More on the MSI U200 CULV ultraportable

As we reported last week, netbook manufacturers are lining up low-cost CULV ultraportables in an attempt to woo those people who are still put off by portables that pack the comparatively puny Intel Atom processor. Both Acer and ASUS have models in development, and now details of MSI’s CULV ultraportable have been revealed.

The MSI U200-S2743VHP (to give it its full name) uses the Intel 1.3GHz SU2700 64-bit processor and has 4Gb of memory, a 320Gb hard drive and a 12in (1366 x 768) screen. So, it’s considerably more capable than any netbook (although the ASUS Eee PC 1101HA comes close-ish), but while it’s also quite a bit bigger, it weighs just 1.3kg and is 31mm thick.

The information comes from the German laptop online store Notebook.de, who lists the base MSI U200-S2743VHP model at €629, or £606 at today’s exchange rate. Some news sites claim that this price has been set misleadingly high, so we’ll keep you posted if a confirmed price appears at some point.

Notebook.de states that the laptop will ship in three to four weeks, but there’s no news on a UK launch yet — though there’s nothing to stop you buying one from Germany site, of course.

Performance from the Intel SU2700 processor is hardly likely to be revelatory, but early reports suggest that it’s a big improvement over the Intel Atom. German news site NewGadgets.de spent some time with the MSI U200 in May and showed that it was not only powerful enough to play YouTube HD video smoothly (some netbooks can barely manage full-screen low-res video), but can even handle 1080p H.264 HD video.

[via SlashGear]