MSI Prestige PS42 8RB-059
Specifications
Price comparison
Average of 4 scores (from 4 reviews)
Reviews for the MSI Prestige PS42 8RB-059
A good first try. MSI wants to expand its lineup to include more business laptops and the PS42 represents the manufacturer's first attempt at a narrow-bezel 14-inch offering for business users. The result is a unique system that is on par with the XPS 13 in a few ways but with a longer list of flaws.
Source: Hardware Zone
Archive.org versionWhile the MSI Prestige PS42 represents excellent value from a performance and price standpoint, there are some concerns worth highlighting. To begin, build quality is clearly not on the same level as some of its peers and that detracts from the overall user experience. For a company that has so much experience building notebooks, it's quite surprising that the Prestige PS42 feels the way it does. Additionally, the display also isn’t quite up to scratch in my opinion - a bit too dim and too grainy. The trackpad is also tiny by today's standards and makes me want to use a mouse. Finally, while the notebook does have USB-C ports, they don’t support Thunderbolt 3. Granted, Thunderbolt 3 devices are pricey and still pretty rare, but one always wants to know that his/her investment is ready for the future.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 12/15/2018
Rating: Total score: 80% price: 85% performance: 90% mobility: 80% workmanship: 75%
Source: Laptop Mag
Archive.org versionThe MSI PS42 8RB is a compelling ultrabook with a dedicated GPU, but poor battery life holds it back from greatness.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/19/2018
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: PC Mag
Archive.org versionAn ultraportable from gaming-PC maker MSI, the PS42 offers mid-level graphics performance in a very slim package, but it suffers from a stodgy design and a tiny touchpad.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/25/2018
Rating: Total score: 60%
Foreign Reviews
Source: WinFuture
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Short, Date: 09/22/2018
Comment
Series: MSI continues to impress the tech-savvy community with more simple and elegant laptop designs which are guaranteed to appeal to modern aesthetic views. The MSI PS42 enters the scene with much anticipation and more promising prospects to deliver. First of all, let us touch on the design of the laptop itself. MSI has made itself known to come up with laptops with a distinguished theme which typically revolves around prestige and elegance. This does not come short for the MSI PS42 as this particular laptop model retains the signature MSI look with its ultra-light chassis framework foiled with hair-brushed aluminum. The keyboard emits comforting white lights to complement with the entire theme of the laptop. Moreover, it is to be noted that the MSI PS42 is very thin and only measures up to 1.19 kilograms in weight. This makes the MSI PS42 extremely portable for frequent laptop users who are always on the go.
The MSI PS42 comes with a distinct cooling system of its own. Aptly named as the Cooler Boost 3, this dual thermal cooling system harnesses the strength of two dedicated fans and three heat pipes to channel out built-up heat efficiently under the pressure of intense workload. Generated noises caused by the Cooler Boost 3 are significantly mitigated to ensure that unwelcomed nuisance is removed from the equation. The Cooler Boost 3 technology works in tandem with high-end components such as the Core i7 Extreme CPUs and GTX880M 8GB graphics. This highly suggests that the Cooler Boost 3 is designed with the latest innovation in mind in order to improve cooling performance up to the next level.
The MSI PS42 also comes equipped with the exclusive True Color Technology which provides a variety of modes tailored for different settings and usage. The True Color Technology introduces up to six different profiles for screen color optimization. Users can opt for a profile of their choice, be it the Anti-Blue Mode or the professional Designer Mode, as long as the selected preset pleases the eyes without sacrificing viewing comfort in place of work efficiency. Not only that, users are bound to realize that the True Color Technology displays colors as close to 100 % sRGB. Suffice to say, each color-correcting mode is tailored with a specific target audience in mind, be they interior designers or avid gamers alike, the presets which are made available by the True Color Technology strive to deliver the best screen experience to whoever and wherever the users are.
Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam
NVIDIA GeForce MX150: Pascal GP108 based laptop graphics card and mobile version of the desktop GeForce GT 1030. Offers 384 shader cores and usually 2 GB GDDR5 with a 64 Bit memory bus. Manufactured in 14nm.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
i5-8550U: Kaby-Lake-Refresh based low power quad-core processor. The four cores are clocked between 1.8 and 4 GHz (Turbo Boost) and support HyperThreading. The integrated GPU is clocked between 300 and 1,150 MHz. The SoC is manufactured in a 14nm+ FinFET process.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
14.00":
There are hardly any tablets in this display size range anymore. For subnotebooks, on the other hand, it is the standard format.
The advantage of subnotebooks is that the entire laptop can be small and therefore easily portable. The smaller display also has the advantage of requiring less power, which further improves battery life and thus mobility. The disadvantage is that reading texts is more strenuous on the eyes. High resolutions are more likely to be found in standard laptops.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI) was founded in 1986 in Taiwan. MSI is especially known as a manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards for PCs, but also offers computer accessories, complete systems, motherboards, graphics cards, laptops, desktop PCs, monitors and other components. However, the Microstar brand name in Germany belongs to the Medion company. MSI is known for its gaming products and has developed a wide range of gaming laptops and desktop PCs. The company is also active in workstations, servers and industrial automation. MSI has offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
72.48%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
