My Laptop got Upgraded! MSI Z17 Overview

Find out more about the MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio: geni.us/H8DJB
Thanks to MSI for sponsoring this overview of this new laptop!
💲Find the best gaming laptop deals at my site gaminglaptop.deals
Chat with me and the community in Discord and get behind the scenes videos! / jarrodstech
EVERYTHING I USE:
💻 My Current Laptop: geni.us/JarrodsLaptop
🖥️ My Current Desktop PC: geni.us/JarrodsPC
🎥 My Camera Gear - geni.us/JarrodsStudio
💍 My Smart Ring - geni.us/oFfTMJ
FOLLOW ME:
🐦 Twitter - / jarrodstech
🌍 My Website - jarrods.tech
📺 2nd Channel - / jarrodslaptops
MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio (A13VGT) Timestamps:
0:00 The New Version of my Laptop!
0:15 Build Quality & Design
0:33 Awesome Screen!
1:07 Laptop Specs
1:17 Performance Modes
1:21 CPU Performance (Plugged in & on Battery)
2:09 Size & Weight
2:19 New Vapor Chamber Cooler!
2:34 Thermals
2:42 GPU Performance
3:10 Gaming
3:19 Ports
3:50 Camera & Mic Test
4:03 Keyboard & Touchpad
4:12 Speakers
4:18 Internals & Upgrades
4:34 SSD & SD Card Speed
4:43 Battery Life
4:53 Charger Difference & Type-C Charging
5:13 Lots of BIOS Customization!
5:32 MSI Creator Z17 Worth It?
5:58 More New MSI Laptops!
Disclosure: Purchases made through store links above may provide some compensation to Jarrod'sTech.

[@YoshioVids]

A 100W PD charger is a must for these laptops when you are not gaming. I carry one when I leave home and have to do some industrial automation work, my VMs run great.

[@priyanshusharma1812]

I used to run my VMs without charger on my ryzen 3 laptop, ran pretty good through qemu

[@JarrodsTech]

Yeah definitely, if you don't need max power on the go, might as well take a smaller charger

[@HCIbn]

I bet his upgraded laptop cost over $3,000

[@Phantom_961]

💀

[@ionutd6659]

5000 to be more exactly

[@jpateka]

It was free...

[@umaci]

4500 dollar

[@chy453]

@@umaci It's $3599

[@Not_so_Jinx]

If "business in front and party at the back" was a laptop this would fit like a glove lol

[@progun1corn]

I'm using Z17 HX myself too, this laptop has a really big upgrade over the last year's model. The thermals has improved a LOT, I managed to get burst 175w and sustained 110w of CPU power which is super impressive. After tuning AC and DC Loadline and undervolt in BIOS, I get 29000 in Cinebench R23! Surprised me you are using this as your primary system as well, as this is a niche laptop that not a lot people know. It's a hassle to upgrade this laptop, however with care it's doable. You need to take of the screen in order to access the motherboard. But the main hurdle is the ribbon cables, they are very easily damaged when peeling off those tapes. Also the Keyboard ribbon cable is folded, I added a little rubber feet under the connector to prevent break. I upgraded my model to 64gb ram. However compared to last year's model, there's only 1 SSD slot instead of 2. The laptop performs exactly same with PD charger or battery, the CPU bursts to 45w and sustained at 20w. However 20w for 13950HX is too low, I was trying to run some simple blender model off PD charger, but it simply is not enough. I wish they can make CPU up to 45w with PD charger, as it's written in EC that we can't change. One thing I don't get is idle power usage, I get 22w-40w whole system idling which absolutely killed my battery life. How do you get under 5h or battery life? I opened nothing and my CPU is idling at 5-6w, but in hwinfo it shows i'm using 27w.

