MacBook Air competitor packs thrifty Intel chip
A notebook from MSI portends the crush of lower-cost, Intel-based MacBook-Air-like laptop designs to come.
The MSI X-Slim series herald Apple MacBook Air-like laptops without the luxury laptop tax
(Credit: MSI)As I've written before, consumer ultra-low-voltage (CULV) chips will arrive in earnest this summer. The X-Slim X340 from MSI (Micro-Star International) is using the ULV SU3500, a precursor to lower-cost CULV Intel chips to come.
(Note: On April 19, Intel cut prices (PDF) on a wide range of processors. Though the SU3500 didn't see any cuts, the prices on its low-power cousins, the SL9400 and SU9400, were reduced 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively.)
What is CULV exactly? Well, one thing it's not is the Netbook-centric Atom processor: the 1.4GHz SU3500 is based on Intel's higher-performance mainstream Core 2 architecture. But like the Atom, it's a single-core chip. Single core means low power. In this case, the SU3500 draws only 5.5 watts, more than the Atom but a fraction of the dual-core mainstream Intel mobile chips rated at 25 and 35 watts. It also comes in a small 22mm chip package.
And what does all this mean? Better performance than Atom-based Netbooks. And in a well-designed system, longer battery life than a mainstream laptop.
Oh, and lower prices than luxury laptops like the Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo, which start at around $1,800. The MSI X-slim 340 with the SU3500 was launched this week in Japan and the higher-end version starts at around $1,000. U.S.-based reports say it is priced at $1,100.
The ultra-thin HP Pavilion dv2 laptop powered by AMD's Athlon "Neo" chip is also in this price range. AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said Tuesday that the single-core Neo processor will get a dual-core sibling dubbed "Congo" by summer.
Let the low-cost laptop competition begin.
Brooke Crothers has been an editor at large at CNET News, an analyst at IDC Japan, and an editor at The Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, among other endeavors, including co-manager of an after-school math-and-reading center. He writes for the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
Lookin Nice
people who like apple's design's should seriously speed up to 2009.
Did you actually use MSI? I mean did you set it up? Did you see the icons on taskbar? Did you see their support site? It is just "Look, there is a cheap windows running laptop you can buy instead of Macbook Air" right CNET?
When will CBS get rid of this comical Microsoft gang at CNET News.com? It is not like they need to be nice to Microsoft in loss of user trust isn't it?
When will CBS get rid of this comical Microsoft gang at CNET News.com"
LMFAO? CNET consists of all MS bashers even the writers dedicated to MS have to find a way to bash it in every article. Go back to fapping to MacWorld troll.
@monkeyfun I guess you are already famous as a troll at CNET, enough to make your name remembered. Now go back drinking coffee at Bangalore Starbucks near MS.
Oh look! It's a Apple fanboi and a racist all rapped into one! I guess that fits: arrogant, signle-minded, full of hate. Hope that gets you somewhere...
Monopolies are not illegal. How one gets to and continues to be a monopoly may be illegal, but Apple does not stop anyone from selling competing products. And no, before someone pipes, Apple going after Psystar is not acting in a monopolistic fashion
"And no, before someone pipes, Apple going after Psystar is not acting in a monopolistic fashion"
Why is this? If you claim that a system that doesn't have the Mac OS is not a competitor, you essentially call Apple a monopoly, as they would be the only company that sells computers running Mac OS (if they had their way). By this logic, Psystar computers are competing products. Apple is attempting to stop Psystar from selling their competing product.
by DigitalAngelic April 25, 2009 2:56 PM PDT
@Perry_Clease:
"And no, before someone pipes, Apple going after Psystar is not acting in a monopolistic fashion"
Why is this? If you claim that a system that doesn't have the Mac OS is not a competitor, you essentially call Apple a monopoly, as they would be the only company that sells computers running Mac OS (if they had their way). By this logic, Psystar computers are competing products. Apple is attempting to stop Psystar from selling their competing product."
Once again kid, monopolies themselves are not illegal. Psystar is not developing their own OS that competes with OSX.
Having intellectual property you do not license to others does not make you a monopoly. If Apple prevented any other company from selling their own OS on they own (so to speak) hardware; that would constitute a monopoly.
Interesting that you say that. What OS does Dell, Gateway, Lenovo and many other PC companies develope to compete with OSX and Microsoft Windows?.... None, they all use Windows as their OS. What Psystar is doing is purchasing a licensed copy of OSX and installing it on their own build computers. Exactly the same thing as all PC manugacturers. My understanding of the OSX license (i may be mistaken), is that you can not install OSX on non-apple branded hardware, essentially saying, you have to buy an Apple Mac to install this product.
