News - BETT 2009: MSI X320 will cost less than £499

[HEXUS]

In its first year at the education show, MSI has revealed aggressive pricing for its new thin and light notebook.

Read more.

[MadduckUK]

its an atom, i should bloody hope it costs below £499

[Pob255]

Only problem here is that extra thin, light and portable is not generally what you want in an educational environment.

What you need is tough, rugged, vandal resistant, long battery life and a lack of "whissles and bells"
What you want are laptops with toughened screens & lids with non-scissor action keyboards that students cannot "pick the keys off" or if they do they are easily replaceable and the underlying structure of the keyboard is less easily damaged.

Having to spend £40+ too replace a keyboard because one "little darling" removed a single key and in doing so snapped the thin metal that the scissor snaps into or ripped off the rubber nipple under the key, happens all too often in a school.

Forgot to add another major requirement of a school,
Cheap
good warranties

[nichomach]

Bear in mind, though, that the X320 really isn't targeted at education environments, as such. It's far more likely to be targeted as being a companion portable for someone whose main machine is non-portable and who wants something light but capable that will look professional and not break the bank. Education environments are probably far more likely to go for, say, an Eee or Classmate (or maybe an XO), I'd have thought.

[Scott B]

To be fair to MSI they weren't exhibiting the X320, I just took the opportunity to ask about it.