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Performance
The MSI Prestige P42 is fairly loaded from a configuration point of view. Although it has last year's eigth-gen processor, it can handle heavy duty tasks quite well, thanks to the dedicated Nvidia MX150 GPU running at full capacity.
MSI does a good job of cooling the laptop using "Cooler Boost 3" which has two fans that push air from the back of the laptop. While they can get a bit noisy at times, they manage to keep the heat levels down so the laptop doesn't have to throttle.
Here’s how the MSI Prestige PS42 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark Sky Diver: 9,774; Fire Strike: 3,244; Time Spy: 1,195
Cinebench CPU: 557 points; Graphics: 93.7 fps
GeekBench 4: 4,551 (single-core); 10,944 (multi-core)
PCMark 8 (Home Test): 2,962 points
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 3 hour and 30 minutes
While the MSI Prestige PS42 scored a tad bit lower compared to the Huawei MateBook 13 in some tests, this is likely due to using last year's CPU model instead of this year's. However graphics-related benchmarks are as impressive as the Matebook with the identical GPU.
We wouldn't necessarily play the latest games at high setting on this GPU but it is good enough to be used for casual gaming as well as graphics or video rendering. In fact, MSI advertises the use of Adobe products such as Photoshop and Lightroom on the PS42 that take advantage of GPU processing power.
Battery life
MSI has rated the battery at 10+ hours and that's a fair estimate for the Prestige PS42, which kept chugging through for over nine hours on our 1080p video test. Having said that, PC Mark battery test scored fairly low which means that you will likely get great battery only at very low load levels. Pushing the laptop to more intense tasks will drastically reduce the battery life.
One thing we kept noticing with the MSI Prestige PS42 was that it didn't quite always enter sleep mode when you closed the lid. This could lead to potential issues such as the battery running out when you're not expecting it to, or worse - closing the lid when something resource-hungry is running, causing it to heat up.
We've mentioned this to MSI and they're looking into it, but have marked it as a one-off as they are unable to reproduce this. Our guess is that it's a driver or Windows issue that can easily be addressed with a software update.
What we would like to see is MSI switching to USB Type-C for charging their laptops. With most phones also using the same connector and newer laptops switching to it, it's just very convenient for an end-user to only carry one charger.
Final verdict
The MSI Prestige PS42 is a pretty good laptop with powerful internals and a good battery life that's priced affordably. Its design will leave you divided - on one hand it sports a retro look, but the very thin bezels make it look more modern.
Those thin bezels do come at the price of the webcam being located below the screen, which isn't great for video-conferencing. The keyboard could have been a bit more stable, and the trackpad could've been a size bigger. But if you can get past that, the Prestige PS42 has fantastic performance and an excellent set of ports that makes this laptop great for someone working with photos or videos.
Its price of AED 4,499 is quite good considering the rather beefy configuration you're getting, and we highly recommend you putting it on your shortlist if you're looking for something thin, light and powerful.
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