MSI X600

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Review

Another day, another CULV laptop — this time from MSI. The X600 is the latest model in the X Series that first saw light of day at CES and it still sticks to that same ‘thin & light’ philosophy. The difference this time around is that the MSI X600 isn’t exactly an ultraportable — it has a 15.6in screen.

If you’re wondering why MSI has bothered with an energy-efficient laptop this size, then we can’t help but agree, but the idea isn’t as batty as all that. Other 15in laptops may weigh as much, but they’re nowhere near as thin — the X600 is just one inch thick.

This is still a big laptop though, and at almost 400mm wide, it occupies nearly as much desk space as some 17in desktop replacements. The sheer black finish and smoothly sculpted case do at least help the MSI X600 maintain a pretty low profile and its 2.1kg weight means that it’s still light enough to carry around — assuming you can find a big enough bag to put it in.

There’s a reasonable selection of ports, including HDMI and eSATA, but there’s no internal optical drive. This is extremely unusual for a laptop this size and although MSI does include an external DVD writer, we can’t help but feel that it could have squeezed one into the case somehow.

You know what they say about big laptops — big keyboards. The MSI X600’s is full-size and has a separate numeric keypad, so at least the extra case width hasn’t gone to waste. The keys themselves are wide and flat, but the whole keyboard is rather cramped — the layout looks like it’s been assembled using Tetris as a template. The shrunken Return and Backspace keys don’t help matters either, but the keyboard is reassuringly solid and — once you’ve adjusted to it — comfortable to use.

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