MSI Modern 14 Review 2022 (C12M)

MSI’s Modern laptops tend to be mid-range, general-productivity, ‘Lifestyle’ laptops that offer reasonable quality at a reasonable price. They tend not to excel at much, but they can also be pretty good at most things. We haven’t seen one for a couple of years, but we quite liked the previous version. So, how will the 2022 MSI Modern 15 fare?

Update: Check out our 13th-Gen MSI Modern 14 C13M review

MSI Modern 14 Specs

14-inch, matte, 1920 x 1080, matte, 60Hz, IPS display; 3.5-4.7GHz Intel Core i7-1255U CPU; 16GB RAM; 512GB HDD; Intel Iris Xe graphics; 39Wh battery; 1.46KG. Dimensions (WxDxH): 319 x 223 x 19mm. SKU: C12M-222AU. Full specs here.

Design and handling

The MSI Modern 14 is a smooth, black laptop, with rounded edges. It feels high quality but it’s not the best-looking laptop around. It’s like the designers wanted to strive for a deluxe, rounded, Onyx finish but landed up with lines that are more reminiscent of rounded safety corners. Still, the shiny, stylised logo looks good when it catches the light and, when combined with the white back-lit keyboard, it looks a bit like Venom… but without the quality.

It’s nonetheless well-built and sturdy and even comes with a MIL-STD-810G certification for robustness. Our version’s colour was called Classic Black but there’s an Urban Silver variant available too.

Opening up the Modern 14 reveals a matte, 14-inch, Full HD, IPS screen with quite a thick bezel above the screen. Having experienced MSI’s Washed Out Screen issue recently (which is caused by a conflict between Intel’s graphics driver and the MSI True Color app), we prepared ourselves for the fixing process. However, we quickly realised that there was no True Color app on the Modern and the screen’s colours looked that way normally.

Nonetheless, the Modern 14 displayed a crisp and clear Windows Desktop and the same was true for Office Applications. Just note that small fonts at the native, Full HD resolution get small and will be hard to see for those with poor eyesight.

Both colour and monochromatic gradients were surprisingly good with minimal banding present. However, colours are unsaturated to the point where you wouldn’t buy this if you’re a multimedia buff – even though MSI is promoting the Modern series by partnering with artists. Only professionals and enthusiasts would worry though. Contrast performance is acceptable, with details generally visible in light and dark areas. Meanwhile, despite the Modern 14’s screen having a 60Hz refresh rate, pixel response time is actually quite fast and you could get away with playing some casual competitive games.

The screen’s party piece is that it folds down flat and you can flip the screen with the F12 key to show people what you’ve been working on.

The low travel keyboard is generally accurate and comfortable to type upon. It’s also nicely backlit with three different levels of white lighting. While we won’t criticise a 14-inch laptop for not having a number pad, the Modern 14’s squished arrow keys (which are right up against squished Page Up and Page Down keys) are misguided and the worst idea in the history of arrow-key layouts on laptop keyboards – even a typing toddler would struggle not to hit more than one at once!

The trackpad is smooth to navigate with, but the buttons are rather soft and harder to actuate than they should be.

The Modern 14s’s HD webcam is reasonable but, despite the thick bezel, it’s not Windows Hello compatible for facial recognition. There’s no fingerprint reader either.

Despite claims of “Hi Res Audio” the speakers are mediocre. While there’s some volume at the treble end, it near-vanishes at when it comes to bass reproduction. They function adequately for web conferencing though.

Despite our grumbles, there are no serious issues and casual, undemanding laptop users will happily use the MSI Modern 14 without complaint.

Performance

MSI’s Modern 14 is powered by a 3.5 – 4.7GHz Intel Core i7-1255U processor which has (just) two Performance cores and eight Efficiency cores. It’s partnered by 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and a 512GB PCIe 3, NVMe drive. These combined to score 5,323 in the general-performance PCMark 10 test which is reasonable for any laptop but mediocre for a 12^th Gen Intel model.

With only two Performance cores, the Modern naturally struggled in the CPU-rendering tests: it scored 1,516 in Cinebench R15 and 9,089 in R23. It’s not ‘slow’ slow but frequent multimedia creators should look elsewhere.

3D performance comes via the integrated Intel Xe GPU. This scored 1,533 in the difficult 3DMark Time Spy test which is an average of just 8.3fps. In Fire Strike Extreme it scored 1,655 (average 7.5fps) but it couldn’t run the technical Port Royal ray-tracing test at all. Nonetheless, a score of 14,568 in the lesser Night Raid test – which is an average framerate of 81.4fps – shows the Modern 14 can play casual and competitive games if not AAA blockbusters. While the screen’s refresh rate isn’t fast, the decent pixel response time means fast-and-frantic games aren’t unplayable.

It’s worth noting that the fans in the 19mm-thin chassis can get a bit annoying. At max power there’s a loud whoosh but this mode will rarely be engaged and it goes away quickly when turned off. Still, in Balanced power mode the fans can still ramp up to a mild swoosh (with a fine whine). It’s not loud but it makes the Modern 14 annoying in a quiet room.

Connectivity

Inside is Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. Generally it’s a good mix of modern and older connectivity.

Portability & Battery Life

While it doesn’t feel like the highest-quality laptop it’s still robust and well build and we expect it to withstand life on the road. The military-grade MIL-STD-810G certification will also add some peace of mind.

The Modern 14 weighs just 1.46KG which puts it in portable laptop territory. The small power supply and cables only add another 300g to the bulk too.

In terms of battery life, the Modern ran our PCMark 10 Modern Office test for an impressive 8 hours 36 minutes – that’s a full day out of the office.

Price

MSI’s Modern 14 costs $1,399 which is relatively inexpensive for a decent laptop that fulfills most, undemanding, day-to-day computing requirements. Alternatives include the Huawei Matebooks and Lenovo ThinkBook 15. These can offer some better ergonomics and portability but can’t match the 12^th Gen processor’s 2D performance. However, the big problem for the MSI Modern 14 is the Asus VivoBook Pro. It costs the same, has better performance, an OLED screen, longer battery life and only weighs 200g more… but for that you get a 15-inch screen.

Conclusion: Should I Buy the MSI Modern 14?

At $1,399 it’s relatively cheap for a solid laptop. As we said up front, though, it doesn’t excel at anything yet this doesn’t make it a failure. If you need an uncomplicated, reasonably priced laptop for general computing needs this represents a decent choice. But, when MSI uses the tagline, “Live In Everyday Passion” to describe the modern range it’s like saying that a Kia Optima is a head-turning, exciting car. The main issue for the MSI Modern 14 is that it’s in a space where rivals are plentiful and, despite this filling a gap in MSI’s otherwise excellent range, it still only feels like a gap filler.

Giveaway

MSI has given us three laptop bags to giveaway in honour of its launch of the Modern 14. To be in with a chance of winning one, just sign-up to our email list below and mention this laptop’s name in the message…

Pros

Good portability
Reasonable performance

Cons

Bad arrow keys
Poor speakers

Last Updated on December 4, 2024 by Nick Ross