PCMag’s Matt Buzzi takes us through the highlights of this ”Tiger Lake”-based business ultraportable from the well-known maker of gaming notebooks.
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[Music] Hi i’m matthew buzzy with pc mag and i’m Here with the summit e15 an upcoming Business laptop from msi Now you may know msi is a gaming company Known for their gaming laptops desktops Peripherals and of course their Components They’ve been good at making all these Things for years that is definitely Their bread and butter But the company has been branching out Into sort of other categories of late We’ve seen some creative professional Laptops and now we’re seeing This the summit series this in Particular the e15 model That does have some stablemates which Offers slight different configurations And screen sizes but We’re getting a first look here at the Summit e15 now this is a pre-production Model this is not the full retail model So we didn’t do the full benchmark Testing Um we didn’t get into uh testing its Battery life and everything like that Because this will not be the same As the model that was for sale but this Is the first look sort of at the design It’s feature set and just getting a Hands-on experience Now what exactly makes a laptop a Business laptop it’s
A combination of form and function uh it Has to look the part you’ll know from Your Lenovo thinkpads your dell latitudes um Those sorts of laptops that you used to See around the office that they’re often Black Very simple designs they blend in they Won’t be out of place in a meeting or a Board room or Even at your desk just uh to look the Parts in a map we’re professional that Usually means a black chassis So msi has definitely gone sort of up That alley here um but it has a bit of Flair and it has sort of Something common with their gaming words I would say um this to me is more common Design wise than uh with their gs 65 and 66 stealth series Um black metal uh high quality it’s a Little bit more like the razer blade Than it is A lenovo thinkpad um it’s made of metal It has a little bit of flex here Which you don’t maybe love to see but it Is uh it is sturdy all around i would Say Um and i do like the gold accents i Think that adds sort of a premium Uh look because i don’t know it stands Out from the crowd just a little bit you Have some gold on the hinges you have Some gold on the lid
As well as around the touch pad so that Kind of adds a little bit of flare even Though this does largely looks like Many other business laptops it’s black It’s simple but the gold and the kind of Styling there adds a little bit of Panache as i mentioned though it’s not Just about the looks it’s about Features and the components that msi Chose to go into this system To make it a competent machine for Getting your work done whether at home Or in the office Intel’s brand new 11th generation mobile Processors are the star of the show on This laptop And that would be the case for many more To come in the next year or so Um this in particular has the core i7 1185 G7 cpu which uh is one of the top tier Models um as i said we didn’t get to Test it because This is a pre-production unit so we’re Not going to put it through full Benchmark cases but we do have other Testing pieces Of um what tiger lake cpus are capable Of as well as the integrated iris xc Graphics On pcm you can go read all about that There but um In this unit the integrated graphics Won’t actually need to shine because
There is an nvidia gtx 1650 ti Also included in this build which not Necessary for most business laptops um It can definitely be A nice addition for those who need to do Tests that rely on You know 3d acceleration that are Hardware related to anything graphics Related um Having a discrete gpu will actually Boost your work a lot if you’re a media Editor or an animator an engineer Things like that that can benefit from a Discrete gpu most business laptops don’t Need one some of the other summit models That i I mentioned do have options for just Integrated graphics so There are there are ways to get what you Want but the particular model we have Does that have that discrete nvidia gpu Um there’s also 16 gigs of ram on this System as well as one terabyte Ssd so pretty good amount of storage um Again if you’re a media type you’ll Probably fill that up people just using Word documents and other sort of Text documents don’t have to worry too Much about uh filling up that storage Capacity Another thing that’s really important For a business laptop is connectivity so Um you’ve got to have all the ports you Need to work at your desk to connect
