Verdict: Very cheap for a 17in laptop, but let down by a poor screen and underpowered GPU.

Although this MSI laptop isn't currently available from a UK-based retailer, as it costs less than half the price of most gaming laptops, we thought it was definitely worth having it sent over for review in this Labs test.

Despite its comparatively low price, the MS-1719 has a specification that compares quite favourably to those of the six other laptops. Like the others, it has a 17in screen, although MSI has opted for a screen resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 rather than the 1080p-compatible screens seen in some other laptops, such as the Dell and Rock models. Although Windows and applications looked fine, the screen leaves a lot to be desired when watching movies or playing games. It also lacks depth and isn't particularly bright. Clearly, one of the reasons for the MS-1719's low price is its screen, which is of a lower quality than those of the other laptops on test. MSI has provided an HDMI port, so you can hook up the laptop to an HDTV, although there's no S/PDIF for use with a home cinema sound system.

Despite its low price, theMS-1719 has a fast CPU in the guise of a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500. It even has the same 2GB of memory as found in the other laptops. The MS-1719 is based around the Intel PM965 chipset, so it not only supports the latest CPUs, but also 1GB of Intel Turbo Memory. This works in much the same way as ReadyBoost, attempting to speed up Vista by cacheing data and applications. Coupled with a 5,400rpm 160GB hard disk, the MS-1719 is no slouch in applications, although when it came to gaming, its performance was disappointing.

The reason behind the MS-1719's poor performance in games is its Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT GPU. This GPU is based on the same unified shader architecture as that of the desktop GeForce 8-series GPUs, but its 32 stream processors are clocked at a mere 950MHz. Although it's backed by 512MB of memory, the GPU's lack of shader horsepower means that it struggles to play modern games.

We started testing by playing games at the screen's native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 but, after struggling through Oblivion at 3fps, we decided to drop the resolution to 1,024 x 768. Even then, the MS-1719 struggled to deliver a smooth frame rate: Oblivion crawled along at 21fps in the Arena, and just 5fps in the countryside. Company of Heroes and Dirt also proved too much of a challenge for the MS-1719, and both games struggled to break into double figures.

Unless you're a sadomasochist, we recommend that you forget about trying to play current DirectX 10 games on the GeForce 8600M GT, since the frame rate in Company of Heroes wouldn't even hit 5fps.

Like most laptops, the MS-1719s built-in speakers are pretty weedy. The MGM lion at the start of the test movie trailer sounded very hoarse, as though it had smoked several packets of cigarettes before attempting to roar. The keyboard isn't great either, since the tiny Enter key and generally cramped layout make typing difficult.

However, the trackpad is a pleasure to use, and benefits from having an integrated scrollpad. While the ergonomic design of the MS-1719 is generally fine (bar the cramped keyboard), it isn't the most inspiring-looking laptop. The MS-1719 also has the weakest battery on test; it lasted just 44 minutes when playing Oblivion, which isn't long enough to conquer and close a gate to Oblivion, let alone explore a decent area of countryside.

The MS-1719's other features include an ExpressCard slot, so it could be easily upgraded when external graphics cards using this interface start to appear later this year, three USB 2 ports and a FireWire port. WiFi is built in, as well as Bluetooth.

At £955, the MS-1719 is good value for money, despite its failings - most notably, the poor-quality screen and feeble gaming performance - but you'll need to spend much more in order to buy a laptop that can play games properly.

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