14 DAY TRIAL // That Micro-Star International was going to sooner or later release a new laptop was obvious, so it was not at all shocking to learn of the arrival of the CR430, although the hardware inside may have raised a few eyebrows.
MSI released many laptops over the years, and it definitely isn't going to stop any time soon, not with hardware always getting newer and better.
In this particular instance, the company stayed on the mid-range market, choosing AMD's Fusion series of APUs (accelerated processing units).
The exact chip used here, in the CR430, as the machine is called, is the AMD E-450, a dual-core model whose Bobcat cores function at a clock speed of 1.65 GHz.
Of course, like any self-respecting chip of this sort, the APU has integrated DirectX 11 graphics, the Radeon 6320 to be more specific.
The display is a 14-inch LCD with LED backlighting and a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels.
Meanwhile, a hard disk drive with a capacity of up to 640 GB covers the storage space issue, leaving it to the I/O and power efficiency features to complete its appeal.
That said, MSI implemented Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, an optional USB 3.0 connector, HDMI, a webcam (720p) and a multi-card reader.
All the above are kept operational by a 6-cell battery, which is aided in its task to keep everything running for as long as possible by the ECO Engine power saving technology.
Finally, the 14-inch CR430 sports a checkerboard design, scratch resistance and a DVD writer. Its price was not announced, unfortunately.
Then again, considering the fact that the APU itself has not actually been formally launched by Advanced Micro Devices, this is not surprising in the least.
Prospective customers will just have to resign themselves to waiting and seeing if the official word comes sooner rather than later.