MINI REVIEW :: MSI CR-400X
RATINGS:
BUILD QUALITY: 4/5
PERFORMANCE: 4/5
SPECIFICATIONS: 4.5/5
BATTERY LIFE: 4/5
VALUE FOR MONEY: 5/5
OVERALL: 4.5/5
SPECIFICATIONS:
MODEL: MSI CR-400X-043IN
PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE 2 DUO T6500 @2.1GHZ (Penryn 45nm)
RAM: 2GB DDR2 800MHZ
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GEFORCE 8200M – 512MB [256MB VRAM + 256MB (SYSTEM SHARED)]
HARD DRIVE: WESTERN DIGITAL 250GB
SCREEN: 14 INCH LED BACKLIT DISPLAY (1366x768--WIDESCREEN 16:9 ASPECT RATIO)
BATTERY: 6 CELL LITHIUM ION. AC ADAPTER-65 Watts, 19 Volts
I/O PORTS:
Monitor (VGA) x 1
USB x 3 (USB version 2.0)
Mic-in x 1
Headphone-out/ Line-out x 1
Internal Microphone x 1
RJ11 x 1 (optional)
RJ45 x 1
Card Reader x 1 (4 in 1, MS / MS Pro/ SD/ MMC)
COMMUNICATION PORTS:
56K Fax/MODEM – Optional(my laptop has it)
LAN - 10/100 Mb
Wireless LAN - 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth - Yes
WEBCAM: 1.3 MP (CMOS)
AUDIO: REALTEK ALC 662 GR WTH 2 STEREO SPEAKERS
OS: DOS (Upgraded it myself to WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE)
DIMENSIONS:
345mm (W) x 220.5 (D) x 17~40 (H) mm
Weight 2.2 kg with 6-cell battery
CASE CONTENTS:
On unpacking the carton, which was well constructed and offered adequate protection to the laptop during transit, there was the laptop, lithium ion battery, the power cord and the AC adapter, the instruction manual (pretty comprehensive), the quick start guide, warranty card and booklet and the driver disk. It came with a nice two-tone carry bag but I exchanged it and opted for the backpack by shelling out some extra cash.
BUILD QUALITY:
For a dirt cheap laptop, I found the MSI CR-400x to be pretty solid, it does look delicate but trust me it is well built and can take a few knocks. The build quality is way better than the DELL Inspiron 15, 14 and most of the Acer laptops. The paint job is excellent and it does look like some of the COMPAQ laptops out there however unlike the Compaq laptops it isn’t glossy and hence isn’t prone to finger prints or smudges. The area around the LCD has a matte finish and the area around the keyboard has a silver somewhat glossy finish. This lends the laptop an executive look. However it isn’t as well built as my Sony Vaio or my dad’s Dell Latitude. But at MSI’s asking price for the laptop it would be insane on my part to expect anything more. Its dimensions make it very compact and smaller than some other 14 inchers (sony vaio and dell inspiron 14) and with a combined weight of approximately 2.2 Kgs, it is quite light and that makes it an excellent portable device.The power adapter which is made by delta eletronics(the same ones who make those insane cooling fans!)is small and is very similar in dimensions to the ones available with a netbook and it remains warm even with heavy usage. The laptop does not get hot. The dvd-writer with the laptop is a bit noisy but all in all the laptop remains cool throughout and offers extremely silent operation. I have no complaints with the build quality and cooling. The keyboard is a joy to work on –opinions may vary for othersâ€â€I don’t like the chiclet styled keyboards with sony at all. Stay away if you have huge hands. The feel of the keyboard was a bit mushy but that’s how I like my keyboards! The lcd offers good clarity and excellent legibility under direct sunlight.
