MSI Stealth A16 AI+ hands-on review: Ushering in the next generation

The AI computing era is well and truly here — the bell has been rung at Computex 2024 with AMD and Intel’s new NPU-centric chipsets, and laptop companies have jumped on them like white on rice.

MSI is a key brand in this paradigm shift, and the Stealth A16 AI+ is (in my opinion) the perfect combination of work and play. It’s a fantastic creator laptop thanks to that AMD Ryzen 300 AI CPU and RTX 4070 pairing, alongside a gorgeous keyboard with per-key RGB and plenty of travel.

Combine it with a stellar QHD display with a fast refresh rate, a solid pair of speakers and a sleek, premium aesthetic, and that gives you what I like to call the next generation of creator laptops. Nicely balanced between prosumer workloads and a ton of gaming potential.

But is an under-the-hood update enough? There are some unknowns here, such as how far that 99.9Wh battery will go. Plus, will that additional power and TDP cause thermal throttling? We don’t know, but this thing certainly gets hot on the bottom. Let’s take a closer look.

MSI Stealth A16 AI+: Specs

MSI Stealth A16 AI+: What we like

From our early impressions, there’s a lot to like here. Of course, we want to put a lot of these pros through their paces before being definitive about them, but there are some elements we can celebrate fully.

It’s certainly a portable workhorse

At 19.9mm thick and weighing 2.1kg, it’s certainly in the same ballpark as the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and it’s quite the looker too. The word “stealth” stealthily sneaks its way onto the hinge while the aluminum shell opens up to reveal a per-key RGB keyboard, a spacious touchpad and that gorgeous 16-inch 16:10 display. 

Without testing it properly, I can’t say just how good this panel is, but in my short time flicking through apps, there’s a lot to like about this screen.

The keyboard itself has plenty of depth to each key press, with a nice cushion at the bottom to soften your more forceful interactions while typing. Plus, the touchpad has a nice responsive click that doesn’t feel spongey at all.

On top of that, MSI has added a bunch of very useful ports from 2.5 gigabit ethernet to USB 4, and wireless connectivity has seen a healthy bump up to WiFi 7 capabilities — making the most of those news speeds when they become available.

AI creativity prowess

Opening the hood, you’ll see the two big improvements here. First, we’re getting up to an RTX 4070 GPU in here, which is perfect for both the graphics intensive workloads and AAA gaming at the same time.

Second, but most importantly, the CPU has been upgraded to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, packing an NPU with a ceiling of 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS) for running the more advanced AI models.

We’ve discussed numerous other chip updates before, and while I can’t say for sure without putting this laptop through our testing lab, it’s fair to say we’ll see some improvements across the board.

A giant battery

We know Snapdragon X Elite laptops can give the stamina champ, the MacBook Air, a true run for its money. And chances are MSI could do the same with AMD — putting a 99.9Wh cell inside this machine.

Will this translate into longevity? I’m not sure, but at least the capacity is heading in the right direction.

MSI Stealth A16 AI+: What we don’t like

There are only one at this early stage — one which is probably caused by the bump up in hardware specs for the Stealth A16 AI+.

Burning down the house?

While checking out this laptop, I felt the bottom and…well…it may be best to keep it on a desk because this thing gets hot.

All it was doing at the time was showing a demo reel, and yet the fans kicked up, and MSI’s cool laptop struggled to keep its cool. Of course, this may be fixed before its Q3 announcement, but it is definitely something to pay attention to when we get the final model in our hands.

MSI Stealth A16 AI+: Outlook

That is the early story of the MSI Stealth A16 AI+ — another bridge between pro productivity and gaming that is turbocharged with AI smarts, thanks to that new AMD chip.

It’s clear that this has been built to compete with other 16-inch creator systems like the MacBook Pro, but time will tell whether it can topple the king off his throne.

But a fair warning to Apple: I think MSI is onto something here.

Back to MacBook Air

SORT BYPrice (low to high)Price (high to low)Product Name (A to Z)Product Name (Z to A)Retailer name (A to Z)Retailer name (Z to A)

Load more deals