[@JarrodsTech]

Interesting, another guy in the comments mentioned a 100W PD charger was fine for running their VMs. I didn't actually test performance with one connected

[@progun1corn]

@@JarrodsTech it's probably different work load, like I have GPU running also so maybe the EC is limiting. Or probably it's a different laptop as the guy is referring "these laptops", maybe a Lenovo. Also I noticed that in my stress test the GPU will never get above 80w, or most time it settled at 70w, as long as the CPU is using more than 45w of power. Both of them are far from thermal throttling. I have confirmed that it's not Dynamic Tuning thing though, but the system is totally capable of like 130-140w of total power usage, they limit it with EC for like acoustic reason.

[@manonanisland88]

Given 4060/4070 seem to cap out at 100w it seems really scummy for companies to advertise their 140w cards this year, given historically the difference between 100 and 140w in previous generations was typically quite meaningful.

[@vishalsg]

Few laptops also uses that extra wattage to power up the cpu instead. Which is a good thing. Like the rog strix 2023 version.

[@raviundhad1929]

It's not the company's fault, it's Nvidia

[@baoquoc3710]

@@raviundhad1929 still, companies shouldn't blatantly advertise gpus like the higher the TGP the better, since they need to consult Nvidia for important information, Nvidia made their products based on their current technology they have and they only expected manufacturers to know which variant is which

[@enricosernesi2939]

Congrats. Superb machine.

[@thehistoricalidiots7442]

Finally, Ive been waiting for this

[@dsirius1500]

Great review, amazing laptop. Enjoy it man.

[@rexaifi]

its good to see that quite a number of 15 inch laptops positioning their touchpad to the center instead of the offeset to the left

[@Zxanonblade]

Seems nice, though pretty pricey. Only thing I would really consider bad about the laptop itself is the single USB A port. I know type C is more modern but pretty much everything I use is type A still, whether it be mouse, capture card, or mic. They all let you replace the cables so I could get adapters but that's even more money and even more cables when I already have a ton on my desk.

[@jonathantheyorkie]

Nice! I got the 2022 Legion 7i as my daily driver and has been really amazing! I can tell that laptop is really good too.

[@SamuHell782]

I hope you get to read this! Have you ever talked about battery conservation mode in Lenovo and the equivalent in other brands? I truly believe people should know more about it. In case some brands don't have their own they should be shamed! (August 2014 Lenovo Flex 2-15 here, and I already had it back then. Still 84% battery health , guess why)

[@JarrodsTech]

Yes, I always mention it in the battery life timestamps of the reviews. I actually recently changed it to have a part just before battery life where I talk about any modes available for increasing battery life, you'll see it in the Legion Slim 7i review next week.

[@teko9865]

maybe i'm late but man i don't know how would i be able to buy any laptop without you i love your videos and watch them even if i'm not interested in the laptop itself but the video and review quality is just on another level tbh that's why he's the goat, the GOAT😂❤️keep up the nice work

[@themadatheist1976]

Not bad, ports are a bit lite for my tastes, I like to see the HDMI on the left along with another USB A there also.

[@VideogamesAsArt]

I hope you can get yourself a Zen 5 laptop next year, that will be even better performance! hopefully big availability too

[@zeeynz3266]

Broo i just discover ur channel a moment ago then saw some videos from your KZbin channel, I really like the way you explain and it's very very clear, keep up the good work bro, new subs here🙌😁

[@JarrodsTech]

Thanks and welcome

[@orengorenca192]

Can you please check out the dell xps 15 because Im seeking to buy it but Im not sure if its a good choice for school and non competative gaming, Thank You!

[@wokzhongson]

yep not surprised by that 5 hour battery

[@curtisscott6049]

Do you have a link to the laptop in the video, with those spec's? The links you have don't seem to take you to that model and I can't seem to find it. Awesome video, I really like this model.

[@algomaschannel1870]

Thanks for the great review. Is this notebook noisy? Kind og like the gaming laptops? This may be a no no

[@jaguareagle7026]

Never saw this laptop at all looks great

[@Mooooo757]

PLS Do a gaming/thermal test for this model

[@twokay52]

Solid choice honestly....

[@boy638]

I remember when you were still using the Gigabyte Aero as your daily. Shame their latest models are no longer as competitive.

