MSI's FX600 is a bit more expensive than other 15.6in laptops with Core i3 330M processors, , but for two very good reasons. First, it includes a Blu-ray drive and, second, there's a dedicated graphics card: Nvidia's GeForce GT 325M.
It's a slight shame the screen has a 1,366x768 resolution, as Blu-ray video has to be downscaled to fit the LED-backlit screen, but picture quality remains very sharp. The excellent colour reproduction and decent contrast made movies look great, although rapid motion was slightly blurry. The screen has lots of tilt for finding the perfect vertical viewing angle, although reflections in the glossy screen were distracting.
To get full 1080p video playback, the FX600 can be connected to an external display via HDMI or VGA. Thankfully MSI understands that high-definition video needs good quality sound to go with it. Four speakers, two above the keyboard and two beneath the wrist rest, are well positioned for effective audio with warm mid-tones, clear trebles and even decent levels of bass.
With 4GB of DDR3 memory paired with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 and a 500GB hard disk, there have been few sacrifices to keep the FX600's price down. An overall benchmark score of 76 means this is a very capable machine for everyday use. The GT 325M graphics card can also handle 3D games, as the 28.3fps score in our Call of Duty 4 test indicates. After a prolonged gaming session the case stayed cool to the touch, although the fans did spin up to create a noisy din.
