MSI Creator Z16: Creative laptop with AdobeRGB in review
MSI fills the niche between handy 15-inchers and usually-too-large 17-inchers with the 16-inch Creator Z16. There is no 4K screen or OLED here, but rather a 3K, 16:10, AdobeRGB display and two Thunderbolt 4 ports.
While the RTX 3060 might be overwhelmed with 4K in current games, it should be able to handle 3K. Does MSI forgo oversizing here in favor of an accurate resolution for the offered performance? Can the slim 3-fan case in combination with the 180-watt power supply utilize the components to the best of its ability? It should, because the expectations for a 2000 Euro (~$2263) laptop are high.
Intel's Tiger Lake H processor is supposed to set the tone in terms of performance, and the RTX 3060 is already known for its high gaming power. Add to that good upgradeability and a keypad with RGB lights for each key individually - is this a brightly colored all-round creator?
We compare MSI's 16 incher with some current contenders, including the brand new Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro, the HP ZBook Studio G7 and the Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021), all laptops with a rating of "Very Good".
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86.7 % v7 (old) | 11 / 2021 | MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 2.2 kg | 15.9 mm | 16.00" | 2560x1600 | |
| 90.6 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2021 | HP ZBook Studio G7 i9-10885H, Quadro RTX 3000 Max-Q | 2 kg | 18 mm | 15.60" | 3840x2160 | |
| 88.9 % v7 (old) | 07 / 2021 | Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU | 2 kg | 16.99 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 87 % v7 (old) | 09 / 2021 | Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH R9 5900HX, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 2 kg | 19.5 mm | 16.00" | 2560x1600 | |
| 87.9 % v7 (old) | 07 / 2021 | Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU | 2.5 kg | 19.5 mm | 17.00" | 3840x2400 | |
| 88.4 % v7 (old) | 08 / 2021 | Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU | 1.9 kg | 18 mm | 15.60" | 3456x2160 | |
| 93.2 % v7 (old) | 11 / 2021 | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro M1 Pro, M1 Pro 16-Core GPU | 2.2 kg | 16.8 mm | 16.20" | 3456x2234 |
Case - Stable creative laptop
While our colleagues criticized the chassis of the Creator 17, we don't have to complain about the Z16: The aluminum and plastic construction offers good - though not excellent - torsional stiffness. A 16-inch width is susceptible to bending, and the chassis does bend a bit (2.2 kg/~4.9 lb) when we lift it at a corner. The work area as well as the lid are made of aluminum, which has been polished at the edges and anodized on the surface. The screen has good strength, and the back cannot be dented.
The 16-incher has a slightly larger footprint than Apple's MacBook Pro 16 2021, but it is marginally thinner with the same weight. If you look in the direction of the 15.6, you will see a Razer Blade 15 Advanced with significantly less depth at roughly the same width, but 200 grams (~7 oz) less. The 17-incher in the round, Dell XPS 17 9710 is 300 grams (~11 oz) heavier and significantly wider than the Z16.
Equipment - Modern with Thunderbolt 4 & USB 4.0
MSI offers modern ports, which is to be expected in this price range: Type-C peripherals can be connected to the two Thunderbolt 4 ports, or one or two flat screens (DisplayPort via Type-C). The power supply is not via Type-C, which would not be appropriate for 180 watts, and one port would also be blocked. The 16-incher does not have any other display outputs.
SD Card Reader
We use our reference SD card (AV Pro V60) to test the performance of the card reader used. The maximum transfer rate is up to 185 MB/s when copying large data blocks, while even 225 MB/s can be expected for common JPG image files (around 5 MB each).
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED (AV Pro V60) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 (AV Pro V60) | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro (Angelbird AV Pro V60) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (18.4 - 201, n=60, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED (AV Pro V60) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 (AV Pro V60) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 (AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (25.8 - 266, n=59, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
Communication
With the Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650s, Wi-Fi 6E is on board. Wi-Fi 6E uses the 6 GHz frequency for the first time and relieves the congested 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands. This requires an appropriate router, for example the FRITZ!Boxes 7530 AX or 6660 Cable.
