For everyday tasks, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro offers excellent value with its lower midrange price, delivering solid performance with good battery life and a high-quality display that's touch-enabled. It's also highly portable due to its compact size and lightweight design, making it ideal for on-the-go use. However, if your needs are more demanding, particularly in areas like 3D rendering, machine learning, or high-end engineering tasks, the MSI Creator 16 AI Studio is the superior choice despite its high-end price tag. It boasts a more powerful processor, a dedicated Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU, and a Mini LED display with higher brightness and color accuracy, which is crucial for professional creative work. Its larger screen size and additional RAM also contribute to a smoother experience in intensive applications. Keep in mind that the MSI's larger form factor and weight trade off some portability for performance and screen real estate, and it has a shorter battery life compared to the Lenovo. 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 Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro
Very good portability
Very good keyboard
Advantages of the MSI Creator 16 AI Studio
Very good for general use
Best in class for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Excellent for content creation
Best in class overall display quality
Very good speakers
Key differences
General Use
7.3/10
8.8/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
395.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
8.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
9.0 Hours
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
8.7/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.3/10
The MSI Creator 16 AI Studio is very good for general use, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
6.1/10
8.9/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
90Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The MSI Creator 16 AI Studio is very good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is only fair.
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
7.0/10
9.5/10
5.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.6/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The MSI Creator 16 AI Studio is best in class for engineering and design, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is good.
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
7.4/10
9.1/10
5.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.6/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The MSI Creator 16 AI Studio is excellent for content creation, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 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
7.3/10
8.9/10
5.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.6/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The MSI Creator 16 AI Studio is very good for software development, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is good.
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
7.7/10
9.7/10
14.0in
SIZE
16.0in
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
90Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
395.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
The MSI Creator 16 AI Studio has a better screen than the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Portability
Very Good
Good
14.0in
SIZE
16.0in
3.0 lbs
WEIGHT
4.3 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.7in
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro has very good portability, while the MSI Creator 16 AI Studio has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$799
$2,999
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro has a price of $799 and the MSI Creator 16 AI Studio costs $2,999.
"The main selling point of the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro versus a regular IdeaPad Slim 7 is its faster Core H-series CPU. In reality, the Core i7-11370H is only marginally faster than the U-series Core i7-1165G7 to the point where most users are not likely to notice the benefits. The slight performance uptick comes at the cost of slightly higher power consumption as well meaning owners will have to deal with potentially warmer temperatures or louder fans to compensate. Unless if you happen to be a power user, then the regular non-Pro model will be more than enough. Once you go 90 Hz, you can't go back."
Get a great deal on the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro or the MSI Creator 16 AI Studio
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
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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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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Laptops Expert
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