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MSI’s VR705 is a large, black laptop with acres of matt black plastic and silver highlights. Thanks to its 17in display, it’s a great choice if you’re looking for the biggest possible screen on a budget. Despite the size, it doesn’t feel much larger than the 15in laptops on test, and it doesn’t weigh much more. At 3.2kg, it’s over the comfortable limit for portability, while the battery life of two hours and 15 minutes means you won’t be able to stray far from a mains socket. The wider case should be ideal for a numberpad, but as with many MSI laptops we’ve seen, the keyboard layout isn’t standard, with an annoying half-height Enter key and other non-standard keys. In addition, the whole keyboard flexes under pressure, while the touchpad is smaller than we’d like, and the buttons have almost no travel. Both input devices can be lived with if you’re desperate for the 17in screen for a low price. As with any keyboard, you’ll quickly get used to the layout; and you can always buy an external mouse if you can’t get on with the touchpad. The screen’s backlight isn’t overly bright, but it’s even and colours are accurate. The 1,440×900 resolution means you’ll have more desktop space than most 15in laptops and therefore less switching between windows. Aside from the screen, there’s little in the VR705’s feature list to distinguish it from the other budget laptops here. Its performance in both 2D and 3D benchmarks is towards the bottom end of the scale, and it has a similar complement of expansion ports, although Bluetooth and Draft-N WiFi are highlights. The stand-out feature is the two-year collect-and-return warranty, which is twice as long as the other laptops in this category.
Despite the keyboard, touchpad and somewhat ugly design, this is still a fine choice if you want a large screen at a relatively low price. The two-year warranty is a bonus, but the VR705 misses out on an award due to the great value of PC Nextday’s 81-2200.
