MSI X600

Product: MSI X600
Website: www.msi.com/x600
System Specifications: Intel Core2 Duo U9600 1.6 Ghz processor, Windows Vista Home Premium, Intel GS45 chipset, 4GB RAM, 15.6-inch LCD Display, ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4330, 2.5-inch 500GB SATA HDD, 1.3M webcam, SD/SDHC/MMC, Ethernet, WIFI, USB 2.0, Mic-in, Headphone Output, HDMI, E-SATA / USB Combo
Price: £799

WE LAST LOOKED at an MSI X-Slim notebook a few months back, where MSI's X340 first hit our shores boasting a 13.4-inch screen and an ultra ultra thin chassis - hence the slim in the X-Slim brand name.

This new x600 model now boasts a much larger screen, keeping elements of the now almost entry level x340 whilst building upon its success to a degree and correcting the flaws in the first X-Slim along the way.

Clearly still being the MSI take on they-who-shall-not-be-named and their Mac Airbook, the x600 dimensions are fairly comparable making it a good running mate.

Coming in at 39.2cm in width, 25.5cm in depth and only 2.5cm it is close in the overall stats, but Apple still wins out with the Air's dimensions of 32.5 cm width, 22.7 depth and 1.94cm thickness.

MSI hasn't lost the stylish design to the X-Slim series, with its sleek black look still akin to the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft. The matt black keyboard is now a lot more sturdy than beforehand, as the x340 had a tendency to bend in the middle quite a lot whilst typing. The only mar to the shipping product is the mouse pad is a tad off centre and there's now a ridiculous amount of stickers all over palm rest area - with more sponsorship than a Formula 1 driver's outfit.

Micro Star International has opted for an Intel Core 2 Duo U9600 1.6 Ghz processor, a far cry from the Core 2 Solo 1.4GHz that came with the x340 and one we found somewhat lacking. Once again MSI are making outlandish claims about the battery life that the CULV CPU brings to the table, with the company quoting 4.5 hours where we saw nothing of the sort.

Coupled together with the Intel GS45 chipset is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 discrete graphics adapter, which seemed a good choice on paper but in reality it didn't prove its worth to us. The laptop struggled with playing high definition video from several sources, with abysmally poor performance in 1080 HD media with the Princess Bride in a x264 MKV container - inconceivable!

Seeing as the Radeon boasts the HD seal of approval we can only assume it's the CPU that lets it down. That particular processor is rather low down on the 45nm scale of excellence from Intel, where it neither excels in glory nor does it fail in common tasks. What perhaps could have been better might have been a chip with some power, such as something running at 2+ Gigahertz.

There is a trade off over performance to battery life in the x600, especially if simple video playback is required. Under the 'power save' scheme in Windows Vista, basic high definition video from YouTube was seen to be jerky. Not so much that it completely ruins the playback experience, but it's still bad enough and BBC iPlayer HD content was utterly unwatchable.

Battery life produced a bit of a mixed bunch of results over the various power settings in Vista. We spent a number of days running consecutive tests, just to ensure continuity within our results. On high performance and in continuous use the x600 lasted two hours and twenty minutes on a single charge, but using the power saver option this was upped to three hours and thirty minutes before running out of life.

This is a step up from the x340 results of one hour and 50 minutes in the regular power mode, with two hours and forty five minutes on the best possible setting's with the 4-cell battery pack up against the 6-cell of the x600. Judging by MSI categorising the x600 as a notebook that's going to be desk bound for most of the time, straying not too far away from the mains. Although it's an improvement on battery life even with the increased screen, it's all thanks to the two additional cells in the slim-lined battery pack.

MSI x600 does have a much larger screen, the highest so far in the range. But while it boasts a 15.6-inch display, the 1366x768 resolution is the same as that found in the 13-inch screen of the x340

With all the additional baggage of a bigger display and battery size comes an increase in heftiness, from the banter-weight of 1.3kilos of the x340 to the 2.1kg of the x600. It's still some way off from running up against the Airbook 1.36kilos, with the X-Slim series x340 series being the most likely contender up against the Mac device in weight alone. µ

In Short
The x340 hit the streets at £759, whereas the x600 comes out at £799 for the increased screen size with the same resolution. The Intel graphics adaptor in the x340 couldn't stand up to the Nvidia GeForce 9400M found in the Macbook Air, but we would have assumed the ATI card in the x600 would have some power behind it. Sadly it too was found lacking, due to the poor performing CPU.

We still feel the X-Slim series fits somewhere between a notebook and a netbook, without really excelling in either category and should really be confined to their MSI Wind range as a result.

The Good
Thin, light, larger screen

The Bad
Low battery life

The Ugly
Distinctly lacking in a decent processor and graphical prowess

Bartender's Report
7/10