1. Foreword: Gaming laptops with Core Ultra 7 processors
If it's an RTX 4060 gaming laptop with a similar price, how do you choose between the Core 14th Gen i7 and the Core Ultra 7?
Many students will naturally choose the 14th generation Core i7 because the peak performance is stronger, but don't forget that the graphics card is not RTX 4090 or RTX 4080, but RTX 4060!
For graphics cards of this class, whether it's a 14th Gen Core i7 or a Core Ultra 7, the difference in game frame rates is extremely minimal.
The Core Ultra 7 processor is based on the new Intel 4 process technology, coupled with the first detached modular design scheme, which is far more energy efficient than the previous 14th Gen Core i7, which can provide longer battery life for laptops.
In addition, this processor also adds an independent NPU engine, which has strong AI computing power and can be better adapted to Windows AI PC.
This year, MSI launched a gaming laptop with a Core Ultra 7 155H processor - Magic Shadow 16 AI 2024.
酷睿Ultra 7 155H处理器就不用多说了,6 P-Core、8 E-Core和2 LP E-Core共16核22线程,拥有24MB三级缓存,P-Core加速频率4.8GHz、全核频率4.6GHz。
Apart from the processor, another highlight of this notebook is the screen.
The Magic Shadow 16 AI 2024 is equipped with a 16-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560*1600, a refresh rate of 240Hz, a brightness of 500nit, and a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut.
It also has excellent color accuracy, with an average Delta E value of less than 0.7 and a maximum Delta E value of less than 1.3, which surpasses most professional displays.
Whether it's for gaming, the office, or professional image and video production, it's no problem.
The laptop comes standard with a 140W RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, which can smoothly run today's mainstream triple-A masterpieces at 1080P or even 2K resolution. In addition, with the blessing of DLSS 3.5 technology, you can also have a good experience in the latest ray tracing masterpieces.
MSI Shadow 16 AI 2024 parameters are as follows:
2. Picture Reward: Top screen + dual fan and five heat pipe cooling system
The A side of the MSI Shadow 16 AI 2024 is treated with a metal matte finish, and the design is very simple, with only one MSI classic Dragon Shield logo in the middle.
The laptop measures 359x266.4x21.8-27.9mm and weighs 2.5kg.
16-inch IPS screen, three-sided narrow bezel design, resolution 2560*1600, refresh rate 240Hz, with 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.
The privacy camera can be turned on or off manually.
The 24-zone RGB gaming keyboard has a translucent design with WSAD and arrow keys, and also retains the numeric keypad and full-size arrow keys.
Let's take a look at the lighting of this 24-zone RGB keyboard.
There is a USB 3.2 Gen1 port on the left side of the body and a full-featured USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 Type-C port.
On the right side, there is a USB 3.2 Gen1 port and a 3.5mm headset all-in-one port.
On top there is a USB 3.2 Gen1, an HDMI 2.1, an RJ45 Ethernet port, and a power connector.
20V12A power adapter with a total power of 240W.
This is the inside of the notebook, the heat dissipation is exaggerated, 3 8mm pure copper heat pipes with a full length to dissipate heat from the CPU and GPU, and 2 6mm heat pipes decibel to dissipate heat from their respective power supply modules.
At the same time, the notebook is designed with up to 6 air outlets, which are located on both sides of the body, at the rear, and at the hinge, which can quickly dissipate heat with the highest efficiency.
左边风扇下有2个M.2 2280接口，上面那个插着WD SN660 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD。
2个SO-DIMM DDR5插槽,插着2条海力士DDR5 5600MHz 16GB内存(零售版出厂预装1条16GB内存)。
The battery capacity is 90Wh, and it is rare for a gaming laptop to design a lithium battery with such a large capacity.
3. CPU performance test
1、CPU-Z
The Core Ultra 7 155H has a single-threaded score of 720 and a multi-threaded score of 7965.
2、CineBench R15
The Core Ultra 7 155H has a single-core score of 257cb and a multithreaded score of 2814cb.
3、CineBench R20
In CineBench R20 benchmark testing, the Core Ultra 7 155H got a single-core score of 660cb and a multi-core score of 6976cb.
4、CineBench R23
CineBench R23单轮测试单线程分数1788pts，多线程成绩是18506pts。
CineBench R23多轮测试中酷睿 7 155H的单线程分数为1716pts，多线程分数为17762pts。
5、CineBench 2024
在CineBench 2024测试中，酷睿Ultra 7 155H单线程分数102pts，多线程分数985pts。
6. Hardware dogs
The total score of Hardware Dog is 604,000, exceeding 99% of the users in the country, of which the CPU score is 201169, the graphics card score is 220565, and the memory and hard disk scores are 127469 and 54960 respectively.
Fourth, the game test: 1080P under the mainstream 3A masterpiece over 100 frames, 2K stable over 80 frames
In the test, the performance release was in berserk mode, and the GPU was in the discrete display mode:
1、3DMark
In the 3DMark Fire Strike EXTREME test at 2K resolution, the RTX 4060 scored 13341 graphics, and the GPU can run at a maximum frequency of 2685MHz, with a maximum power consumption of 115W and a maximum temperature of 69 degrees.
In the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark test, the RTX 4060 got a graphics score of 10855 with a maximum temperature of 76 degrees. The maximum operating frequency can reach 2685MHz, and the maximum power consumption is 122W.
2. Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 has DLSS 3+ ray tracing enabled, with a frame rate of 110FPS at 1080p resolution and 74FPS at 2K resolution.
3. Horizon: The Dawn of Zero
Forza Horizon Zero Dawn has a frame rate of 109 FPS.
