Thin, cheap and cheerful
MSI has officially introduced two new X-Slim series notebooks, the Intel CULV-based X400 and the AMD Neo-based X610.
The X400 is probably the smallest 14-incher on the market, weighing a
measly 1.5kg and measuring under an inch at the waistline. Oddly
enough, the X400 was shown off at Computex, but for some reason it took
MSI a full four months to start shipping it.
The X400 will ship in two SKUs. The entry level version is based on
Intel's SU2700 CPU, packs 2GB of memory and 320GB of storage. A
slightly more powerful version will be powered by SU3500 processors and
it will feature a 500GB hard drive. It features a 4-cell battery,
although an 8-cell option will be available. In Blighty they will cost
£499 and £569 respectively, and EU shoppers are probably looking at
similar price tags in euros.
In case you need a but more screen acreage, and for some reason don't
like Intel CPUs, the AMD Neo-based 15.6-inch X610 is also official.The
X610 is powered by and Athlon Neo MV-40 at 1.6GHz and it features
Radeon HD4330 discrete graphics with 512MB of memory. You will have a
choice of 320GB, 500GB and 640GB hard drives, and either 2GB or 4GB of
RAM. MSI hasn't released the pricing for the X610, but we expect it to
cost €100 to €150 less than the Intel based X600.