Image courtesy NotebookReview.com

I’ve written about MSI’s X-Slim line of laptops a few times, inticed by their slim design and strong feature set at competitive prices. NotebookReview just got their hands on the higher end X340, differing only in specs from the X320, and put it through their paces. In the end, they found that you get what you pay for (my words, not theirs). The X340 suffered from cheap plastics, poor build quality, and unimpressive performance.

The new Intel SU3500 CULV processor, also included in the new Lenovo IdeaPad U350, didn’t feel much faster in overall usage than the lower power, cheaper Intel Atom. Indeed, the benchmark results placed the SU3500 a bit faster than an Atom, a bit slower than AMD’s Athlon Neo, and far slower than even a Core 2 ULV chip. However, the system’s overall performance was higher than an Atom or even Athlon Neo system.

Frankly I’m disappointed. I guess I was expecting to get something for nothing, but the X-Slim notebooks seemed like the perfect compromise between the cheap, no-thrills netbooks and the high end thin & light machines like a Macbook Air or ThinkPad X301. Perhaps for now a Core 2 based ThinkPad X200 is the way to go; with coupons you can get them under $1000.

Source: [NotebookReview]