May 28th, 2009
MSI ultrathin, ultra-low voltage 'Macbook Air killer' gets a price tag
MSI announced yesterday the availability of the X340, the first notebook to hit the market packing Intel’s new consumer ultra-low voltage, or CULV, processor.
We previously covered MSI’s original announcement of the notebook on this blog, where it was deemed a “Macbook Air killer,” at least in appearance.
The difference, of course, is price.
The X340 will carry a $900 price tag, or roughly half that of the Air (it’s already been spotted for $799 at NewEgg). The X340 weighs 2.86 lbs. — just a hair under the Air — and is 0.78 in. thick.
It also sports an HDMI port for high-definition video.
The idea behind the use of Intel’s CULV processor is that it draws 5.5 watts, which is about one-sixth the power of other mobile processors, leading to longer battery life.
Don’t dig MSI? The X340 is just one of a small army of notebooks marching toward a store near you. On Monday, Lenovo announced its U350 CULV notebook for $649, to arrive in June. And MSI rival Acer also has CULV up its sleeve, to be included with its business-centric TimeLine notebooks, to range from $699 to $899.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Email Andrew Nusca 
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to The ToyBox via Email alerts or RSS.
