Msi prestige 14 a10sc review in Spanish (full analysis)

We finally have the 10th generation of low-power Intel processors and this MSI Prestige 14 A10SC will be the first that we analyze to see what it offers us. It is a laptop with a completely exquisite design, with a screen of only 14 inches, ideal for working while traveling or enjoying enormous image quality thanks to its 4K resolution.

The biggest news comes inside, with a 6-core Comet Lake i7-10710U and a dedicated Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card, the most modest of the Turing architecture. We will see in this analysis how this hardware behaves and what autonomy this small gives us, so we go there.

MSI Prestige 14 A10SC technical features

Unboxing

As usual in the design series, this MSI Prestige 14 A10SC has come to us in a very small white box made of very thick, hard cardboard that fits perfectly with the measurements of the equipment. Next to it, we have another box to store the external power supply, and obviously all this in turn in a neutral cardboard box for transport.

Inside the main box we only have the laptop with its documentation. This one comes inside a white cloth bag to protect it, and in turn, the laptop lid comes with a plastic protector. A very concise presentation as we see strictly what is necessary as usual in laptops.

Exterior design inspired by the Modern series

This MSI Prestige 14 A10SC doesn't have any badges in its name like PS or Modern, but its design is clearly inspired by this series of notebooks that are so beautiful. In it we see a few simple lines to more not to be able, with the smooth and clean surfaces that gives it that premium finish thanks to it being built entirely in aluminum, both outside and inside and below.

It is one of the most compact and smallest notebooks that the manufacturer has, with only 319 mm wide thanks to a 14-inch screen and side frames that barely reach 4 mm. Likewise, the depth is only 215 mm, having a lower screen frame that is very useful when using an opening that raises it from the ground and hides part of the frame in the body of the laptop.

Clearly it is an ultrabook with a Max-Q design, since its thickness has been reduced to the minimum admissible with only 15.9 mm in the thickest area, since it is even thinner at the front. Both the screen cover and the interior area are finished in satin dark gray. And the truth is that it leaves very little trace when touched, since it presents a very light surface roughness typical of aluminum, which helps us to grip it better.

The interior area is completely smooth and with a keyboard in TKL configuration as always in the plane of the base as it is slightly more sunken and a huge touchpad that includes a fingerprint sensor compatible with Windows Hello. The equipment is MIL-STD-810G military certified, after passing a series of stress tests.

The lower part is also made of aluminum and we see a thick anti-dust mesh that leaves almost half of the area open so that the fan can properly absorb air. We have in this case a longitudinal band to ensure support on the ground. As well as the corresponding supports on the edge of the lid that raise the laptop approximately 10 mm from the ground to improve ergonomics.

Ports and connections

The port configuration is in the classic style with the two sides of the MSI Prestige 14 occupied. In this case we have a fairly small distribution of ports due to how thin the equipment is.

On the left side we have:

• 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 and DisplayPort 1.4 Micro-SD card reader UHS-IILEDs for battery status and power

Little but intense, since we have dual Thunderbolt 3 connectivity at 40 Gbps with DisplayPort that will provide us connectivity for high resolution monitors above 4K. As a good laptop for designing and creating content essentially, this comes from a fable.

In addition, it will be the Thunderbolt 3 connector itself (any of them) that is responsible for the power supply of the equipment, so eliminated a possible Jack and increased versatility.

For his part, the right side has:

• 2x USB 2.0 3.5 combo jack for audio and microphone

With so much speed on the left side, we have a clear limitation in USB Type-A to only two standard 2.0 ports, which is not entirely good, since for example flash drives 3.0 are going to be quite limited.

4K display with 100% Adobe RGB

As a cover letter for the MSI Prestige 14 A10SC it is not bad, because another of their big bets is to provide us with an optimal screen for design, and they have succeeded.

We have a 14-inch screen and IPS True Pixel technology working at 4K resolution (3840x2160p) which makes us have a density of 220 dpi, more than Apple's retinas. The image quality is simply perfect, sharp and clear, although of course we will have to place the scale size at least 200% or greater so as not to leave our eyes in the attempt. As for performance, we have a refresh rate of 60 Hz as normal and a brightness of 500 nits with support for HDR. In the calibration section we will extend these specifications.

