to-image, image-to-text and the exporting of layered PSD files for Photoshop editing to greatly simplify these processes for creative professionals.
AI Noice Cancellation Pro – An AI-powered noise cancellation software. This software optimizes the use of the laptop’s microphone hardware to improve the quality of audio for meetings or recording sessions.