While there are a number of high-performance laptops out there that can do powerful work, rivaling a desktop counterpart, usually they are quite large and bulky, as well as quite pricey. What if you can get a decently powerful portable machine, that does not weigh a tonne, and not pay through the nose? MSI seems to have that covered with their MSI PS42 8RB.
Gunmetal Shot
If quality is what you want in a laptop, then MSI got you covered easily. The PS42’s chassis is quite rigid. No matter how much we tried, there is basically no chassis flex, something that is quite amazing considering that it’s around 16mm when closed. What amazes us is that even with this rigidity, the PS42 is really light. At 1.2kg, lifting it up is effortless, especially if you are used to carrying heavier and bulkier laptops. This bode well for those who travel with their laptops a lot.
Sleeping Dragon
Underneath the brushed metal exterior, MSI offers either the 8th generation core i7 or i5 Intel Processor, in which the model we got is quite a decent Core i5 8250U. With 4 cores and 8 threads, and speeds up to 3.4 GHz, it’s a snappy workhorse. Paired with the Core i5 is 8GB of DDR4 memory, as well as a full fledge Nvidia MX150 dedicated GPU with 2GB GDDR5 memory. The GPU means that you can utilize the CUDA cores with supported applications, such as Adobe’s range of products for a much quicker workflow.
Connect Your World
In terms of connectivity, MSI has not skimped on anything. You will find two full sized USB type A as well as two smaller USB type C, all of which are USB 3.1 compatible. There is also a TRRS headphone/mic combo port, a card reader slot, and amazingly MSI has also managed to cram in a full-sized HDMI output as well. All of which means you don’t have to carry much dongle and adaptors in your bag.
Dragon Experience
Powering the laptop on just brings so much wow factor starting off from its thin bezel design. The display received an anti-glare treatment for a much better viewing experience. Camera is oddly placed at the bottom of the display. For a more tuned sound experience, the speakers are placed above the keyboard. It comes with Nahimic 3 Audio software which can be tuned to give a more cinematic 7.1 audio surround sound. There is a fingerprint scanner to secure the laptop better.
Final Words
If you are a person that works on the go, and usually use powerful applications, especially Adobe, then the MSI PS42 8RB is a perfect choice for you. The processor is decent, the built-in NVIDIA graphic means you can optimize performance to work perfectly fine with Adobe suite. All these are achievable in just under 10 hours of pure battery usage only. Most importantly, the laptop is well built to reduce the burden on your shoulders.
Specifications
Dimension: 322 x 222 x 15.9 mm
Weight: 1.19kg
Screen Size: 14”, 1920×1080
CPU: 8th Generation Intel Core i5 8250U
GPU: NVIDIA MX150, Intel UHD 630
Memory: 8GB DDR4
Storage: 256GB MZVLW256HEHP SAMSUNG SSD
OS: Windows 10 Home
Price: ~RM3500
Benchmark
Geekbench : 3758 (Single-core), 9665 (Multi-core)
Novabench : 1522
PCMark : 2829
