Ultrabooks are thin and light laptops that meet very specific criteria laid out by Intel — but ultrabooks haven’t cornered the market on thin and light notebook computers. MSI has introduced a new portable notebook called the MSI S30 which is a little too thick to qualify, but which measures less than an inch thick, weighs just over 3 pounds, and features a 13.3 inch screen.

MSI hasn’t announced a release date or price for the notebook, but odds are it’ll be a bit cheaper than a typical ultrabook. The company has posted detailed specifications on its website.

MSI S30

The MSI S30 features a 13.3 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an Intel Core i3 Ivy Bridge processor, Intel HD 4000 graphics, and a 500GB hard drive with an optional 64GB solid state drive.

It also features WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet, a VGA port, HDMI port, 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 USB 3.0 port, and a headset jack. The computer will be available with 4 and 8 cell battery options and ships with Windows 8.

The thin and light notebook measures 12.8″ x 8.9″ x 0.9 and weighs 3.1 pounds. The reason you can’t call it an ultrabook is because Intel mandates that 13 inch laptops have to be 0.7 inches thick or less in order to qualify.

Intel also insists that solid state drives are mandatory for ultrabooks, while they’re only optional in the MSI S30.

via Ultrabook News

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4 replies on “MSI introduces the S30 portable notebook (almost an ultrabook)”

  1. I’d like to see a cheap, fast, totally silent ultrabook-like laptop. SSD only. < 3 lbs. 8 hour battery (replaceable.) 4GB DDR3 (upgradeable.) 13.3" screen is fine. $400. Sold.

    1. A shame most ultrabooks don’t have removable batteries. The Samsung Chromebook Series 5 is pretty close. So is the Lenovo U310. I think it’ll be a while before costs drop down to $400.

    2. I can see almost-ultrabooks to be more appealing than ultrabooks. Super thin cases aren’t that big of a deal. Larger batteries and hence longer battery life are better. Touch on a notebook is just gimmicky. Highest performance isn’t really necessary so a low-end Core i’s or equivalent cheaper AMD chips won’t be noticeably slower. Not sure if it’ll hit the $400 mark though. The S30 is supposedly $500 but I’m not liking the white kid’s toy look.

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