This panel is already calibrated and profiled at the factory with verification by the provider CaIMAN, the famous paid calibration software. This means that, although we will not have an ICC file loaded as it happens with Pantone certifications, the calibration has been done directly by hardware. In addition, you cannot miss a complete management of the panel with the MSI True Color software .

This implies that its color rendering capacity will be optimal, and this is demonstrated by 100% coverage in Adobe RGB and a Delta E less than 2. In addition to this 4K version, we have a slightly more modest version in Full HD with a slightly less “perfect” setting for the design, but also cheaper and with lower battery consumption. Finally, the viewing angles are 178 ^or how could it be otherwise, and in this case they are perfect in representation of color and brightness of the panel.

This panel does not have any bleeding or glow IPS, it is the least we could ask for in just 14 inches. Thus ensuring the manufacturer an impeccable construction of it.

Calibration

We have carried out some calibration tests for this IPS panel of the MSI Prestige 14 A10SC with our X-Rite Colormunki Display colorimeter, and the HCFR and DisplayCAL 3 programs, both of which are free and available to any user with a colorimeter. With these tools we will analyze the color graphics of the screen in the DCI-P3 and sRGB spaces, and we will compare the colors that the monitor delivers with respect to the reference palette of both color spaces.

Testing has been done with 100% brightness and 100% Adobe RGB True Color settings.

Brightness and Contrast

Measurements	Contrast	Gamma value	Color temperature	Black level
@ 100% gloss	1274: 1	2.14	7017K	0.4812 cd / m 2

With a brightness of 100% we have obtained very good values ​​for this panel, with an outstanding contrast greater than 1200: 1 and a gamma quite adjusted to an ideal calibration for DCI-P3 for example. The black level is spectacular considering that the brightness is at its maximum, since 0.48 nits is a great depth. Finally, the color temperature is somewhat high, being the ideal point as you know the D65 (6500K), so the colors will tend to be slightly cooler.

In the uniformity test we see splendid results, which in the central zone even exceed 550 nits of peak. There is practically no area below 500 nits, only in the upper corners, but the delta between the maximum and the minimum is very well adjusted, something that is also normal in a panel of only 14 inches.

SRGB color space

As usual, we have placed both the calibration graphs for this space and the Delta E value from the color palette. With a 100% presentation in Adobe RGB, there was no doubt that we should ensure 100% in sRGB. And we certainly see a gross coverage of 139%, but the triangle does not completely cover the space, leaving the edge corresponding to the reds out. The reason? Well, surely that somewhat higher color temperature of 6500K, which makes red not so warm.

Regarding the graphs, it shows more or less what we have seen before, a gamma somewhat below 2.2 and a good fit in the rest of the graphs.

DCI-P3 color space

The coverage we have in the DCI-P3 space is 85.4%, again where it limps is in the warm area, a little more than the previous space as it is more demanding. For the rest, we see similar values ​​to the previous case in terms of graph adjustment.

To finish, we can see in the calibration of Display CAL 3 that the Adobe RGB coverage is 94.1%, so we are not completely covering that 100% that the manufacturer promises.

Thanks to having True color software, it is possible that we can easily correct the issue of color temperature, in addition, the possibility of modifying the RGB levels of the screen gives us good possibilities of calibration if we have a colorimeter. We have done the test and as you can see the RGB profiling can be done perfectly.

Design-oriented bundled software

In this MSI Prestige 14 we have a complete range of programs available to the user, with which we can manage practically the entire team without major difficulties.

Creator Center

The main software will be Creator Center, a variant of the Dragon Center used by MSI gaming equipment. This software is a little different from the other, since on the main screen we have the list of programs installed on the computer to access them quickly. All that we see in this case are included in one way or another on the laptop, being a good basis to start our work.

On the second screen we see the typical Dashboard that monitors the state of the hardware in real time. In this case, unlike the Dragon Center, it is not possible to interact with the fan or the performance of the components. For this we will have to go to the next screen, where we will modify some aspects such as the DPI of the touchpad, the screen settings or the sound system. Of course you cannot miss the selection of performance profiles.

To support this application we have the Drivers & APP Center. This provides us with a list of drivers and applications that we can download for free for our team. The truth is that it is a very comfortable way to have the drivers perfectly updated and controlled.

