THE PRODUCT:
On the front, three jacks and the 4-in-1 card reader are placed. On the far right, small LEDs have been placed, visualizing the status of the laptop.
On the right side, MSI have placed a PCMCIA slot, IEEE 1394 slat, 2x USB 2.0 slots, VGA slot, as well as a S-Video connection. Unfortunately, there is neither DVI nor HDMI slots, which is kind of disappointing since this is a multimedia laptop.
In the left side, a Kensington lock is located, as well as a LAN slot, modem slot, 2x USB 2.0 slots and the optical drive.
MSI EX600 is equipped with a 15.4” widescreen in a 1280x800 resolution. As usual, this is a “gloss screen,” which MSI themselves have named an “Amazing Crystal Vision.” This doesn’t go well together with the EX600, so if one demands a screen that does not reflect outdoor sunlight, the EX600 is a bad choice.
The EX600 is also equipped with a webcam of 1.3 megapixels. Unfortunately, it cannot be turned, so it completely depends on the position of the screen. This can be quite irritating, since it would be easier to just adjust the camera rather than the entire screen. Other than a webcam, a small microphone has also been installed, just underneath the screen. This, along with the webcam, makes good room for voice chat. Incredibly enough, the image quality of the webcam is not on the same level as a reflex camera for several thousands, but for casual voice chat it is quite sufficient.
Last, but not least, MSI have included a mouse and a bag. Both definitely not the greatest of their kinds, but no doubt suffice for e.g. study use. A neat feature is that the mouse has the same color as the laptop – the design persists.
THE TEST:
Now we arrive to the interesting part: the benchmark and the real life tests. In the tests, I’ve been focusing on battery efficiency, performance and every-day use; herein: boot time and power consumption. The test is conducted over a week’s period, in which it has been used as a study-laptop.
I’ve chosen to compare the MSI EX600 with my own laptop which has the following specifications:
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0 Ghz
• Chipsæt: Intel 945PM - ICH7-M
• Grafik: NVIDIA Geforce 8400M GS
• Ram: 2*1 GB DDR2 PC5300
• Harddisk: 200GB Toshiba 5400RMP
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As can be seen, the two share more or less the same components, besides the bigger harddisk and processor in my own.
I’ve decided to perform the test using the following benchmarks:
• PCMark 05
• 3DMark06
• HD Tune
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