PERFORMANCE:
CPU-Z Screenshots :
The processor is a core 2 duo T6500@ 2.1 GHz with 800 MHz fsb and is very fast when it comes to resource intensive tasks such as video encoding with TMPGEnc 4.0 and audio encoding with DBpower or Audacity. Working with Photoshop CS 3 was fun with this responsive laptop. Daily chores with Microsoft Office as well 720p/1080p full Hd playback was totally stutter free even when I connected it to my Dell 24 inch G2410. THIS CPU DOES NOT SUPPORT INTEL’S VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY. The cheapest, low end cpu virtualization supporting Intel among laptops is the core 2 duo T6670 @ 2.2 GHz and is only found in dell vostro laptops and dell studio laptops.(do please correct me if I am wrong!) people looking for virtualization with not more than 30â€â€350k to spare should consider AMD based laptops for their virtualization support.
The GPU, Geforce 8200M isn’t meant for gaming. New titles won’t run on it although Call Of Duty: 4 Modern Warfare offered a very smooth and playable experience with the lowest settings. It was fun when i dug out my folder with the games of yester-years – mech warrior 4, nfs most wanted and hot pursuit 2, Porsche Unleashed and Unreal Tournament 2003(with bots!). I guess Doom3, Half-life 2 and FEAR would play pretty well on this system. The aero interface with Windows 7 works smoothly and this GPU supports Nvidia’s CUDA and can be used for GPU enabled playback for 1080p content. Cyberlink’s Media Show Expresso supported the GPU for video encoding.
The WD 250 Gb sata hard drive is silent and offers good, quick transfer speeds.
The 2 Gb of ram installed by default operated at 800 Mhz and aided in the smooth operation of the laptop. I would be equipping the laptop with another 2 gb of 800 Mhz Corsair ram as soon as Lynx India ships it. The laptop comes with wifi and Bluetooth and i am glad to say the receiver latches onto signals pretty well (tried the wifi at work)
The speakers are louder than most laptops I have laid my hands on but the sounds are not that clear. I could hear it over the din of the traffic in the rickshaw on my way to work with Dani California, Californication and Suck My Kiss by RHCP (Big Fan Of RHCP!) Playback through headphones was a satisfying experience.
The 1.3 mp webcam was lag free in its operation but using it with yahoo messenger resulted in lag at times but I would blame my pathetic sify broadband connection for that.
BATTERY LIFE:
This is where the laptop simply amazes me! I got 3 hours and 16 minutes today from a full charge(100%) to 18% and I saw the last episode of Top Gear’s Season 14 completely, played around with a few 720p music videos for about half an hour browsed the net using the Ethernet port for about half an hour and was using Microsoft Word to type out this review with Foobar 2000 playing songs at the same time. This was with the screen brightness set to 95 % in Windows 7 Ultimate. I reconfirmed the battery life by charging it again and saw the Bourne Identity (720p) , the entire movie for 2 hours and then I saw a few tom and jerry clips in the hard drive for about 20 minutes and still the battery meter showed me 32% of battery life remaining.
With judicious usage I guess I could eke out close to 4 hours from this laptop. Not bad at all!
CONCLUSION:
The Bill:
The laptop sleeve I bought for 300rs(genuine toshiba sleeve sold by HCL)
the laptop backpack I bought:
This laptop retails for Rs.28,500.(MSI DEALERSHIP PRICE-AHMEDABAD) I got it for Rs.27,500 by bargaining hard and stating that the recession and pay cuts had forced me to opt for this laptop over the superior Dells and Sony Vaios!
MSI’s service center has guys who are kind and responsive unlike Asus and try to fix the laptop within 24 hours or a maximum of 2 days if you take it to them. Sony offers 6 months of warranty on its batteries and power adapters in comparison MSI offers a full 2 year warranty on the entire laptop which includes the battery and adapter.
I am glad I picked this laptop up – it is a steal and offers excellent performance, excellent features and excellent battery life @ Rs.27,500. Bottom Line ::: A Must Buy !!
PS--
This arrived yesterday from Lynx-India.2Gb Corsair DDR2 800Mhz Ram with timings of 5-5-5-18.
This laptop comes with 2gb of ddr2 800mhz ram made by Elpida with timings of 5-5-5-18 by default.Now with 4gb of ram the laptops has picked up speed in certain demanding applications but i just noticed a drop in battery life about 5-10 minutes have been shaved off the usual battery backup time.
