MSI Summit E15 - Review 2022 - Miller Tencephad

MSI is well known for its gaming-minded PCs, components, and peripherals, but the manufacturer is branching out into a large new category in 2022: business laptops. Information technology had already been experimenting with workstations and laptops for artistic professionals, and at present the company is hoping to have up permanent residence in your office. The MSI Summit E15 is among the visitor's kickoff wave of business laptops, which comprise models in new Summit E and Summit B series at 14- and 15-inch screen sizes. (No pricing has been provided at this time.) The 15-inch unit of measurement nosotros were sent is a pre-product model, so we're holding off on a full review with testing benchmarks, but we got some easily-on time and can share how the laptop looks and feels. Information technology's a strong first endeavor with a sleek build. Read on for details on its pattern and features, and our impressions.

Goodbye, Gaming: Get Downward to Business

The Summit E15 certainly looks the part of a business concern laptop, boasting an all-black design that would blend into whatsoever office or meeting room. It's much sleeker and more premium-looking than most business laptops, though, having more in common with an center-catcher similar the Razer Bract 15 than whatever Lenovo ThinkPad. This is due to not just the squared-off shape, but too the all-aluminum body.

The Summit E15 feels generally high-quality, thanks to the metallic, though if you push around various spots on the lower one-half, you'll notation more flex than on Razer's flagship automobile. This is something I've dinged MSI's thin gaming laptops for in the past, and looks similar it applies here, likewise. Those models, and this laptop, could utilize just a bit more interior chassis bracing around the keyboard deck to prevent inward flex under pressure.

MSI Summit E15

Gold accents (around the touchpad, on the hinge ends, and on the lid logo) are something the Summit E15 shares with one of MSI'southward ain iconic gaming laptops, the GS65 Stealth. This year'south update to that organization, the GS66 Stealth, did away with the gold trim, which was a disappointment for me, just I'thousand glad to see information technology returning here. The accents add just a flake of flair, as well as a more than premium feel, to this otherwise sober business laptop. MSI notes that the complete retail version of this laptop will take a carbon texture higher up the keyboard over the hinge expanse, which should add extra brio.

MSI Summit E15

Equally for the chassis' exact size, it measures 0.67 by 14.ane by ix.2 inches (HWD), and information technology weighs 3.94 pounds. This is lighter than many ability-offset concern laptops, but on the heavier side among business organisation ultraportables. The HP Elite Dragonfly is a mere two.two pounds, the last Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon that PC Labs tested is 2.4 pounds, and the MacBook Pro 16-Inch comes in at 4.3 pounds. The Summit E15 is pretty portable, all considered, but you won't forget you're carrying it.

In that 14-inch-broad frame sits a 15-inch (diagonal) display. It bears a full Hd (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) native resolution, which is a fine fit for virtually concern users and volition assist stretch battery life versus a college-pixel-count panel. The bezels around the brandish are thin, which keeps the footprint compact, and they contribute to the sleek wait. My testing sample didn't feature touch input, but MSI does offer both affect-screen and 4K-resolution panel options for this laptop. The screen quality on this unit is pretty good, just the display is otherwise unremarkable.

MSI Summit E15

Next upward, the keyboard and touchpad. Bated from the moderate chassis flex aroundthese ii items, they're both well built and responsive. The keys feel very bouncy, and while they don't sport whatsoever sort of tactile feedback (I did notation a little mushiness), they make for a fast and pleasant-enough typing experience. The keys also characteristic white backlighting with three levels of effulgence.

For its office, the touchpad is a tad small for i on a xv-inch laptop, simply it does the chore, with adept responsiveness and smooth scrolling. It too includes a fingerprint scanner in the top left corner, a nice security inclusion for businesses.

MSI Summit E15

Finally for the physical build, we come to the ports. Connectivity is important for business laptops, and though I wouldn't say the laptop is with ports, the selection is well idea out. The left flank includes two USB Blazon-C ports, both of which feature support for Thunderbolt 4 (the new generation of Thunderbolt, supported past the new 11th Generation "Tiger Lake" Intel processors that will ability these laptops) and power delivery for charging the laptop. Each USB-C port likewise supports an external display over DisplayPort.

MSI Summit E15

There's also a full-size HDMI output on this side, every bit well equally a combined headphone and mic jack. On the correct flank are 2 Type-A USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. Wireless networking is anchored by a Wi-Fi 6 radio, every bit well as Bluetooth. All your bases are covered with this mix.

MSI Summit E15

These ports and wireless features are joined by a 720p front-facing webcam (which includes IR support and functions with Windows Hello for facial-recognition sign-ins) and TPM ii.0. Also on the business-manageability forepart, MSI notes that the Summits will feature BIOS lockdown functionality, biometric fingerprint sensors (as on this model), and Intel vPro CPU options. The BIOSes will too allow for secure lockdown of the webcam if Information technology requires that.

