MSI Modern AM242TP Black Review

A ports-and-RAM monster with a weak heart. Good for a touchscreen office PC, terrible for anything requiring speed.

This MSI All-in-One is a weird one. It's got a ton of RAM and ports, but a surprisingly weak processor and graphics. The one thing to know? This is a touchscreen office PC that's trying to look like a powerhouse. It's not for gaming, despite the marketing trying to hint at it. It's a solid, well-connected machine for someone who needs a clean desk setup and wants to poke their screen.

The specs tell a confusing story. You get 32GB of DDR5 RAM, which is one of the best amounts on the market, and a port selection that's basically the absolute best right now. But then you hit the Intel Core 7 150U CPU, which falls behind most modern processors, and the integrated Iris Xe graphics, which are a real letdown for anything beyond basic tasks. It's like they built a sports car body and put a lawnmower engine inside.

At around $1500, this is a tough sell. You're paying for the all-in-one form factor and the touchscreen. The internal specs, aside from the RAM and ports, are mediocre. If the price drops significantly, it could be worth it for a specific user. At this price, it's not.

Don't compare this to gaming desktops like the HP OMEN or Alienware Aurora—that's a mismatch. For a similar all-in-one experience, look at business-focused models from Dell or Lenovo. They often offer better CPU performance for the same price. If you don't need the touchscreen or the all-in-one design, a standard desktop tower with a monitor will give you far better performance and value.

If you're looking for a powerful PC for gaming, development, or creative work, this isn't it. Go get a proper desktop tower with a dedicated GPU instead. If you're a business buyer who needs raw CPU power for data processing, also skip it. Look at all-in-ones with better processors.

We can't recommend this for most people. It's a niche product. If you absolutely need a wall-mountable, touchscreen all-in-one with a ridiculous number of ports for your home office or business, and you don't care about processing speed, it might fit. For anyone else, especially developers or gamers (it scored a 10.7 for gaming, which is abysmal), look elsewhere.