MSI FAQs

1. Who is MSI?

Micro-Star International (MSI) is a Taiwanese computer and components manufacturer. MSI specializes in the design and manufacture of motherboards, graphics cards, barebone PCs, notebook computers, networking products, servers, multimedia, consumer electronics, and storage devices. It manufactures both ATI and nVidia chipset graphics cards. Some custom personal computer manufacturers such as Alienware and Falcon Northwest have been known to sell PCs equipped with MSI branded motherboards. MSI has been known to produce motherboards which are suitable for overclocking which is popular among hardcore PC gamers. MSI products are sold as retail, OEM parts, or to other corporations. (Wikipedia).

2. What is a whitebook?

A whitebook is a highly configurable notebook that is often sold with
just the chassis and vital components such as the motherboard, screen,
battery, etc. What's missing is the software, CPU, RAM, Hard Drive,
Bluetooth, and occasionally optical drives. Often, MSI resellers
give consumers the option of having them install these components for them,
or allowing the consumer to purchase it as a barebone should he/she decide
to install these component themselves. As such, whitebooks can often end up costing
much less than their name brand counterparts. In addition, most American consumers
are able to avoid hefty sales tax, provided that they purchase a whitebook from a reseller
residing in a different state.
In addition to whitebooks, MSI sometimes sell their notebooks directly to the public in pre-configured models. Averatec is also known to use a few MSI models for their thin and light/ ultra portable models.

3. Where to find MSI?

Due to the number of resellers, as well as the varying designations given to
rebranded MSI whitebooks, it will be difficult to list them all. However
the list below represents some of the more well known MSI vendors.

USA:
PowerNotebooks - usually sold under PowerPro lines, particularly 12" models. Nevada based
Discountlaptops - usually sold under Chembook, particularly 17" models. Nevada based
GenTech PC -
RK Computers - found under MSI Notebooks section. New York based
XoticPC - Nebraska based
RJtech - California based
BTOTech - New York based

Global Site:
MSI Global - for all other regions, please check the vendor list on MSI's site nearest to your respective country.

Defunct Resellers:
Xmeld - Xmeld Computers has closed as of Feb. 28, 2007 and will not reopen. All RMA and warranty repairs will be shipped out by Friday, March 2, 2007. No further RMAs can be accepted.
Please contact MSI Computer for warranty repair. Have your serial number ready (on the bottom of your system). MSI will verify warranty status through this number. http://www.msicomputer.com/support/CustomerS.asp
Asus owners should contact Asus for RMA.
http://usa.asus.com/aboutasus.aspx?show=3

Rawpowerpc - site no longer working


4. Summary of MSI Notebooks:
Sorry under construction, check MSI website until then

5. Links & Resources

Reseller Ratings - Unsure of a reseller, check out their ratings! Simply type the name of the reseller under "Find A Store"
http://www.resellerratings.com/find.pl

MSI Global homepage -
http://global.msi.com.tw

MSI Bios, Drivers, etc -
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=downloadindex