[@flor-amadojrcabatan6509]

Please review MSI Stealth 16 studio next particularly the color gamut of the qhd screen please. Since it seems the 1080p versions have bad screens. Thank you Jarrod. Been watching and loving your channel since 2019

[@fefefefefeffw4490]

Wanted to ask, is there a visual difference between FHD and QHD on a smaller laptop screen?

[@JarrodsTech]

It depends on the game you want to play and what launcher you need for it. Steam is the most popular launcher, so it's a good place to start. Or, if you have a particular game in mind it's probably easiest to google 'game name launcher'

[@Feelsgudd]

Congrats

[@ahmednofal3865]

thanks

[@YV-2000]

Jarrod since you have the opportunity to review and own any laptop, what excites you the most about any new laptop?

[@JarrodsTech]

power/portability

[@barryfriedman5485]

How do you like typing on it? The trackpad seems off kilter to the main keyboard so it looks like it would get in the way.

[@TEDdeMedici]

I never understand topping out the CPU when a model or two lower would perform as well given the thermal & power comstraints.

[@Aleksandrlllmakov]

I take my opinion back after 1 year of use, it is terribly noisy, but the most important thing is that the diode under the keyboard stopped glowing green (but even with this I came to terms with), but after just a year of use the cooler began to make noise (clicking) and it really sucked it needs to be lubricated (but how to do this and why a laptop for 4000 usd needs to be opened after a year), but this is unrealistically difficult to do, since the cooler is located under a cable that cannot be removed at all, you also need to remove the SSD, which is tough. MSI Creator Z16P Believe me, inside he is the same as Z17HX

[@fortnite_starxx5791]

Nice laptop btw

[@marcdave9521]

great review!, will u be reviewing the framework laptop 16? and is there a chance u would use it as your personal laptop?

[@JarrodsTech]

I hope to. Not sure whether I'll get one or not. I don't know if it would replace my personal laptop, it would depend on how it feels/performs.

[@ytsrpn1262]

Can you make a budget gaming laptop video?

[@vladdx]

Still using my Creator 17 from 2020 on here, hoping MSI will bring a new 17" version using miniLED which is a must for me

[@OledBurnInKing]

I was considering the msi creator 17 since it has the 4k mini led display with 1,000 nits that I really want in a gaming laptop that no other gaming laptop currently has in terms of brightness at 1, 000 nits but the ram and ssd being soldered was a deal breaker considering that ssds are known for having failures. I do alot of reading and writing data especially 4k media content but mostly uncompressed 4k. I just wish the newer laptops would have the option for a desktop cpu like the gt 76 titan for overclocking. I really like the gt76 titan since it has the desktop cpu and every laptop are using mobile cpus, but I still need a desktop cpu in a laptop. I have the 2022 razer blade 15 with the Intel i9 mobile cpu, 32gb ram, 4k 144 hz display and a 3080 gpu 16gb vram version. My razer blade 15 does not get that bright, I wish it had a desktop cpu like the msi gt76 titan with a 4k mini display with the 1,000 nits like the msi creator 17.

[@vladdx]

@@OledBurnInKing Creator 17 2020 doesn't have soldered RAM, I upgraded it myself from 16GB to 64 GB so you might be confusing it with another laptop.

[@OledBurnInKing]

@@vladdx The silver msi creator 17 with the 2070 max q has soldered ram the 4k version with the 60 hz model. It's the silver msi creator 17 with the 2070 max q that best buy use to sell in stores that the ram was soldered. The youtuber mobile tech review even said that the ram was soldered to the motherboard. There are 2 models of the msi creator 17. I was talking about the 60 hz 4k version about the msi creator 17. There are are even 2 versions of the msi gt 77 titan. Msi has 2 different versions of there laptops from the msi creator 17 and the msi gt77 titan with 2 different specs with the same name. Msi makes the laptops confusing because there are 2 versions with the same name. There are 2 versions of the same name msi gt 77 titan, one version of the msi gt 77 titan has the 3080 ti and the other msi gt 77 titan has the 4080. I was comparing both msi laptops on msi website. Both of msi laptops should not be called the same name since I got confused and I had to check msi website to double check each version.

