MSI announces UK launch of X400 CULV ultraportable

MSI has finally announced the availability of the X400 CULV ultraportable it unveiled earlier this year. The thin-and-light laptop will on sale in the UK later in September and two models will be available.

£499 buys the MSI X400-074UK, which has a 320Gb hard drive and Intel SU2700 processor — a low-voltage Pentium that runs at 1.3GHz. The £569 X400-038UK gets a 500Gb hard drive and an Intel SU3500 Core 2 Solo chip that runs at 1.4GHz.

This choice of processors means that neither MSI X400 model are likely to be quite as quick as the recently reviewed ASUS UX30 with its Core 2 Duo SU9400 chip, but then CULV laptops aren’t really about speed. MSI makes no mention of battery life in the X400 press release though, so lets just hope that it lasts a little longer than the ASUS and Advent Altro when it’s away from the mains.

Both X400 models have a 14in (1366 x 768) glossy screen and 2Gb of RAM, along with Intel GS45 graphics and a pair of USB ports. Windows Vista is supplied for the time being, but this will no doubt switch to Windows 7 once Microsoft’s new operating system ships on 22 October.

Incidentally, MSI reckons that the X400 is one of the slimmest laptops on the market, since it measures just 9mm at its thinnest point. The actual dimensions are 349 x 234 x 24.5mm, which actually makes it a few millimetres fatter than the ASUS UL30 and, at 1.5kg, a touch heavier.

[MSI]