I finally found an ultraportable laptop for work with some serious horsepower

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is available now for $1,299.
• MSI’s new sleek productivity-minded laptop features fantastic battery life and fast, efficient performance with Intel’s Panther Lake processor.
• The fans can crank during demanding workloads, and the 120Hz refresh rate is reserved for the 16-inch.

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MSI threw a curve ball at CES this year with its Prestige series of laptops: lightweight, productivity-minded laptops that ditch the gaming aesthetic for a sleek, office-ready vibe. Despite their svelte appearances, however, these laptops are powerhouses, armed with Intel’s new Series 3 Panther Lake CPUs, Intel Arc graphics, and vivid OLED displays. 

I spent the last few weeks with the Prestige 14 Flip AI+, and it’s proven to be an impressively powerful machine with fantastic battery life, competing with the other Panther Lake laptops released so far this year and listed at a competitive $1,299. 

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MSI has a reputation for powerful laptops, but with rather bulky, stock forms. This year’s Prestige lineup challenges that with sleek builds that retain the same high-end hardware, and an emphasis on diverse use cases. 

The 2.9-pound Prestige 14 Flip AI+ looks a little bit like everything: there’s MacBook resemblance to be sure (what laptop on the market hasn’t taken inspiration from Cupertino?) but you might also mistake it for a Lenovo Yoga, with the rounded edges and dual hinge design. 

The Flip 14 AI+ is the 2-in-1 convertible model, with a touchscreen OLED display and space for a stylus built into the bottom of the chassis that snaps firmly (!) in place. Thankfully, the “Nano Pen” does come with the device, which is a requirement for my recommendation. 

Also: The most ultraportable laptop I tested at CES wasn’t made by Dell or Lenovo

Its hardware is what’s exciting. It features an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, with the built-in Intel Arc 8390 GPU and up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of storage. This is a laptop that checks all the boxes for a modern, future-proof work machine in 2026: support for Wi-Fi 7, two Thunderbolt 4 ports with DisplayPort and Power Delivery 3.0, two USB-A ports, an HDMI, and a headphone jack along with commendable processing capabilities. 

The Corning Gorilla Glass display is a definite level-up from MSI’s other productivity-minded laptops, as well. It’s sleek and glossy, with support for 100% of the DCI-P3 color spectrum and no physical bezels for a distinctly premium look. 

The 14-inch Prestige Flip sticks with a 60Hz refresh rate, while the 16-inch scales up to 120Hz. Both feature a 16:10 FHD resolution that gets exceptionally bright, making for a great media playback device while in tablet or tent mode. 

The Panther Lake X7 processor and built-in GPU deliver some very responsive, fast computing on this laptop, making everyday tasks feel exceptionally smooth. I used the Prestige in the office for a week and it felt particularly powerful handling massive documents, file transfers, and photo editing, not skipping a beat while swapping between different desktops. 

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MSI’s touchpad has some extra integrations, as well, rounding out a suite of features it’s calling the Action Touchpad. The touchpad features several zones that the user can configure to trigger different effects or settings. Sliding left or right on the top right corner can adjust volume, for example. These aren’t exactly features we’ve never seen before, but they are nice touches for a work laptop. 

All of this can be configured in MSI Center S — the proprietary control hub that houses metrics at a glance and settings like drivers and updates. MSI’s version of Windows presence sensing feature, called “Smart Guard” comes toggled off by default, much to my appreciation.

This is an MSI laptop, after all, so we have to mention gaming. The Prestige is not explicitly a gaming laptop, as the brand has an extensive catalog of devices designed solely for that purpose, but the Panther Lake CPU easily carries most titles. I ran a handful of mid-tier game on Steam and found performance to be a little better than expected, with drop offs at the highest graphics settings. 

The thin form factor also comes into play here, as it’s just not designed for as efficient cooling as its gaming brethren. The fans on the Prestige 14 Flip aren’t exactly silent, and they’ll kick on even with intensive non-gaming tasks. That said, it never really heats up — with little to no palpable heat on the keyboard. 

So, let’s talk about the battery. Simply put, it’s very impressive. MSI cites 30 hours of video playback for the 81Whr battery. At this point, the battery life can stop being counted in hours and more so in days, but specifically in eight-hour workdays. 

Also: Finally, a 16-inch Windows laptop that I’d actually bring for work (even though it’s for gamers)

For example, I walked into the office with a full charge, took two video calls, and used the device steadily throughout the day, and was still above 30% when I left. Even better, it charges super fast, getting up to 50% in just 30 minutes. Just keep in mind you have to use 100W Power Delivery 3.0 to achieve those kinds of speeds. 

The bottom line is that this is a successful continuation of the fantastic battery life we saw from Intel’s Lunar Lake processors last year, delivering more processing muscle for less overall power. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

MSI’s Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is a sleek and premium (if rather neutral-looking) laptop with an absolute marathon battery. It’s fast, powerful, and has a gorgeous OLED display and a convertible form factor, hitting all the right notes for remote and hybrid workers who need reliable, powerful computing at a competitive price of $1,299. 

If you like the convertible form factor but want a bigger display and the higher-tier Intel Core Ultra X9 processor, opt for the Prestige 16 Flip AI+, which is physically almost identical but a little more suited to pro creators and designers.