The Killer WLAN is not particularly fast in the test with a 5 GHz router, but the card is still well above average. Competitors like the HP ZBook Studio G7, which only has a "simple" Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, are clearly ahead. Interestingly, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro is clearly lagging behind the others.
Logging in is done via fingerprint scan or facial recognition with Windows Hello. The latter works smoothly and quickly.
Webcam
As is often the case, the webcam was neglected. Its resolution and quality defy description - just like almost all laptops in the comparison field. Hardly any manufacturer managed to put a high-quality camera in the frame in this comparison - Apple is the only exception, as the test chart picture below shows.
Maintenance
Upgrading the Z16 is possible, but more difficult than it appears: Two M.2 slots are available, one of which is occupied by the Phison SSD. The RAM can be upgraded to 64 GB, for which there are two slots. These are occupied with two 16 GB dual-channels in the sample, unless you purchase the Z16 variant with 16 GB, in which case one slot is free.
If you want to upgrade, you should read the how-to: What looks like a centered maintenance hatch on the underside is not one at all. We only realized this after removing the front feet - which were then unfortunately irreparably broken. The entire base plate is held in place by visible screws and such under the rear feet.
You can quickly access the first maintenance level, where battery, Wi-Fi chip and two SSD can be replaced. However, the mainboard has to be removed completely to get to the RAM sockets. This is a big effort, because all cables have to be removed. Here is a very good video how-to: MSI Creator Z16 Upgrade Tutorial.
Accessories
The slim 180-watt power supply is the only accessory in the box.
Warranty
In Germany, the manufacturer provides a two-year warranty (pick-up & return).
Input devices - RGB light effects under laptop keyboard
Keyboard
The keypad comes with a mini-LED keyboard backlight, which means each letter can be illuminated in a different color. The pre-installed setting is a moving light. If that bothers you or if you want to set other colors or mixtures, then Mystic Light has to be installed. MSI Center Pro unfortunately does not allow modifying the key illumination.
The SteelSeries input presents a very hard stroke, wide keys as well as a firm base, which doesn't give in even with a firm stroke. What we like about the keys is the crisp pressure point, which provides good feedback despite the short travel. On the other hand, the firm stroke and short travel make typing tiresome. In short: The SteelSeries is by far not a bad keyboard, and large hands can manage well on it. However, the speed could be better with more travel.
Touchpad
The narrow ClickPad is a design fail for some: While the rivals such as the MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 or Dell XPS 15 9510 (15 x 9 cm/~5.9 x 3.5 in), often furnish huge ClickPads, the MSI uses just 12 x 6 cm (~4.7 x 2.4 in). Especially when sliding objects vertically, the low height can be very annoying.
This is a pity because the pad itself is easy to use with a clear pressure point and moderate stroke in the lower area of the pad, as well as a smooth surface.
Touchscreen
The smooth surface allows speedy work directly on the screen, which can be wiped easily. Unfortunately, the lid bobs a bit, and the typing finger pushes the display down unintentionally from an opening of about 140 degrees.
Display - Notebook with almost AdobeRGB color space
The 16-inch panel is a Wide View IPS with 120 Hz and a QHD+ resolution (2,560 x 1,600 pixels). MSI states a full coverage of DCI-P3 and calls it True Pixel. The display is in 16:10 format. MSI advertises the Golden Ratio here.
Those who do not want a touchscreen but prefer anti-glare can purchase one of the three anti-glare variants, which also have a 120 Hz True Pixel screen.
We measured 347 cd/m² brightness on average and 347 at maximum. The brightness is homogeneously distributed, which is what the 89% stands for. Positive: MSI does not use PWM to regulate the brightness. The response times of 7 and 14 ms are very good.
We do not know why MSI does not offer an OLED variant. Against the background of OLED options in the competition, the advantages of good IPS panels have to be pointed out: OLED panels should not be operated at maximum brightness permanently, OLED screens need more energy, and (disable-able) forced screensavers are preinstalled because of the burn-in issue. The OLED screen's unnecessarily high need for energy we experienced in our review of the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED. This is particularly annoying in battery mode.
