Average Customer Review: ( 7 customer reviews )
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14 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Keep Looking for an alternative to this ultraportable Jul 25, 2010
By Bryon Gaskin PROS:
Size: 12.1 Big enough to see most web pages but small enough to carry on the plane and not have the tubby person in front of you crush the screen when they recline their seat back without warning.
USB ports: 3 of them, that is helpful.
HDMI: That's plus
Windows 7: Finally with Windows 7 media player you can see mov and mp4 video formats, even 3GP format. Those are major pluses because most mobile phones and HD video cameras shoot video in formats other than what previous versions of Windows Media player could read.
Battery: Still early, but on Wifi, watching (or trying to watch youtube videos), and screen at full brightness I am getting a little over 2 hours (would probably be better if it weren't for a problem I will mention later)
Sound: That sound is pretty good on this and it comes with a jack for the Microphone and for headphones and the Realtek sofware detects when you insert something into the jack and asks what type of device you are plugging in.
VGA PORT: That's a nice touch
Keyboard: Keys are responsive and a little larger that what was on my previous netbook
Screen: The video and pictures produced on the screen (when played from disk) are bright and crisp
CONS:
ONLINE VIDEO: Ok the biggest con and this huge for me is the fact when you watch online video, which ever browser you watch it in, IE 8, Firefox, or chrome, the process pegs at 100%. Go into task manager and you can see that whatever broswer you are watching video in is using up almost all of the CPU. Now if you want to watch HD off your hard drive, then you don't seem to have the same problem. The poor video performance was striaght out of the box with no software modifications. After making sure I had all of the latest updates from microsoft and finding no improvement in speed/quality, I tried downloading the latest flash player from Adobe, then I tried downloading different browsers to eliminate IE being problem. The online video performance of this U230 machine is subpar compared to the HP MINI 1030R I have which is only 1 1gz processor and a 1GB RAM machine. The video card is supposed to be HD, and when you are playing from a drive it works pretty well, but I didn't buy this machine to watch video from the drive, I have a desktop with a 1GB video card hook to a flatpanel TV for that.
Sluggish: The system overall seems a little sluggish, that could because windows 7 might be a little much for this machine, but I am comparing it to my other netbook which is a HP Mini running XP Home
Overall: I would probablly look for a different machine unless there is some sort of software/hardware fix the company is going to provide the correct the online video problem. If you aren't planning on using the laptop/netbook for online video, then you will probably not have any complaints with this laptop
Review Background:
Male
36 years old
12 years experience in IT industry (MCSE)
Graduate Degree
Experience with, DOS, Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Definitely An Ultraportable Notebook--not a netbook! Mar 01, 2011
By merle I bought this ultraportable notebook because my existing 17" notebook started failing. Having used a netbook temporarily, I liked the idea of a much smaller, more portable computer, but I did not want to give up the power of my AMD64-based notebook. I work in the technology sector, managing systems and data warehouses remotely using Ubuntu Linux, and need both performance and features. After going through many reviews on various sites, I decided on this one, mainly because it is almost as small as a netbook, but has an AMD 64-bit CPU (MV-40) with para-virtualization capabilities, which allows me to run Ubuntu 64-bit (Maverick 10.10) as well as 64-bit (KVM) virtual machines on it. In addition, it has a regular-sized notebook keyboard, supports the compiz fusion 3d desktop under Linux, and has a beautiful screen. So far after a couple of weeks of steady use, I am very happy with my purchase. The only drawbacks I've experienced are the screen/lid could stand to tilt back a little farther and the max sound volume is too low. The speakers are nothing high fidelity either, but they get the job done.
NOTE: While I did keep the MS Windows partition on this computer (I shrunk it down to a very small size), I do not use MS Windows. Most of the other reviewers talk about it being sluggish watching videos under Windows 7. Based on my experience with this computer running Linux, I'd say that's a Windows issue. It's definitely not the hardware.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Good Netbook Mar 16, 2011
By NoSpamDude I recently purchased this netbook and the ASUS 1215N. Many seem to compare these two machines, and so did I. This MSI is by far a better computer, do not let the specs only fool you. I returned the ASUS.
This MSI is a solid machine, powerful enough for the simple graphics/mapping software I needed to use. Runs movies just fine, and the HDMI output works. Surfing the web and using LibreOffice all work well. This PC is responsive. The keyboard is nice, with slightly larger-than-normal keys, which makes for easy typing. This is not the most powerful of laptops, but you should know that. It does come with Windows 7/64 bit, a 320 GB hard drive, and a very solid power connector.
The ASUS was flimsier, with a very flexy keyboard. The miniscule power connector on the ASUS has been the source of numerous problems. I can confirm that it is completely unsuitable for long term use. The HDMI out did not work properly, it was jerky and provided no sound output. Hard drive is smaller (250Gb) and installed with Windows 7/32 bit. The ASUS ran the same programs as the MSI, it just did it slower. Avoid.
Great Gift for Family Apr 01, 2011
By Bobby Bought and setup up for a family member. Lots of bloatware but not too difficult too remove. Was a great gift for the +50 year old family member. I have not had much experience with it past the initial setup but I have not heard any complaints :)
good deal, good service Mar 25, 2011
By gadget addict I like this little computer. It's small, but it is a notebook not a netbook. I have the netbook and it was a little too small. The keys on this are large but the letters are too light, hard to see in dim light. Other than that, loads of RAM and lg hard drive. Comes with windows not just the starter. Very pleased.
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based on 7 reviews
Keep Looking for an alternative to this ultraportable Jul 25, 2010
By Bryon Gaskin
Definitely An Ultraportable Notebook--not a netbook! Mar 01, 2011
By merle
Good Netbook Mar 16, 2011
By NoSpamDude