[@vladdx]

@@OledBurnInKing Can you show me what review? Like I said, I have the silver MSI Creator 17 from 2020 and I just upgraded my RAM from 16GB to 64GB this year in 2023

[@DjEloy]

That is actually a lot of flex on the keyboard 😮

[@cameronbosch1213]

Did you try a Ubuntu 23.04 Live USB on this laptop?

[@JarrodsTech]

I did not

[@mennothju]

Would you buy this laptop instead of the new M3 macbook pros?

[@MonkE844]

nice video bro

[@m_vergil85]

what an amazing laptop. build quality screen specs everything looks amazing. and it does not flashy its very simple and professional. too bad it will cost a fortune i guess

[@jblandon871]

Awesome. I'm still using the 2021 version of Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (R75800H - 32 GB RAM - RTX3070). I'm thinking that it could last 3-4 years before upgrade to new tech.

[@xTheFEARCombat]

Yeah i have the normal Legion 5 with r5 5600h and 3070 with 32gb ram. Runs realy Nice and has nice cooling

[@ayoubabdessamedbelhadj207]

Hi please i wanted to ask you a question I have a limited budget and I would like to buy a gaming laptop to use in gaming I have the choice between two configurations RTX 3070 100W WITH I5 11400H RTX 3060 100W WITH RYZEN 7 5800H please which one is better and which one can last in time (4-5 years). (better cpu or gpu)

[@nayydb]

Hey jarrod, iam in confuse which are i should buy for designer lapto ..asus tuf15 or hp victus 16

[@vasudevmenon2496]

Disable windows uefi upgrade option from bios. W11 always installed incorrect bios and ec

[@navid4024]

Please do a comparison with asus proart studiobook 🙏🏻

[@Liquid2142]

A little over a year and buying another laptop when you're year old one has no problems. Heck ive been rocking a 2021 MSI laptop.

[@shawnjohn5756]

Hey Jarrod,ive had something on my mind for a while now and i hope you see this comment; Considering how power efficient the 7800X3D is,do you think that an "H3D" could work great for laptops? Because 8 cores is quite common and the 3d V-Cache boosts performance in games so much,i think that would be a great innovation for laptops too,what do you think?

[@baoquoc3710]

3D Vcache is only good with desktop chips, since high idle power wattage will negate the portable benefits of a laptop cpus

[@engihabit]

Dear Jarrod Is it worth and massive improvement if upgrading 16gb(2×8) ddr5 soddim to 64gb(32×2)? suggestions and recommendations will be appreciated. ASUs rog strix scar ram ddr5 4800 is it up to 64 or 32 please ?

[@Mrfido]

Has anyone found that their Z17 has grey horizontal bars on their screen? It really shows up on white screens. I see them on my screen and wondering if any of you know how to fix that.

[@okechukwuanudokem2060]

finally a youtuber who isnt a mac user there is hope in this life.

[@tubes9181]

I love my z16p creator.

[@DarkKnight2037]

MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio vs Legion Slim 7i gen 8 comparison?

[@Hashim1]

I'm looking for the jack of all trades master of none, is this it?

[@Bluminous1204]

Hey you should review ASUS ZenBook Pro 14 OLED, it is a fantastic creator laptop and I think that many people need this review.

[@tahaabderaouffritis1161]

do the Acer Triton 17 plz, no body did a review on it.

[@syuzannazakaryan6995]

will it work easily for 3d max?or only for graphic?

[@hamzajd1]

Looking forward to the review of Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Gen 8!

[@JarrodsTech]

It's up now!

[@MonkE844]

big fan

[@natinaga82]

Msi gt77 soon🙋‍♂️ can't wait!!!!

