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MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V Evaluation: Exceptional performance in a genuinely compact, portable package
The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V delivers a huge performance impact in an unexpectedly small package. Additionally, it includes a QHD+ 14-inch, 240Hz screen, making it one of the quickest in a laptop.
Benefits: – An impressive 14-inch screen with a 240Hz refresh rate – Exceptional performance without any compromises – High-quality, well-adjusted speakers – A stylish design that doesn't sacrifice performance – Convenient and portable enough to use every day.
Downsides: – Lacks an SD Card – Mediocre battery life – 720p camera is underwhelming for its cost – Heat dissipation could be improved
Cost: Rs 1,75,890/- Score: 4 out of 5
In the realm of gaming laptops, MSI generally outshines its competitors. The pair of MSI Titan GT77s we examined in the past two years are undeniably, the top gaming laptops, regardless of cost. Nonetheless, MSI, like all other makers, also finds it challenging to create a comprehensive gaming laptop that is also portable. That is, until you experience their Stealth series.
The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V, as implied by its name, isn't solely designed for dedicated gamers, but also for prolific content creators who need immense performance wherever they are. This sleek laptop not only has an appealing appearance but also functions effectively. Despite its slim and fashionable design, it packs a strong punch in terms of power, making it an ideal choice for both home and office use. Moreover, it excels in content creation tasks such as video editing or digital art, and it also performs impressively when it comes to gaming.
The combination of Intel Core i7 13700H and NVIDIA's RTX 4060 laptop GPU results in a powerhouse of performance that outclasses its rivals. Additionally, it features an impressive QHD+ IPS display with a refresh rate of 240Hz.
With all that being said, the MSI Stealth 14 Studio is, at the end of the day, a gaming laptop. It does possess some of the common disadvantages associated with high-performance portable computers. However, does this in any way diminish its appeal as a high-performance powerhouse? Let's discover.
Review of MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V: Structure and AestheticsThe MSI Stealth 14 Studio maintains a basic design, which I find appealing. As a gaming laptop, it has a minimalist look that I really like. I’m not particularly fond of excessive RGB lighting on my laptop. For those who share my preference, the subtle design of the MSI Stealth 14 Studio will be appreciated.
The MSI Stealth 14 Studio boasts a chic look with a white cover displaying the MSI dragon emblem against a magnesium-aluminium alloy body. The underside of the laptop maintains the white color scheme, while the inside presents a bold semi-gloss black. Upon lifting the cover, you are met with black Chiclet-style keys featuring white lettering and individual key RGB illumination.
The design and RGB configuration are not overly flashy, allowing for its use in professional environments without drawing unnecessary attention. However, there are still subtle elements of RGB lighting scattered throughout, but MSI has achieved a harmonious equilibrium.
At the rear of the laptop, near the display hinges, there's a matte black grill designed for ventilation and RGB lighting that signifies its identity as a Stealth 14. Eyecatching pink and blue RGB tones are visible at the back corners. MSI refers to these as the Afterburner Lighting, which is incorporated into the back grill. The word "Stealth" is also highlighted on the grill, illuminated by the RGB lights. Despite the irony, it's a cool design element that indicates it's a gaming laptop.
Regarding the construction, the Stealth 14 Studio is incredibly sturdy. With dimensions of 12.4 x 9.69 x 0.75 inches and a weight of approximately 1.7 kg, the Stealth 14 Studio is both small and light due to its magnesium-aluminium alloy frame.
The metallic construction gives it a light touch, which makes it easy to transport in a laptop bag without feeling burdensome. Its stylish look and the contrast between its outer and inner surfaces draw eyes, whether you're in a coffee shop or moving around.
The Stealth 14 comes equipped with a variety of ports and I/O that most users will find satisfactory. The right side houses a combo audio jack of 3.5mm, a USB Type-A port, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. Meanwhile, the left side contains a USB Type-C port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and an AC power port. There are also several air vents on both sides to aid in cooling. However, the device surprisingly lacks a card slot or a MicroSD Card slot, an absence particularly noticeable for a product aimed at gamers and content creators.
The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V Review: A Look at the Keyboard and Trackpad. The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V offers a more compact keyboard, a feature that's understandable considering its slim design. When you first unpack it, you'll notice the keyboard's RGB lighting is in Disco Mode, a setting that may be too bright or stimulating for some users. However, the keyboard does allow users to adjust the per-key RGB backlighting to suit their preferences through the provided SteelSeries GG software. This application makes it easy to create, manage, and switch between custom profiles, allowing you to change up the atmosphere of your gaming and streaming experience.
