MS-16332 - Questions

First off, does anyone have one of these, and if so, what do you think of it.

I've been looking for a Turion X2 + Nvidia notebook, and this seems to be the best out there.

First off, are there any reviews of this model? I'll keep looking, but my initial Googling turned up nothing. Mainly I'm looking for the battery life on this notebook.

However, I want to order the notebook with a WSXGA+ screen, which most sites list as a possible option, but no one seems to have in stock. Does anyone have any info on this.

Next, is this notebook available as a barebones kit? I'd sort of like to build the thing myself.

Is the optical drive pretty standardized? I'd like to replace the stock one with a slot-loading DVD+RW.

Does anyone know anything about this notebook and Linux? I don't plan on even bothering to install Windows, so if there are any show-stopping issues with this notebook and Linux, I'd like to know ASAP.

Finally, where would you recommend ordering from?

The specs I'm looking to get are:

15.4" WSXGA+ Screen (1680x1050)
Turion 64 X2 TL-52 or higher
Geforce Go 7600 256MB
2GB DDR2-667 Corsair Mem
160GB+ hard drive
802.11BG + Internal Bluetooth
9-cell battery

 

Mine is on the way, i got it from flawlesscomputers.

specs;

15.4 WXGA widescreen
TL-56 turion x2 1.8ghz
2GB corsair DDR2-667mhz
80GB hitachi travelstar 7,200RPM HDD
super-multi drive; DVD/RW
Nvidia Geforce GO 7600 256 VRAM
802.11 a/b/g + Bluetooth
6-cell battery(9-cell is usually not available as an upgrade, but i noticed you can find it on different websites; google ms-16332 and you'll find websites selling the 9-cell for around $120)


Well to tell you the truth, I haven't found any review on it yet either, but it was basically exactly what i was looking for. SO i got it. Ill tell you guys how it is within 1,2 weeks.

The WSXGA+ isn't released yet by MSI. Theres no word when it will be, but I'm sure you can email the MSI people via their website and ask, maybe they can help you.

As far as barebones, your best bet is to go to msicomputer.com and go to the notebook section, then on the left hand side, it says "shop msi" or something, check there, if its not there, its probably not available.

The notebook comes with a super-multi drive(DVD+RW included).

Can't say anything about Linux with this notebook, but I'm sure its very similar to any other notebook with Turion x2+Linux. But truthfully I really couldn't tell ya.

So far, Flawlesscomputers gave me the best deal. I haven't yet received my notebook, so i can't tell you completely how they do business, but the people were nice, and were very helpful and comforting and everythings is going well so far.

 

Battery life on this model with the 6 cell is about 2 hours, with the 9 cell about 3 hours.

The WSXGA model as of today is not available yet.

Yes the "barebone" is available.

The interface of the optical drive is standard, you would have to check the dimensions of the drive you want to use.

Most of the hardware will function under linux, we have not tested but quite a few of our customers have. Use the intel wireless for linux.

Your memory choice i would absolutly change.....

 

Why would you suggest he change his memory choice? His memory is fine, corsair is compatible with this notebook.

 

eek, that's reason enough for me to stay away from this one. My current battery life is about 3.5 hours on my Thinkpad R51, and I'm looking for something that will get more.

I know that much battery life is a lot to ask for in this powerful a notebook, but I was hopefull... What I really want is some sort of 13/14" WS Turion X2 + Geforce 7300/7400 and a huge battery.

I was ready to buy the ASUS A8Js (intel, however) before I found out there were no higher capacity batteries available, and it only got 2.5 hours on the stick battery.

 

My questions are:

1. Are these notebooks manufactured in Taiwan or China? This one is very important to me.

2. Can the optical drive be removed & replaced with another one (like a blu-ray)?

Thanks.

 

Taiwan

The manufacture has no support but if you have a drive with the same interface it should work.

 

How often do you use your notebook w/o the AC adapter? Do you hang out at wireless cafes where there are no outlets? Or is there a nice park where you can get a signal? Unless you use your unit solely on battery a lot, I'd rather save money.

It's difficult to find a perfect notebook. There are usually sacrifices you have to make. For example, I have a S7010 Lifebook - it has great battery life (4+ hours), but the video card is nothing to speak of, nor is the LCD display.