Whats the use of "super thin" notebooks?? (Not lightweight, Not a long battery, Not powerful, Overpriced,) is it just the looks???
I seriously don't get it! Maybe people just like sending them in envelopes!! = )
** I say the best combo is to get a Powerful Desktop for everything you do (Games, Media, Programming, whatever) Plus a simple Netbook for mobile browsing, word processing, etc.
Why in HELL would you want a thin laptop that basically cuts out everything that is USEFUL in most laptops?
If you want something small and portable? PDAs (iphone and blackberry included here) / netbooks
Want something a little more feature packed and portable? Notebooks / laptops. Then PCs, grid computing, etc.
All these super-thin notebooks are just pointlessly big and thin.
It has to be one of the most useless developments in tech in this decade... especially considering the price of production and sale point... it just... i don't know anymore.
because of the nvidia chip and Resource friendly OSX operating system !
Although I agree that 13" thin laptops are not really as portable as netbooks
it can help some people who carry briefcases and folders
the macbook air can fit into any little space and it's light too !
but I personally don't see any appeal in it but apparently some people do !
Air is not outperforming anything from the last 5 years.
try opening 60+ programs and working with them on a bargain acer laptop
which is wat 80% of people buy !
the Macbook Air can run even games like Quake 4 see the bechmarks
try that with a 5 yr old laptop !
it's pretty decent actually way better than the Adamo and X300
but a Apple hater like you wouldn't understand n e way !
Why does the article's headline needs to be like this? Why at Cnet it is always Apple and the rest?
There are other thin laptops that are not from Apple.
"A new thin laptop from MSI" headline would have done the job. But I guess that at Cnet everything needs to be an "Apple killer".
And please don't start with the "Apple did it first" mantra. Thanks.
2) Apples MacBook Air is the biggest in this area so far
This pretty much sums it up, i believe.
"guess it brings all the fanboys into a hate war"
I have nothing against apple. In general, they have great products, and the market shows it. I just think that it is interesting how Cnet always portraits Apple as the leader in the PC world, while it isn't.
There was actually a time i hated apple, but I don't anymore - I still think windows Overall is better.
But when crazy apple fans start bashing windows, I do not hesitate to fire back. Its just that apple is supposed to be the "cool thing to do" according to some people lol
does Apple have 90+% market share in computer worldwide ?
Break the Wedge!
www.breakthewedge.com
so AMD is naming a chip the same as its code name?
they don't normally do that
You do realize you are breaking the OSX license agreement that you can not install OSX on non-apple branded hardware.
"I own an MSI U100 netbook running OS X, and I can sincerely tell you that it's no Mac, even with OS X running on it. Really, Apple hardware is years ahead of anything MSI can produce."
So OSX is not perfect is it? Have you thought the problem is not the hardware but the OS? You did install OSX on a machine that is not built by Mac.
"i'll dump my MSI as soon as Apple releases a netbook, even if it's way more expensive. The extra money spent on quality is well worth it."
I thought the Macbook AIR is a essentially a netbook, so what is the REAL reason you illegally installed OSX on an MSI PC?
At least people who enjoy PCs understand that with so many hardware variations Microsoft can not account for every variable. They do not blame the hardware company for Windows and do not blame MS for hardware issues.
MacBook Air isn't a netbook, a netbook is under $500, if it were an Apple netbook, we have to account for the cost of aluminum and Apple logo, so that would bump it up to $600-700
@rbannon
"Apple hardware is years ahead of anything MSI can produce"
yeah right
same stuff inside
Intel CPU, nVidia or ATi Graphics chip, ...
Thanks, I thougt a netbook was just laptops with less components making them very light. I did not think that price range was part of the category.
@Magicland
I completely agree with you. Rbannon said that "I'll dump my MSI as soon as Apple releases a netbook, even if it's way more expensive. The extra money spent on quality is well worth it." From what you and pithenumber is saying that a netbook has a $500 cieling, then for Rbannon, cost is important or he would have just bought a mac from the beginning since I do not see Apple making any sub-$500 laptops in the near future.
In Apples defense though, I think if Apples made a netbook that it would run a little better then a PC netbook. The reason is that Macs have a limited hardware variations which plays well for OSX because at least they can test their OS on pretty much all their hardware to see if there are issues, unlike MS where you have basically 1 mil. different hardware variations that you definately can not test all of them on.
If the dv2 was $599, it would be severely difficult to avoid buying.
- by winstein April 26, 2009 7:15 PM PDT
- I don't get it. Why can't I get a 13" thin laptop running Core 2 Duo for $800? The choice I have today regardless PC or Mac is $600 7lb laptops or the $1700 thin laptops. Why does the thin laptops always mean low power and slow and single core?
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