Open up the MSI Megabook M670 and you’ll probably notice something’s amiss. We’re not talking about the slightly cheap-looking build quality and quaint old-school lettering on the keyboard, either.

Take a closer look and you’ll see that the touchpad is set a little to the left of centre, giving the notebook a slightly unbalanced look. Look closer still and you’ll find the reason; the notebook features a full keyboard, complete with number pad on the right-hand side. This won’t be a clincher for most people, but those who use the number pad a lot will definitely appreciate its presence.

The Megabook also features more inputs and outputs than you can shake a Memory Stick at. Four USBs and the usual network, modem and audio sockets are joined by a four-in-one memory card reader, a TV-out socket, a Firewire port for connecting camcorders and a PCI Express expansion slot.

Conveniently, the memory card reader and audio sockets are accessible when the machine is shut, allowing you to use it like a massive portable mp3 player.

The Megabook M670 has more memory than most at this price, and this is probably what helped it to get above-average scores in our tests.

It’s perhaps because the Megabook packs so much in that it comes in slightly heavier than most, weighing just over 3kg. In truth, this extra heft will make little difference for home use, but those who intend to travel further afield may want to factor it into their considerations when making the final choice of notebook.

This article is part of a group test of budget notebooks.
The table can be read via our Pdf download.
Others are:
Acer Aspire 5101 AWLMi
Asus A6Rp-AP026H
Fujitsu Siemens Amilio Pi 1505
Hi-grade Notino W5600
Toshiba Satellite Pro A120