As its lofty name would suggest, MSI’s Summit range sits atop its selection of business notebooks. Featuring a 360-degree hinge, a bright 1440p screen and MSI Pen support, the 16-inch Summit E16 Flip A12 is positioned to target high-powered creative professionals, and it certainly shows.
Design and Features
Like much of the rest of MSI’s business notebook range, the Summit E16 Flip has a minimalist, understated exterior design – all matte black with the logo embossed on the lid. Of course, as the name implies, the Flip can also rotate: you can keep the screen upright and use it like a regular laptop, turn it backwards and prop it up as a display, or rotate it all the way around to turn the notebook into a tablet.
One nice surprise came when I looked at the keyboard: a full number pad, which is by no means essential, but on the whole I’d rather have one than not. The keyboard is nice to type on without feeling cramped, and has three levels of backlighting; below it is a positively spacious touchpad, along with a fingerprint reader.
Connectivity is good, with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, a microSD card reader, a3.5mm audio combo jack, and a full-sized HDMI port capable of handling 4K at 60Hz; it also comes equipped with Wi-Fi 6e and Bluetooth 5.2.
Another plus: the built-in webcam is a cut above the 720p cameras you normally see on laptops and can record in full 1080p; additionally, a switch on the side of the laptop can disable it for privacy (though note this switch doesn’t use a shutter or physically cover the camera, only turns it off). Not only that, the camera has noise reduction to increase image quality, and four microphones to make sure you’re heard in that important Zoom meeting.
If security is your watchword, the E16 Flip has you covered as well: built-in Tile tracking technology means that you can always find your laptop’s location even when it’s turned off, Windows Hello means you can log in with your face or your fingerprint, and TPM 2.0 provides an extra layer of hardware-based security.
Of course, all these features do make the E16 Flip something of a hefty beast: it weighs around 1.9 kilos, and you can definitely feel that weight – you probably wouldn’t want to lug it around in tablet mode for too long. This isn’t an issue unique to the Flip, as many rotating hybrid notebooks tend to be on the heavier side, but it is one you’ll want to be aware of.
Display and Sound
The 16-inch anti-glare IPS display is gorgeous – vibrant, crisp, clear, and responsive to boot. I love a 1440p display on a laptop, as it’s a great sweet spot between your garden-variety 1080p and more expensive 4K. The side bezels are nice and thin – though this may lead to unintended touches in tablet mode – and on the whole it’s just really pretty to look at.
The touch screen is compatible with the MSI Pen stylus, which I also had the opportunity to try out. I am no artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I happen to know one very well, and she reported it was comfortable, responsive and easy to use with no input delay – though she also mentioned the pen itself needed more weight, and she didn’t like the flush design of its side button.
Also worthy of note is the aspect ratio: 16:10, as opposed to the 16:9 you’ll find on most laptops and PC monitors nowadays. This taller “golden ratio” display cements the E16 Flip as a notebook for the creative professional, who will be very pleased at the extra screen real estate it affords.
Unfortunately the speakers are, as is common with laptop speakers, not fantastic. They’re not the worst I’ve heard, but they’re bottom-firing and offer middling sound quality at best – and are, of course, even more muffled and tinny when the notebook is folded completely up into tablet mode.
Performance
The E16 Flip comes equipped with up to a 12th-generation Intel i7 processor, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 or 3050 Ti graphics card (our review unit came with the less powerful 3050). This is a great combination for creative work – there’s enough power in the silicon for multitasking, ray-traced graphics, and AI technology like Nvidia DLSS without having to fork out for more expensive GPUs like the RTX 3080.
A word of caution, however: this is not a high-end gaming notebook. While the RTX 3050 would probably be able to handle less strenuous games just fine, I tested it out by firing up my go-to game, 2019’s Control, and found the low framerates made it basically unplayable even with DLSS enabled. Gamers, it may have that shiny RTX sticker on it, but look elsewhere if you want a powerful rig.
Powering all this is an 82Wh four-cell battery with fast charging via Thunderbolt, which MSI says will last up to ten hours – I wasn’t able to test this for myself, but it’s certainly a bigger battery than I’ve seen on other MSI laptops in the past.
Verdict
The MSI Summit E16 Flip A12 knows exactly what it is – a laptop for creative professionals who need power and flexibility in their work – and doesn’t try to be anything else. It has enough grunt for multitasking, and a display that will bring any creator’s vision to life. If you need a solid workhorse that is portable without sacrificing the power you need, and pairs with an impressive stylus, then put this one high on your list. 9.5/10
Pros
Beautiful QHD+ display with 16:10 aspect ratio
High-end Intel 12th-generation processor with Nvidia RTX 3050-series graphics
1080p webcam with quad microphones, noise reduction, and hardware switch to disable
Compatible with MSI Pen stylus for responsive, lag-free drawing
Large keyboard and touchpad
Cons
Middling speakers
On the heavier side for a portable notebook
