In the era of portability and mobility the MSI EX700 may look like a 17" dinosaur, but the truth is that it serves an important part of the budget home laptop sector.

While business users are flocking to the Eee PCs of this world, home consumers are ditching the traditional desktop PC for the large form 'desktop replacement.' Sales of desktop machines have plummeted over the last two years as consumers plump for laptops which take up less room while offering the same functionality coupled with relative portability.

This has led to an explosion of laptops like the MSI EX700, which attempt to woo consumers from the mid-range desktop PC market, and add another nail to the desktop coffin.

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Based on its £899 namesake, the MSI EX700 has been stripped down to cater for the budget home market, and a new price tag of £570 has been added. This sits directly between the low end portable and the high end laptop price range, for those who want the versatility of a laptop with the functionality and price of a desktop.

As most plus-sized people will tell you, it's what's on the inside that counts, and for its budget price the MSI EX700 sure does has a sparkling personality. It's equipped with a Core2 Duo 1.66Ghz processor, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a GeForce 8400M 128MB card which is capable of handling basic games like The Sims 2.

This is a tough market and there are plenty of laptops with this specification hitting the market at the moment, the most high profile of which being the extremely competent Samsung R700 which retails for £559, £10 less than the MSI.

Low-end graphics

The MSI EX700 has an impressive 3.5 Windows Experience Index score, which is exceptionally high in this sub-£600 price bracket. As with all budget laptops the score is hampered by the graphics, but this stacks up well against many budget desktops of the same price.

On the exterior the MSI EX700 is duller than a fortnight in Brussels, with the only break from the cheap black plastic being the 17" wide screen display. The EX700 uses the standard 1440x900 resolution as you might expect, but display looks dull and washed out, begging for an extra notch of brightness which just isn't there. The build quality also leaves a lot to be desired, the chassis feels flimsy and the track pad unresponsive.