CES 2019: MSI PS63 Modern Notebook, a 15.6-inch with 16 Hours Battery Life
by Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on January 15, 2019 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- MSI
- Trade Shows
- GTX 1050 Ti
- Whiskey Lake
- CES 2019
- PS63 Modern
Designed with content creators and designers in mind, the new 15.6" MSI PS63 Modern looks to make a bold statement. The key feature for this new notebook is the specifications: under the hood we get Intel's latest Whiskey Lake processor, combined with a GTX 1050 Max-Q graphics card, a 15.6-inch 1080p display, and yet MSI claims that this system will hit 16 hours of battery life. That's one hell of a combination.
Also included is Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 for quicker mobile device charging on supported devices. This is so with its '16 hour battery life', a user could be on the system for 12 hours and get a full charge of a smartphone in a day.
With a similar specification and feature set as the new Dell XPS 15, MSI's model looks to be undoubtedly cheaper if their usual pricing model applies and could certainly turn a few heads with its touted 16-hour battery life and MSI True Color technology designed to produce close to near perfect sRGB (99.6%) color reproduction.
Some of the specifications of the MSI PS63 Modern include a 15.6" 1080p IPS panel which is powered by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti with Max-Q Design and 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. Memory support is limited to DDR4-2400, but up to a maximum of 32 GB can be installed, if not provided as standard. Aimed more at professionals, there is no flashy RGB keyboards, but MSI does include one of its smooth glass touchpads and has room for up to two M.2 NVMe capable SSDs. There's also a fingerprint reader too.
MSI's Creator Center software is included which made its first appearance in the MSI P65 Creator model last year. The Creator Center looks to optimize and include adjustable system modes for creative applications including MAGIX Photostory, Adobe's suite and even the Sony VEGAS Pro video editing software.
There are no details on the launch pricing or retail availability of the MSI PS63 Modern at present. The whole unit is built on a '16 16 16' principle: 16 hours battery life, 1.6 kg weight, and 16mm thick. This unit was easily one of the most impressive we saw at CES this year.
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Nexing - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
One TB3 is for the screen. The 2nd TB in the world of Audio Pro allows for authentic low latency monitoring or the usage of expensive legacy soundcards using the several connection protocols that had been available; FireWire 400 or 800, Dante, plus also PCIe legacy soundcards via eGPU case. Count also most all sound technicians at shows on the road will ask for a laptop connected to the avalanche of digital mixers. Producers and musicians carry the studio around already and with collaboration on the rise, TB3 seems to be an adequate mid/long term requisite in the Audio Pro world, for as a central tool as a laptop.Valantar - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
Either this has the best palm rejection software in the universe, or it'll be a nightmare to type on. That touchpad is placed and sized so that your right hand _has_ to rest on it. Brilliant.Xajel - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
I was excited, with everything I read more, lack of thunderbolt was meh, I don't know actually but I plan to use a TB dock later so lack of it is disappointment. comparing it to XPS 15 was okay.But the biggest deal breaker was the use of U-series CPU's, WTF !! content creation with U series CPU !!
XPS 15 uses a 35~45W H-series CPU, while this uses a 15W U-series CPU no wonder it can stay this long with a battery this close of XPS 15 and Lenovo P1 or X1 Extreme.
Nope, this can't compete against XPS 15, and the blame is for Intel for branding those 15W TDP CPUs as i7 same as more powered 35~45W TDP i7's... The marketing is just wrong by just saying, "it's a i7"
Prestissimo - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
By no means is the PS63 trying to compete against the existing performance laptops. It's designed the way it is to boost battery life, except 80 Wh with U-CPU (10 hours estimate) won't be a whole lot more than 97 Wh with H-CPU on the XPS 15 9570 (8 hours with FHD) to make much difference.Naturally this has an enormous room for improvement, being a first gen product and all. Nevertheless feels good to finally see a U-CPU, powerful dGPU, big battery being paired together in a compact form factor, apart from Microsoft SB2.
Maxed Out - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
Sony sold the creative software group . It is now owned by Magixhfm - Saturday, January 26, 2019 - link
Lack of TB3 is a dealbreaker on this one.