MSI Prestige A16 AI+ (Strix Point APU) Laptop Review

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you.

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

MSI has an absolutely gigantic array of different shapes and sizes when it comes to laptops, with the company sending over its Prestige A16 AI+ laptop for review.

The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop is great for those who want some good, but not crazy high-end CPU performance - thanks to the Strix Point APU inside we've got 12 cores and 24 threads of Zen 5 processing power - as well as a 16-inch OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The company is competing with the likes of laptop behemoths Dell, HP and many others with its new Copilot+ laptop offering, but how does it stack up? It's not for gamers, but the Strix Point APU can easily handle some light 1080p 30-60FPS gaming, but for business, work, and content creation use? Let's see about that.

First, let's address the price - you're looking at around $1400 for the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop where you'll be getting some decent specs: an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 "Strix Point" APU, with an RDNA 3.5-powered Radeon 880M integrated GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of Gen4 SSD storage, and a 16-inch 3840 x 2400 display with an OLED panel and 16:10 aspect ratio.

The TL;DR here is that the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop is a great laptop for consumer use, light workloads, even medium workloads, and especially video playback where the 16-inch 4K OLED display really shines. If you want something for work + office + multimedia playback... there's something to dive into with the Prestige A16 AI+ laptop.

Specs Reviewed:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 "Strix Point" APU (10C/20T)
• GPU: AMD Radeon 880M (12 CUs of RDNA 3.5)
• RAM: 32GB
• Storage: 1TB Gen4
• Display: 16-inch 4K OLED @ 90Hz (also available in 1600p IPS)

Best Deals: MSI Prestige A16 AI+ Laptop

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$1398.01 USD	$1460.86 USD	-	Buy
	$1398.01 USD	$1460.86 USD	-	Buy
	$1398.01 USD	$1460.86 USD	-	Buy
	$1398.01 USD	$1460.86 USD	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 6/15/2025 at 1:07 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Overview

The specific review sample we were sent was the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ A3HMG-047AU.

MSI doesn't disappoint when it comes to aesthetics across most of its products, with the Prestige A16 AI+ laptop looking nothing short of impressive through its silver aluminum chassis and a gorgeous (and glossy) MSI logo on the lid which makes it look much higher-end when it's closed, or from behind when someone else is looking at it.

23

Because this is a Copilot+ laptop we have a dedicated Copilot+ button on the keyboard, with a single press enabling the Copilot+ AI assistant for Windows.

The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop weighs in at 4.44lbs, and measures in at 14.09 x 10.17 x 0.66 inches, making it for a pretty heavy laptop (something you need to factor in before purchasing).

AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 365 "Strix Point" APU is inside of the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, offering up 10 cores and 20 threads of Zen 5 processing power, with 12 CUs of RDNA 3.5-based GPU cores. It provides great CPU performance, and just-alright GPU performance for gaming.

23

MSI allows for up to 32GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory inside, with a single Gen4 SSD slot (which is unfortunate, but there are plenty of super-fast external SSD options on the market now, but it would've been nice to have another Gen4 SSD slot + up to 64GB RAM available in the Prestige A16 AI+).

MSI packs in a large 16-inch 4K (2560 x 1600) OLED panel, which looks absolutely gorgeous in the flesh. Once you go OLED, you won't go back.

23

AMD's new Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs feature an XDNA 2-based NPU for AI workloads, packing 50 TOPS of AI performance from the NPU alone. Plenty of NPU performance for AI workloads running locally on the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop.

Features + I/O

MSI includes a boatload of I/O on its Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, with dual USB4 Type-C (DP + PD 3.0 charging and Thunderbolt 4 compatible) on the left (one of which you'll use to charge the laptop). On the other side of the laptop, we've got an audio combo jack, microSD card reader, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, and HDMI 2.1 output (which is fantastic to see, as it supports up to 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz).

Detailed Look

As for dimensions, we have the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop in at an ultra-light 1.9kg, and a slim 16.9mm to 17.35mm (depending on the model, either the 2400p OLED which is thinner, or the 1600p IPS which is thicker).

MSI presents a fantastic look and higher-quality style with its Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, where there's no major RGB bling... it'll blend into an environment easily, without looking too bland.

A decent amount of ventilation to keep that Strix Point APU cool.

23

Ooooh yeah... we've got that beautifully thin and equally gorgeous OLED panel on the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop. It is so thin.

23

The slimmer design is great, with the Prestige A16 AI+ packing enough horsepower for most users' needs, while still coming in at decently thin (with a bunch of I/O).

23

The keyboard was running a little warm during my use (depending on the workloads) but overall, I had no issues with my ultra-fast typing on the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop (which is probably the biggest part someone has to like: the keyboard).

Benchmarks

Cinebench R24

23

Inside the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop is its heart: AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 365 "Strix Point" APU with this SKU featuring 10 cores and 20 threads of Zen 5 processing power. Running Cinebench R24, we have 942 points on the multi-core test, which isn't bad considering the desktop Ryzen 7 7800X3D scores 1055 points.

3DMark Speed Way + Steel Nomad

The RDNA 3.5-based APU inside of the Strix Point APU with 12 CUs (Radeon 880M) struggles heavily in gaming compared to discrete GPUs, where you can see that the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU absolutely thrashes it in 3DMark.

