MSI’s new OLED monitor has an NPU for built-in AI options

MSI has a brand new OLED gaming monitor. It’s 27 inches, 1440p, and fairly darn speedy (although not a record-breaker) at 500Hz. All good. It additionally has a built-in neural processing unit (or NPU). In the event you’re acquainted with that time period, you recognize what comes subsequent: this OLED monitor has “AI” constructed into it. Confusticate and bebother.

After studying the official promo for the MSI MPG 271QR QD-OLED X50 and an prolonged session of bouncing varied four-letter phrases off the partitions of my workplace, I’ve to confess that this isn’t the worst technique to soar on the “AI” bandwagon. The NPU is tied right into a CMOS sensor (a really primary digital camera) and a presence detection system, which detects whether or not an actual human is sitting in entrance of it. So it’ll flip itself off whenever you go away and wake again up whenever you come again, checking 5 instances each second. It could even auto-dim the display screen for one of the best native lighting, or simply achieve this whenever you’re not actively dealing with the show.

All of that appears nice, particularly for these of us who’re nonetheless cautious of picture burn-in on OLED panels. You may really feel bizarre a couple of monitor with a digital camera inbuilt that isn’t a webcam, however one of many benefits of placing that NPU on the monitor itself is that each one the processing is finished domestically—it doesn’t hook up with any exterior or distant system. “No photographs are saved or transmitted,” says MSI.

Okay, so… How is that this not only a common presence detection system, one thing that’s been accessible in high-end laptops, screens, and different devices for years? And why does it want a flowery NPU as a substitute of, effectively, nearly any low-powered chip?

Properly, MSI additionally says there are “AI” options within the monitor’s built-in menu system, and it may well dynamically alter settings for various video games. However none of that requires something approaching an NPU, and MSI doesn’t say that it’s tied into the NPU, both. I detect the hand of a branding supervisor who needed to place “AI” everywhere in the spec sheet, precise presence of synthetic intelligence (even in its present and wholly misapplied nomenclature) be damned.

The remainder of the monitor’s specs are good, if not groundbreaking—it’s not prefer it features a Wi-Fi antenna. It’s packing a USB-C port with as much as 98 watts for enjoying good with gaming laptops. You get help for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1a, with as much as 80 Gbps throughput. The monitor is Nvidia G-Sync appropriate and totally helps variable refresh charges on consoles at as much as 120 Hz. Sadly, in line with VideoCardz, there’s no point out of a value or launch date. I’d anticipate it on the tail finish of this yr, or early 2026.