$450 in store- deal is alive

FAQ

1. What edition of Windows 7 does the laptop come with?
A: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit

2. When I opened the box, the warranty card says that it is covered under only a 1 year warranty. WTF?
A: When you register the laptop online through MSI's website it will set it to 3 year warranty. (This has been verified by several users here) You must register with in 30 days of purchase.

3. Is the screen LED-backlit?
A: Yes.

4. My webcam does not work?
A: You must press a button on the upper right side of the laptop, near the power button. This will turn it on.

5. Does it support Bluetooth, since it shows up in my device manager and shows a Bluetooth wizard at start up?
A: NO.

6. Does the HDMI support full native 1080P (1920x1080) resolution?
A: Yes, press Windows Key + P until it is set to "Projector Only". Voila!

7. How do I upgrade to Windows 7 64bit to take advantage of 4GB RAM?
A: Step-By-Step Guide

8. How do I upgrade the firmware on my DVD drive?
A: Update Firmware at Your OWN RISK [notebookreview.com] (Before updating, make sure you close all unnecessary applications, take out any discs and close the DVD drive and connect the laptop to the AC power adapter.)

9. How do I get the scrollbar on the touchpad to work?
A: Updated Drivers

Following in bold italics added by Techominator...
If synaptics driver for touchpad is not working for you, try the sentelic driver from the link below. It works fine for me and I'm able to do the vertical scroll as well as disable the touchpad while typing which has stopped my cursor from jumping..

http://netbooknotebooklaptop.com/...l_whql.rar


10. I just upgraded to 64bit Ultimate after so many people succeeding, but my ECO button and P1 button doesn't work. How can I fix this?
A: Install This [msi.com]

Hope this helps. Credit goes to all the helpful people here on SD. :c)

Created by ZzBloopzZ

Problems Burning DVDs?
Ladies and Gents,

I called MSI about me not being able to successfully burn DVDs. I was told to download the chip set drivers from their website which i did.

I extracted the zip file and ran the setup (cr_chipset_7_nb.zip is the file you want to download). I still have the original 32bit version. Should work for 64 bit as well ?

The setup first uninstalls the existing drivers. You will be asked reboot.

Upon reboot, run the setup again

Reboot one more time.

Run your recovery tool again to burn your DVDs, which i did. It did it succesfully.

PS : I verified that by checking the DVD in another computer. All good.


Quick Tips

Bing cashback takes up to 3 days. If it doesn't show up contact BING support.

This is the best deal on a laptop I have seen for under $500 with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and 3 year warranty to boot. (Referring from July 2009 to now). This does not include refurbished items.

Processor Specs [intel.com]

10% bing CB at officedepot.com available as of today will make it 405$... Not sure it will remain at 10% on 11/1.

instore pick up is $449.... Delivery is $449 and on backorder. .. Will void Bing Cashback if coupons are used

Add up to 3 of the following free gift codes.
They can be added either by phone or online.
You should know OD Free Gifts are typically junky.

54234747 Free Digital Photo Frame with $75 delivery order.
10282291 Free Retro Style CD Player with delivery order of $150 or more
14546718 $10 Coupon for Butterball Turkey Free with $100 Delivery Order
63566560 Free Digital Photo Frame with $75 delivery order.
43289647 FREE weekend travel bag with your delivery order of $100 or more.

MSI is a Taiwanese/Chinese company (not nearly as popular a brand in notebooks as the other Taiwanese/Chinese Acer, Asus and Lenovo brands): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micr...ernational

^^ However, they are known to make fantastic netbooks. Slowly starting to build a rep in the notebook sector.


This laptop VS the Acer Aspire at Staples
CPU: Pentium T4300 2.1GHz (#74 on chart) vs Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz (#57 on chart)
+1 for MSI.
Screen & Resolution: 17.3" HD+ LED-backlit 1600 x 900 vs 16" WS 1366 x 768 (LED?)
+1 for Acer (unless the extra 1.3" is too big for you)
Video Graphics: Believe it or not according to notebookcheck [notebookcheck.net] the Accelerator 4500M (rank #135 on chart) actually beats the Geforce 8200m (rank #137 on chart). Also check out Tom's Graphics Card Chart [tomshardware.com] as of September, not nearly as good as the integrated AMD ATI HD 3200 or the integrated Nvidia GeForce 9xxx series.
But since they are super close its a tie for graphics
Operating System: MSi comes with a 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, Acer comes with a 64-bit system installed.
+1 for Acer
Memory, Hard Drive, and other specs are basically the same.
Ports: MSI has 3 USB 2.0 ports and 1 HDMI, Acer has 4 USB 2.0 Ports + 1 HDMI.
+1 for Acer.
Warranty: MSI has a 3 year limited while I believe Acer has a 1 year FULL warranty.
Nonetheless, +1 for MSI.
BRAND NAME: MSI? Acer! haha this one is up for debate.
PRICE: MSI - 10% cashback with Bing
Even (MSI OUT OF STOCK ONLINE NOW - BING NO LONGER APPLIES) (Edit: advantage Acer - price drop to $382.98 11/5/09)

The MSI one is about a pound and a half lighter (5.24lbs - (still dunno how thats possible lol) vs 7.04lbs) (+1 for MSI), and has a better processor, but the Acer has a better resolution vs screen size and, perhaps, better build quality and slightly better graphics (both are pretty much non-gaming anyway).

Hope this helped, let me know if I did a good job - LifeStyl3r

Thank you to the poster # 671