A co-branded electronics product is nothing new. In the case of MSI’s latest collaboration with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, the motorsport division of the Mercedes-Benz brand, the concept was explored years ago by Acer and even ASUS with luxury brands like Ferrari and Lamborghini. The MSI Stealth 16 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport edition is technically the first product of its kind with the Mercedes-AMG badge though.
MSI’s Stealth 16 is a potent gaming laptop with rather powerful internals. You get Intel’s 13th generation Core i9 (up to) that is paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series GPU for smooth, responsive AAA gaming. You do need that kind of power when the display fitted on this 16-inch platform is a 4K 16:10 OLED panel. To keep everything running optimally, the MSI Cooler Boost 5 system with five heat pipes dissipating heat via dual fans should keep everything breezy and cool.
Of course, the internals have to be as powerful as the heart that lives inside the racer that is the Mercedes-AMG GT2, the official racecar that will borne the MSI branding on track. The exterior of the Stealth 16 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport edition is courtesy of Mercedes-AMG’s know how in material science. It is a magnesium-aluminium alloy chassis that is rigid, durable, yet lightweight; all the hallmarks of a great racecar. To pay homage to Mercedes-AMG, the chassis is finished in Selenite Grey design with AMG’s exclusive Rhombus patterns alongside an Mercedes-AMG Motorsport logo to show that this gaming laptop means business.
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Source: MSI
Alongside the exclusive design, the limited edition package will include an exclusive box design, for keepsakes, a matching mouse and mouse pad, an exclusively designed USB drive, a carrying pouch for the laptop, post cards, and a number of cable ties to complete the Mercedes-AMG experience. No you do not get a car when you buy the MSI Stealth 16 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport edition. Mercedes-Benz did not say anything about getting a free gaming laptop when you buy one of their AMG-line cars though. They also did not mention how much the laptop will be and when it will be available. If we have to guess, it will be expensive, and it should be available in the coming months. For more information on MSI’s latest products from Computex 2023, you can visit their website.
Malaysia’s electric vehicle (EV) market is heating up. You can not only get fully electric cars in Malaysia, but you can also get fully electric motorcycles too these days. Of course, the fact that there are more fast charging stations dedicated for EVs in Malaysia is a large driving factor for manufacturers to buy into Malaysia’s Electric future. It explains why Mercedes-Benz is betting on bringing in their Mercedes-EQ EQE business sedan to the shores.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE is mostly a respond to the response that Mercedes got with their EQS that was launched way before the EQE we see now. Where the EQS is a large SUV for those who value cabin and storage space, the EQE is more of a business sedan made more for style and comfort on the road.
You still get the same underpinning as the EQS, since they are based on the same all-electric Mercedes-EQ architecture. You get a powerful 215kW electric motor powering the rear wheels. You get 565 Nm of tourqe from the motor that allows the Mercedes-Benz EQE to propel its 2.3 tons body from 0-100km/h in 6.4 seconds and up to 210km/h in top speed.
It may not sound like it is all that fast. It makes it up with plenty of range though. A full charge will give you a range of up to 669 km. That is worth nearly a single back and forth trip between Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown, Penang.
With EVs though, there is always a problem of refueling. To be fair, it is more recharging your battery than refueling, and charging your batteries take time. For the Mercedes-Benz EQE, you can charge your car in just 32 minutes with a 170 kW DC charger. If you are not too hard pressed for time, you can charge your car still with a regular wall outlet from your home in 8 hours and 15 minutes.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE comes with a lot of safety assistance too to make it one of the safest things you can be in on the road. Mercedes-Benz’s Driving Assistance Plus with Active Distance DISTRONIC, Active Stop-and-Go Assist, Active Steering Assist, and Active Lane Keeping Assist keeps you on the road and a safe distance from cars in front of you.
One of the biggest selling points of an electric vehicle is its noise, or rather its lack of it. Not having engine noise also means that you get to hear even more things that are happening around the car, which might not be too pleasant. The EQE is designed to cocoon its passengers in a quiet comfortable compartment that is separated from everything else outside the cabin. They use a special foam designed to fill the car to really isolate the cabin while adding some rigidity to the chassis. The windscreen’s frame crossmember is also filled with sound insulation to further isolate noise from the cabin. Thanks to a powerful Burmester sound system in the EQE as well, you can drown out the outside world with immersive music.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ is available in Malaysia now for MYR 419,888. Keep in mind the quoted price is not including insurance. You can get your EQE through Mercedes-Benz Financial packages with fixed monthly instalments. More information on the Mercedes-Benz EQE can be found on their website.