[@sohamparikh7283]

Just need to know how it fares with the Zephyrus

[@ThaedDavid]

Can I charge via my thunderbolt dock? I have a 1 cable dream

[@likhithlucky7853]

Could you please tell me how to do power scaling test

[@kanshashiteiru6552]

I WISH YOU READ THIS COMMENT IT IS IMPORTANT, Jarrod can you do an experiment where you disable some cores to see how it affects gaming performance. You said because the large number of cores and low power we see worse 1% lows, so test this theory and and see if there is any gains in 1% lows and avg fps. Further more, if we see any success, then maybe Intel or AMD can creat Custom Cores profiles for GAMING and PRODUCTIVITY 🎉

[@JarrodsTech]

I have wanted to for a while, but too smashed with review content to look into it.

[@randy89555]

Waste of time

[@barneey5308]

Hey Jarrod! Are you planning to test a gaming laptop with the new Ryzen 9 7940HS? I haven't seen any comprehensive reviews including thermals battery life and so on That would be lovely

[@JarrodsTech]

Yes. I have the G14 and Blade 14 coming up with it soon.

[@bruncho5416]

Can you test msi stealth 17 studio

[@B1u35ky]

If it had a 4K screen maybe

[@AD-ug9gt]

I bought the Msi stealth 17 with the 4070 and an i9 13900h and upgraded the ram to 32gb but yet I still get a lot of moments in games where I have a stutter for a few seconds and in Diablo 4 it’s really bad like it almost freezes and stutters for a little under 5 seconds and I’ve looked into every setting possible to up the performance and yet this stutter still doesn’t go away. So I was wondering if anyone knew what might be up? And how I can possibly rid myself of this nuisance of an issue. Thanks in advanced!

[@AD-ug9gt]

Which btw it’s an amazing amazing laptop, but this stutter is making me want to rip my hair out at this point lol.

[@jekaufo]

what is the ram speed? its the cause of stutter usually

[@jekaufo]

@@AD-ug9gt go to bios and set the correct ram speed

[@AD-ug9gt]

@@jekaufo I think it’s only 4800mhz for ddr5. I’ll go ahead and check the bios though too. Thank you :)

[@B1u35ky]

It’s probably the vram the game is a hog. Not well optimized

[@tehpanda64]

kind of sad it isn't 4k at 17 inches. if it was 16 or 15 I could forgive it but I expect 4k out of a creator rig these days. But maybe my desktop spoils me.

[@bfish9700]

I normally don't like 17" laptops, but 16:10 that looks pretty decent. Not a fan of touchscreens but this is a really decent looking laptop with some minor changes.

[@JarrodsTech]

It's WAY smaller than my last 17" haha 😅 I put this on top of it and it's a pretty big change

[@spoilereleven231]

It's cute that price was not mentioned. Usually it's mentioned towards the end in most videos

[@JarrodsTech]

Price is in the link in the description.

[@martinhristov1808]

Can you review Acer Predator Helios 16/18?

[@giaenuuu]

Can you do some Linux Testing for this Laptop?

[@cyanalternation4237]

I've been using an Acer Nitro 5 since 2019 and am looking for a good laptop for $1500 or less, what are some of the best laptops in that price range you'd recommend?

[@Copperstoned]

Galaxy Book3 with a 4060/4070 fits your budget. Anything with a 4060/4070 will work well.

[@baoquoc3710]

@@Copperstoned if I remembered, the book 3 ultra only has either 4050 or 4070

[@Copperstoned]

@@baoquoc3710 I think you are right. I see a lot of 4070 Galaxy Books but no 4060. But I stand by the statement that any 4060/4070 based laptop will do most tasks efficiently.

[@mcmarko23]

Hi, is it a Force-Touch-Touchpad with a „fake“ click or a normal one? Thanks!

[@progun1corn]

It's a real dampened click, so not sharp click but still real click not fake one

[@mcmarko23]

@@progun1corn Thanks for the info!

[@Peaceull]

Finally a laptop from MSI that is not screaming LOOK HOW GAMEY I AM! Looks sweet, we need more minimalistic design gaming laptops.

[@subhampradhan4442]

what is the refresh rate

[@shahji8093]

Best gaming laptop 2023 video please??

[@Hatsunari_Kamado]

Raptor Lake HX smokes 🤣

[@papalegba4449]

can this be upgraded to 64gb ram?