The factory-calibrated display fully covers the DCI-P3 color space. However, this extended space is not always needed and can be annoying, for example in Office use with Outlook and Excel. This is where MSI True Color comes into play. There, the display mode that fits the scenario can be selected. Programs can be assigned with App Sync. Thus, the matching color profile is automatically activated the next time Photoshop is started.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 89 %
Center on Battery: 375 cd/m²
Contrast: 915:1 (Black: 0.41 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.59 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.91, calibrated: 2.18
ΔE Greyscale 1.88 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
96% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
100% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
100% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.37
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 AUO B160QAN02.P, IPS True Pixel, 2560x1600, 16" | HP ZBook Studio G7 LGD0661, IPS, 3840x2160, 15.6" | Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) TL156VDXP02-0, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.6" | Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH Lenovo LEN8A95 (AUO B160QAN02.M), IPS, 2560x1600, 16" | Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 Sharp LQ170R1, IPS, 3840x2400, 17" | Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED SDC414D, OLED, 3456x2160, 15.6" | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro Liquid Retina XDR, Mini-LED, 3456x2234, 16.2" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | -4% | -21% | -14% | -0% | 1% | -3% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 100 | 98.2 -2% | 66.9 -33% | 76.4 -24% | 94.8 -5% | 99.9 0% | 99.1 -1% |
| sRGB Coverage | 100 | 99.9 0% | 97.1 -3% | 100 0% | 100 0% | 100 0% | 100 0% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 96 | 86.5 -10% | 69 -28% | 77.4 -19% | 100 4% | 98.1 2% | 88 -8% |
| Response Times | -370% | 14% | -146% | -289% | 67% | -708% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 14 ? | 56.4 ? -303% | 4.2 ? 70% | 36 -157% | 44.8 ? -220% | 3.6 ? 74% | 42.8 ? -206% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 7 ? | 37.6 ? -437% | 10 ? -43% | 16.4 -134% | 32 ? -357% | 2.8 ? 60% | 91.6 ? -1209% |
| PWM Frequency | 59.5 ? | 14880 | |||||
| Screen | 57% | 6% | 19% | 12% | 81% | 372% | |
| Brightness middle | 375 | 723 93% | 353.4 -6% | 439 17% | 536.5 43% | 362 -3% | 514 37% |
| Brightness | 348 | 707 103% | 340 -2% | 397 14% | 489 41% | 367 5% | 497 43% |
| Brightness Distribution | 89 | 92 3% | 92 3% | 83 -7% | 85 -4% | 97 9% | 95 7% |
| Black Level * | 0.41 | 0.35 15% | 0.31 24% | 0.44 -7% | 0.37 10% | 0.06 85% | 0.02 95% |
| Contrast | 915 | 2066 126% | 1140 25% | 998 9% | 1450 58% | 6033 559% | 25700 2709% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 2.59 | 1.4 46% | 2.17 16% | 1.68 35% | 2.46 5% | 2.1 19% | 1.4 46% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.08 | 2.9 59% | 5.69 20% | 2.36 67% | 7.74 -9% | 4.1 42% | 2.8 60% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 2.18 | 0.5 77% | 1.05 52% | 1.57 28% | 1.85 15% | 2.5 -15% | |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 1.88 | 2 -6% | 3.4 -81% | 1.64 13% | 2.9 -54% | 1.4 26% | 2.3 -22% |
| Gamma | 2.37 93% | 2.14 103% | 2.2 100% | 2.39 92% | 2.12 104% | 2.18 101% | 2.27 97% |
| CCT | 6470 100% | 6484 100% | 6830 95% | 6616 98% | 6868 95% | 6608 98% | 6792 96% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 77.3 | ||||||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 99.9 | ||||||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -106% /
-17% | -0% /
1% | -47% /
-12% | -92% /
-34% | 50% /
62% | -113% /
119% |
* ... smaller is better
We calibrated the panel and created our own color profile. We only marginally improved the already good values. The factory calibration seems to be very good. MSI promises a DeltaE <2, which is how accurate the factory calibration is supposed to be. Our measurements confirm this for the grayscale, and the value for the colors is just above that (2.5).