RATINGS:
BUILD QUALITY: 4/5
PERFORMANCE: 4/5
SPECIFICATIONS: 4.5/5
BATTERY LIFE: 4/5
VALUE FOR MONEY: 5/5
OVERALL: 4.5/5
SPECIFICATIONS:
MODEL: MSI CR-400X-043IN
PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE 2 DUO T6500 @2.1GHZ (Penryn 45nm)
RAM: 2GB DDR2 800MHZ
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GEFORCE 8200M – 512MB [256MB VRAM + 256MB (SYSTEM SHARED)]
HARD DRIVE: WESTERN DIGITAL 250GB
SCREEN: 14 INCH LED BACKLIT DISPLAY (1366x768--WIDESCREEN 16:9 ASPECT RATIO)
BATTERY: 6 CELL LITHIUM ION. AC ADAPTER-65 Watts, 19 Volts
I/O PORTS:
Monitor (VGA) x 1
USB x 3 (USB version 2.0)
Mic-in x 1
Headphone-out/ Line-out x 1
Internal Microphone x 1
RJ11 x 1 (optional)
RJ45 x 1
Card Reader x 1 (4 in 1, MS / MS Pro/ SD/ MMC)
COMMUNICATION PORTS:
56K Fax/MODEM – Optional(my laptop has it)
LAN - 10/100 Mb
Wireless LAN - 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth - Yes
WEBCAM: 1.3 MP (CMOS)
AUDIO: REALTEK ALC 662 GR WTH 2 STEREO SPEAKERS
OS: DOS (Upgraded it myself to WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE)
DIMENSIONS:
345mm (W) x 220.5 (D) x 17~40 (H) mm
Weight 2.2 kg with 6-cell battery
CASE CONTENTS:
On unpacking the carton, which was well constructed and offered adequate protection to the laptop during transit, there was the laptop, lithium ion battery, the power cord and the AC adapter, the instruction manual (pretty comprehensive), the quick start guide, warranty card and booklet and the driver disk. It came with a nice two-tone carry bag but I exchanged it and opted for the backpack by shelling out some extra cash.
BUILD QUALITY:
For a dirt cheap laptop, I found the MSI CR-400x to be pretty solid, it does look delicate but trust me it is well built and can take a few knocks. The build quality is way better than the DELL Inspiron 15, 14 and most of the Acer laptops. The paint job is excellent and it does look like some of the COMPAQ laptops out there however unlike the Compaq laptops it isn’t glossy and hence isn’t prone to finger prints or smudges. The area around the LCD has a matte finish and the area around the keyboard has a silver somewhat glossy finish. This lends the laptop an executive look. However it isn’t as well built as my Sony Vaio or my dad’s Dell Latitude. But at MSI’s asking price for the laptop it would be insane on my part to expect anything more. Its dimensions make it very compact and smaller than some other 14 inchers (sony vaio and dell inspiron 14) and with a combined weight of approximately 2.2 Kgs, it is quite light and that makes it an excellent portable device.The power adapter which is made by delta eletronics(the same ones who make those insane cooling fans!)is small and is very similar in dimensions to the ones available with a netbook and it remains warm even with heavy usage. The laptop does not get hot. The dvd-writer with the laptop is a bit noisy but all in all the laptop remains cool throughout and offers extremely silent operation. I have no complaints with the build quality and cooling. The keyboard is a joy to work on –opinions may vary for othersâ€â€I don’t like the chiclet styled keyboards with sony at all. Stay away if you have huge hands. The feel of the keyboard was a bit mushy but that’s how I like my keyboards! The lcd offers good clarity and excellent legibility under direct sunlight.
