MSI CX640 Laptop Review (Core i5/Nvidia)

The keyboard is acceptable to type on, but I would certainly not say it was anywhere near the best I had used. It feels rather ‘spongy' although the spacing is decent. There is a three key number pad offset to the right.

There is some flex, but it certainly isn't the worst we have seen in the last year.

Down at the bottom left is an LED readout which highlights various functionality, such as keyboard and num lock, battery charging, wireless on and off etc. As the image above right shows, even after a small amount of use, the surface does look really dirty, even if handled carefully.

The trackpad has a textured surface which feels rather unpleasant, but tracks quite well. Again, we would use a mouse for anything serious, but it is perfectly acceptable for light use when traveling. The buttons along the bottom are incredibly stiff, and I often had to apply a fair bit of pressure to get them to activate.

Bottom right, there is a huge sticker which details the hardware inside. There is also a focus on the Nvidia Optimus hardware with a special sticker. We would remove all these if it was ours but it will help sell it in a retail store display.

The CX640 looks great when it is turned on. The power light at the side glows, and the Time Stamp section above the main keyboard also glows green. If you press this button it records a snapshot of the system, taking between 10 and 20 seconds, depending on how much data has been stored. If problems occur, you can restore the system to an earlier time.

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