Computex 2010 Preview: MSI

MSI Computex 2010: Stylish FX600 and FX700 laptops

The FX series of laptops is intended to be more designer than gamer, but these do include Nvidia's latest Optimus Technology though, with the GeForce GT325M 1GB and GT430 1GB - the latter of which is a Fermi part.

The FX600 is a 15.6in model designed predominantly for the EU and US markets where it's an exceptionally popular form factor, while the FX700 is a 17.3in and not shown is a ~16in MSI will also have for the China market exclusively. For some reason the the 17.3in model is preferred by the Chinese because it's "more mobile", or so we're told. We can only conclude the Chinese must have strong backs to haul around the 2.4-2.8kg these laptops weigh then!


Both machines feature similar textured plastic to the inside of the GT660 - this one has a 'leather look' in a 'Dolphin Grey' but the final retail model will be black. It's a shame really, we quite like the grey, but we're told black is always best. We have to say it makes the design considerably more attractive in the flesh than any alternative shiny plastic, and as a bonus this one doesn't keep finger prints either.

Inside, the keys are still spaced out but use a closer pitch between them and are somewhat sharper edged than other designs as well.


The black bezel does its best to hide the difference between itself and the screen but all it really does is to further differentiate the lid from its base that has a much nicer, 'softer' aluminium edge.

Both FX600 and FX700 will offer 250-500GB sized hard drives, a six cell battery, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 'HD' webcam, HDMI, d-sub, eSATA, while the 17.3in model gets a USB 3 upgrade too.


Just like the GT660, these have Dynaudio 'Theatre Class' speakers, but instead of two there are now four buried between in front of the screen and under the keyboard. Both notebooks are THX TruStudio sound qualified too. In a quick demonstration by MSI, we have to admit they certainly sounded very good with considerably better dynamic range and depth than normal notebook tins. It's worth noting the demo didn't focus on any bass elements (just like Asus with its NX90 actually), which is always a sticking point in small speakers.


MSI ships the FX600 with a Core i5 CPU and the FX700 gets a Core i7, and also drops in the same Turbo Drive Engine as the GT660 for additional CPU frequency on top of Intel's TurboBoost.


Neither of the FX's have prices yet, and will be available later than the GT660 because (we assume) MSI is waiting for those mobile Fermi parts to arrive in July-August. We're definitely impressed with the FX-series and if you are in the market for a larger notebook this summer, we'd put the FX's on the list to come back to when the full reviews are out.