Initial impressions of DiscussionMSI Stealth 16 Studio A13V after two weeks of use.
Initial impressions of DiscussionMSI Stealth 16 Studio A13V after two weeks of use.
MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13V UK
C: Storage = Samsung SSD 990 Pro 1TB
D: Storage = Samsung SSD 990 Pro 2TB
RAM = Kingston KVR52S42BD8K2-64 64GB (32GB x2) DDR5 5200MT/s Non ECC Memory RAM SODIMM
Windows 11 Pro
Initial impressions.
This device has a nice appearance and its build quality impresses. The RGB keyboard is impressive, and the keys feel comfortable to operate. The display meets expectations, though it doesn’t deliver true colour. As a versatile machine, I would have preferred more USB connections, but that’s personal.
Performance aspects:
I was quite disappointed and let down by what feels like a premium price. My goal wasn’t gaming, but this laptop was meant for general use—gaming, office work, and light multimedia tasks. I expected a fast, responsive machine within my budget.
Starting from the beginning, I should note I’m not a gamer and this model isn’t suited for that. Still, the advertised purpose fits my needs. I wanted a highly responsive (and within budget), powerful machine for photo, video, audio editing, plus basic office tasks using MS Word and Excel.
Comparing it to my previous ASUS Vivo Book 15 (16GB RAM, 2 years old), this one feels slower and less refined.
On paper, the MSI specs are significantly better than mine.
From the moment I turned on the ASUS, it loaded Windows in 3.5 seconds. With the MSI, it took a full 22 seconds—what a difference!
On my old laptop, opening Excel with 24MB of data took seconds; on the ASUS it was instant. On the MSI, opening the same file took six seconds, and closing it was just five seconds.
Audio quality is another point: on the ASUS it played perfectly without any issues, even with large files. On the MSI, playback had noticeable stutters and gaps, especially during longer audio files.
Testing with Latency Monitor confirmed the MSI isn’t ideal for audio playback.
This raises a serious question: what device can’t handle smooth audio playback?
On gaming systems, audio is crucial—poor sound can ruin the experience.
I also use Adobe Photoshop, and on the ASUS it opened in about 5 seconds; on the MSI it took 12 seconds.
Even with its supposed high-end graphics, the MSI showed clear lag when scrolling images. This was unexpected, as I chose this model for better performance.
It seems every application on the MSI feels sluggish—slower to launch, slower to complete tasks, and slower to save files. How can this be?
I haven’t even started video editing on this machine yet, as I need to finish work and cover other expenses.
Despite its superior specs compared to my previous ASUS, this MSI is actually lagging in every area.
My ideal laptop should open quickly, respond instantly, and handle simple tasks smoothly. Unfortunately, this machine falls short in all aspects.
I deeply regret the purchase and wish it didn’t disappoint.
It appears every program I launch on the MSI runs slower, struggles with tasks, and takes longer to save files. How can this be? I'm confused—I just don't understand, and I'm really disappointed since I just bought this machine. Sounds like a bad deal. If you're having issues, maybe it's a problem with the product. I'm not sure if warranty support will help much here.
My thoughts are exactly as you said. In the UK we have one month after purchase to reject and return an item for a full refund. I'm considering rejecting it but the problem is figuring out what to replace it with. The items I'm interested in are similar to Latops like ASUS Creators, and they're all on back order with no ETS's involved – a real hassle.
i have a 14" stealth studio and noticed the thermal paste had pump out quickly. i replaced it with ptm7950 and switched to linux using snappy, which should work well (upgraded nvme to 4tb and 64gb ram). are you certain it's not a win10 to win11 transition causing some lag? also, check if fastboot is enabled in the bios. additionally, look for any msi bloatware that might be contributing to the problems.