3DMark Speed Way has the Prestige A16 AI+ laptop and its Radeon 880M integrated GPU hitting just 530 points, compared to 2801 points on the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, and 2895 points on the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU.

The same performance occurs on 3DMark's Steel Nomad run, with 552 points from the Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, compared to 2569 points from the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU.

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme + TimeSpy

TimeSpy is a little easier on the RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 880M iGPU with the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop scoring 3331 points for its Graphics score, compared to 9316 points from the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU.

Gaming Performance

I wouldn't be running out and buying the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop for gaming, but that doesn't mean you can't game on it. Inside, the Radeon 880M is based on the newer RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture, with 12 CUs inside of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 "Strix Point" APU. This is compared to the 16 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU power inside of the Radeon 890M inside of the higher-end Ryzen AI 9 370 "Strix Point" APU, so you're looking at around 30% less FPS across the board.

23

AMD has its enthusiast Ryzen AI Max+ 300 series "Strix Halo" APUs inside of gaming laptops and gaming tablets now, with a far larger 32 to 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU ticking inside, with the full 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 processing power if you want proper gaming performance inside of a power-sipping and ultra-thin gaming laptop.

However, you can dial the graphics details down to Low or Medium on the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ and still get some modest gaming performance out of the Strix Point APU at 1080p. If you're playing older games, you can expect 60FPS or more, and even some esports titles will pump out up to 60FPS on the Prestige A16 AI+ laptop.

One of the bigger issues with the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop is that I had issues with some games running, with Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth Wukong outright refusing to open. Overwatch 2 was alright for maybe 30% of the time, making it unplayable for the most part.

Performance + Battery Life

If you've got a higher-end Wi-Fi 7 router at home, the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop is ready with Wi-Fi 7 support, with a maximum data rate of nearly 5.8Gbps. This is 2.4x faster than 2.4Gbps speeds pumped out of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E wireless networking.

MSI claims to have around 13 hours of battery life for productivity workloads on its Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, while in our testing we saw a little over 12 hours of Netflix 1080p playback and a little bit of web browsing and work in between at 80% brightness.

23

The MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop also features enterprise-grade security, where you can sign into your laptop with your face or fingerprint using Windows Hello. The webcam is always watching you, with the PC sensing your presence with its proximity sensors detecting your presence, providing quick screen activation and deactivation as you move around your room.

There's also the ability to disable the camera on the laptop through the Webcam Shutter, providing you with a full-on private and secure use of your laptop.

Performance Thoughts

I used the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop as my daily driver for working for around 2 weeks for the purpose of the review, with benchmarks and all that run in between. MSI impressed at first with the fantastic 16-inch OLED display and the good keyboard to type on, while around 10 hours of battery life from my workload was more than enough to handle for the day.

23

The 16-inch 4K OLED display is nothing short of gorgeous, with anything and everything you look at - whether it's Windows, web browsing, text, videos and streaming, or gaming - an OLED panel is beautiful. For the workstation side of things, an OLED display is far better on the eyes than an IPS panel, so the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop is a joy to the eyes at all times of the day or night.

The keyboard is the second-most important part of any laptop for me, with MSI's Prestige A16 AI+ rocking a large keyboard that has 3 stages of backlights that make the keyboard light up perfectly when I was working in darker environments at night.

I also loved the travel speed on the keys, as I type quite fast and like the chiclet-style keyboards on laptops (and even my desktop keyboard, which is a Logitech G915 Lightspeed... for now, changing that out soon).

AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 365 "Strix Point" APU has enough CPU and GPU power to drive my everyday tasks without an issue while staring at a 16-inch 4K OLED, which is like eye candy to my nerd inner self.

Battery Life + Charging + Warranty

MSI provides super-fast transfer and charging speeds using the USB4 port on the side of the Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, supporting up to 100W of charging speeds through the USB-C connector thanks to PD charging. MSI includes a 2-year limited warranty on its Prestige A16 AI+ laptop.

Final Thoughts

Wrapping up the review, MSI presents a rather respectable laptop with its Prestige A16 AI+ model, featuring highlights such as the AMD Strix Point APU, a larger 16-inch 4K OLED display, and a relatively great design... let down by not-so-great battery life, and a not-so-thin design.

23

MSI has a fantastic aesthetic with its Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, where it looks like a regular business or workstation laptop in a crowd of Apple MacBooks or gaming laptops. The OLED display is a gorgeous addition, the keyboard does the job (but could be better), but it's let down by it's almost unnecessary thickness.

You can only install up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1 x Gen4 SSD inside of the MSI Prestige A16 AI+ laptop, yet competitors with the same Strix Point APU can have higher RAM and SSD specs and thinner laptops with the beefier Strix Halo APU from AMD can have up to 128GB of RAM (!!!) and multiple Gen4 SSDs alongside a new Gen5 SSD.

However, the positives are there, as I said previously - we've got a beautiful 16-inch 4K OLED display that I found an absolute wonder to use for my daily work needs. The keyboard does the job, and the fact that it's a full-sized keyboard with a number pad is even better (especially for those who are button-mashing the number pad all day).