Monitors To connect peripherals um connect to Displays for a presentation or just to Make working at your desk easier Uh and this does have you covered it Doesn’t have a ton of ports but it does Have kind of everything you would need Uh there are two usbc ports both have Thunderball 4 support which you know is New with intel’s 11th generation of processors so that’s Another advantage it brings There’s hdmi on this side as well in Addition to a headphone jack The other side has two standard usb a Ports and a micro sd card slot So kind of all your basics cover there Aren’t a ton of them there’s Two of each kind of usb port which is is Definitely useful For multiple peripherals and connecting Multiple displays um And the hdmi can do the same as well but Other than that it’s not it’s not a ton Of ports Display for you’ll have to get over the Usb connections and Other than that i hope you don’t need Any legacy peripherals because You’ll have to use a dock or an adapter To get that to get that covered There are also some other features that Help make a business laptop a business Laptop
That includes a fingerprint scanner That’s built into the touchpad as well As Windows hello facial recognition via the Ir webcam so That helps you log in securely and Easily it also includes tpm 2.0 and There are Intel vpro options available for this Laptop as well all those features are All well and good for when you’re seated At your desk especially connecting to Another monitor and things like that But um you might be wondering how it Travels uh 15.6 inch screen means it’s a Pretty good size for travel even if You’re missing Your external monitor at your desk you Won’t be squinting at this it’s not one Of the tiny screens that we’ve seen in Some alternative smaller laptops Um it is a bit heavier than i would say The sort of average premium business Laptop at least Uh heavier than some of our favorites um The thinkpad x1 carbon Is definitely a good amount thinner as Is the hp elite dragonfly Those are closer to two and a half Pounds it is lighter than the macbook Pro 16 inch which is uh just over four Pounds this is Right about four pounds of hair under so A little heftier the metal body
Definitely contributes to that um It’s not heavy i would say you’ll Definitely notice it in your bag and When you lift it you’re not you’re not Amazed that it’s that it’s super light Or anything but Um considering the components inside Especially in this instance Including a discrete gpu um it it’s okay It’s it’s pretty reasonable Um it’s about 0.7 inches thick so it’s It’s fairly thin um again a lot like the Razer blade 15 i would say and it’s sort Of its build and Feel um sturdy but not not heavy um So it travels well enough uh you’ll be Happy with this Um we didn’t test the battery life msi Does claim up to 16 hours We’ll have to confirm all that in our Tests when we do the full review of this Laptop but Um it’s something that ideally does last You on the road for a good while off the Charger That 15-inch display i did mention is Full hd non-touch there are also Touchscreen and 4k Options available um both in this Particular laptop configurations And other summit laptops so you do get Uh you do get sort of your choice there Um one thing msi did note is that Uh the keyboard deck above the keyboard
Sort of where the hinge and the vents Are on the Final retail model it will be a carbon Fiber Sort of look um it’ll be a carbon Texture not just the plastic that’s on This model so that’s a little bit of a Premium touch and that’s an example of Something that’s not quite finished On this pre-production model um so you Know subject to change on a few small Details like that A lot of these design features as i said May be subject to slight change but i Largely expect the keyboard and touchpad And things like that to stay mostly the Same keyboard is comfortable it’s bouncy It’s maybe slightly on the mushy side The touch pads may be slightly on the Small side but there’s nothing wrong With them their their They’re functional they’re above above Average or about average so That’s not a weak one of these laptops i Would say we’ll be able to make a value Judgment on its uh on its price and its Performance when we get to test the full Version of this laptop when it’s Available hopefully not too long in the Future um But that intel chip will definitely be Interesting to see what it can do It won’t be the only laptop on the Market of course with the new tiger-like
Cpus But um it’ll definitely be important for How it performs in a business context so Whether or not you can do your work on It Um pretty important to know the gpu more Of a known quantity we’ve tested that Before Moderate moderate 3d power on that so That’s that’s just a nice bonus but The processor will be interesting to put Through its paces and from there we can Kind of uh Compare it more more fully to Alternatives on the market both for Performance and price so Stay tuned for the full review on Pcmag.com that will be coming in Hopefully not too far in the future Thanks
