A new line of laptops designed for “business elites”

[steven36]

These fast, powerful PCs—from the favored brand of world-class gamers—are made for a wide range of users. Which one are you?

 

 

MSI—the computer manufacturer best known for its highly regarded gaming PCs—recently unveiled a line of laptops designed for use in the classroom and office (which, as we know all too well, will continue in a place that bears an uncanny resemblance to our home). It’s a development that David Chou, vice president of sales for MSI North America, says customers have long been clamoring for: “Along with processing power and the latest features, they wanted these devices to have MSI’s build and design qualities.”

 

The Summit series—released alongside the foundational Prestige and Modern series—was created with specific users in mind, what Chou calls “business elites.” “They are high-performing executives who are looking for a machine with enough muscle to tackle the most challenging problems while eliminating the friction points that slow productivity,” he says. The four models in the series—Summit B14, Summit B15, Summit E14, and Summit E15—all come with 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake processors, Wi-Fi 6, Thunderbolt 4, fingerprint readers with the latest authentication technologies, and they are built to military specifications.

 

 

 

Just as important as the list of impressive internal components is the tight integration with Windows and productivity apps and services from Microsoft—and the close collaboration between the two companies that began in the early stages of the laptops’ development. “We’ve worked with MSI for more than 30 years,” says Kurt Petersen, general manager of device partner sales at Microsoft. “After working with MSI to build innovative gaming PCs, it’s exciting that MSI is bringing the powerful and secure Summit PCs to business customers.”

 

A business—whether conducted in an actual office or the homes of its employees—is made up of individuals with a wide range of skills—and equally diverse approaches to how they use their tools. Some like to keep up to date on the latest advances, while others would prefer not to think about their computers after pressing the power button. Here are some (perhaps familiar?) types of users—and how their work experiences might benefit by switching to Summit.

THE TECHNOPHILE

This is the type of user who understands that if the CPU is the brain of a PC, then the motherboard is its central nervous system. It’s a crucial if overlooked component, and MSI—with long experience catering to the (sometimes comically) exacting standards of PC gamers—builds some of the best. “We’ve been in the motherboard business for the past 30-plus years,” Chen says. “We’ve put that experience and knowledge, along with our industry-leading engineering and production capabilities, into the Summit and our other business laptops.”

THE MEETING MAESTRO

“We’re constantly adding new capabilities to Microsoft 365 to equip organizations and teams with the tools to thrive in this new work-from-home world,” says Microsoft’s Kurt Petersen. Project leaders can utilize a new feature in Microsoft Teams that brings the presenter’s video feed into the foreground of shared-content screens—as well as MSI’s powerful background-noise-cancellation software—to minimize distractions.

THE ZEN SEEKER

Not everyone (thankfully) is a back-slapping Type A. For the equally capable but less high-spirited, Petersen points out a set of “personal well-being insights and features” now incorporated into Teams, such as a “‘virtual commute’ [which schedules twice-daily nonwork blocks of time] to restore a familiar structure to long workdays at home” and “apps like Headspace that make it easier to de-stress and find focus at any time during the day.”

THE SECURITY SPECIALIST

Security and privacy are especially critical in today’s work- and study-from-home environments.

 

“Working with Microsoft to enhance our cameras and fingerprint sensors, we’ve created a robust privacy environment that has minimal impact on productivity,” Chou says. MSI business laptops have fingerprint readers with FIDO2 authentication, a highly secure two-factor technology that uses biometrics rather than a password.

THE SERIAL CONFERENCE CALLER

MSI consumer research found that WFH users who bounce from video conference to video conference often lose track of privacy settings on their computers. To prevent overstretched workers from over-revealing, Chou says, “We’ve added an LED indicator to let them know when the camera is on and transmitting, so they don’t get caught on camera accidentally.”

THE IT CHIEF

Telecommuting has posed a set of daunting challenges for IT departments. Microsoft’s Windows Autopilot utilizes cloud-based technologies to overcome these new hurdles, starting with the traditionally cumbersome process through which new PCs are configured and distributed. With Autopilot, “IT sends a PC to an employee’s home,” Petersen says, “and all that employee has to do to get up and running is simply connect to a network and verify their credentials.” The same cloud technology can be used to reset, repurpose, and recover devices—all with minimal infrastructure management.