The frame rate is 79 FPS at 2K resolution.
4. Tomb Raider: Shadow
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is 1080p with DLSS on the highest image quality, with a frame rate of 159FPS and a 2K resolution of up to 146FPS.
5. War Machine
Gears of War 5 also has a frame rate of 107 FPS.
At 2K resolution, the frame rate is 81 FPS.
6. Forza Motorsport: Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5 has a frame rate of 96 FPS at 1080p resolution and 80 FPS at 2K resolution.
As you can see, at 1080P max quality, except for Forza Horizon 5, which only has 96 FPS, the frame rate of other games exceeds 100 FPS.
At 2K resolution, all games can run above 70FPS, and there is no stress to run smoothly.
5. Screen and disk performance test: 97% P3 color gamut coverage The color accuracy surpasses that of professional displays
1. Screen test
The Shadow 16 AI uses a 15.6-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560x1600 and a refresh rate of 240Hz.
100% sRGB color gamut coverage, 87% aRGB color gamut, 97% P3 color gamut and 85% NTSC color gamut were measured.
This screen has a maximum brightness of 422nit and a contrast ratio of 1020:1.
The display has been calibrated before leaving the factory, and the color accuracy is very amazing, with an average Delta-E value of only 0.71, the highest value is not higher than 1.23, and the lowest is 0.14.
This screen is more accurate than most professional monitors.
2. Disk test
The Shadow 16 AI 2024 notebook comes with a Western Digital SN660 PCIe 4.0 SSD with a capacity of 1TB.
AS SSD Benchmark实测5605分，最高顺序读取4194MB/s、顺序写入3089MB/s，4K随机读取58MB/s、随机写入206MB/s。
CrystalDiskMark实测最高顺序读取4909MB/s、顺序写入3335MB/s。
3. Memory performance test
The MSI Shadow 16 AI is equipped with 2 SK hynix 16GB DDR5 5600MHz RAM with 46-45-45-90 timings.
The AIDA64 was used for memory caching tests, and the measured read, write, and copy bandwidths were 70417MB/s, 69406MB/s, and 67479MB/s, respectively, with a latency of 166.5ns.
6. Endurance and temperature test: PCMark 10 modern office 8 hours performance release 160W
1. Endurance
The MSI Shadow 16 AI 2024 has a built-in 90Wh large-capacity lithium battery, and we used the PCMark 10 to actually test the laptop's battery life.
The test was conducted in a PCMark 10 modern office with power mode in "Eco Mode", "Integrated Display Mode" and all other applications turned off.
The PCMark 10 autonomy test score of 7 hours and 43 minutes in the modern office scenario is a rarity in gaming laptops.
2. CPU bake
After 12 minutes of using the AIDA64 FPU to bake the machine, the power consumption of the Ultra 7 155H was finally maintained at more than 90W, and the P-Core all-core frequency was 4.2GHz and the temperature was 98 degrees.
3. GPU bake
After 10 minutes, the peak power consumption of the RTX 4060 Laptop can reach 136W, which is very close to the theoretical value of 140W, and it is maintained at 128W after stabilization, at which time the GPU frequency is 2385MHz and the temperature is 79 degrees.
4. Double baking
The dual baking time is 20 minutes, the CPU power consumption is 57W, the temperature is 89 degrees, and the all-core frequency is 3.6GHz, and the GPU power consumption is 105W, the temperature is 74 degrees, and the performance of the whole machine is over 160W.
5. MSI AI Intelligent Engine
The MSI AI Intelligence Engine is integrated into the MSI Center app and can be easily activated with one click.
MSI's AI Engine can automatically recognize the usage environment and adjust various settings of the notebook. When opening different programs, it will automatically switch to the corresponding common scenes, adjust the screen brightness, sound effects, performance mode, and keyboard lighting effects.
7. Summary: You can work on the mobile and play games, and there is a good screen
In the past, when we tested the battery life of the PCMark 10 for gaming laptops, it could only run for 3~4 hours, but the MSI Shadow 16 AI 2024 lasted for nearly 8 hours, and it can be used for 1 day under low load when unplugged.
That's the benefit of the Core Ultra 7 processor, not only for gaming, but also for mobile work if necessary.
As for gaming performance, almost all triple-A titles in our tests were able to exceed 100 FPS at 1080 resolution max quality.
And at 2K resolution, the maximum image quality is turned on, and the game frame rate also exceeds 70FPS. Graphics killers like Cyberpunk 2077 turn on super ray tracing at 2K, but with DLSS 3.5, the frame rate is also 74 FPS.
For gamers, a gaming laptop equipped with a dessert mainstream graphics card like the 4060 is currently sufficient for mainstream mobile processors. Compared to traditional HX processors, the Core Ultra is also a good choice, after all, it has better control over energy consumption.
Now there are a lot of i9-14900HX + RTX 4060 game laptops with more than 10,000 yuan, in fact, compared with this kind of high-U and low-display game collocation, it can seem that the configuration of the Magic Shadow 16 AI 2024 is more reasonable.
In addition, the 2.5K 16:10 glazed moon screen supports 240Hz ultra-high refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut, as well as color accuracy performance that surpasses that of professional monitors.
This kind of 2K wide color gamut gaming screen with full configuration can only appear in game laptops with a price of 10,000 yuan or higher in the past, but now MSI has given the Magic Shadow 16 AI 2024. Within 10,000 yuan, there should be no better screen than this.
MSI notebooks also have a 2-year nationwide warranty + 2-year on-site service, and 500+ customer centers across the country also make consumers more assured to choose, and interested players can search for "Magic Shadow 16 AI 2024" on major e-commerce platforms.