True color

We have already talked about the other main application such as True Color, with which we can interact very fully with the screen. It is practically an OSD panel focused on the modification of the color profile and calibration of the screen. You have a number of predefined image options, for example, sRGB or Adobe RGB, and also an option to calibrate it with a few compatible colorimeters.

Webcam with IR and sound Nahimic 3

For this MSI Prestige 14 we have a 2-speaker sound system with a semi-rectangular design and 2W of power each. The capacitors and management system is carried out by Nahimic, whose software we already have included in the equipment.

As for the quality and sound, because we do not have a great performance as is usually normal in this type of speakers. Good volume, very low bass and at least for movies it does a good job. The best thing in any case is to connect headphones to the available 3.5 Jack, where we can manage the sound profile much better with the Nahimic software and the integrated DAC for them.

The webcam is located in the upper frame of the screen and in this case it comes with interesting novelties in the form of an IR sensor for improved facial recognition and compatible with Windows Hello. In such a case, the main sensor is a standard HD sensor that captures photos and video at a resolution of 1280x720p at 30 FPS maximum. Next to them, we have the corresponding array of microphones to record sound in stereo.

Keyboard and touchpad

We now continue with the peripherals of the MSI Prestige 14, which in this case follows the same trend as the rest of the manufacturer's Prestige models.

We have a keyboard in TKL configuration (without numeric keyboard) and in British configuration without letter Ñ, this being a small inconvenience for many users. In any case, placing the keyboard layout in Spanish will have no problem. It is a keyboard with a very good quality membrane, very very soft and a stroke of approximately 1.5 mm with a fixed white LED backlight.

The keys are of the backlight type, so this lighting comes out both for the character itself and for the sides to improve interaction in very dark places. The keys in this case are relatively large, but they are quite close together, so typing on it is very comfortable, at least for my personal taste . We have a row of F keys packed with features like brightness management, keyboard light, sound, camera, etc.

As for the touchpad, it is also what we expected, a configuration with a touch panel that integrates the buttons on the bottom and offers large measures of 140 mm wide by 65 mm deep. On a 4K screen like this we are going to be very grateful, since, having a much greater distance, the precision improves considerably. In addition, we have noticed that the DPI is lower than normal when we scroll slowly, ideal for precision tasks.

The biometric authentication section is completed with a fingerprint sensor located in the upper left corner of the touch panel, of course compatible with Windows Hello.

AX network connectivity

A feature that is going to be common in all the laptops that these 10th generation processors mount is that it offers Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity or, what is the same, working on the IEEE 802.11AX standard.

Being a Max-Q laptop we lose ethernet connectivity via cable, but inside we have an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 card. This is a variant of the AX200 used in many boards, whose main difference with the AX200 is that of having a CRF module that uses a proprietary interface from Intel. This means that it can only be used with chipsets and Intel platforms. Remember that one of the novelties of the 10th generation processors is precisely the native support with Wi-Fi 6.

This network card offers us 2 × 2 connections with OFDMA Uplink / Downlink technology, 1024 QAM and MU-MIMO with a bandwidth of 2.4 Gbps on the 5 GHz frequency and 733 Mbps on the 2.4 frequency Ghz. Of course, to use the full capacity of the card we will need a router with Wi-Fi 6.

Internal hardware with 10th generation Intel

Once again, Intel offers a new refresh of its low-power processors with 14nm transistors, called Comet Lake and there are currently 6 different models.

Among them, the most powerful version is precisely the one that mounts this MSI Prestige 14 A10SC, being an Intel Core i7-10710U. This CPU offers us a count of 6 cores and 12 threads of processing thanks to the HyperThreading technology now implemented also in the U series. Its cores are capable of working at a frequency of 1.10 GHz as base and 4.7 GHz as frequency. Turbo. Inside we have a 12 MB L3 cache and support for 2666 MHz DDR4 and 2133 MHz DDR3L RAM. Being a low-power CPU we have a TDP of only 15W, configurable between 12.5 and 25W.