THE TIME-IS-MONEY EXEC

One of Chou’s favorite features is called Modern Standby, developed by Microsoft and made possible by the latest Intel chips. It leverages low-power standby settings to give PCs the “instant on” experience of smartphones. “It’s empowering and satisfying to have this kind of quick access to where I last left off on my computer,” he says.

THE ALL-THUMBS KLUTZ

Each of MSI’s new laptops are certified to have met MIL-STD-810G requirements, a set of military specifications covering normal operation in a variety of harsh environments and conditions that include temperature extremes, vibrations, humidity, and “contamination by fluid” (which, thankfully, includes your morning coffee).

 

Chou views MSI’s new laptop lines—and the Summit series in particular—as a particularly successful outgrowth of years-long research, an inside-out rethink on how to make computers, and close collaboration with a key partner. “We invested a lot of new resources and encouraged our designers to consider every detail a business user might want or need,” he says. “And Microsoft brings an unmatched understanding of software that boosts the user experience for executives who need a fast and reliable PC that can keep up with the increasing pace of today’s business—whether at the office or in the home.”

 

Source

[masterupc]

MSI has let me down with two high security flaws I found in its BIOS/UEFI (MSI X570 Gaming Plus MoBo) implementation and a lack of a solution but only excuses. I don't advise to buy anything from them.

I have an open ticket that has more than 20 days, full of excuses and questions but no solution.

[steven36]

2 hours ago, masterupc said:

(MSI X570 Gaming Plus MoBo)

Well seems your not alone they quite a few bad reviews in  the comments at amazon  about  bugs in this model.  Pwn them post a proof of concept of the bug  on social media then i bet they will fix it .

 

Seems like that a problem  with MSI  most reviews say they not very good at fixing or giving you a refund  if you get a dud from them .  I know when i bought stuff from Dell  they was always good about fixing stuff   they would come to my house and fix it that's how i learn to  replace parts in PCs  by watching them . HP was even better you just sent it back and they send you a replacement. Dell they have to fix it so many times  and if it keeps having problems they will replace it.  You  can buy a  extended warranty  for most PCs right from Amazon for like a $100  extra then   Amazon will fix it or replace it if you have trouble. if you buy from Dell  they will sell you a 5 year warranty if im going to pay a grand or more for something i always spend the extra $100  to be covered  .

 

Since most of  most MSI laptops  have 4  or 5 stars  at Amazon seems like they sell a lot even  that MB you say is bad had mostly positive reviews but you have to take Amazon reviews with a grain of salt. I bought a Seagate external HD from Amazon and it had lots of bad reviews and i been using it for lots of years and never had no trouble with it they must of got a dud.  

[masterupc]

2 hours ago, steven36 said:

Pwn them post a proof of concept of the bug  on social media then i bet they will fix it

 

I think I'll do it. It's a problem with how they implemented the BIOS/UEFI that leaves an attacker to run malicious code due failure in Secure Boot (invalid certificates for windows and linux distros) that makes you change from UEFI to CSM... the other one is in memory timings... its implementation reads the correct specs from the memory but it assigns through "Auto" another value and makes the system unstable, open to run arbitrary code that can crash the system or open a hacker a way in your system. I like to open a CVE but I have no idea how.
And I said them I'm not disclosing it but they are not doing anything to find a solution. It's like they say it's my fault.

[caraid]

19 hours ago, steven36 said:

The four models in the series—Summit B14, Summit B15, Summit E14, and Summit E15—all come with 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake processors, Wi-Fi 6, Thunderbolt 4, fingerprint readers with the latest authentication technologies, and they are built to military specifications.

 

Do they each have the Intel EVO sticker? If not, they are overpriced.

 

3 hours ago, masterupc said:

MSI has let me down with two high security flaws I found in its BIOS/UEFI (MSI X570 Gaming Plus MoBo) implementation

 

Did you discover these two high-security vulnerabilities yourself or you learned about them on the internet or some tech forums?

[steven36]

 

3 minutes ago, caraid said:

Do they each have the Intel EVO sticker? If not, they are overpriced.

Most any PC i ever bought ether came with Intel or AMD stickers  regardless  of the cost . That's MAC PCs that dont come with stickers  and they are over priced.

[caraid]

3 minutes ago, steven36 said:

 

Most any PC i ever bought ether came with Intel or AMD stickers  regardless  of the cost . That's MAC PCs that dont come with stickers  and they are over priced.

