MSI CR650 Laptop Feature is now on sale through the official MSI online store. The laptop is notable for including AMD’s Fusion APU instead of an Intel Sandy Bridge processor. Thus, the laptop should retail for slightly cheaper than expected and have great battery life without sacrificing too much in the graphics department.
The 15.6-inch laptop will run Windows 7 Home Premium and include a 1366x768 resolution display, 1.6GHz dual-core Fusion E-350 processor, Radeon HD 6310 graphics, 3GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive. USB 2.0, HDMI, and VGA-out ports are also included, but unfortunately there are no USB 3.0 ports to speak of. Oddly enough, battery life of the laptop is not listed on the official MSI webpage.
The CR650's glossy black lid has a very subtle grid pattern and is flecked with metallic sparkles. Inside, the palm rest is a silver/gray color with the same pattern as on the lid. The gray fades to black when it reaches the island-style keyboard, above which are two speakers flanking dedicated media buttons. Overall, the look is fairly sleek for such a low-cost notebook, but the lid is a fingerprint magnet.
Above the keyboard are dedicated media buttons. From left, they are: DVD eject, Screen off, TurboBattery (a utility that helps conserve battery life), a configurable hot key, media player, and power. Dedicated volume controls would have been nice, but the Fn shortcuts work fine.
Other specifications include Gigabit Ethernet, an HD webcam, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, SRS PC Sound and a 6-cell battery, the latter supplemented by the Turbo Battery+ power-saving technology.
Unfortunately, no shipment date or price was provided, so interested consumers will have to wait for further word on the company's part or just keep their eyes peeled for online listings.