The Comet Lake architecture consists of a refresh of the manufacturer's 14nm processors prior to the official arrival of the 10nm CPUs with the micro-architecture called Sunny Cove and its new name Ice Lake. In this case, what we have is a series of low-power processors that increase performance by approximately 16% compared to Coffee Lake processors. In addition, they support up to 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports working at 40 Gbps and Wi-Fi 6 as we have seen before.

The integrated graphics of this CPU will be of little value here since MSI has installed an Nvidia GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU, a new version for laptops of the most discreet Turing of all that comes to replace the GTX 1050. This chipset has 1024 Cores CUDA working at a frequency between 930 MHz as base, 1125 in boost mode and 1560 MHz at maximum performance of finished cases. Its graphics memory is made up of 4 GB GDDR5 Micron working at 8 Gbps on a 128 bit 128 GB / s bus. All this gives us a performance of 32 ROPs and 64 TMUs with a TDP of only 50W maximum.

The main hardware configuration is completed with 8 GB of RAM soldered directly on board. They are LPDDR3 type working at 2133 MHz thanks to chips made by SK hynix. This implies that we will not be able to increase the available capacity, it is the price to pay for such a small and thin laptop, since it cannot accommodate SO-DIMM slots for DDR4 memory modules.

We're done with the storage, which in this case consists of a single PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA compliant M.2 slot. In it, a successful 256 GB Samsung PM981 NVMe SSD has been installed that will offer us a fairly high performance and much better than the Intel of the day.

Refrigeration system

There is not much to comment on the cooling system of the MSI Prestige 14 A10SC, which consists of two good width copper heatpipes that transfer heat to a single turbine fan with a single air outlet.

The system seems insufficient for a CPU, which although it is low consumption has 6C / 12T at almost 5 GHz, and a dedicated GPU. It is normal in such a small space, but physically there is room for something a little more forceful. We will not be able to get rid of Thermal Throttling while doing demanding tasks, although we will see that the automatic control of the TDP will greatly solve this.

Autonomy

Due to the low consumption of this MSI Prestige 14 A10SC, we are presented with a 90W power supply that a priori will be sufficient for high-performance CPU and GPU. Inside, a 3-cell Li-Polymer battery with 4, 600 mAh has been installed, delivering a power of 52 Mhr.

During the days that we have been using the equipment, with a balanced energy profile and the best battery option, we have obtained an autonomy of approximately 3 hours doing basic tasks such as watching content on the Internet or editing files with Word with the normal power mode and 4K resolution. The truth is that it is a bit away from the 10 hours that MSI promises, which on the other hand we see normal having a dedicated GPU, a 6-core CPU and a 4K screen. Although if you want to approach those 10 hours with the normal mode, but we advise you to lower the resolution to Full HD and use the "Super Battery Mode" power plan to reach these figures.

Test of performance

We move on to the practical part where we will see the performance offered by this MSI Prestige 14 A10SC that debuts 10th generation CPUs. As always, we have carried out synthetic tests and tests in games, although in this case with different settings for gaming equipment.

All the tests that we have submitted this laptop have been carried out with the equipment plugged into the current and the power profile at maximum performance.

SSD performance

Let's start with the benchmark of the Samsung SSD, for this we have used CristalDiskMark in its version 6.0.2.

Once again, having a Samsung SSD shows a lot in terms of the gross performance it will offer us. This 256GB drive performs roughly the same as the 1TB drive when it comes to sequential read. In writing we are already somewhat more limited to about 1500 MB / s, which in any case are very good to give us fast loading times.

CPU and GPU benchmarks

Let's see below the synthetic test block, which in this case will be interesting to see how far this new CPU goes. For this we have used the following programs:

• Cinebench R15Cinebench R20PCMark 8VRMARK3DMark Time Spy, Fire Strike, Fire Strike Ultra

We start with the results that this i7-10710U offers us in the Cinebench R15 and R20 programs that are the least interesting. We have a low consumption CPU and with a non-optimal cooling system that improves the performance of processors such as the Core i5-9300H and a true gaming reference such as the 8th generation Core i7-8750H. Mono-core performance has also improved quite a bit compared to previous H series, with Intel proving that 14nm can give much more than meets the eye. What wonders can you do with the 10nm?

