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日本Top 5 reasons to BUY or NOT to buy the MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux)
We were very surprised with the Creator Z16 from MSI. It is a stylish device that on first look seems like the perfect creator laptop. The promise of a powerful Core i7 CPU and a very good color-accurate display is very tempting.
However, as with most advertising, MSI does a good job here to use good marketing and a very aesthetic exterior to mask up and deviate attention from some of the flaws of the device.
Today we present you with LaptopMedia’s top 5 picks about the MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux).
MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux): Full Specs / In-depth Review
3 reasons to BUY the MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux)
1. Design and build quality
As with most MSI laptops, this one is a straight-up supermodel. With a fully aluminum unibody and a thickness of 16.3 mm, this is one portable device that packs a massive 16-inch screen. In terms of the design, the laptop has an oval shape, which contrasts with other MSI products, which employ a more industrial and angular approach to their designs. With a weight of 2.30 kg, it is a bit of a hassle to carry around. Thankfully the body is sturdy enough to resits our efforts when we tried to flex it.
2. Input devices
MSI has put a lot of focus on the keyboard and touchpad, delivering great units. The keyboard has decently long key travel, considering the thickness of the device, and clicky feedback. Furthermore, the unit has a MiniLED backlight, which can be configured to act like a per-key backlight. While the display has a 16:10 aspect ratio, the touchpad looks like it has an 18:9 aspect ratio, favoring a wider design. The glass cover, however, does a great job of providing smooth gliding and accurate tracking.
3. Upgradeability
The laptop is very upgradeable, but the whole procedure is way more complicated than it needs to be. There are two SODIMM RAM slots and two M.2 PCIe x4 drives.
Here is our detailed teardown video, which shows exactly how to access both the RAM and SSD slots.
2 reasons NOT to buy the MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux)
1. Display quality
The 16-inch QHD+ IPS display here offers amazing qualities such as excellent viewing angles, a 120Hz refresh rate, a max brightness of around 350 nits, and a deviation of 9%. The contrast ratio of 960:1 does seem a bit low for a creator laptop. The one area where the panel falters is with its uniformity. Basically, the brightness is uneven in the top right corner.
In terms of color coverage, the laptop fully covers the sRGB, AdobeRGB, and DCI-P3 gamuts.
We tested the color accuracy with the sRGB preset in MSI’s settings. The accuracy was already good with the factory settings but got even better when we applied our Design and Gaming panel. Here you can compare the results with the stock settings (left) and with our profile (right).
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux) configurations with 16″ WQXGA IPS AUO B160QAN02.P (AUOBF99).
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
2. CPU performance
Despite our laptop being equipped with the Core i7-11800H, if you take a look at the test results, you wouldn’t guess that this was the case. The laptop doesn’t perform as well as other laptops with the same CPU, which is the case with other MSI devices featuring this exact processor.
