MSI says it's going after 'MacBook Pro users' with its MacBook Pro-like notebooks

Msi Nb Creator Z16 Lunargray Lede
Msi Nb Creator Z16 Lunargray Lede (Image credit: MSI)

What you need to know

  • MSI has launched some new notebooks aimed at Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro.
  • At least one looks very familiar.

MSI has today announced a range of new notebooks aimed squarely at Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro. One of them, dubbed the Creator Z16, even looks like a MacBook Pro, too.

What's more, MSI isn't even being coy about what it's doing here. According to The Verge, the company is being brazen about its attempts to go after "MacBook Pro users."

MSI is best known for its high-end gaming laptops, but the company has made a few attempts to diversify its portfolio over the past few years. The manufacturer made a play for deep-pocketed professionals with its Summit Series business line last year, and it also sells some lower-priced models tailored to content creators. The new Creator Z16 is its first attempt to enter the market of premium content-creation machines, targeting customers that MSI bluntly calls "MacBook Pro users."

On the face of it, the specs do match up – as does the $2600 starting price.

There are two Creator Z16 models, with the base model priced at $2,599. Both come with a 120Hz 16:10 touch display with QHD+ resolution, which MSI says will cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The 16:10 aspect ratio may be a bonus for on-the-go designers and artists since it provides more vertical workspace than traditional 16:9 gaming laptops do. Inside, both models come with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 and 32GB of RAM. You can then select 1TB or 2TB of storage, and either a Core i7-11800H or a Core i9-11900H.

From what I'm hearing this is already shaping up to be a decent machine, especially if you're someone who has wanted to get something akin to a MacBook Pro but running Windows. Because you're using some legacy work app, of course. Nobody would do that by choice.

You can read all about the MSI Z16 over on Windows Central, too.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.