Notebooks
MSI
MSI introduced several new notebooks with our favorites listed below.
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The MSI S262 is designed for the road warrior as it features a magnesium aluminum alloy construction while weighing in at 1.9kg with the standard 4-cell battery. The system is designed around the Intel 945GM chipset with support for the Core Duo/Solo series and comes with a 12.1 inch WXGA (1280x800) display.
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The S271 is a Turion 64 X2 based notebook designed to compete with 945GM/Core Duo systems. It also has a 12.1 inch WXGA display and includes Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics. We are expecting to see this notebook available for purchase within the next month.
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The MSI Megabook L735 is also based on the Turion 64 X2 but features a 17 inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics, and a built-in camera with TV Tuner for the multimedia enthusiast.
Packard Bell
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Packard Bell is still around and had several notebooks based on the Turion 64 X2 being displayed in the AMD booth. The EasyNote MV61 is one such model and features a 15.4 inch WXGA display with NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 graphics.
ASUS
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The ASUS F2J is based on the Intel 945PM chipset with full support for the Intel Core Duo/Solo processor lineup. The unit features a 15 inch display, Radeon X1400 graphics, hard drive options up to 120GB, and DVD-RW drive. This notebook is Single-Sign-On (SOS) approved and features the ASUS Security Protect Manager, TPM and RF Biometric Fingerprint capability along with a liquid spill-proof keyboard. To top it off the notebook also has a built-in high resolution web cam for wire free communication.
MSI
MSI introduced several new notebooks with our favorites listed below.
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The MSI S262 is designed for the road warrior as it features a magnesium aluminum alloy construction while weighing in at 1.9kg with the standard 4-cell battery. The system is designed around the Intel 945GM chipset with support for the Core Duo/Solo series and comes with a 12.1 inch WXGA (1280x800) display.
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The S271 is a Turion 64 X2 based notebook designed to compete with 945GM/Core Duo systems. It also has a 12.1 inch WXGA display and includes Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics. We are expecting to see this notebook available for purchase within the next month.
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The MSI Megabook L735 is also based on the Turion 64 X2 but features a 17 inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics, and a built-in camera with TV Tuner for the multimedia enthusiast.
Packard Bell
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Packard Bell is still around and had several notebooks based on the Turion 64 X2 being displayed in the AMD booth. The EasyNote MV61 is one such model and features a 15.4 inch WXGA display with NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 graphics.
ASUS
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The ASUS F2J is based on the Intel 945PM chipset with full support for the Intel Core Duo/Solo processor lineup. The unit features a 15 inch display, Radeon X1400 graphics, hard drive options up to 120GB, and DVD-RW drive. This notebook is Single-Sign-On (SOS) approved and features the ASUS Security Protect Manager, TPM and RF Biometric Fingerprint capability along with a liquid spill-proof keyboard. To top it off the notebook also has a built-in high resolution web cam for wire free communication.
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Zaitsev - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
It sure is nice to see the overwhelming transition to passive chipset cooling. My patients for noisy, stop-working-after-2-months chipset fans ran out along time ago:) It's going to be interesting to see how well the heat pipe solutions work compared to the old fans.aldamon - Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - link
I'd love to see the $60 ASRock 775Dual-VSTA benched with DDR and DDR2 before I drop $200+ on a "Conroe" overclocking board and another $160 - $260 on DDR2.Thanks in advance AT!
larciel - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
It brings back memories from 1996 !!! best buy was filled with their ugly case and IBM's sliding door cases! lolBloodshedder - Friday, June 16, 2006 - link
I had figured they were long dead. If anything, maybe during that ten years they got their act together.Calin - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
Seeing so many small boards (micro ATX and so), for when some reviews of small mainboards (regarding compatibility, heat from chipset, performance, underclocking and overclocking)?Thanks
Strunf - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
Yup that would be nice, it has been a long time since I've seen a that kind of boards on the test lane.Gary Key - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
We have several AMD/Intel m-ATX boards coming up for review in July along with the Conroe m-ATX boards in August.
Calin - Friday, June 16, 2006 - link
Looks like you will help me decide my birthday present :DThanks
And by the way, could you please please please test onboard video graphic performance (in one or two cases only) with a single DIMM in dual channel boards? And maybe with a Sempron AM2 at 35W (256K cache would be great)?
(Yes, I know I am greedy).
Lots and lots of thanks
Myrandex - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
On the second MSI page, the last motherboard has this comment:The K9VGM-V leads MSI's entry level products for AMD AM2 by combining the VIA K8M890 and VT8237R+ chipsets. Expect to see this board sell for under US $50 later this month.
The motherboard in question is actually the PT890-Neo F for the Intel platform.
Gary Key - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
Sorry about that, the file name was cross-linked in the database. It is corrected now.