If you have not known yet, I am the resident Formula 1 (F1)
nut in the office. I talk about F1 all the time, maybe to the point of
annoyance. I had the privilege of attending the F1 Singapore GP in 2019 courtesy
of Acronis and loved every second of being there. Sure, to some, F1 is nothing
more than just watching cars going around a piece of specialised and closed road
for an hour and a half.
To me, F1 is more than just that. It is the epitome of competition. It is the pinnacle of automotive racing, a sort of playground for the best of the best in the sport. It is also the pinnacle of modern automotive technology. The F1 world has contributed plenty of its innovation to the road going vehicles that we see today.
Source: Williams Advanced Engineering
There are other things as well. The understanding of Carbon Fibre constructions and driver safety is the reason hospitals have specific cradles for new-born babies that are lightweight, safe, and super comfortable for the younglings. So, F1 tech has reached out to more than just modern automotive industry.
We are all saddened by the news that the Japan Olympics this
year has been postponed to 2021 at the earliest. I was very sad when they
announced that F1 in Australia has to be cancelled, when China voluntarily cancels
their own hosting for this year’s F1 GP, and when F1 also announced that they
are not going to be racing in Bahrain, and Vietnam in 2020. All this, in the
name of combatting COVID-19. One of the McLaren staffs was confirmed as a case in
Australia and that kicked started the whole chains of events until today.
As of yesterday, some good news shone from the world of F1. They are not completely shutting down their factories and labs. Instead they are re-purposing them, at least seven of them in the United Kingdom (UK) are. These seven F1 outfits are all based in the UK as well, which is sort of why they are re-purposing their factories and labs to something they call Project Pitlane and #VentilatorChallengeUK consortium.
#VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium
By now, you would have read plenty about the global pandemic
that is COVID-19. By now, you would also learn to recognise the symptoms of contracting
the virus as well. By now, you would have learnt that patients will have
trouble breathing.
This calls for breathing
aid apparatus for the patients treated for COVID-19. In UK, where cases have
exceeded 22,000 individuals and death tolls hitting the 1,500s, the need of
such devices is becoming a desperation. They need more than 20,000 ventilation
equipment at this point.
The VentilatorChallengeUK consortium is the UK government’s call out to the private sectors to supply the health industry in the region with breathing aid equipment. It is an open tender for companies to design, build, and quickly manufacture a breathing aid apparatus for patients in the UK, for now. To that, the F1 world has answered the call with Project Pitlane.
Project Pitlane
The description from F1’s own website is very brief
actually. It is sort of a call to arms for the F1 teams to contribute in this
global pandemic, or rather to fight this pandemic. The project is basically a
challenge to the F1 teams to reverse engineer, redesign, and produce any
devices or anything that could help in scaling the production of UK’s VentilatorChallengeUK.
It could reach out more than that in a later date though.
To that extent, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, BWT Racing Point
F1 Team, Hass F1 Team, McLaren F1 Team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, Renault
DP World F1 Team, and ROKiT Williams Racing has answered the call and pledged
to Project Pitlane.
In Italy, Ferrari has done their own part in the battle of COVID-19 too. They have donated EU€ 10 million (MYR 47.4 million) to the cause to buy ventilators and to provide a fleet of cars to transport and distribute food and medical supplies. Imagine a Ferrari F12 ambulance on their patient run, or even a Ferrari F12 fleet sending emergency medical supplies from one hospital to another. That would have been a great sight. Only in Italy though, at this point.
If you understand medical equipment production. Products like the
CPAP that Mercedes-AMG HPP and UCLH has developed or reverse engineered could
take years to develop. They have done in in a matter of days. It is not just a
testament of how much the world has progressed today, it is a testament to what
F1 type production process could do for other industries.
It also is also a prove of how many brilliant people are involved in getting a car circling a piece of specialised road as quickly as possible. Then again, the factory in Brixworth costs Mercedes-Benz quite a lot of money. It has been producing F1 engines since 1983 and has been producing several championship winning power units in various cars over the years.
