Photographers, videographers, and video editors keep looking for the optimal portable high power laptop to take with them on the go. The newly announced MSI Creator 15 might be one of very few that tick all the right boxes and David (from the YouTube channel TheUnlockr) had a chance to play with this new device and came back with some very positive first impressions.
We are not sure what you are looking for in a content creation laptop but for us, there are a number of major things that we need to have and this combination, believe it or not despite the large variety of laptops currently on the market is very hard to find.
We want our laptop to have a very powerful multi-core CPU (preferably 6+ cores), option for 32GB+ of RAM, dual NVME bays, at least a GTX 2070 GPU in a body that weighs around 2kg with a good keyboard (nice key travel), very high-quality touch display (preferably 15″ 4K) that is factory calibrated with outstanding colors. It should be able to hold as close as possible to 10 hours (in light-duty mode) and have ample IO options (including full-size HDMI, USB-A connections, TB3, and preferably USB-C charging and RJ45 port). All this for as close to $2000 (or at least below $3000) as possible.
If you think that there are many devices like those on the market you will be wrong (trust us – we looked). There might be a few which are almost there (the DELL XPS 15 might look like an option for example but is not powerful enough and lack some of the IO connections).
This brings us to the new MSI Creator 15 which (at least with some of its configurations) seems to tick all the right boxes that we have just mentioned. Here are some of the specs of this new 15″ high-end creator oriented laptop (keep in mind that some of the features are dependent on the specific model that you buy – see the full list on the MSI website):
Processor: 10th Gen Intel Comet Lake Core i7-10875H 8 Cores (2.3GHz-5.1GHz, 16MB Intel Smart Cache, 45W)
Memory: up to 64GB DDR4 2666MHz
Storage: up to dual 2TB NVME drives (different options are available including Samsung 970 EVO plus)
Networking: INTEL/I225-V(SLN9D) (LAN), Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201(2×2 ax) (Wireless LAN) + Bluetooth 5.1
Ports: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-C), USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A), HDMI (supports 4K@60Hz), Full-size SD Card Reader (UHS-III), RJ45 LAN, Mic-in/Headphone-out Combo Jack
Keyboard: Backlight keyboard (84 Key).
Battery: 4 cell (99.9Whr) Li-Polymer.
Display: 15.6″ Touch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Level 72%NTSC Display or 4K non-touch IPS monitor
GPU: up to GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ With Max-Q Design, 8GB GDDR6
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (64-bit) | Warranty: 1-Year MSI USA Warranty Parts & Labor (include 1 Year Global Warranty) + Lifetime Tech Support from EXCaliberPC.
Weight 2.1Kg or 4.6lbs.
Really the only drawback that we are seeing (on paper) is the lack of 4K touch monitor option which seems like a strange decision on MSI’s part. You can however put the screen flat on the table and you have a button in the keyboard that allows you to switch the direction of the display so you can show you work to a person in front of you which can be useful.
As for pricing starts at around $1600 and goes up to around $3200 for the highest spec model.
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Iddo Genuth 
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