MSI X Series - which is best?

We are awaiting the upcoming refresh of the MacBook Air, but also considering purchasing one of the very slim MSI X series models.

Any suggestions or feedback on which model is best? We don't need an optical drive, but would prefer the best possible graphics card and potential to upgrade to SSD. Also, do any of the X series models have USB 3.0 or more than one DIMM? It's unfortunate that there doesn't seem to be any way to build your own CTO to order directly on the MSI website.

 

You want a best graphic card on X series?
Maybe you wanna choose between looks and performance.

EDIT : Only X620 and X600 have dedicated discrete graphic cards.
As far as CTO goes maybe you wanna try barebones or whitebooks.

Barebone : http://www.rkcomputer.net/rkcnotebooks/index.php?l=product_detail&p=207 (Its a barebone chassis for U200 wind netbook, thinner than X620)

 

thanks very much for your advice, SC.

I was concerned that because of the smaller size, some of the components like the HDD might be a nonstandard form factor, such as 1.8", and a bit harder to upgrade. For example, the hard drive in the MacBook Air is not the standard 2.5"

I don't think the X620 has been released yet, as I can't find it on the MSI website, although I see on engadget that it will come with the Radeon 5430. The X350 or X600 appear to be the nicer models currently available.

As I am not able to find any models with 8GB RAM, does this mean there is only one DIMM available for any of the models in the line? Any way to confirm which motherboards would be compatible if I were to upgrade it myself? Would it be possible to upgrade in such a way to have more DIMM slots? 4GB is not quite enough to run Windows 7 with very large files in Photoshop.

 

MSI X620
MSI X600 Pro

In the above links it is clearly mentioned the motherboard, the size of hdd(i.e 2.5") and all other details.

As far as DIMM slots go, I guess its 2 slots, since no manufacturer by default uses single 4GB sticks in this category of laptops. And I have recently found out that most manufacturers say 2*2GB(4GB Max) 2*4GB(8GB Max, actually works).

Keeping in mind your preferences, I would stay far away from Apple, its doesnt come in the category of "Easy Upgrades" or "Modders' Friend".

EDIT : Are you some kind of notebook collector?(it looks from your sig)