If MSI thought they could rest easy on the back of a good review for their X-Slim X340 ultraportable, they've a disappointment coming today. ZDNet Australia have been playing with the first Intel CULV notebook to the market, and they're really not impressed. Ranking the MacBook Air-a-like a mere 5 out of 10, reviewer Craig Simms is most disappointed by the "cheap, nasty and tacky" keyboard.
As expected, MSI have announced their Wind U200 netbook, based on Intel's Celeron ULV SFF 723 processor (now part of the Intel CULV line) with GMA 4500M graphics and a 12-inch 1366 x 768 LED-backlit display. Netbooknews.de stopped by the launch to shoot some photos and hands-on video, which you can see after the cut.
Video hands-on after the cut
MSI has officially announced their X-Slim X400 and X600 CULV ultraportables, together with confirming that the 14-inch and 15-inch notebooks will land before the end of June. The MSI X-Slim X400 weighs just 1.5kg while the larger X600 is 2.1kg; each notebook is less than 1-inch thick and have a 16:9 aspect LED-backlit display.
Details of MSI's new 12-inch Wind U200 notebook have leaked, confirming that the ultraportable does indeed use Intel's CULV platform. According to the source, the MSI Wind U200 has an Intel Celeron M ULV 723 1.20GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard-drive.
MSI's X-Slim X340 ultraportable may be all about the skinny glamor, but once you've succumbed to its slender charms you want a machine that can handle at least the minimum of mobile processing tasks. According to LaptopMag's X340 review, as long as you're not looking to game or edit video, that shouldn't be too much of an issue: the 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo CULV chip may rack up only half the PCMark Vantage points as a ThinkPad X200, but it's good enough to run Vista, Office 2007, crank up tabs in Firefox or play 720p video.
Leaks from manufacturers have revealed Intel's notebook and netbook plans for the remainder of 2009, and there are a few surprises in store. Low interest in the Atom N280 CPU and GN40 graphics chipset has led them to consider retiring the combination, with the N270 and 945GSE pairing holding the netbook torch until September. Meanwhile the next-gen Capella notebook platform will arrive in Q3, targeted at the high-end $1,200+ market for 14- to 18.4-inch machines.
It looks like Intel’s CULV wish may be coming true, as six whitebox manufacturers in Taiwan are apparently ramping up for production of ultraportable notebooks based on the platform. Industry sources have fingered Pegatron, Clevo, MSI, Compal, ECS and Mitac as all preparing 13- to 14-inch CULV notebooks, with the first shipments expected in June 2009.
ASUS have released full specifications for their new U- and UX-series ultraportables, announced back at CeBIT. Five U-series models are detailed, together with two UX-series; processors range from Intel's CULV line, Pentiums, Core 2 Solo and Core 2 Duo chips. Displays range from the 12.1-inch U20A through to two 15.6-inch models, the U50G and U51Vg.
Lenovo Canada are offering ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC buyers a newly-expanded range of processor options, more than twice as many as US buyers can configure their touchscreen ultraportables with. The Canadian X200 gets not only a choice of the original SU9300 1.20GHz and SL9400 1.86GHz CPUs as the US model, but up to a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo SL9600 low-voltage chip.
From one MSI ultraportable to another, and the company surprised with the announcement of a hitherto-unseen X-Slim notebooks at an Asia-Pacific launch recently. The MSI X-Slim X400 is a 14-inch variant of the X-Slim range, with the same slender chassis as the X340 and X600 but a screen size in-between those models.
MSI prompted some consternation last month, when official listings for its X-Slim X340 ultraportable appeared with a $1,099.99 price-tag. That might seem vaguely reasonable for a super-skinny 13.4-inch notebook, but considering MSI had been bellowing beforehand about a sub-$1k sticker there were some understandably disappointed would-be buyers. Now, the listings have changed - the X340 is still not in stock, but its price has flipped to TBD ("To Be Determined")
According to a leak, Lenovo is apparently working on a new ThinkPad X200 that features a CULV processor. While this rumor is not confirmed, it would make sense since Lenovo has themselves admitted they are thinking about creating a CULV ThinkPad in the future, though they did not commit to a timeframe.
The ThinkPad X200 models currently feature a SL-series Core 2 Duo processor. This has made the price go up considerably, but with a 1.2GHz Celeron M chip, the cost would decrease, as would the voltage use. The new system would also have a 160GB hard drive and 2GB of memory.
Pricing is not known, nor is a release date. It may not even come to pass. We'll just have to wait and see. But it would make sense in this economy for Lenovo to be looking to drop their price point a bit.
