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In very short order, MSI has gone from a faceless manufacturer of other people’s hardware to a recognized brand that makes some very interesting kit. It started with the little Wind netbook, but now MSI’s MacBook Air-alike, the X-Slim, has come to the US.
The X-Slim is, as the name suggests, thin. At just a shade under an inch thick it’s not MacBook Air thin (0.76 inches) but it’ll slide into a bag easily enough. The five-pound machine also has a 15.6-inch screen (1366 x 768), 320GB hard drive and a hefty 4GB RAM. On top of that it doubles the Air’s number USB ports to two, adds an SD card reader and has both Bluetooth and a webcam. In short. everything you need.
But there’s more. Because there is no built-in optical drive, MSI throws an external one into the box, and there’s also a real graphics card in the shape of the ATI HD 4330 and an HDMI port. The only thing that might put you off is the CPU, and Intel SU3500 running at a stately 1.4GHz. All for $900.
If I was ever in the market for a Windows laptop, I would probably take a close look at this one.
Product page [Amazon. Thanks, Mark!]