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 3 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 17 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 14 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 8 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 6 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 24 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8705 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
The TFT can only be used outdoors in the sun to a limited extent with its reflective surface, and the maximum brightness, just under 350 cd/m² (average), is of little use.
The viewing angles are very wide, typical for IPS panels. Colors remain crisp and contours sharp from every viewing direction.
Performance - Intel Core i7 puts on the pressure
The Tiger Lake H45 chip (Willow Cove, 10 nm) is a 45-watt model that currently belongs to the spearhead of mobile processors. The Intel Core i7-11800H (8 cores) workat up to 4.60 GHz and has an enormous cache of 24 MB + 10 MB.
With both RAM sockets equipped in the test device (2x 16 GB), we have 32 GB DDR4-3200. However, the system can do even more, namely up to 64 GB (2x 32 GB).
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is standard for the Z16, and it can't be deselected. The GA106 (Ampere, 8 nm) has 65 W of maximum GPU power. When idle or doing simple work, the RTX turns itself off in favor of the Intel Xe (32 EUs).
Test conditions
In the MSI Center Pro - alternatively via a function key - you can switch between the power profiles. We selected High Performance for benchmarks. We left the fan speed, which can only be set from Auto to Extended/Cooler Boost under High Performance, on Auto. Cooler Boost provides a permanent, unbearably loud noise that hardly anyone would activate when present. The mentioned profiles are anchored in the BIOS on the hardware side and can also be set there.
Processor
The 8-core processor i7-11800H can perform up to 4.60 GHz, but only selectively on one core. In multi-core practice, it is then at best 4 GHz on all cores, as we see in Cinebench. But this is not permanent, because the SoC wants to avert overheating above 90 °C (194 °F), which is why it is reduced to up to 3.6 GHz. In this case, the CPU package power drops from an initial 75 to 62 watts.
In the loop, the achieved R15 scores thus slip from 1,933 to an average of 1,820 (-6%). The following are identically positioned with the same SoC Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) and the XPS 17, but these models have a lower starting level (1,840). Dell's XPS 15 9510 with its 11800H shows that the power output is not always that constant. Even in performance mode, the 15.6-inch model drops by 28% in the R15 loop. In short: The performance of the Z16 is impressive, which is why the CPU benchmarks are above average across the board.
With Prime95, we noticed a very similar behavior as in Cinebench. Here, the continuous work on all cores even runs with only 3.0 GHz because the temperature has increased to just over 90 °C (194 °F).
Cinebench R15 Multi Endurance test
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
| CPU Performance Rating | |
| Average of class Multimedia | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro -5! | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 -3! | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) -2! | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 -2! | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Cinebench R23 / Multi Core | |
| Average of class Multimedia (6936 - 30789, n=103, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (6508 - 14088, n=48) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Cinebench R23 / Single Core | |
| Average of class Multimedia (878 - 2290, n=94, last 2 years) | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (1386 - 1522, n=45) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (2681 - 11768, n=87, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (2498 - 5408, n=50) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (341 - 853, n=87, last 2 years) | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (520 - 586, n=47) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
| Average of class Multimedia (1252 - 4774, n=94, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (1342 - 2173, n=50) | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
| Average of class Multimedia (99.6 - 323, n=89, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (201 - 231, n=46) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (217 - 454, n=46) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (107 - 502, n=85, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (30592 - 121228, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (33718 - 56758, n=46) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Average of class Multimedia (3398 - 7545, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (5138 - 5732, n=46) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| Average of class Multimedia (4990 - 23059, n=87, last 2 years) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (4655 - 9851, n=40) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
| Average of class Multimedia (891 - 2555, n=87, last 2 years) | |
| Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (1429 - 1625, n=40) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
| Average of class Multimedia (5.26 - 30.5, n=78, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (7.38 - 17.4, n=46) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Average of class Multimedia (6.7 - 146.7, n=81, last 2 years) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (38.6 - 59.9, n=45) | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (0.548 - 0.615, n=46) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Average of class Multimedia (0.3604 - 0.947, n=79, last 2 years) | |
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
