4. MSI PR200-029LA

The arrival of the MSI laptop in our offices in August is what kicked this whole story off, as we sought out other notebooks against which to compare this unit. The PR200 is the smallest, lightest and least-expensive notebook in this group, but delivers snappy performance and substantial battery life at a reasonable price. For those looking for a budget media PC and willing to forgo high-definition DVDs and playback resolutions to match, this notebook makes a pretty good choice. Even though pricing for this unit starts at $350 less than the Qosmio (the next notebook in this series by size, weight and price) it includes a more-powerful Mobile Core 2 Duo T7300 processor and a faster (though smaller: 160 GB versus 250 GB) hard disk. Of course, most of that price difference stems directly from this unit’s inclusion of a conventional 480p DVD player/burner, rather than a more expensive HD-DVD or Blu-ray unit.

From the rear of the PR200, you get a great view of the oversize battery, but there’s nothing else to see from this perspective.

On the left side of the PR200, from left to right, you see: a VGA connector, RJ-45 GbE, one USB port and the DVD player/burner drawer.

The front of the MSI PR200 is also Spartan-like, with only dual-audio jacks (microphone in on the left, headphone out on the right) to see.

Nearly all the ports, slots and connectors are on the PR200’s right-hand side. From left to right, these include: above left, an ExpressCard, below left, and Secure Digital memory card reader (SD), with USB, RJ-11 modem, USB, HDMI, and TV in, on the lower edge and DC power connector to the left of the fan/ventilation ports. Between the other side of the fan/ventilation ports and the hinge, you find the DC power input.

With the top deck up, and the Vista desktop on display, the MSI PR200 reveals a compact keyboard deck layout, plus a Webcam and a wireless networking switch above the LCD display at center and right.

Because we travel regularly, and appreciate a light, compact and nimble notebook, we found ourselves getting most attached to this unit during our testing, despite better media handling and playback features on the other, more-expensive notebooks in this review. Those looking for a good value and modest media handling in a compact package could do a lot worse than this unit.