[@ichirokun6275]

W Jarrod

[@Ghostrider-ul7xn]

Where's the 16 inch version?

[@adlarq4640]

Wich pen you use?

[@pedrwm]

Jarrod, I really need to ask your opinion: should I go with the ASUS TUF DASH (2022) RTX 3070 105w or Lenovo Legion 5 RTX 3070 130w? The Lenovo, as you know, has a weaker CPU and DDR4 RAM instead of DDR5, but it comes with 140 TGP. Will the 25w higher TGP despite the RAM and CPU disadvantage from the Lenovo make a big difference in gaming? I much much prefer the ASUS, but I wanna know your opinion also! Thanks!

[@aliginthahouse1]

Expect the legion to perform like 10% better. Better cpu and ddr5 definitely helps fps but can't deny the tdp difference. It all comes down to the laptop with the better screen and thermals;)

[@pedrwm]

@@aliginthahouse1 Oh, ok thanks! Guess the performance difference will be minimal. I will go for the ASUS one as I like the design more also.

[@user-dh4sm7re1g]

Any reason to buy a content creator laptop like this over a gaming laptop with the same gpu, cpu?

[@JarrodsTech]

It will depend on what you want it for. The screen is typically better on a creator laptop too.

[@mmadevgame]

Man I wont upgrade to intel laptop.. I need that battery life. Waiting for lenovo z16 gen2 with zen 4

[@wokzhongson]

look at that goofy ahh 5 hour battery he slipped in because its sponsored lmao

[@andrewaani9530]

that flipped motherboard is the only thing that keeping me away from purchasing this beauty :C

[@Burkery373]

what about the z16p?

[@cameronbosch1213]

What is with all of these laptops coming with RTX 4070 trash at the top end!?

[@vzuzukin]

Is there a smaller more compact version, like a Z15?

[@JarrodsTech]

There is also a Z16 but that's the smallest it goes I believe.

[@frostgodx]

The price is always way way too high with these. Price it where it belongs may get some sales on these it’s not a proven product line but the price is that of a line with pedigree. Excellent build and good specs but just not worth taking a risk though I can really appreciate the design I wish all the gaming laptops were built like these are.

[@adedayotoheeb5161]

I always thought your primary laptop was a Lenovo Legion

[@JarrodsTech]

No. I've never used a Legion as my primary laptop. They don't have good enough screens for my purposes.

[@senbonzakura6934]

I personally hate the keyboard disco lights everything else is very good

[@ConfusedOwl92]

I'm pretty much sure you can select all white light or turn it off

[@flyingpancake3983]

I like this laptop but it just looks dated to me. The slightly curved front and the rounded edges remind me of my crappy 2016 HP lol

[@saturnotaku]

I'd hardly consider a single USB-A port to be "excellent" in terms of connectivity for anyone.

[@JarrodsTech]

It ain't the 90s anymore, all my stuff is type c

[@YoorCanfly]

After 5 to 6 years I think USB-A will die

[@d1kgaws12]

@@JarrodsTechexternal mice are still using type A. Very few people use trackpads for gaming, laptop or not. Ig one is enough for THERE but rip those also using external keyboards.

[@benjaminoechsli1941]

​@@d1kgaws12If you're buying a laptop this expensive, why use an external keyboard? Genuinely asking, since it seems like buying a house and not using half of it.

[@MichaelCH911]

​@@benjaminoechsli1941external keyboard always better. So why not buy pc instead of laptop? because he need mobility sometimes

[@matusjurcik6974]

Can optimus be turned off? 🙂

[@Puo-dr4xm]

Hey Jarrod, I'm playing on a really old laptop and I don't have much to afford a new one. If you have a spare one could you please give me it? Thanks.

[@umaci]

13700h model 3100 dollarzzz

[@soulkicker7101]

recommend me a laptop my range is 1500usd

[@natedagreat6704]

Why are you only comparing it against other msi laptops? Wouldn’t it make sense for it to get compared against its competitors

[@JarrodsTech]

it's a sponsored MSI video