The Prestige 14 A10SC is an unusual laptop compared to the gaming notebooks that MSI is known for. Aimed at executives, professionals and people on the go, it comes in a premium and compact design of 15.9mm thickness, while weighing just 1.29 kg.
This is one of the most compact and smallest laptops from MSI, it’s very lightweight and can be easily carried around in one hand and also packs some serious hardware for it’s size especially the processor, Intel Core i7 10710U, one the strongest from the U-series Comet Lake mobile processors.
Our review model, the A10SC, comes equipped with a 14in FHD screen with the power-efficient 10th gen Intel Core i7 10710U processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics card, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, and features such as Wi-Fi 6 AX / Thunderbolt 3.
The Prestige 14 offers powerful performance for it’s size and is great for both work and travel. Read our review to find out more.
Specifications
| CPU | Up to 10th Gen. Intel Core i7 U-Processor |
| RAM | LPDDR3-2133 onboard Max 16GB |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 With Max-Q Design, 4GB GDDR5 |
| Storage | 1x 512GB M.2 SSD (NVMe PCIe Gen3 / SATA) |
| Display | 14.0″ FHD (1920×1080), IPS-Level 14.0″ UHD (3840×2160), IPS-Level |
| Ports | 2x Type-C (USB3.2 Gen2 / DP / Thunderbolt™3) with PD charging 2x Type-A USB2.0 1x Micro SD Card Reader 1x Mic-in/Headphone-out Combo Jack |
| Connectivity | 802.11 ax Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth v5.1 |
| Camera | IR HD type (30fps@720p) |
| Audio | 2x 2W Speaker |
| Battery | 3-Cell Li-Polymer 50W Battery (Whr) 90W adapter |
| Dimensions | 319 x 215 x 15.9 mm (WxDxH) Weight: 1.29 kg |
The model we’ve received for this review is the Prestige 14 A10SC
Packaging
The MSI Prestige 14 A10SC comes in a standard brown cardboard box. Inside is another MSI branded box which contains the laptop, charger and manuals. In the box you will find:
- The MSI Prestige 14 A10SC
- 90W power adapter
- User guide and warranty
The power adapter comes with a USB-C connector, something we don’t see very often with laptops. Props to MSI!
Design, Build Quality & Ports
The Prestige 14 comes in three colors: Carbon Gray, Pure White and Pink Rose. Our review model is the Pure White variant.
With dimensions of 319 × 215 × 15.9 mm and a 1.29kg weight, the Prestige 14 is super easy to carry around with one hand. The laptop also undergoes MIL-STD-810G tests, a military-grade durability certification, that guarantees it reliable and durable against drops, vibrations and extreme weather.
The body is entirely made of aluminum and of high quality. The top lid has diamond-cut edges that shines at certain angles. It also very clean and minimalistic with just the MSI dragon logo.
On the left side of the laptop, there are two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 and DisplayPort 1.4 support, power and battery indicators, and a microSD card reader.
On the right side are the headphone / microphone combo port and two USB 2.0 ports.
There is no HDMI port here but as the USB-C ports supports DisplayPort and Thunderbolt, this shouldn’t be a problem.
For wireless connectivity, Prestige 14 has Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6. In addition to that, the Prestige 14 also has a fingerprint scanner and supports login via facial recognition.
Display
The laptop display can be opened with one hand without holding the base. Once the display is opened, the base slightly lifts up for better air flow and also this also makes typing a better experience. The hinges feel strong and can be tiltled 180 degrees.
The display is 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS panel with a 60 Hz refresh rate and a brightness of 300 nits with support for HDR. The bezels are the thin with almost 90% screen-to-body ratio.
The display is factory-calibrated by CaIMAN and delivers colors as close to 100% sRGB standard. The quality is great and one of the best we’ve seen.
The webcam is located in the upper bezel and offers an IR sensor for improved facial recognition and is compatible with Windows Hello. The webcam captures photos and video at a resolution of 1280x720p at 30fps maximum.
Keyboard & Trackpad
The MSI Prestige 14 has a chiclet-type keyboard without the numeric keypad. The keyboard has a key-travel of 1.5mm, the typing experience is pleasant, quite and accurate.
The keys are pretty large for a compact laptop with a well thought-out layout. The arrow keys are full size too with just the function keys smaller in size. There is also a three-level switchable white LED backlight.
