Summer is just around the corner and soon enough, there will be a bevy of college-bound students looking for laptop computers that not only get the job done, but are lightweight and compact enough to carry between classes. MSI has taken laptop design and slimmed it down to create the X-Series.
Breaking away from traditional notebook designs, the concept of the X-Series takes inspiration from the “lightness, elegance and richness of a feather.” That’s what the marketing lingo says anyway – in reality it’s looking to tempt MacBook Air buyers and bring (or keep them) on the PC side. The X-series is an inexpensive alternative, as it positions itself between traditional notebooks and value priced netbooks.
At first glance, the X-series has a very sleek look to it – the color we tested was the black X320 – and extremely light at just under 3lbs. Did we mention this is incredibly slim? 6mm at its thinnest point, 20mm at its thickest – the X-Slim seriously lives up to the moniker.
However, with the thin design comes limitations: There is no optical drive available in the unit (a USB DVD drive is sold separately) and no fancy multimedia buttons (you’re limited to the F keys with Fn hotkey), but that’s not what the X-series is going for.
This product was made for portability and still has great functionality with 3 USB ports (on the X320; the X340 only has 2, but an HDMI port as well) and still maintains a full sized keyboard and 13.4” glossy display. Additionally there are Ethernet, VGA, and mic/headphone ports as well as Wi-Fi (the X340 supports WiMax as well) and Bluetooth support. There is no PCMCIA slot but there is a card reader for additional data storage. At the top of the unit is a webcam and mic for video conferencing. Notably, you do note require a dongle to use these ports – they are all built right into the frame and done exceptionally well.
Quite possibly the biggest feature of the X-series is the price – between $700 and $900. This brings it within a reasonable price for the end user compared to the Macbook Air.
MSI also put a lot of focus on the fact that the X-series has a pretty incredible battery life – and naturally we wanted to see this for ourselves. Looking at the documentation, we see that they’ve included Intel’s latest ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) which is supposed to use 1/6th the power of traditional notebook processors.
We tested out the battery with MobileMark 2007 and found some very interesting results.
Using the “Reader 2007” scenario we were able to obtain 1172 minutes of battery life – which is almost 20 hours. While this may not be realistic in terms of long term use, it’s genuinely useful to know that the laptop is conserving so much power while still being used.
Part of the battery life being this good is because of Intel’s ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processor which lowers the voltage by nearly 1/6th of its original wattage. This is fantastic for mobile pcs, but there are limitations. This laptop isn’t going to playing the latest games or render film but that’s not the segment it’s trying to reach. It’s definitely for business professionals and students.
The laptop is pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium but will be Windows 7 ready when it launches.
Check out our hands-on X320 and 340 videos (coming soon!) to get a closer look at these fantastic, inexpensive ultra-slim notebooks.
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