The HP 14" Laptop is a budget-friendly option suitable for everyday use and tasks that aren't highly demanding, offering moderate storage and memory, plus a longer battery life. The MSI Stealth 17, on the other hand, is a high-end laptop with significantly more storage and memory, a powerful processor, and top-tier graphics capabilities suitable for gaming, 3D rendering, and engineering software, but it's heavier and less portable. Choose the HP for day-to-day tasks and better portability or the MSI if you need a laptop for performance-intensive tasks and are willing to invest more. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the HP 14" Laptop
Very good portability
Good battery life
Advantages of the MSI Stealth 17
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Good overall build quality
Best in class speakers
Excellent keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.7/10
8.7/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
265.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
384.0 nits
8.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.5 Hours
6.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
8.3/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.4/10
The MSI Stealth 17 is very good for general use, while the HP 14" Laptop is only fair.
The MSI Stealth 17 offers a more powerful CPU, vastly greater RAM, a higher screen resolution with superior color coverage for a more vivid display, and a larger screen, making it very good for general use; however, it is less portable and has a shorter battery life compared to the HP 14" Laptop, which has more modest performance and display qualities but is lighter with better battery life, deeming it fair for general use.
Gaming and AI
5.8/10
9.1/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The MSI Stealth 17 is excellent for gaming and AI, while the HP 14" Laptop is poor.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
6.0/10
9.4/10
4.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
8.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
The MSI Stealth 17 is excellent for engineering and design, while the HP 14" Laptop is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
7.0/10
8.8/10
4.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
8.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The MSI Stealth 17 is very good for content creation, while the HP 14" Laptop is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
6.8/10
8.5/10
4.6/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
8.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
6.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The MSI Stealth 17 is very good for software development, while the HP 14" Laptop is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
6.3/10
8.6/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
265.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
384.0 nits
The MSI Stealth 17 has a better screen than the HP 14" Laptop for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
For general use, the HP 14" Laptop has a screen that offers acceptable clarity, resolution, and brightness, making it adequate for everyday tasks like web browsing and document editing, but the MSI Stealth 17 provides a superior visual experience with crisper images and better brightness, enhancing the quality for tasks like photo viewing and video streaming. When it comes to engineering and design, the MSI Stealth 17's screen displays a broader range of colors, which is crucial for accurately representing designs and graphics, whereas the HP 14" may not reproduce colors as faithfully. For 3D applications, the MSI Stealth 17's lower refresh rate, despite its better resolution and panel type, might not be as smooth when rendering fast-moving visuals commonly found in gaming and animation, while the HP 14" Laptop's screen falls short on several fronts, making it less ideal for such intensive visual tasks.
Battery
8.5 Hours
5.5 Hours
The HP 14" Laptop has 8.5 hours of battery life. The MSI Stealth 17 has 5.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Fair
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
3.2 lbs
WEIGHT
6.1 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.7in
The HP 14" Laptop has very good portability, while the MSI Stealth 17 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.0/10
7.8/10
The MSI Stealth 17 has good build quality, while the HP 14" Laptop has only fair build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$418
$3,899
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The HP 14" Laptop has a price of $418 and the MSI Stealth 17 costs $3,899.
"This feels like an ideal laptop for someone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on a laptop and isn’t too bothered by things like build quality or construction. It’s a laptop that will be used to pay bills, keep track of expenses, do some online shopping, and will be tucked away in a spare bedroom/home office. It’s an appliance designed to do a job without fuss. It’s not a premium experience—the materials do feel a little cheap, the display won’t exactly wow you, and the battery life is nothing to write home about, especially if you’ve used more expensive devices. But overall it’s not too shabby, especially for the price."
"The MSI Stealth 17 Studio is a laptop with a quiet RTX 4080 for almost every occasion. The MSI Stealth 17 Studio is equally capable of high-level media processing and playing current games. It remains pleasantly quiet, even if a few percentage points of power have had to be sacrificed in the process. But, it is not quite perfect: To some extent, the Stealth 17 is well thought out. It packs tons of graphics power and high-end components in a slim case. The laptop's cooling system can be set such that, noise-wise, it doesn't even reach low volume. However, small flaws cloud otherwise exceptionally positive impressions."
Get a great deal on the HP 14" Laptop or the MSI Stealth 17
About HP
HP, also known as Hewlett-Packard, is an American technology company that develops personal computers and computer peripherals. In the laptop industry, HP is known for its entry level Essential series laptops, its mid-range Pavilion, Envy, and Victus series, and high-end Omen and Spectre series, in addition to its business-oriented EliteBook, ProBook, and Dragonfly series laptops. HP laptops generally undercut other mainstream competitors in terms of price, placing itself as the value-oriented mainstream brand.
About MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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