| Performance Rating | |
| Average of class Multimedia | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 -7! | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) -9! | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 -9! | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED -9! | |
| AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
| Average of class Multimedia (4906 - 36957, n=76, last 2 years) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (8772 - 15961, n=20) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
| Average of class Multimedia (14528 - 147248, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (39404 - 65636, n=20) | |
| AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (2599 - 4439, n=20) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (1529 - 6698, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (21547 - 141074, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (85233 - 91941, n=20) | |
| AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (1240 - 19021, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (6420 - 9792, n=20) | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
| Average of class Multimedia (9903 - 75780, n=76, last 2 years) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (23365 - 39464, n=20) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (74617 - 149388, n=20) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (31432 - 169946, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
| Average of class Multimedia (454 - 1973, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (461 - 830, n=43) | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (2738 - 20608, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (4545 - 8717, n=21) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
| Average of class Multimedia (7419 - 53918, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (11898 - 26757, n=21) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
System performance
The application performance according to PCMark 10 is below average, which is surprising considering the processor rates. This is not primarily due to the Phison SSD, as the SSD benchmarks subsequently show. This is probably due to the interaction of the components, which are solved better in the Razer Blade 15 Advanced or Lenovo ThinkBook 16p. The PCMark 10 score drops from 6,156 to 5,351 points (-13%) in battery mode (maximum performance profile). Accordingly, almost the full performance is available on the go.
| PCMark 10 / Score | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (4542 - 8670, n=72, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (6156 - 6865, n=4) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (8480 - 12420, n=72, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (9063 - 10522, n=4) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Average of class Multimedia (6089 - 10742, n=72, last 2 years) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (8200 - 8874, n=4) | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Average of class Multimedia (3651 - 13548, n=72, last 2 years) | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (8520 - 9423, n=4) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| PCMark 10 Score | 6156 points | |
Help | ||
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| Average of class Multimedia (20549 - 104459, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P15s Gen2-20W6000GGE | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (24508 - 48144, n=21) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| Average of class Multimedia (22917 - 125604, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P15s Gen2-20W6000GGE | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (25882 - 50365, n=20) | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Average of class Multimedia (20226 - 117933, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P15s Gen2-20W6000GGE | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (22240 - 46214, n=20) | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| Average of class Multimedia (7 - 346, n=77, last 2 years) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P15s Gen2-20W6000GGE | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-11800H (71.9 - 104.1, n=44) | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC latencies
The Latency Monitor observes high latencies driven by kernel & ACPI drivers. For Real-Time Audio and Video this can be a problem. The measurement is based on the present driver and hardware configuration.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| HP ZBook Studio G7 | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P15s Gen2-20W6000GGE | |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | |
| MSI Creator Z16 A11UET-209 | |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 11800H RTX 3050 Ti OLED | |
| Dell XPS 17 9710 Core i7 RTX 3060 | |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 16p G2 ACH | |
* ... smaller is better
Mass storage
The Phison SSD with a gross capacity of one terabyte occupies one of the two M.2 sockets, so there is potential for upgrading. RAID is apparently not possible, and the BIOS does not offer any corresponding options - at least not in the upgrade state with an SSD.
The Drive Performance Rating summarizes different measurements. The Phison SSD is right behind the SSSTC from the Razer and leaves all other models behind. In particular, it is in the reading and writing of small blocks where the Phison appears particularly good.
* ... smaller is better
Continuous load read: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
Graphics card
The GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card is known for its good price-performance ratio, and it brings upper mid-range gaming power to the office. In the Z16, it can access 6 GB of VRAM and works with up to 1,357 MHz boost clock.