PERFORMANCE:
CPU-Z Screenshots :
The processor is a core 2 duo T6500@ 2.1 GHz with 800 MHz fsb and is very fast when it comes to resource intensive tasks such as video encoding with TMPGEnc 4.0 and audio encoding with DBpower or Audacity. Working with Photoshop CS 3 was fun with this responsive laptop. Daily chores with Microsoft Office as well 720p/1080p full Hd playback was totally stutter free even when I connected it to my Dell 24 inch G2410. THIS CPU DOES NOT SUPPORT INTEL’S VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY. The cheapest, low end cpu virtualization supporting Intel among laptops is the core 2 duo T6670 @ 2.2 GHz and is only found in dell vostro laptops and dell studio laptops.(do please correct me if I am wrong!) people looking for virtualization with not more than 30â€â€350k to spare should consider AMD based laptops for their virtualization support.
The GPU, Geforce 8200M isn’t meant for gaming. New titles won’t run on it although Call Of Duty: 4 Modern Warfare offered a very smooth and playable experience with the lowest settings. It was fun when i dug out my folder with the games of yester-years – mech warrior 4, nfs most wanted and hot pursuit 2, Porsche Unleashed and Unreal Tournament 2003(with bots!). I guess Doom3, Half-life 2 and FEAR would play pretty well on this system. The aero interface with Windows 7 works smoothly and this GPU supports Nvidia’s CUDA and can be used for GPU enabled playback for 1080p content. Cyberlink’s Media Show Expresso supported the GPU for video encoding.
The WD 250 Gb sata hard drive is silent and offers good, quick transfer speeds.
The 2 Gb of ram installed by default operated at 800 Mhz and aided in the smooth operation of the laptop. I would be equipping the laptop with another 2 gb of 800 Mhz Corsair ram as soon as Lynx India ships it. The laptop comes with wifi and Bluetooth and i am glad to say the receiver latches onto signals pretty well (tried the wifi at work)
The speakers are louder than most laptops I have laid my hands on but the sounds are not that clear. I could hear it over the din of the traffic in the rickshaw on my way to work with Dani California, Californication and Suck My Kiss by RHCP (Big Fan Of RHCP!) Playback through headphones was a satisfying experience.
The 1.3 mp webcam was lag free in its operation but using it with yahoo messenger resulted in lag at times but I would blame my pathetic sify broadband connection for that.
BATTERY LIFE:
This is where the laptop simply amazes me! I got 3 hours and 16 minutes today from a full charge(100%) to 18% and I saw the last episode of Top Gear’s Season 14 completely, played around with a few 720p music videos for about half an hour browsed the net using the Ethernet port for about half an hour and was using Microsoft Word to type out this review with Foobar 2000 playing songs at the same time. This was with the screen brightness set to 95 % in Windows 7 Ultimate. I reconfirmed the battery life by charging it again and saw the Bourne Identity (720p) , the entire movie for 2 hours and then I saw a few tom and jerry clips in the hard drive for about 20 minutes and still the battery meter showed me 32% of battery life remaining.
With judicious usage I guess I could eke out close to 4 hours from this laptop. Not bad at all!
CONCLUSION:
The Bill:
The laptop sleeve I bought for 300rs(genuine toshiba sleeve sold by HCL)
the laptop backpack I bought:
This laptop retails for Rs.28,500.(MSI DEALERSHIP PRICE-AHMEDABAD) I got it for Rs.27,500 by bargaining hard and stating that the recession and pay cuts had forced me to opt for this laptop over the superior Dells and Sony Vaios!
MSI’s service center has guys who are kind and responsive unlike Asus and try to fix the laptop within 24 hours or a maximum of 2 days if you take it to them. Sony offers 6 months of warranty on its batteries and power adapters in comparison MSI offers a full 2 year warranty on the entire laptop which includes the battery and adapter.
I am glad I picked this laptop up – it is a steal and offers excellent performance, excellent features and excellent battery life @ Rs.27,500. Bottom Line ::: A Must Buy !!
PS--
This arrived yesterday from Lynx-India.2Gb Corsair DDR2 800Mhz Ram with timings of 5-5-5-18.
This laptop comes with 2gb of ddr2 800mhz ram made by Elpida with timings of 5-5-5-18 by default.Now with 4gb of ram the laptops has picked up speed in certain demanding applications but i just noticed a drop in battery life about 5-10 minutes have been shaved off the usual battery backup time.