Regarding the benchmarks that concern the GPU, because we do not see anything out of the ordinary, standing in a discreet place as it corresponds to a GTX 1650. The competition in this case has been tough, since all the teams that we have tested this 2019 have mostly RTX and GTX 1660 Ti.

Gaming performance

To establish a real performance of this MSI Prestige 14, we have tested a total of 7 titles with fairly existing graphics, although we have considerably lowered the demands to see if the GTX 1650 is capable of moving them.

All titles have been tested at 1920x1080p except Control which is 4K and rescaling has been successful.

• Final Fantasy XV, lite quality, DirectX 11 DOOM, medium, TAA, Open GL 4.5 Deus EX Mankind Divided, medium, Trilinear, DirectX 12 Far Cry 5, medium, TAA, DirectX 12 Metro Exodus, low, Anisotropic x4, DirectX 12 Shadow of the Tomb Rider, bass, DirectX 11 Control, medium, scaled to 1280x720p, without Ray Tracing, DirectX 12

Even with the graphics reduced to medium and low levels in 1080p, this GTX 1650 is going to have difficulties to move demanding games such as these. In any case, it is a GPU with which MSI does not intend to make a gaming team, but to work with design programs, render textures and create content.

Temperatures

The stress process to which the MSI Prestige 14 has been subjected has lasted around 60 minutes, in order to have a reliable average temperature. This process has been carried out with Furmark, Prime95 and the capture of temperatures with HWiNFO.

MSI GL75 9SEK	Repose	Maximum performance
CPU	51 ºC	88 ºC
GPU	51 ºC	74 ºC

During stress tests we have obtained more or less decent and normal temperatures for a fairly small cooling system. However, on occasions we have had peaks of more than 90 ^o C with Throttling, so to avoid this, the system automatically reduces the TDP of the CPU with the aim of frequency and temperature stability at about 88 ^o C on average and without Throttling.

Final words and conclusion about MSI Prestige 14 A10SC

We come to the end of this analysis of this wonder that MSI poses for us. An equipment undoubtedly ideal for traveling and working without sacrificing performance. We have as a novelty the 10th generation CPU i7-10710U with 6 cores and low consumption that offers performance on par even with the i7-8750H.

And being a design-oriented team, you cannot miss a dedicated card such as the new Nvidia GTX 1650, a normal substitute for the GTX 1050 and with decent performance for undemanding games and especially work with textures and video. We would have liked the hardware to be completed with DDR4 RAM instead of DDR3, as it would give us extra performance.

This time the 14-inch IPS panel gives us an impressive 4K resolution, with enormous image quality. An almost perfect calibration panel verified by CaIMAN with great coverage in color spaces and more than 500 nits of maximum brightness. Nothing to envy to Apple's retina.

We recommend that you take a look at our guide to the best laptops on the market

Where we would have liked a better performance is in autonomy. It is not a bad battery, since they are 4, 600 mAh in 3 cells, but with just under 4 hours on average, it is far from the 10 hours promised by MSI. We recommend lowering the resolution to Full HD and using the "Super Battery Mode" power plan to try to reach the promised figures.

And pulling design, we have a laptop entirely built in aluminum with spectacular finishes, only 15 mm thick and a very high quality touchpad and keyboard. This is completed with Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, dual Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and a 256 GB Samsung SSD that performs like a charm.

Finally we have this MSI Prestige 14 A10SC available for a price of 1499 euros. It is not a low cost considering that it is a low consumption hardware, although in general it is a novel, powerful set and above all an incredible quality screen.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ EXQUISITE DESIGN, COMPACT AND LIGHTWEIGHT	- WE WOULD HAVE LIKED IT TO INTEGRATE DDR4L MEMORY INSTEAD OF DDR3L
+ 10TH GEN CPU, GTX 1650 AND VERY GOOD PERFORMANCE
+ OF THE BEST LAPTOP SCREENS ON THE MARKET
+ HIGH LEVEL KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD
+ DOUBLE THUNDERBOLT 3 AND WI-FI 6

The professional review team awards you the gold medal and recommended product:

MSI Prestige 14 A10SC

DESIGN - 97%

CONSTRUCTION - 92%

REFRIGERATION - 78%

PERFORMANCE - 85%

DISPLAY - 98%

PRICE - 85%

89%