French connection
Last week we wrote about a few MSI X-slims and Winds based on AMD's Neo
platform. Oddly, quite a few punters didn't believe that they were just
around the corner, although we said they were coming back in May. Have
some faith people.
Interestingly, MSI has already started shipping some of its Neo-based
notebooks, but at the moment it seems they are only available in
France and Belgium. MSI is still staying mute about these products, which haven't been
officially announced. The X410 is a good looking piece of kit, it weighs just 1.5kg and it's under 25mm thick, making it the lightest and slimmest 14-inchers on the market. It's powered by an Athlon MV-40 at 1.6GHz, has 2GB of memory and 320GB of storage, draft-n wireless and it comes with Vista Premium, so there's really not much to complain about.
Several French retailers are listing the X410 at as low as
€414, and some are apparently shipping it already, albeit at higher
prices, slightly above €500. Belgian e-tailers have listed the X410 as
well, but they have also listed the X400, based on Intel's SU3500 CPU,
and the price difference is staggering. The X400 costs €650, while the
X410 is listed at just €499, which is really great value. The AMD-based X410 probably can't match the X400 in terms of endurance,
but we're sure you can buy plenty of batteries for €150 and still end up with
money to spare.
If you're after something smaller, such as the new 12-inch Wind U200, the
Neo-based U210 version will also save you around €150, as the U210 is
shipping at €399 to €449, depending on the SKU.
As we said, at the moment they seem to be shipping in France and
Belgium, so if want one really badly, you'll have to order it there,
wait for a few days, or take a road trip to France or Belgium.