Labs

The MSI's understated black and silver won't win any style awards, but its unshowy exterior conceals some impressive traits. The most obvious is that it's relatively light. At 2.59kg, it's still no ultraportable, but you won't have to be built like Arnie to contemplate taking it out of the house. And it's got the stamina for long distance running: we eked out three hours and 22 minutes from the battery under light use. Even playing DVDs only saw that drop back to just short of three hours.

If you do fancy watching the odd film, or indeed checking out your digital photos, the display is well up to the task. It lacked the contrast of the very best screens here, but was crisp and clear across its 15.4 inches, with just a slight bluish

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cast.

The built-in speakers weren't quite so accomplished, but despite a lack of clarity at the top end, they reached reasonable volumes and didn't make a dog's breakfast of our music like the Samsung's.

We weren't so keen on the keyboard. MSI have squeezed in a numeric keypad, and while that makes sense on big laptops such as the Acer, it leaves the VR601 feeling cramped. To make room, they've had to shrink the right-hand Shift and Enter keys, and as a result we often found ourselves hitting the wrong keys. It's a shame, because the accompanying trackpad is a fine example: responsive, accurate, and blessed with buttons that respond with a light but distinct click.

Performance was great, as a score of 126% in our 2D (general) application benchmarks testified. Even the integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics managed 16% in 3D - not enough for much actual gaming, but older titles might be persuaded.

And the feature list goes on. The 250GB hard disk is great for this class of laptop, and it's supplemented by a 1.3 megapixel webcam and Gigabit Ethernet, handy if you want the fastest wired connection to other PCs or network storage devices.

This is a fine laptop, but the iffy keyboard and general lack of that elusive desirability factor leave it a little way behind the likes of the Dell.