MSI Megabook L735

MSI's Megabook L735 is one of two notebooks battling for the crown of best desktop-replacement machine in the sub-£1,000 price bracket. The other is PC Nextday's Zoostorm 55-8701, and it's a close-run thing.

On the face of it, they have plenty in common. Like the Zoostorm, the Megabook sports a 17in 1,440 x 900 screen. It also has a full-sized keyboard with a number pad, and its weight - a hefty 4.2kg including the power adapter - is on a similar level too.

But dig a little deeper and differences soon begin to surface. The layout of the Megabook's keyboard, for instance, isn't as good as the Zoostorm's. Not only is the Enter key half height, but the right Shift key is very small, the Insert, Delete and navigation keys are in strange places, and the Backspace key is narrow.

The keyboard isn't the only area in which the two machines diverge. On the plus side for MSI, the Megabook can lay claim to better looks. Its chassis, although hardly cutting edge, is easier on the eye.

The biggest difference, however, becomes apparent when you take a look at the core components. The Megabook sports a much slower 1.6GHz Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-52 with half the amount of RAM (1GB). It's a big step down from the Zoostorm's specification, and it shows in our 2D benchmarks with the Megabook scoring just 0.82.

What rescues the L735 from obscurity is its 3D performance and battery life, both of which are significantly superior to the Zoostorm's. The Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 graphics means that, if you fancy a bit of gaming, this is the notebook to choose. Its average frame rate of 34fps in our 1,024 x 768 tests is the fastest in this group.

If you want to work on the move, battery life is acceptable at 2hrs 45mins in our light-use test, while the inclusion of an excellent Pakuma notebook-specific rucksack ensures lugging it around is comfortable.

These last two factors, and a much lower price of £809, just about edge the Megabook in front of the Zoostorm. But the slow 2D performance and poor keyboard layout mean that it still falls some way short of threatening the leaders this month.

Author: Jim Martin