Laptop Club

The MSI X340 (021US), which debuted at CES 2009 as the X320, is nearly an identical twin to the Apple MacBook Air (Nvidia 9400M GT). Other than color—our review unit was black, and there's also a silver version—it's hard to tell them apart at first glance. The X340 is a cheap Air knock-off, to put it lightly, but there's more to this exceptionally thin ultraportable than its cellar-low price. Matching the Air's weight and dimensions is an impressive feat in its own right, yet MSI adds a full array of physical ports and a removable battery, which won't find in the Air. But the X340 will need to revisit Apple's blueprints if it wants to match the Air's build quality.

• Price as Tested: $875.00 Street
• Type: General Purpose, Media, Ultraportable, Value
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Solo U3500
• Processor Speed: 1.4 GHz
• RAM: 2 GB
• Weight: 2.9 lb
• Screen Size: 13.4 inches
• Screen Size Type: widescreen
• Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
• Storage Capacity: 320 GB
• Networking Options: 802.11n
• Primary Optical Drive: External