Serious Gaming from MSI

There is only one acid-test for a great gaming notebook: Run it by my son, Nicholas, who has been flaying aliens with lasers since dinosaurs roamed the planet. The fact that he is monopolizing the new MSI GX630 is a very good sign that it looks, performs and sounds as good as it gets. Gamers are downright perturbable when it comes to graphics processing, but don't generally have the deep pockets to afford an ace system, which is why this entry from MSI is so attractive: at $799, it's affordable, portable and sacrifices little when it comes to performance.

The 630 has a bright, 15.4-inch, 1280 X 800 display, which does its job ably when it comes to sulfurous explosions or detailed natural settings. And the 2-megapixel webcam above the display delivers exceptionally good video quality during Web chats. Peripherals are no problem, with ports like HDMI, eSATA, three USB 2.0 jacks as well as Gigabit Ethernet and Firewire available along the perimeter of the notebook.

This six-pounder (without cheese) is fairly light for a gaming system, and includes a dual AMD 2.3-Ghz chipset and 4GB of RAM to give it some zip. And the GeForce 9600 GT graphics processor delivers great resolution. There is no Blu-Ray option at this price-point, and the battery life could certainly use improvement, but otherwise, dollar for dollar this is a winner. Unless you want to drop $3K-plus on an Alienware box, this should do the trick nicely for your favorite nephew this Xmas.