MSI Prestige PS63 Preview – Business prestige project

MSI breathed new life into its Prestige laptop series in 2018, with the high-end P65 and the 14″ PS42 . The manufacturer does not stop there, because the introduction of the PS63 will follow at CES in Las Vegas. just like the P65, a 15.6″ screen with thin screen edges, but a less fast processor and video card. There is also a lower price of 1600 euros for the most expensive model. MSI was kind enough to send us a pre-production copy of the PS63. Unfortunately we were not allowed to run benchmarks on it, because it is not ‘finished’ yet, but we were able to get a good first impression of it.

In any case, for the design of the case, MSI has opted for something that bears little resemblance to the gaming laptops with which the company has become known, although it is still hinted at here and there. For example, the letters on the keyboard have the same signature font as the gaming laptop, and the dragon logo is simply on the back of the screen. Fortunately, no too contrasting colors were used for that logo, because it somewhat detracts from the business look of the laptop.

The housing is made of dark gray metal and is characterized by a dark blue shiny border around the touchpad and the back of the screen. The glossy finish is somewhat similar to the Asus Zenbook 3 , but with that laptop it had a golden edge and the dark blue edge on the MSI is a lot more subtle. The weight is 1642 grams, which is quite light for a metal laptop with a GTX 1050 video card and associated cooling.

Quick Charge 3.0 and other connections

MSI has divided the connections over the sides of the laptop and the most striking is the USB port on the left. It supports Quick Charge 3.0, the previous generation of Qualcomm’s fast charging technology. Phones from Sony, Xiaomi, HTC and Nokia, among others, support the charging specification and can therefore be charged with a higher voltage than the standard 5 volts. We tried fast charging with an LG G5, G7 Thinq and a Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact, but that didn’t work and more than 1.4 amps at the standard 5 volts didn’t come out of the socket. Presumably this will work on the model that is ultimately in the store, because as mentioned, this is still a test copy.

Next to the ‘Quick Charge connection’ is a USB-C connection that supports the transmission of images, but cannot be used to charge the laptop. The HDMI connection supports a maximum of HDMI 1.4, so you cannot connect 4K screens with a refresh rate higher than 30Hz. The HDMI 2.0 spec dates from 2013, but there are still very few laptops that are equipped with that connection, not even the PS63. There are two more USB-A connections on the right, the left of which works at 10Gbit/s. Finally, the micro SD reader, in our opinion, should have been an ordinary SD card reader. The latter is more practical and there seems to be enough space where the micro-reader is now.

Hardware

The PS63 features an Intel Whiskey Lake processor. Our test model was equipped with the i7-8565U, with a maximum turbo speed of 4.6GHz. As a video card, there is the option for an Nvidia GTX 1050 max-Q, but you can also opt for a version of the laptop without an Nvidia GPU. The latter option is more interesting than it seems, because 15″ laptops in the price segment of the PS63 generally all have an extra video card, while this is not necessary for office work. If you do not need that Nvidia card, you can choose for the model with ‘8M’ in the type name, while the one with Nvidia chip is called ‘8RB’.

Our test model was equipped with 16GB of memory, at DDR4-2400 speed. Unfortunately, that was a single module, so the memory runs in a single-channel configuration and the performance is somewhat lower than with two modules in a dual-channel configuration. An advantage is that it is easy to expand the working memory, because the laptop has two memory slots.

Expansion is facilitated by the fact that the bottom of the laptop is easy to remove. Behind it, in addition to the memory slots, there are also two m2 slots for SSDs. One is filled with a fast Samsung PM981 SSD, but you can use the second to increase the storage. The network card is also inserted in an m2 slot and you could also replace it. The battery has a capacity of 80.25Wh and, according to MSI’s statement, this should be good for a battery life of sixteen hours.

Keyboard, touchpad and display

The PS63 has a keyboard without a numeric island, which allowed it to be positioned in the middle of the laptop. The keys have a somewhat soft touch and not too much travel, but that makes sense, given the thickness of the housing. The touchpad is made of glass and has a nice wide surface.

Oddly enough, the touchpad isn’t a Precision Touchpad, which is something we’d expect on a laptop in this price range. The standard swipe gestures in Windows 10 therefore do not work on this test sample. Perhaps that is also something that will be improved on the final copy. It is also a pity that the fingerprint scanner has been incorporated into the touchpad, making the top left corner unusable. On the other hand, you’re less likely to miss that corner than with other laptops, because the surface of the touchpad is so large.