Regarding the keyboard, the keys are proportionally large and spaced appropriately, providing a decent level of feedback due to the spry key switches. Although it might require some adaptation, typing becomes a pleasure after you've become accustomed to it. Regrettably, there's a discernible bending in the keyboard which detracts from the overall high-quality feel of the laptop. Similarly, the standard color setup for the RGB lighting doesn't have an elegant appearance, instead, it seems somewhat tacky and inexpensive. Additionally, MSI could have opted for somewhat brighter RGB lights for the keys, with less intense hues.
Though primarily intended for gaming, the MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V pleasantly offers a reasonably large touchpad. It is located on the left side for ease of typing, providing additional room on the right. The touchpad ensures accurate navigation and sensitivity, making it user-friendly and precise. While it’s perfect for common tasks, those into gaming may prefer using an external mouse to alleviate any minor touchpad issues.
Review of MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V: Analysis of Webcam and speakersThe webcam performance of the MSI Stealth 14 Studio is mediocre, to say the least. It falls short when compared to other Windows laptops in the same price bracket, mainly because it possesses a 720p/30FPS webcam. The picture quality is underwhelming for a laptop of this cost. Even in properly lit settings, there's a discernible noise. For video conferencing, it might suffice, provided there's substantial lighting.
On a positive note, it includes a privacy cover, providing reassurance against unintentional turn-ons during video chats. The microphone arrangement, fortunately, produces crisp and evenly distributed sound.
In terms of sound, the four-speaker system tuned by Dynaudio improves the overall auditory quality. The MSI Stealth 14 Studio is compatible with SteelSeries' Nahimic audio software, which provides features comparable to those of DTS-X audio and Dolby Atmos. Users have the ability to modify the spatial audio and presets according to their liking, with choices such as Music, Movie, Communication, and Gaming presets. The Smart Profile feature auto-adjusts the sound for different activities, offering further customization options.
Ultimately, the speakers deliver vibrant audio with impressive depth, robust bass, and satisfactory treble, offering a well-rounded performance. They can reach high volumes without any distortion, comfortably filling a space without the requirement to turn the volume all the way up.
Review of MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V: Screen
The 14-inch screen on our MSI Stealth 14 Studio test model appears larger than its actual size, due to its 16:10 aspect ratio. It features a clear QHD+ resolution of 2560X1600. Although it may not have the extreme clarity seen in 4K panels on premium workstation laptops, it still possesses sufficient sharpness for mobile tasks and static media work, particularly gaming.
When it comes to gaming, the standout feature of the display is its remarkable 240Hz refresh rate. Not many gaming laptops available in the market currently offer such high refresh rates. This high refresh rate guarantees that the images on the MSI Stealth 14 Studio are seamless, devoid of any tearing or other disturbances. Honestly, it's an amazing experience playing a rapid game like Valorant, as it feels incredibly smooth.
The use of an IPS display means that the intense blacks and vibrancy of colours might not be as striking. However, the colour quality is still satisfactory for watching your top OTT shows. This is due to the display's complete coverage of the DCI-P3 colour range, which guarantees true and bright colours across the board. Even though we would have preferred it to have HDR or Dolby Vision support, the sharpness and precision of the display are admirable.
The display's peak brightness nearly reaches 450 nits, ensuring outstanding visibility inside. Furthermore, even outside, the screen remains clear when the brightness is turned up to its maximum, saving me from having to squint in the bright sunlight.
The viewing angles are impressive as colors generally maintain their brightness even from unusual viewpoints. You also have access to MSI True Color, a feature that lets you adjust and set the laptop screen to your liking. There are roughly seven modes you can select from, along with extra settings for a more detailed customization.
The screen has tremendous capabilities, requiring you to sharpen and optimize its settings. Once this is accomplished, both media viewing and gaming become highly pleasurable activities. Despite its precision and vividness, and its suitability for most professional content editing tasks including color grading videos and color correcting photos, it's important to correctly set up and calibrate the display.
Review of MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V: Power and Efficiency
The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V comes with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H Processor, which can reach speeds of up to 5 GHz. It features 6 Performance cores and 8 Efficiency cores, giving it a total of 14 cores, and also has a 24M Cache. When combined with its 16GB DDR5 RAM that operates at 5200 MT/s in a dual-channel setup, the laptop offers remarkable power and speed.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU manages the graphics, functioning at a speed of 2250Mhz and equipped with 8GB of GDDR6 Memory and a 128-bit bus. This blend guarantees that the Stealth 14 Studio delivers exceptional performance, particularly when you take into account its cost.
