Enhancing the multimedia experience via the MSI EX400

MANILA, Philippines - You’ve heard it before, choosing a notebook is not always a question of budget but of specs.

When the Internet was new, people have coined an alternate definition for WWW (which originally meant World Wide Web) and started calling it the World Wide Wait to take a humorous punch at slow and erratic Internet or network connections. At a time when Internet usage was rising tremendously, it became important not just to have a connection but a fast one to be able to take full advantage of what the Web has to offer.

The same need is coming to the surface now. People need notebooks, netbooks, desktops and nettops for business or home computing, but it is not anymore enough to have just about anything; it has become a must to own a gadget that fits one’s need best.

There are computers specifically made for gamers, for newbies, for graphic artists, for students, for people on the go or mobile workers, for businessmen. They really all look the same but the specs (technical specification) make the difference.

The new MSI EX400 full-sized notebook looks like any other. It is black and has a 14.1-inch WXGA TFT LCD display. It is slim and lightweight and easy enough to carry or bring along in business trips. On the more technical side, it has an Intel Core Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00 GHz, 1GB RAM, a 32-bit operating system and 148GB hard disk space. Its operating system is Windows Vista Home Basic and has a built-in Combo Drive/DVD Super Multi. It is also fitted with 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN with Bluetooth.

Pretty average, you say, but not until you start using it.

Brighter screen

If you’ve been using computers for a long time, the first thing you’ll notice about the MSI EX400 is that it has a brighter screen. If the display is set at the highest possible resolution, the hues are more refined, the image sharper, clearer. Plug in the headset and the sound is definitely richer.

The specs explain it — the MSI EX400 has an ATI HD3450 3D Graphics Card with 256MB VRAM and Second Generation Dolby Surround Sound, which allow one to see better and hear better.

The average user today is big on Facebook, Twitter, Multiply and social networking sites, instant messengers, Skype, YouTube, movie, music, video and torrents of downloads. The multimedia life has blossomed to its fullest. By providing graphics and sound cards that allow people to have a better viewing and listening experience, this MSI notebook has succeeded in becoming a good daily companion at work, in school or at leisure.

The 14.1-inch LCD screen is also just the right size — not too small as the 13-inch screen and not too big as the 15-inch types — making it handy for carrying around on out-of-town trips, bringing to school or outside the office for meetings and fieldwork.

Good multimedia companion

The EX400 is one of MSI’s entertainment series notebooks, but it’s not really a gamer’s gadget. At best, it is a good multimedia companion — it can send e-mails fast, create documents, connect to the Internet easily and surf the Web, display photos and videos very well, and the sound is great.

The unit we tested, however, has only 1GB RAM, which is already quite limited with the many applications and software that one now uses to able to have a fuller experience online. For a multimedia gadget, the notebook also does not have a firewire port that would have enabled it to connect to more traditional handycams easily for transferring video footage although it is not much of an issue since most devices can now be connected to the computer via USB.

We had the unit for a much longer period than usual so it had gone abroad, out of town, all over the metropolis. Connecting to the Internet was easy and was never a problem. It had also played more movies, more YouTube videos, more music and more photos. It was used to connect to instant messengers, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter and its performance was tested to be constant and stable even for resource-intensive tasks.

As just a standby gadget, it also had experienced a lot of idle time, although this was adequately compensated by heavy use on weekends when the teenagers in the house were allowed to watch anime or download music and torrents for hours. In the end, everybody agreed that one has to applaud the MSI EX400 for enlivening the digital experience and for the better viewing and listening pleasure it offers.