 

hi steven,

 

Sorry my question was ambiguous.

 

By Intel EVO sticker, I meant that the Summit series by MSI has passed and received official certification by Intel. There are strict requirements to fullfil before Intel permits computer manufacturers to claim they are Intel EVO certified.

[steven36]

3 minutes ago, caraid said:

 

hi steven,

 

Sorry my question was ambiguous.

 

By Intel EVO sticker, I meant that the Summit series by MSI has passed and received official certification by Intel. There are strict requirements to fullfil before Intel permits computer manufacturers to claim they are Intel EVO certified.

Only  MSI Prestige Evo is only laptop  i know of that got  this certification

https://liliputing.com/2020/09/msi-prestige-evo-is-one-of-the-first-intel-evo-certified-laptops.html

 

 

If what you said was true that means 99% of PCs are overpriced.

[steven36]

 Acer Swift 5 will be  the next EVO PCs  to be  EVO they have to have 11th Gen Intel® Core™ mobile processors with Iris® Xe graphics (code-named “Tiger Lake”)

 

 

Summit series come with

 

All of MSI’s new Summit Series systems will come equipped with Intel 11th-gen chips, PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, Thunderbolt 4, and even USB 4.0. The Summit B Series is the slightly more portable of the two, with the B14 and B15 offering 14 and 15-inch full HD LCD displays respectively (you see what they did there?), Intel Core i7 processors, and integrated Intel Xe graphics.

 

Meanwhile, the Summit E series will be the more performance orientated line with both the E14 and E15 featuring Intel Core i7 chips, Nvidia GTX 1650Ti GPUs, and the choice of either full HD displays or higher-res 4K screens that can output 100% of the Adobe RGB spectrum. The E Series also includes one system that strays slightly from the mold: The new E13 is actually a 2-in-1 that features a 360-degree rotating display.

 

 

some will have XE some will be Nvidia GTX 1650Ti all are 11 gen  processors Powered  by AI  All new MSI  PCs are Intel  certified   Intel and MSI collaborated to craft its new Summit series of laptops

[masterupc]

3 hours ago, caraid said:

Did you discover these two high-security vulnerabilities yourself or you learned about them on the internet or some tech forums?

 

I found them by myself due errors in booting windows or any linux distro with Secure Boot enabled (message of invalid certificate) and then errors while validating primary disk backup. That made me dig into the issue, finding that the "Auto" values that the BIOS/UEFI assigned were not the same as the XMP specs. I had to manually change it in order to get a stable system with no memory errors. Formerly I thought it was a memory stick problem and issued a ticket with Corsair but they suggested me to do a clear CMOS and test (memtest86-x64) them. That threw no errors for a while and it was clear then where the root of the problems was.

I'm now putting up two proof of concept by myself to backup what I found and to issue CVEs since nobody in MSI is moving a finger in order to fix those flaws. I don't know if there're more, but surely if I find new ones I'll be opening more tickets with MSI support.

 

They have half patched the issue with a beta version of the BIOS/UEFI and windows can boot with Secure Boot enabled, but not the linux distros. About the memory, nothing done and it's like they're blaming it on me... that must be a big fucking joke.

[caraid]

2 hours ago, masterupc said:

I'm now putting up two proof of concept by myself to backup what I found and to issue CVEs since nobody in MSI is moving a finger in order to fix those flaws. I don't know if there're more, but surely if I find new ones I'll be opening more tickets with MSI support.

 

Good. You have my moral support.

 

2 hours ago, masterupc said:

They have half patched the issue with a beta version of the BIOS/UEFI and windows can boot with Secure Boot enabled, but not the linux distros. About the memory, nothing done and it's like they're blaming it on me.

 

Most BIOSes are sub-contracted to either Insyde or AMI. I believe HP's motherboards use BIOSes by Insyde, while Dell and Asus use AMI's.

 

Is this the first time you bought an MSI product?

[masterupc]

13 hours ago, caraid said:

Is this the first time you bought an MSI product?

 

Nope. I've bought a lot of MSI products for my clients (I build custom PC's, mostly gamers) and myself but it's the first time I have a problem, ironically, my MB.

 

13 hours ago, caraid said:

Good. You have my moral support.

 

Wasn't expecting anything more LMFAO