MSI is trying hard to become a premium laptop brand

MSI – a brand traditionally known for gaming hardware – has announced a bunch of laptops at Computex 2023, and there’s an interesting lack of gaming in them. Instead, the company is going hard on the premium lifestyle space with its mid-2023 offerings.

Notable among these releases is the new Commercial 14 Series, a line of business laptops intended to compete with high-end enterprise PCs – the likes of ThinkPad. I draw this conclusion from the fact that MSI’s press release highlights “tailor-made solutions for enterprises through a range of optional security measures, NFC (near-field communication) and a built-in smart card reader.” If that’s not a word-by-word ThinkPad pitch, I don’t know what is.

MSI has attempted business lines in the past with its Summit series, which we haven’t heard much about for a hot minute. These were solid, functional devices, but they didn’t have the build quality (or laundry list of enterprise security features) to compete with the established top players in that space, and they certainly weren’t priced to do so. Commercial, which debuts in the second half of this year, looks like it could be a few rungs up on that ladder.

The Prestige 16 Studio Evo is another release catching my eye, also set for release in the second half of this year. This is another product laser-focused on the high-end enterprise space. I’ve traditionally thought of the Prestige line as largely productivity devices that also have chops for some gaming here and there. But this version, as the Studio moniker indicates, is aimed at creative professionals, featuring Thunderbolt 4, a 99Whr battery, and Nvidia’s Studio platform (and RTX discrete GPUs, of course). I’m always on the lookout for powerful equipment in the 16-inch space that doesn’t weigh ten thousand pounds, because large screen but still portable workstations are a need I hear about from video editors all the time. This Prestige Studio could be a good fit for those (if it’s good).

Another big professional product, the Creator Z17 HX Studio, was actually announced earlier this year. It’s geared toward anyone working in the creative space, from video professionals to digital artists, and it’s perfectly compatible with the Boker Stylus that doubles as a mechanical pencil. MSI displayed that prominently at Computex as well, furthering the idea that it’s not just a gaming brand, everyone, we promise.

The Creator starts at $2,999 (yes, it’s not cheap), but MSI hasn’t yet revealed pricing for the Prestige or Commercial. Those numbers should give us a better idea of ​​where MSI thinks these products fit in the current market and how high-end it thinks they really are.