I am curious what the hierarchy is. I've always seen it as: Entry level (sub $300) > budget ($300-600) > mainstream ($600-1200) > enthusiast ($1200-2500) > high end/boutique ($2500+). Of course it's going to differ depending on use case, general purpose vs gaming vs enterprise and so on.
Right there in the first paragraph, Anton calls it "relatively inexpensive." I think it's clear this is MSI's budget range, not an industry standard price range. Considering MSI laptops can be had at up to $4k, this is budget pricing for them.
I think the definitions have evolved for the heart of the market. Currently, I think its closer to:
below $500 junk/emergency stopgap/will be physically abused and won’t work in 2 or 3 years
$500 - $750 budget
Reasoning: I think there are certain baselines people want in even a basic laptop experience and below $750 you are giving up one or more things to save money. For new laptops that just came out, not previous years leftovers that someone is trying to clear out.
300 nit display at FHD or above regular-sized four-core with six-hour battery life or non-flimsy ultraportable with reasonable peformance and seven hours+ unplugged 128 GB SSD + spinning drive or 256 GB SSD alone.
Velvet Elvis Presley posters, are almost as tacky as that MSI label and logo. I mean really, can MSI hire somebody to design you a logo that doesn't look like its from 1975.
$1K for a "budget" laptop with a 1050 in it. There are better prices from other companies. To MSI's credit, they're at least using vanilla Intel NICs (can't tell about the WiFi, but MSI's marketing department presumably still believes that Killer Wireless is a selling point so they'd be certain to mention it if the laptop was so equipped) in some of those models and the styling isn't as awful as is typical from their other computers. They're still atrocious looking in my opinion, but they're the least gamer-revolting I've seen Anandtech announce on behalf of MSI in a while.
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damianrobertjones - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - link
The words "Budget Laptops" don't seem to work that well when the price is $1,000+jabbadap - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - link
Yeah agreed. It should be budget gaming laptops(quite expensive even for that though). Budget laptops in my mind are sub $500 notebooks.nathanddrews - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - link
I am curious what the hierarchy is. I've always seen it as:Entry level (sub $300) > budget ($300-600) > mainstream ($600-1200) > enthusiast ($1200-2500) > high end/boutique ($2500+).
Of course it's going to differ depending on use case, general purpose vs gaming vs enterprise and so on.
Tchamber - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - link
Right there in the first paragraph, Anton calls it "relatively inexpensive." I think it's clear this is MSI's budget range, not an industry standard price range. Considering MSI laptops can be had at up to $4k, this is budget pricing for them.The Hardcard - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - link
I think the definitions have evolved for the heart of the market. Currently, I think its closer to:below $500 junk/emergency stopgap/will be physically abused and won’t work in 2 or 3 years
$500 - $750 budget
Reasoning: I think there are certain baselines people want in even a basic laptop experience and below $750 you are giving up one or more things to save money. For new laptops that just came out, not previous years leftovers that someone is trying to clear out.
300 nit display at FHD or above
regular-sized four-core with six-hour battery life
or non-flimsy ultraportable with reasonable peformance and seven hours+ unplugged
128 GB SSD + spinning drive or 256 GB SSD alone.
stephenbrooks - Sunday, April 15, 2018 - link
I think laptops are the "cable bundles" of the computer world, which is why they can justify price hikes for basic features.svan1971 - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - link
Velvet Elvis Presley posters, are almost as tacky as that MSI label and logo. I mean really, can MSI hire somebody to design you a logo that doesn't look like its from 1975.PeachNCream - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
$1K for a "budget" laptop with a 1050 in it. There are better prices from other companies. To MSI's credit, they're at least using vanilla Intel NICs (can't tell about the WiFi, but MSI's marketing department presumably still believes that Killer Wireless is a selling point so they'd be certain to mention it if the laptop was so equipped) in some of those models and the styling isn't as awful as is typical from their other computers. They're still atrocious looking in my opinion, but they're the least gamer-revolting I've seen Anandtech announce on behalf of MSI in a while.