MSI’s New Laptop to Rival the Air?

msix340 In everything but the name, the new ultra-slim laptop from MSI is a twin to Apple’s famously thin and stylish ‘Macbook Air’ that debuted a few years ago to much media attention and hype.

The MSI laptop matches Apple’s effort in both size and weight, but it’s about a third of the price making it a much more viable option to people looking for a laptop that offers good value for money. In fact, in some cases the MSI design improves on the original Apple version with a wider range of ports and a useful removable battery which was oddly absent from the Air.

The laptop boasts some excellent specs for it’s from factor: 13.4 inch widescreen, two USB ports, built in VGA and Ethernet, HDMI, 320GB hard drive all powered by a 1.4 GHz Intel processor. Obviously there’s still no optical drive due to the size of the system, and unfortunately although wireless is included there’s no internal support for 3G broadband which is becoming a more crucial feature in portable devices.

So how exactly are MSI managing to offer such a laptop at a price that puts Apple to shame? Some might say it’s because you are paying for the brand with Apple, but the less cynical amongst us could take a look at the overall build quality of the laptop and the general design which doesn’t quite live up to Apple’s standards.

Is a studier and prettier machine really worth paying over $1000 more though? That’s for the consumers decide, we guess.

Price: $800

Posted on June 1, 2009 | Filed Under Tech