MSI Megabook S271: a Look at AMD's Turion X2

Closing Thoughts

So there you have it, our first look at a Turion equipped laptop, which also happens to be a dual core Turion X2. Unfortunately for AMD and MSI, the conclusions we can reach are none too surprising. Intel offers better performance at equivalent clock speeds with Core 2 Duo desktop processors versus AMD Athlon X2 processors, and that performance advantage extends to the mobile sector as well. There are a few points in Turion X2's favor, however.

First, it should be less expensive than any of the Core 2 Duo equipped laptops. Second, AMD's low-power state seems to require a bit less power than Intel's low-power state (we would need "identical" configurations to say for sure). Related to the power draw, battery life appears to be slightly better with Turion X2 than with Core 2 Duo, at least if the system is generally idle. The flipped side is that Turion X2 under full load uses more power than Core 2 Duo, so if you intend to run CPU intensive tasks while on battery power it will have less battery life.

Taking a look at the big picture, the MSI S271 and Turion X2 should be more than fast enough for typical business/office use. If you're just looking for a reasonably priced ultraportable laptop and you like the thought of having the extra processor core available when you need it, the MSI S271 should keep you satisfied. That doesn't mean it's better than other options on the market, but it is at least competitive.

We definitely had problems with memory compatibility during our testing, and that can be a problem with just about any laptop currently available. The name brand memory suppliers are usually a safe bet, but in this case it appears that the MSI S271 BIOS is still in need of compatibility tuning. As we mentioned earlier, the whole point of getting a dual core notebook seems to be improved multitasking performance, so having more than 512MB of memory definitely makes sense. In fact, we wouldn't recommend the purchase of any laptop with less than 1GB of memory these days.

If Turion X2 had become available at the beginning of this year, around the same time that Intel launched the Core Duo platform, it would have been much easier to recommend. There are almost certainly areas where Turion X2 would show a performance improvement over Intel Core Duo. If you're trying to decide between a Core Duo laptop and a Turion X2 laptop, overall we would say it's pretty close to a tie, so you should focus on features and other extras that might be important. If you are more concerned with performance, you will either want a better CPU, GPU, or both.

We mentioned in the beginning that the majority of laptops with AMD processors have often been targeted at the budget sector, so they eliminate many higher performance features that people find useful. Unfortunately, that situation doesn't seem to have changed much with the release of Turion X2. While you can certainly find low-end Core Duo notebooks that feature integrated graphics and few expansion options, there are also many midrange and high-end solutions available. The most powerful Turion X2 laptop we can currently find is a 17 inch widescreen model, also from MSI, which includes GeForce Go 7600 graphics: the MSI MS-171772; Compaq and others make similarly equipped notebooks. The good news is that you can find these starting at around $1300, so the price difference is pretty reasonable, although not everyone wants a larger notebook.

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In the end, despite the difficulties we initially experienced during benchmarking and testing this laptop, the MSI S271 really isn't that bad. It looks nice, it performs reasonably well, and it's very portable. Battery life is good, and the only real problem we had was memory compatibility. (We also had a problem with the wireless networking, but we would suspect that we caused the issue during our frequent hardware changes.) "Not that bad" is not the same thing as being good, unfortunately.

The internal design could definitely use work, as we don't like having to pry open the system just to install or upgrade memory. The laptop is also clearly a budget dual core model, as most of the components are on the lower end of the performance spectrum. The integrated graphics in particular could present a real performance bottleneck in the next year or so. If you're okay with avoiding 3D applications and sticking with Windows XP rather than upgrading to Windows Vista, then the MSI S271 should suffice. Then again, if you're okay with those limitations, just about any laptop is likely to "suffice". Our overall feeling concerning the MSI S271 is that it is unremarkable.

Taking a look specifically at the Turion X2 lineup, it looks like AMD has a tough road ahead for their mobile sector. They are definitely competitive in terms of battery life and price, but they trail in all our performance benchmarks. (Note that we're talking about CPU benchmarks like 3D rendering and video encoding, which are pretty consistent regardless of chipset and other factors.) The problem AMD faces is the same old story of getting manufacturers to build systems based around their platform rather than an Intel platform. If all the offerings are lower-end budget designs, the market perception can become skewed, when in fact it's as much component choice as CPU that's affecting the results.

How do they convince manufacturers to build higher-spec notebooks using Turion X2 CPUs? In the gaming arena, particularly in laptops, the graphics processor is going to be far more important than the CPU choice, so some midrange Turion X2 offerings with better graphics should be able to offer a pricing advantage while offering similar gaming and battery life performance. All other components being equal, the Core 2 Duo should offer more CPU performance than Turion X2, but both will be GPU limited in virtually any modern 3D game.

Finally, it's worth noting that the slowest Core 2 Duo mobile processor is currently the T5500 (1.66GHz 2MB cache), which is only slightly cheaper than the T7200 (2.00GHz 4MB cache) we tested today in the ASUS A8JS; the fastest Core 2 Duo mobile processors already reach 2.33 GHz, albeit at a much higher cost. Meanwhile, the TL-60 is currently the fastest Turion X2 available, and at present it is priced slightly higher than the T7200 while offering less CPU performance. AMD doesn't really have a truly high-end mobile CPU offering that can compete with a Core 2 Duo T7200 or higher, so that market will continue to belong to the top Intel CPUs (for those that are interested in spending $3000+ on a laptop), but we hope to see more midrange and lower configurations that will be worth considering.

If we were looking to get a low cost dual core laptop right now, we would be far more inclined to go with the HP Compaq nx7400 for $60 more, which includes 1GB of memory and an Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 processor. We're also not sold on the need for dual core CPUs in an ultraportable laptop; sure, you can do it, but most of us would rather have a 14" or larger display if we're talking about a higher performance dual core laptop. If you're after an ultraportable with long battery life, it might actually be advantageous to stick with single core offerings and worry less about CPU performance anyway.

If you want a dual core laptop, we would recommend most people spend a bit more money, as we feel the best designs start at closer to $1500 rather than $1000. If you just want a reasonably fast, inexpensive 12.1" laptop, the MSI S271/MS-1058 is an option to consider, but it has some drawbacks that we've covered in this review. We will have a full review of the ASUS A8JS shortly, and other than the shorter battery life we have found it to be a far more desirable laptop than the MSI S271.