The i7-13700H processor shines in numerous artificial benchmarks, finding a sweet spot between demanding tasks and regular applications, with its standout performance in single-threaded tasks owing to its maximum boost clock speed of 5GHz.
Although benchmark scores provide some understanding, actual usage gives a more precise image. The Stealth 14 Studio does exceptionally well in gaming, delivering one of the finest experiences in its price category. Experiments were run in Discrete Graphics Mode, with power and performance levels pushed to the limit. Games operated seamlessly at a resolution of 1920×1200 and at the maximum possible settings, consistently providing superb frame rates without any noticeable lags or major decreases.
We carried out video game trials using games such as Forza Horizon 5, GTA 5, Control, F1 2022, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Valorant, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The outcomes aligned with our artificial benchmark results. All these tests were done in performance mode and while the laptop was connected to power.
In the game Shadow of The Tomb Raider, we accomplished an average frame rate of 133. The game Forza Horizon 5 operated at an average of 139 frames per second. Grand Theft Auto 5 consistently held an average of 160 frames per second. We observed an average frame rate of 122 in F1 2022. Rapid multiplayer games like CS: GO and Valorant experienced an average frame rate of 315 and 280, respectively.
Keeping in mind the hardware strength of the Stealth 14 Studio, these stats are certainly remarkable. Users can attain even better frame rates without significantly sacrificing visual quality, by making minor adjustments like choosing high rather than ultra graphics or turning off antialiasing.
In terms of how the MSI Stealth 14 Studio handles heat dissipation, it's comparable to any top-tier gaming laptop that contains powerful components. The keyboard, particularly towards the top, can heat up when the laptop is heavily used for gaming and benchmarking. Nonetheless, the Stealth 14 Studio is equipped with a smart ventilation system.
The structure features two exhaust vents situated on both sides of the casing, with an extra one placed at the rear, past the pivot. Regarding intake, there's a sizable vent at the laptop's base. Additionally, the MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V incorporates a Vapor Chamber which greatly enhances the cooling process.
Additionally, the MSI Centre gives you the option to select from a variety of performance levels and fan speeds. While conducting our synthetic and gaming tests, we maximized the fan speed using the Cooler Boost mode, maintaining the temperature within the typical range for the Intel i7 13700H & RTX 4060 bundle. The fans can be noisy, but this shouldn't be a problem if you have headphones on.
Overall, the Stealth 14 Studio is an incredibly powerful device that performs as strongly as it sounds. It boasts substantial capability and delivers a highly remarkable performance, particularly when you take into account the laptop's size.
Review of MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V: Battery PerformanceThe MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V is equipped with a 72W 4-cell battery and a large 240W charging brick. Despite its powerful GPU and high-speed CPU, this gaming laptop has a reasonable battery lifespan. This is largely due to its ability to manage GPU usage and transition between Intel's built-in GPU and the RTX 4060, if permitted. However, if you operate it solely on the separate graphics, the battery life does drastically decrease.
In a typical workday that included a significant amount of writing, some image editing, extensive web browsing, and a fair amount of time spent on YouTube and Netflix, the battery lasted for around 4-5 hours with a screen brightness of about 60 per cent, which was satisfactory. We repeated the same tests and usage patterns, but this time only using the discrete graphics, and found that the battery only just exceeded 3 hours.
Fortunately, the package comes with a 240W charger, ensuring the device can be powered continuously without any problems. However, bear in mind that it requires more than an hour for the charger to fully charge the laptop from a completely drained state.
Review Summary of MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V: The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V perfectly combines high performance, easy portability, and efficient productivity.
Although this laptop shines in numerous aspects, it does have a few significant shortcomings. We would have really appreciated improved HDR support and a higher quality webcam. Also, it's quite odd that there's no SD card slot, especially since it's designed for content creators who usually require such features. Nonetheless, the laptop's stellar performance makes up for most of these limitations.
The MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V, in the setup we examined, is more than adequate for gamers and mobile content creators. We did not experience any frame drops or screen distortions, and had no difficulties when navigating through 4K timelines during video project work. Throughout our assessment, we didn't find ourselves wishing for additional processing capability.
This laptop stands out due to its outstanding performance in an genuinely compact design. While enhancements in battery longevity and thermal regulation would be beneficial, the immense processing capacity provided by the Intel i7 13700H CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4060 GPU cannot be disputed.
Indeed, there are alternatives that may be slightly superior and less expensive, particularly if you're open to a bigger screen size than 14 inches. But if you're in search of a 14-inch display with a 240Hz refresh rate and a resolution exceeding 1080P, and one that delivers all the performance you could possibly require, the MSI Stealth 14 Studio A13V is the best choice.
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