MSI reveals new FX-series laptops

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Posted on 24 May 2010 at 16:05

MSI took the lid off its new FX-series laptops at its pre-Computex press conference in Amsterdam.

While there are two laptops in the range, the FX600 and FX700, it’s only the former which MSI is pushing in the UK. It’s a 15.6in laptop with a Core i5 processor supporting Intel’s Turbo Boost technology and MSI’s own Turbo Drive Engine to further improve performance.

It also uses Nvidia’s Optimus Technology to save power when the discrete graphics chip isn’t needed. There’ll a choice between the GeForce GT 325M 1GB and GeForce GT 430 1GB – the latter is the first laptop chip based on Nvidia’s latest ‘Fermi’ graphics architecture.

The FX600 can be configured with a 250 to 500GB hard drive and comes with a six-cell battery, 802.11n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, an HD webcam, HDMI, VGA and eSATA. Like the GT660, it too has Dynaudio speakers, but they’re much smaller and sit around the edge of the screen. MSI says that they’re THX TruStudio qualified, but we weren’t able to listen to them during the event.

The FX-series targets the more stylish end of the market – they’re the polar opposite of the GT660, which is aimed squarely at the hardcore gamer. There are no flashing lights, chiselled edges or garish looks.

Instead it has a black plastic shell with silver trim around the edges – it’s actually quite a reserved design. The wrist rest is textured, like the GT660’s, to reduce finger prints and it also has a Chiclet style keyboard with a separate number pad.

Like the GT660, we expect the FX600 to be on sale in the July-August timeframe, but pricing hasn’t been announced at this time.

Author: Tim Smalley in Amsterdam

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