Elroy "Noname" Pinto reviews the X340 from MSI. Which isn't really new, but could make you look sexy.

Ok firstly a few things, I ain’t no expert on notebooks and netbooks, I’ve not used many laptops in my life. The only laptop I used before trying out the X340 was the Dell XPS M1710. I have had some time to check out the G-Series from MSI for like a few hours, ditto with the MSI Wind. I have also had the good fortune of using an Acer Aspire Series laptop and a Compaq Presario laptop. These were also small and limited chances to work on laptops so don’t take my final word for anything I say here. This is however my personal impression of the XSlim X340.

The first thing that strikes you about this netbook is the fact that it’s really light and compact, it’s not overtly done and the Black variant I got made it look really sexy. I was a little terrified when I didn’t see a CD/DVD rom drive, I was pretty frantically checking for some kind of input device for a while before I came to peace with the fact that this won’t have it at all.

The X340 came pre loaded with Vista, Word, Norton (the latter 2 on specific day trials). There was also a driver CD, which seemed really silly considering there was no drive. Well they did publicize their external CD/DVD drives but that seems like a crappy purchase. Oh well, with internet speeding up everywhere you can just go to the MSI site and get all the latest drivers there.  You should also know that all of us on management (Sam, Neil, Anne and myself) are powered by the X-Slim !

Once again like all my reviews this will be short and divided into the following parts

Durability:
Comfort
Style
Ergonomics
Price
Conclusion

Below you can have a look at a video created by myself for Fnatic.com, it's just a video run through of the X340. Doesn't really say a lot, read the review on the next page for a complete overview of it.

Durability – 7/10: I haven’t had the chance to take this 17 inch screen netbook out for many hardcore test drives, but whenever I have travelled in the past few weeks I had the chance to take it and it’s fairly durable, no harm as come as yet. Obviously you can’t go banging this around but you get the idea. I still have my scratch guards on (that plastic sheet protecting your laptop) so far it’s been good.

Comfort – 7/10: The comfort levels on the laptop are high, for one you can put it on your laptop and while charging it won’t toast your crotch. The fans keep blowing out hot air which at times is annoying because it’s located on the left in the front and it feels like a mini blower. The screen is at 13.4 inches, coming from a 17 inch laptop this seemed like a bitch at first but takes time to get used to. Even with a vista system the X340 held its own – while appearing slow in places overall the performance was decent. They keys (which I’ll talk about later in more depth) are a little annoying because of the lack of space between them, no complaints here though once you get used to them it’s pretty fluid you will see.

Style - 10/10: The style quotient is pretty high on this one, one look at the sleek closed laptop definitely makes you stand out when using it. The MSI logo lights up well so that adds for some “sexiness”. MSI went through a lot of trouble to make sure this stands out and yes it does. It puts most netbooks to shame with its looks and I’d definitely rate it highly here.

Ergonomics – 6/10: Ah yes! The keys and touchpad weren’t to my liking at first. Small note the touchpad click isn’t divided in the center so you need to make sure you hit the corners correctly. The touchpad is also relatively larger and as such my hands (am a 23 year old male) kept hitting the touchpad very often. This resulted in a lot of mis clicks. The problem I realized was that the touchpad is almost at the same level (not a large depression) with the keys and as a result this meant the end of my palm did a lot of annoyance while typing in different chat windows and writing in general. This could also probably be because I like resting my palms and I like to have some kind of support. Am sure not everyone might have that.

Price – 8/10: When it released it was at $799 and since then I can see it’s around a $100 less than that now, but not a massive drop in prices beyond that.  For its price I’d say this is a good buy for those interested in trying out something which is sleek, sexy and high on functions.

Conclusion: A lot of people talk about its design based on the Macbook Air and while the simalrities are pretty glaring, I’d say this is a good buy for people who are on the lookout for something easy to carry and stylish at the same time. It’s an overall good purchase but only if this is what you really want to look at.

Final rating – 7/10 ! Thanks to Elton Pinto for taking the video and of course these pictures. If you want to see more of his work check his blog.

Technical Specifications (the boring part):

 

• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
(MSI recommends upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista® Business)
• 13" 16:9 Wide Screen Display
• Advanced Power Saving Technology
• WiMAX™ Wireless Module (optional)
• HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) Output
• Built-In High Resolution Mega Pixels Webcam
• 802.11b / g / n Wireless Lan with Bluetooth (optional)
• The Most Complete Expanded Interface

• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor

• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium

(MSI recommends upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista® Business)

• 13" 16:9 Wide Screen Display

• Advanced Power Saving Technology

• WiMAX™ Wireless Module (optional)

• HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) Output

• Built-In High Resolution Mega Pixels Webcam

• 802.11b / g / n Wireless Lan with Bluetooth (optional)

• The Most Complete Expanded Interface

 

Some more shots of the X340:

 

 

1st page image - courtesy MSI.com
All other images -  courtesy Elton Pinto

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