MSI launches nine new high-performance notebooks

Need a new notebook for the year 2011? Well, leave it to MSI to flood the retail shelves with a new wave of offerings which seemingly appear to be capable of catering to a wide variety of demands put forth by the ever-so-choosy consumer. With up to nine new models being announced by the Taiwanese OEM, it seems that 2011 is going to be yet another rather interesting and competitive year for the notebook PC market.

Smartphones and tablet PC devices may be all the rage where mobile computing is concerned today, but many professionals will still swear by their trusty, full-sized notebook when it comes to serious data crunching, and for good reason. After all, the puny ARM processors used in mobile devices are just not powerful enough to handle some of the more resource-intensive applications used by many professionals in their line of work today. That, and the fact that the ARM architecture is simply not capable running the world's most popular PC operating system means that one still needs a proper device running of a decent x86 processor in order to even start thinking about being productive while on the move.

Naturally, if you are gravitating towards an x86-powered notebook for your mobile computing tool of choice, chances are you will have to take a pick between mobility and raw performance. And the good news is that MSI has just announced nine new notebooks which appear to be capable of satisfying a wide variety of consumers.

 
MSI X370

The latest entrant to MSI's ultraslim X-series product line, the MSI X370 ultraportable notebook drops the typical Intel ULV processors used in such classes of notebooks in favor of one of AMD's Fusion APUs instead. Powering the MSI X370 is one of AMD's low-power E-series processor, the dual-core, Bobcat-based E-320, which is clocked at 1.6GHz, and an integrated AMD Radeon HD 6310 GPU which is built into the processor. MSI's press release makes no mention of any further hardware specifications, but we have gotten word that the X370 will come bundled with up to 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard disk, along with the standard VGA-out and HDMI-out ports, a card reader and a webcam, all for the price of US$599.

MSI FX620DX/FX420

MSI has also updated its high-performance FX series of notebooks with two new additions to its product line, and they come in the form of the FX620DX (shown above) and the slightly smaller FX420 notebooks.

That being said, high-performance notebooks are usually made to look impressive to complement their high-end hardware specifications, and the newly-announced FX notebooks are no exceptions. According to the official press release, the new notebooks are "sheathed in MSI's exclusive raised totem seal coating and color film print which exude a sophisticated air and provide the added bonus of making these NBs resistant to scratches and wear."

Unfortunately, MSI has not released any information about the FX620DX and FX420's hardware specifications. However, a quick look at MSI's product page reveals that the FX620DX will sport either an Intel Core i5-2410M or i7-2630QM processor, an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M graphics card, a hard disk with up to 720GB of storage capacitiy and up to 8GB of memory. And while the FX420 is still not listed on MSI's product page, we have got word that the FX420 will drop the GT540M in favor of an AMD Radeon HD 6470 graphics card.