MSI X610: Supersizing the Netbook?

X610 LCD Quality

We ran our standard LCD quality tests using ColorEyes Display Pro to see how well this 15.6" LCD panel performs. Unfortunately, this is another case of LCD brightness improving at the cost of LCD contrast ratios. Also, color gamut, color accuracy, and viewing angles continue to be a sore spot for laptop LCDs. It is our understanding that TN panels use the least power, so until that changes it's unlikely we will see dramatic improvements in these areas.

Like many other laptops, the MSI X610 provides a bright ~250nits LCD that unfortunately only yields a poor 215:1 contrast ratio. LCD quality matters to many people, and if MSI had used a high contrast LCD it would have made the X610 a lot more interesting as a multimedia platform. As it stands, colors look washed out and images don't "pop" the way they do on a good display. Color gamut is slightly improved compared to other solutions we've tested, coming in at 53%, and color accuracy is reasonably good after calibration, but we're still a far cry from the 100% gamma LCDs we see on desktops and laptops like the Dell Studio XPS 16.