Also on offer of interest to IT: onsite warranties, besides as support for Microsoft'southward Windows Autopilot. Autopilot allows a distribution eye to ship a laptop straight to an employee ready-configured. The employee demand just plough it on, and can progress through the setup of the whole unit of measurement themselves, without IT touching the auto. This allows for faster deployments, and is especially valuable these days during the COVID-xix crisis, when many employees may be working remotely and IT logistics may be more complicated.

As for our Summit E15 model, MSI claims upwards to sixteen hours of battery life, just nosotros'll have to confirm that with tests of our own on the full retail version.

Component and Configuration Considerations

The Summit E15 has multiple configuration options within its own model, as well as Meridian-brand siblings that offer like alternatives. The star of all configurations will be an 11th Generation Cadre i7-1185G7 processor, i of Intel's recently appear Tiger Lake mobile chips designed for ultraportables. In our in-depth testing of the first Tiger Lake CPUs we got our hands on (non in this motorcar, but in an Intel manufactory sample), nosotros saw solid incremental comeback all around over tenth Generation Core.

While the overall CPU-muscle improvement was notable, the nearly exciting gains are in the on-chip graphics. At least in our Cadre i7-1185G7 Intel manufacturing plant sample, the new Iris Xe integrated graphics processor (IGP) built into some of these Tiger Lake fries delivered a major comeback over Intel'due south past IGP offerings, as well as a moderate bump from AMD's best Radeon integrated solutions. Indeed, this level of improved IGP performance has the potential to significantly affect the mainstream laptop market. You lot can see what Tiger Lake CPUs are capable of in our testing story linked in a higher place, but the graphics aspect won't employ to this laptop. That's because the Due east-series MSI Summits include a discrete Nvidia GPU.

MSI Summit E15

To that point, in our unit, this Core i7 bit is joined past an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (Max-Q) GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD. The storage will support PCI Express 4.0 for faster speeds, while the GPU is certainly better than what we meet in nigh business organisation laptops. This is no doubt a factor in its toll, every bit most business laptops brand do with integrated graphics, but information technology's a boon for those buyers who may perform graphics-based tasks. That said, we have to wonder how much upside there will be to most shoppers, considering the already high potential of Iris Xe.

The average business organization user working largely with spreadsheets and a web browser won't see much gain, but a professional laptop covers a wide range of fields. If you're a media editor, an engineer, or an animator, the 3D heave is meaningful. That said, y'all can certainly notice more-stiff laptops for those purposes with beefier professional-focused GPUs. The Dell Precision 7540, for instance, includes Nvidia'south Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, and the Acer ConceptD 7 utilizes an RTX 2080 (Max-Q). But these and others of their course are well more than expensive, and weightier.

As mentioned earlier, the Summit make, like whatsoever good business-laptop line, gives y'all a host of component options, and here, that extends to screen and GPU choices. Inside the Summit E15, you tin can opt for a 4K display or a affect screen, in addition to the 1080p screen on our model, or more storage. Other than that, the components are shared, only MSI'due south Summit E14, B14, and B15 models add other alternatives. These are all based on the same processor, but they offering different (14- or 15-inch) screen sizes and graphics options. Of note: The Tiptop B14 and B15 make use of the Iris Xe IGP only, not GeForce, so consider those if yous don't need the discrete GPU.

A Promising Business Debut

Ultimately, the MSI Summit E15 is a solid-looking business organisation laptop with a pattern that looks a chip more like some premium gaming models than your average business notebook does. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a radical look. Some loftier-end gaming laptops have moved toward more mature-looking designs, looking to blend in better with professional person laptops. The aim is to let you use them in multiple environments, and to take them come off every bit more premium and less toylike.

MSI Summit E15

The Summit E15 adheres to that same concept, only with business-focused features and parts. Information technology looks similar a proficient first effort for MSI, though it doesn't announced to break any new ground. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, a PC Labs favorite, is much lighter and starts in its latest iteration at $ane,250, with a similar characteristic fix and a time-tested design. Others, like the HP Aristocracy Dragonfly, have their own draws.

The performance improvements that the new Tiger Lake chips bring evidence meaningful when we can test a final, aircraft sample of the Summit E15, but that musculus won't exist exclusive to this laptop, past whatsoever means. But in brusque, MSI looks to have avoided whatever serious blunders in its outset entry into an all-new category, and the design is more appealing than many more traditional business laptops. Stay tuned for a full review when nosotros get our hands on a finished retail model.