MSI's CX640MX is heaven for righties, hell for lefties

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
Staff

Hardly a week passes without a new laptop from MSI, but the Taiwanese manufacturer's latest creation strays from the norm by touting a "clutter-free" design. MSI says that most notebooks are careless about their I/O placement, but the company's new CX640MX situates frequently used connectors like USB and HDMI on the left side of the chassis, while the audio jacks and card reader are up front. This allows for obstruction-free mouse use on the right side of the machine.

Along with the unique exterior design, MSI says the 15.6-inch CX640MX utilizes a new internal layout that maximizes heat dissipation. The system's hottest components, such as the processor, chipset and discrete graphics core are kept in the top left corner. MSI claims that this keeps the palm rest around the temperature of the human body, so your arm hairs won't be singed off when the quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge CPU and Nvidia GeForce GPU are running full throttle.


The CX640MX's sub-models are outfitted with an Intel Core i3-2310M, Core i5-2410M or Core i7-2630QM, an Nvidia GeForce 410M with 512MB of DDR3 VRAM, and 320GB to 640GB of mechanical storage. There's also a DVD burner, a 1.3MP webcam, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, a six or eight-cell battery, and a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. Two systems began shipping in the US this week for $630 and $680.

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Oh well, I already have a laptop that I don't use much, and they broke me of mousing left handed in college. I suppose this doesn't affect me much.
 
How many left handers use the mouse on the left side?
I can think of two left handers right now, and they both just use their right hands.
 
I'm a righty, but I prefer to use the mouse with my left hand when working at my job. It's much more efficient to control the mouse with your left hand, leaving your right hand free for 10-keying.

I could never get use to gaming on my left hand though, probably would need to buy a special keyboard designed for lefties first.
 
Ugh, the HP I have has the USB ports on the bottom right, It's such a pain in the *** to move files and use my mouse.
 
I have an HP as well, and broke down and got a USB hub to plug all my stuff into to keep it out of the way. Also had a few to many things attached at once ;-) (wireless mouse, usb speakers, ipod cable, webcam, usb charging cable for usb battery pack)
 
It's actually a sound design strategy being employed with this machine. Build for the majority. Left handers are a small minority. You should see how badly we get punked trying to buy a guitar.
 
Umm... not sure this is new. My Acer laptop (about one year old, the 7745G) already did all that. Only thing I have on the left side is the USB ports which I use rarely and there is one on the left side also. The CPU and graphics are at the top of the keyboard also.

*shrug* whatever you can market I guess.
 
but...but...but what if you're.....er......"busy" with your right hand? (aw come on, we all know this joke was bound to make it on the board...I just figured why not go ahead and get it out of the way, lol)
 
but...but...but what if you're.....er......"busy" with your right hand? (aw come on, we all know this joke was bound to make it on the board...I just figured why not go ahead and get it out of the way, lol)
Isn't that what Dragon's "Naturally Speaking" software is for? Don't know if it recognizes "ooo" or "ahhh" though.

Better still, just lighten up your grip for moment ,click the play button, and let the WMP work the magic it was designed for..
 
I'm left handed but use the mouse with my right. Tend to use different hands for different things. Strange like that.
 
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