The MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V) is meant for professionals who need a powerful big device with a sleek look that isn't too heavy at the same time. When it's opened, the laptop reminds us of a MacBook Pro machine, just like some of its predecessors. The security looks good for such a notebook. You get a fingerprint reader as well as dTPM 2.0 and fTPM 2.0 modules. The only thing that we are missing here is a privacy shutter for the Web camera. You can choose among a plethora of Raptor Lake H and HX CPU options. Keep in mind that the Intel ABT (Adaptive Boost Technology) and TVB (Thermal Velocity Boost) are exclusively supported by the top-end processor which is the Core i9-13980HX. So, if you need such tech, you have to pay a lot more for the most expensive mobile Team Blue chip for the series. The machine is also offered with NVIDIA RTX 4000 GPUs and there are some professional video cards in the mix like the 90W version of the RTX A3000 (Laptop). Even the base display should be enough for most users because it's a 16" 1600p IPS unit with 165Hz frequency. However, if money isn't a problem, you can get the fancy MiniLED optional panel with the same resolution and refresh rate as the former. You can also rely on Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity, four stereo speakers, an optional touchscreen alongside MSI Pen, and a vapor chamber cooling system. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/msi-creator-creatorpro-z16-hx-studio-a13vx/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.msi.com/Content-Creation/Creator-Z16-HX-Studio-A13VX/support What's in the box? Our laptop has a 240W charger in the box, the Core i9-based machines are bundled with a 280W adapter. Design and construction The design of this machine is something special. It looks clean, sleek, and modern thanks to the CNC aluminum chassis with sharp edges. The laptop is built like a tank, when it's close, you can't twist it at all which is great. The device weighs 2.30 kilos and has a profile of 19 mm which isn't bad at all considering the size of the display and the hardware under the bonnet. There is a slight concave in the front side of the base for easier opening with a single hand. That happens very smoothly - the hinge stiffness is spot on. The lid can be flexed a bit but that shouldn't be a problem during normal usage. The bezels around the display are thin except for the lower one that houses the MSI logo. Above the panel is placed a 1080p 30FPS IR Web camera. The keyboard has large grippy keycaps with long travel and nice clicky feedback. The board is very comfortable for long typing sessions or even for gaming. The backlight glows in a single color (white) and you also get a NumPad section and big Arrow keys. Below this section, you'll find the fingerprint reader. The lid has a lever mechanism so it'll lift the back of the base when the angle of opening is wider than 90 degrees. This provides more airflow to the thermal system of the device. Above the board, you can see a long ventilation grill. The only place where you can spot some slight bends is the zone between the Space key and the touchpad. The latter is pretty large, it's super smooth and comfortable for work, and its click mechanism is nearly silent. You can see the two cooling fans through the big ventilation grill on the bottom plate. There, you'll see a battery reset hole, the cutouts for the speakers, and two long rubber feet. The hot air is pushed through four vents - two on the back and two on the sides of the laptop. Part of the heat reaches the display during heavy CPU loads. Ports On the left side, you will find the charging plug, a Thunderbolt 4 connector with DisplayPort (for up to 8K external displays) and charging capabilities (up to 100W), a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port with DisplayPort functionality, and an Audio combo jack. On the right, you can see a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 2) port and an SD Express Card Reader. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V) is equipped with a Mini LED, LTPS (Low Temperature Polysilicon LCD), WQXGA (Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array) panel, model number AUO B160QAN02.K (AUODB95). It comes with a 165Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 16" (40.6 cm), and the resolution - 2560 x 1600p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 189 ppi, and their pitch – 0.13 x 0.13 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 46 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 623 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 621 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of only 3% (HDR Off). The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6470K (average). In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0). The contrast ratio is very high, similar to OLED displays, and it depends on the picture content. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V)'s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 100% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, and 96% of DCI-P3, ensuring a super vibrant and attractive picture. The “MSI True Color” app emulates the DCI-P3 and sRGB color gamuts. The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V)'s panel backlight has significant pulsations. Their frequency is relatively high, but the filling coefficient is very low. The last segment of the chart below is from another display, which has a similar maximum brightness but does not use PWM. This display might not be very comfortable for the more sensitive users. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 106.0 GU). Sound MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V)'s speakers produce a sound of good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones have some slight deviations from clarity. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the "Extreme Performance" profile activated in the MSI Center. Also, the "MSI Hybrid Graphics Mode" is turned on and the "Performance mode" is applied in the BIOS in the "User Scenario" section. In addition, the “Best performance” preset is activated in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu. CPU options You can choose between Intel Core i7-13700H, Core i7-13700HX, Core i9-13900H, Core i9-13900HX, Core i9-13950H, and Core i9-13980HX. GPU options All GPU options have a 90W TGP - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 (Laptop), GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop), GeForce RTX 4070 (Laptop), RTX A2000 (Laptop), and RTX A3000 (Laptop). Gaming tests Assassin's Creed Valhalla Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 168 fps 142 fps 119 fps 102 fps Borderlands 3 Full HD, V.Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Badass (Check settings) Average FPS 212 fps 163 fps 111 fps 85 fps Far Cry 6 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 162 fps 127 fps 111 fps Gears 5 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 259 fps 179 fps 153 fps 121 fps Despite its moderate TGP, the GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop, 90W) can show great scores when it's complemented by a snappy CPU. [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power Intel Core i7-13700HX (55W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V) 4.36 GHz @ 2.55 GHz @ 87°C @ 159W 4.07 GHz @ 2.44 GHz @ 88°C @ 135W 3.79 GHz @ 2.34 GHz @ 88°C @ 115W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-71) 3.78 GHz @ 3.01 GHz @ 76°C @ 157W 3.75 GHz @ 3.01 GHz @ 85°C @ 157W 3.12 GHz @ 2.48 GHz @ 68°C @ 100W Acer Predator Helios 16 (PH16-71) 2.16 GHz @ 3.66 GHz @ 85°C @ 157W 2.38 GHz @ 3.47 GHz @ 94°C @ 156W 1.30 GHz @ 3.62 GHz @ 75°C @ 115W HP Omen 17 (2023, 17-ck2000) 3.49 GHz @ 2.86 GHz @ 66°C @ 130W 3.48 GHz @ 2.80 GHz @ 74°C @ 130W 3.10 GHz @ 2.44 GHz @ 76°C @ 100W The Core i7-13700HX inside this laptop can maintain high CPU clocks and power limits even in long periods of heavy loads which is impressive. The temperatures are a bit on the high side but that's expected considering the profile thickness of this MSI notebook. Real-life gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min) GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V) 2280 MHz @ 72°C @ 90W 2273 MHz @ 75°C @ 90W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-51) "Turbo" preset 2520 MHz @ 78°C @ 112W 2520 MHz @ 81°C @ 111W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-51) "Performance" preset 2490 MHz @ 73°C @ 108W 2490 MHz @ 73°C @ 108W ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (FA507, 2023) 2520 MHz @ 78°C @ 112W 2520 MHz @ 81°C @ 111W Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 4 2475 MHz @ 76°C @ 107W 2475 MHz @ 77°C @ 108W HP Victus 16 (16-r0000) 2520 MHz @ 77°C @ 107W 2520 MHz @ 76°C @ 107W On the other hand, the thermals of the GPU are always in check. The video card can sustain 2273 MHz after half an hour of gaming - that's fine for a 90W power limit. Comfort during full load In CPU-intensive tasks, the cooling fans are moderately loud. During gaming, the noise levels are lower (and acceptable for long hours of playing games). You can choose between four power modes and you also can manually control the fan curve. When the internals are heavily stressed, the center of the keyboard gets a bit warm but nothing serious. During max processor load, the fan speed is around 4950 RPM. In idle or under very light usage, the fans are completely turned off. The GPU performance will be much lower if you choose the "Balanced" mode. Then, the TGP is just ~48W while in "Extreme Performance", the power limit is 90W. You can have a look at the main menu of the BIOS. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This laptop's 90Wh battery lasts for 5 hours and 53 minutes of Web browsing or 7 hours and 9 minutes of video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the "Balanced" preset in the MSI Center. Also, the "Integrated Graphics Mode" has to be turned on (in order to use the iGPU) and the "Balanced" mode should be selected in the BIOS in the "User Scenario" section. The “Balanced” preset is activated in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance To open this notebook, you need to undo 6 Phillips-head screws. Then, lift the back panel in one of the zones around the hinges to create a slight gap between the body and the metal piece. After that, you can pop the plate with a thin pry tool starting from the back of the laptop and then you can work your way around on the sides and the front. Here's how the bottom panel looks on the inside. The battery is a 90Wh model. To take it out, unplug the connector from the motherboard and undo the two Phillips-head screws that are fixing the unit to the chassis. The capacity is enough for 5 hours and 53 minutes of Web browsing or 7 hours and 9 minutes of video playback. There is a protective metal shroud above the RAM area. The two SODIMMs fit up to 64GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM in dual-channel mode. For storage, you get one M.2 slot. On the bright side, it's compatible with the latest and greatest Gen 5 NVMes. There is a thick cooling pad below the preinstalled SSD. The vapor chamber cooling is big. Some of its components are visible like the two two fans and the four heat sinks. Storage performance Our laptop has a 1TB Micron_3400_MTFDKBA1T0TFH. Below you can see some benchmarks of this Gen 4 NVMe. Its temperatures under load are high - 70°C. Verdict The MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V) is a 16" device that offers premium build quality and powerful hardware. The vapor chamber cooling is doing its job well. Despite the 19mm profile, the CPU clocks and power limits under heavy loads are very high. The GPU can also sustain stable 90W which is nice to see. Interestingly, the two fans aren't as loud as a jet fighter even while benchmarking the processor with Cinebench R24. During gaming, the noise is lower which is good. By the way, the fans are turned off when the laptop is in an idle state. The optional 1600p 165Hz MiniLED display (AUO B160QAN02.K (AUODB95)) boasts 100% sRGB and 96% DCP-P3 color coverage. This combined with the snappy and well-cooler hardware transforms the device into a very capable laptop for content creation. The only downside of the panel is the PWM usage. The I/O isn't full of ports but the selection is modern with its Thunderbolt 4 connector and SD Express Card Reader. The keyboard has a backlight, a NumPad, and a backlight. The board is comfortable for work and the same applies to the big touchpad with a smooth surface. You get two SODIMMs slots for up to 64GB of DDR5. That's good but on the other hand, the single M.2 slot is a con. Still, it's compatible with Gen 5 SSDs. The battery life can be considered as decent given the hardware under the bonnet and the high-res display. At the end of the day, the MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio (A13V) could be a wet dream for content creators who are looking for a premium notebook that offers exceptional build quality, high-end hardware, and a great display. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/msi-creator-creatorpro-z16-hx-studio-a13vx/