facebook rss twitter

Review: MSI X-Slim X600 laptop. Sexy and useful?

by Tarinder Sandhu on 26 October 2009, 09:07 3.75

Tags: X-Slim X600, MSI

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qauix

Add to My Vault: x

A look around



Flick over the other side and the one casualty of a super-slim appearance is the optical drive. MSI bundles in a USB-powered multi-format DVD-ReWriter as compensation, though.

A couple of further USB ports bring the total up to three. Audio, microphone and a multi-card reader are all common fare and expected.

It appears as if the left-hand side (in the above shot) of the X600 tapers in. Rather, there are side-mounted vents that expel the heat build-up.

Run in power-saving mode and tasked to surf the 'net, the X600's noise level is pretty low. Play a game and cause the GPU's fan to spin up in tandem, noise, whilst not ear-piercingly loud, is noticeable.

The chassis does become warm to the touch, particularly on the left-hand side location of the GPU and wrist-rests, but the general engineering is sound enough to eliminate any really localised hotspots.



The six-cell battery is wide and thin, purposefully so, and provides 60WHr. MSI has an option for a nine-cell battery, giving longer mobile usage at the expense of a chunkier form factor.

Four speakers - two front, two back - provide reasonable audio, but lacking a subwoofer, the sound comes across as a little tinny.



The 103 keys include a number-pad. Typing is made a little more difficult than usual due to the location of the keyboard, far up from the lower edge of the opened laptop. The keys are large and keystrokes are smooth and consistent; touch-typists shouldn't have a problem in hitting high speeds.

There are no external buttons other than the power-switch. This means that most functions are controlled via keyboard shortcuts.



The screen is bright but, subjectively speaking, not as clear as some we've seen on 15.6in laptops. The native resolution of 1,366x768 is just as prevalent on 13.3in models, and we'd prefer the next screen-resolution up, at 1,680x1,050.

An aspect-ratio of 16:9 means that widescreen films (1.85:1) can be watched without annoying borders at the top and bottom.

The multi-touch-supporting pad, whilst large, sits in the middle of a sea of plastic. MSI could - and perhaps should - have made it even bigger.



Here's the USB DVD-ReWriter that's included in the £799 package. It's fairly nippy, installing Far Cry 2 in less than seven minutes.



MSI will be bundling Windows 7 Home Edition for notebooks shipping after October 22, 2009 Our sample was loaded with both Vista and 7.

Software-wise, booting back into Vista, MSI ships a bevy of applications designed to augment the user experience. The S-bar application provides a 'dock' that accesses shortcuts; EasyFace manager enables (temperamental) visual log-on via the decent-quality 1.3mp webcam; MSI Recovery authors backup discs of the operating system; a bunch of Arcsoft software lets you play around with the webcam, and limited-run trials of Microsoft Office and Norton Internet Security are thrown in for good measure.

Backed by a two-year warranty, the X600's main claims to fame are sleekness, lightness, and surprisingly good graphics.

« PREVIOUS PAGE
NEXT PAGE »