MSI is probably better known for its motherboards and gaming PCs and hardware than for its mainstream laptops. But the company does make a line of non-gaming notebooks, and the company is showing off a new thin-and-light model at Computex this week.
The MSI PS42 measures 0.63 inches thick and weighs about 2.6 pounds. It has a 14 inch display with a slim-bezel design, and features support for up to an 8th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, optional NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics, and a 50Wh battery that MSI says should provide up to 10 hours of run time.
The laptop has an aluminum chassis, a 1080p IPS display, and screen bezels that measure just about 0.22 inches (5.7mm) across.
Unfortunately MSI also took a page out of the Dell XPS playbook and made the top screen bezel so slim that there’s no room for a webcam above the display. Instead the company put it beneath the screen, where it’ll get a good view of your knuckles if you’re typing while on a video call, or the underside of your chin and nose if you’re not.
The MSI PS42 supports up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory and has an M.2 SSD slot for NVMe PCie Gen3 x4 or SATA storage. There’s a backlit keyboar, stereo speakers, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1.
And the laptop has a fingerprint sensor built into the touchpad and features two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.1 Type-C ports, an HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. But Laptop Magazine reports there’s no support for Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C charging.
MSI hasn’t announced the price or release date yet, but it’s nice to see that the company continues to produce thin-and-light laptops for folks who care more about portability than gaming performance. This, after all, is the same company that produced a the MSI Wind line of netbooks nearly a decade ago.
Well, ultrabooks and netbooks has in common only their relative lightweight.
MSI Winds price starts from $200… I doubt this one will be available less for $700