MSI has a few workstation laptops under its brand, and the MSI WF75 series is one of them. Positioned right below the WS66 and WS75 series, MSI was kind enough to send us a unit for review. Specially built to cater to the occupational requirements of architect and engineers, the MSI WS75 has a big claim to live up to.
Disclaimer: This is an Australian unit of the MSI WF75, provided by MSI Australia.
Specifications – MSI WF75
CPU | 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H 2.6GHz CPU |
GPU | Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000 GPU 6GB GDDR6 |
RAM | 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4 RAM (Max 64GB) |
Display | 17.3-inch 1080P 144Hz Refresh Rate Anti-Glare IPS-Level Display |
Storage | 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD |
Battery | 51Wh Battery |
Size / Weight | 2.2cm Thin / 2.2KG Weight |
Connectivity | Supports Wi-Fi 6 – 802.11ax |
Design
The MSI WF75 features a subtle yet professional aesthetic. Seeing as how it is made for engineers and architects, it definitely suits their profile. I even showed the laptop to a few of my architect friends, and they really liked the design, especially the brush metal pattern with MSI’s workstation logo etched on the cover. There’s also a debossed MSI logo at the bottom of the screen.
To maximize screen real estate, MSI managed to fit a 17.3-inch screen into the MSI WF75. This gives it a 5mm thin bezel, which translates to an 88% screen-to-body ratio. You’ll be able to see more of your content in a smaller body, and the visuals would appear more immersive without the thick bezels on the sides.
The MSI WF75 weighs slightly above 2KG and is 2.2cm thin. Some might argue that this is rather thick and heavy compared to the ultrabooks in the market, but the amount of RAW processing power this laptop has makes up for all of that. Additionally, the laptop is even tested with a military standard MIL-STD-810G certification, giving it the ruggedness and durability it needs when it’s brought out for field work.
Staying minimal, the MSI WF75 is meant to be efficient and centre on productivity, so there isn’t any flashy design cues to it. Everything’s kept simple, from the keyboard’s backlighting (no RGB), to the trackpad and I/O ports. Connectivity ports are abundant, and it almost has everything a professional would need out in the field. That said, I’d hope MSI could’ve included an SD card reader so that data from memory cards could be read instantly without the need of an adapter.
Left:
- 1 x AC Adaptor
- 2 x Type-A USB3.2 Gen1
- 1 x HDMI (4K@30Hz)
Right:
- 1 x Kensington Lock
- 1 x Headphone-out
- 1 x Mic-in
- 1 x Type-A USB3.2 Gen1
- 1 x Type-C USB3.2 Gen1
- 1 x RJ45 (Gigabit LAN)
Display
The MSI WF75 features an Anti-glare IPS panel, and this is absolutely beneficial for when you’re out in bright sunlight. It’s anti-glare so the sun’s reflection would be reduced on the screen, and the IPS panel would increase the viewing angle. So no matter how you look at the display, the colour stays accurate and you wouldn’t need to squint your eyes to focus on what’s on the screen.
The display itself is large and bright.. Colours are accurate, and you could customise to your own needs within the MSI Creator Center software.
17.3-inch is a suitable size for its display, but MSI could’ve thrown in a 4K screen to maximize detail. This would be useful when it comes to viewing large project maps or blueprints on the screen. The inclusion of a touch panel would also be welcomed, so that the user doesn’t need to fumble over a mouse when they’re out and about.
User Experience
The MSI WF75 workstation laptop’s keyboard has a 1.9mm keystroke travel distance. It’s comfortable to type on, and a pleasure to use. The inclusion of a keypad is great for number input, but I’m not a fan of the layout. The right shift key and numpad zero had their sizes reduced to fit the arrow keys. On top of that, there’s also a noticeable flex on the corners of the screen and the keyboard itself.
As for the trackpad, it’s small and squishy when you try to click it. That’s why I prefer to just a mouse instead when I’m working on it. A touch panel would’ve made things a lot easier too.
When I tried to open up the laptop with one hand, the bottom lifts up together too. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it just means you’ll always need two hands to open up the laptop. The top part of the laptop is built with mostly brushed metal, but the bottom is built with plastic.
For developers who want to use the MSI WF75 for VR demonstration, you’d be glad to know that both the HDMI port and Type-A USB 3.2 ports are on the same side. This makes it more convenient for when you’re trying to input a VR system, and improves cable management.
Despite the laptop’s slim form factor, there’s still a full size Gigabit LAN port. Audio wise, the MSI WF75’s speakers are certified by Hi-Res Audio. It’s sufficient to fill the room as it gets pretty loud at 100%.
To future proof the machine and ensure it meets the network speed standard of the future, the laptop also comes with Wi-Fi 6 technology. Unfortunately, we don’t have a Wi-Fi 6 router to test it out with.
Performance
Equipped with an Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000, the MSI WF75 is designed for precision design work. This includes large or complex CAD models and advance DCC workload.
Under heavy load, the laptop utilises its Cooler Boost 5 technology which keeps the laptop from throttling. The fan is pretty loud, but not surprising from a laptop this thin.
When we ran our benchmark tests, the laptop felt only slightly warm to the touch. To test it out for casual gaming, we used the Final Fantasy 16 Shadowbringer benchmark tool. It scored an extremely high performance score of 16,254 with DirectX 11. The Quadro RTX GPU might be a little overkill for this game. And for Cinebench, we ran the test three times, and it ranked 8th place at 2,046 points.
Battery
The MSI WF75’s laptop battery is relatively small at just 51Wh. We streamed a FHD video at 100% brightness, the laptop automatically shutdown after close to two hours. I don’t see much of an issue here, because if you were to do intensive tasks, you would have the laptop plugged in anyways for full power.
If you were out in the field, and needed to use the laptop for your projects, the laptop could definitely last more than two hours.
Conclusion
The MSI WF75 workstation laptop is not only great for bringing out into the field, but it also super portable between meeting room discussions and presentations. The laptop is minimally designed with more than capable processing power, and it doesn’t have the unnecessary “gamer RGB” design.
To sweeten the deal, the laptop also comes with enterprise focused feature. The laptop is certified by ISVs, including AutoCAD, Adobe Suite, Revit and recently Enscape/ Archicad. There is also a fingerprint reader that supports Windows Hello.
The Military Standard Grade certification (MIL-STD-810G) further protects the MSI WF75 workstation laptop from sand, dust, vibration, shock, pressure and extremely high/low temperatures.
To check out the MSI WF75 for yourself, check it out here.