Thanks to our friends over at Engadget for pointing this out! After already announcing a slew of new mid-range notebooks this month for the U.S. market, including the powerhouses with Sandy Bridge processors, MSI launched two more models today to online retailers, the CR640 and CX640, with all the “power and performance you need for school or for work.” An Intel Core i3-2310M processor powers both of these 15.6-inch notebooks. The black CR640-035US utilizes Intel HD 3000 graphics with an asking price of $629.99, while it’s more powerful brother the silver CX640-071US has an NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M with Optimus technology at $679.99. Aside from the standard 4 GB of RAM and 500 GB hard drives, what’s truly impressive with these mid-range notebooks is the USB 3.0 connectivity at these great prices. MSI also states that the notebooks use “Fast Boot technology” which they claim help them power up about two times faster than standard notebooks. If you’re looking for an under $700 notebook with great specs, performance and a nice design, then these are definitely something to checkout.