The laptop has a wide touchpad with an integrated fingerprint sensor in the upper left corner. Movements and multi-finger gestures are recognized accurately and we had no problems while using it.
Performance & Benchmarks
In terms of performance, our review model is equipped with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 10710U processor with 6 core and 12 threads, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics card , 16GB DDR3 2333MHz RAM and 1TB of M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD storage.
CPU, GPU & RAM
MSI uses an ultra power-efficient 10th-gen Intel Core i7-10710U with Hyper-Threading support on the Prestige 14. This processor has a configuration of 6 Cores / 12 threads, 12MB Cache, 4.7 GHz Max Boost and is built with 14nm fabrication processing technology.
This is one of the fastest Intel mobile processors, just below the Core i7-10750H, Core i7-10850H and top-end eight-core Core i7-10875H. The maximum TDP is 15 watts.
In Cinebench R20 tests, the Prestige 14 scored 348 in single core benchmark and 1,387 in multi-core benchmark. In PCMark 10 benchmark, it recorded a score of 4,200.
| BENCHMARK | SCORE |
|---|---|
| Cinebench R20 single core | 348 |
| Cinebench R20 multi core | 1,387 |
| PCMark 10 Benchmark | 4,200 |
| 3DMark Time Spy | 2,666 |
| 3DMark Fire Strike | 6,439 |
| 3DMark Sky Diver | 14,412 |
The Prestige 14 is one of the few compact laptops with a dedicated graphics card – it comes with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 inside.
A solid midrange GPU, The GTX 1650 is based on the TU117 core, it offers 1024 shaders at a frequency ranging from 900 MHz to 1125 MHz. While slightly slower than the standard model, the “Max-Q” is the energy-efficient version of the desktop version and is specially designed for thin and portable laptops for longer battery time.
In terms of RAM, there is 16 GB LPDDR3 2133 Mhz RAM soldered on the board with no option to upgrade.
STORAGE
Our review unit came with a 1TB NVMe SSD. There is only a single M.2 slot, compatible with PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA, with no space for additional drives. However, depending on the region, there may be different SSDs.
The SSD offers impressive performance with read speeds of up to 3,363MB per second and write of up to 3,093MB/s.
GAMING
Although the Prestige 14 is designed for professionals, executives and content creators, it can run still games on Full HD with playable frame rates. While most games can be played on high settings, some modern titles needs to be tweaked to lower settings to run smoothly.
Temperature & Noise
During most of our use, the Prestige 14 remained relatively cool thanks to the energy efficient mobile processor and GPU. The fans are also relatively silent during normal use but can get noticeably loud during heavy load.
For resource-intensive tasks such as gaming and video editing, the laptop gets too hot to use on the lap.
Upgradeability
The MSI Prestige 14 comes pre-installed with a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD and 16 GB of LPDDR3 2133Mhz RAM with no options to upgrade manually. However, the preinstalled storage may vary depending on the region.
Software
Most of the performance and display settings can be controlled via the MSI Creator Center. With MSI Creator Center, you can monitor and optimize your system performance, change user profiles, switch between display color modes, adjust charging preferences and more.
Battery & Audio
The Prestige 14 has a 52Whr 3-cell Li-ion battery. Based on the usage and screen brightness, the battery lasts between four to seven hours which is great considering its battery capacity and compact chassis.
The Prestige 14 also offers fast charging. The laptop can be charged back to 50% in 25 minutes and 80% in under an hour.
| Idle (one third brightness, no WiFI) | 13h 20 min |
| Web Browsing (one third brightness) | 7h 44 min |
| Video Playback (one third brightness) | 7h 22 min |
| Gaming (50% brightness) | 2h 25min |
Audio is powered by 2x 2W speakers. The sound quality is satisfactory and loud enough to fill small to medium-sized rooms.
Conclusion
The Prestige 14 is a great travel/work companion with performance that matches the premium build quality. The 14-inch IPS panel is one of the best we’ve seen, there is support for Wi-Fi 6 and also dual Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.
If you are a frequent traveler or someone who likes to work on the go, this is a good alternative to an ultrabook if you are looking for a highly portable laptop with a dedicated GPU. The Prestige 14 is packed with good features and plenty of hardware for its price.
The downsides here are the limited storage space and DDR3 RAM. The laptop also gets pretty loud and hot during extended heavy usage.
