MSI announces light-as-air notebook, minis
By John Brandon
January 09, 2009
MSI has a new feather-light notebook and several new netbooks
Sometimes, it’s the companies you would not expect that come out with amazing products. MSI – known more for their motherboards – has announced a very thin and light notebook, available in April. The X320 weighs just 1.3kg (or about the same as a dinner plate) and is about a half inch thick. In an exclusive test (the unit they have is normally housed in a glass case), we found the keyboard to be responsive and easy to use. The 13.4 inch screen is sharp and bright, and the system comes loaded: 2GB of RAM, 3 USB ports, and a 4-cell battery. There’s an option to upgrade to an 8-cell battery that lasts up to 10-11 hours, but adds just a sliver of bulk and extra weight.
MSI also has a new netbook called the U115 that has a 9-cell battery (for up to 12 hours of usage) and an interesting twist. It has both an 8GB SSD flash drive and a 160GB hard disk drive built-in. The 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor is a little faster than some of the Dell models. The styling is business black, with 3 USB ports and a flash card reader. The keyboard felt a hair more responsive – we typed a sentence faster on it – than the HP mini line. There’s also a U120H model, similar to the U115 but with built-in mobile broadband (you have to sign up for your own carrier).