MSI MS-1651 Montevina BTO Notebook Barebone

i just prefer the brushed alum black and silver trim one... its just more... professional lol

 

I agree. I also prefer the MATTE screen by a wide margin.

 

The speakers built into the 1651 aren't all that fantastic, but hook it up to a nice pair of headphones or speakers and look out.

Meanwhile my efforts to enable wireless and sound in Ubuntu have failed, although they've been half-hearted. I'm hearing that everything on board the 1651 is going to be supported in Ibex at the end of October.

Doesn't anyone else have a 1651 yet???

I have to admit that the brushed aluminum looks pretty nice.

 

I believe that you are the only one on NBR that isn't a retailer that has this notebook. The rest (including mines) AFAIK are all in phase 2

 

what is ibex?

 

Viking the speakers are supposed to be stereo right? Do they have any bass at all or do they have the typical mono high-treble sound of crappy standard speakers?

The speakers in my XPS 1530 were offensively bad...

 

One can only expect laptop speakers to be mediocre at best. They are not intended for the audiophile. The environment within a laptop is just not very good to be able to put quality speakers in it.

However as Viking says, hook up a quality set of external speakers (it supports 7.1 Surround Sound with 4 multi-purpose audio jacks) or a good quality headset and "...look out". The audio card will really drive what ever you put to it

 

That is true. However, I did sense a huge difference between the speakers in my Dell Inspiron E1505 (ok-ish) and my XPS 1530 (terrible).

 

Yup..." ...mediocre at best."

 

Just few question, does the palmrest flex?
Does it resist twisting?
Does it have a strong internal frame?
The screen wobble when you shake it a bit?

 

Palmrest does not flex.

It resists twisting.

No idea about the internal frame.

The screen does wobble a bit when you shake it. This is one area in which my Compal was outstanding.

 

I have worked on hundreds of different laptops over the years and if there is a worse pair of speakers than those found in the Studio 15, I have not heard them. I have not heard the xps 1530, but have heard the xps 1330.

I don't expect much from laptop speakers, but the Studio 15 speakers are so spectacularly bad they actually overshadow some of the nice features of that laptop. You will cringe when you hear the Studio speakers--cringe. When I was 5, I had a tiny transister radio that I used to listen to AM stations (got it for selling something like 1,000 boxes of candy for cub scouts). That hend-held, 3 by 5 inch transister radio had better sound then the Studio 15.

 

gerryf19 I hear you!

The Horror!

After checking the Studio 15 out, I am almost 100% positive that it has the same type set of speakers than the XPS 1530.

I travel a lot and a pair of internal speakers that could at least play background music in a hotel room without giving me epilepsy would be great...

 

I just received the shipping notification for my WSXGA+. I should be receiving it either Tue/Wed next week. If I have a chance I'll try and post some information but I'm rather busy with work + grad school

 

Donald, I've finally come to terms with what I am going to buy. If I order the MSI 1651 with the WSXGA matte screen, about how long till it ships? Are you guys still in major back order?

 

Grats on yours being shipped.

When did it move to the building stage? It shipped rather quickly

 

I ordered mine through PNB, and I was not informed at various "phase" or "stage" points. I received an e-mail last week identifying the time frame when it would be shipped out. I received the actual e-mail late last night identifying that it had shipped.

 

I see. If time does allow, please try to take a picture or two and some quick opinions on its quality and heat.
Thanks

 

It's torture to know that my laptop could ship any day now, but theres no way of knowing when. I'm pretty sure I will have lost my mind by the time it actually arrives.

 

Mine was shipped this morning as well, and UPS tells me that it should be here on Monday. The extra 9-cell hasn't shipped yet which is sad.

 

They are in stock and shipping daily

 

ahhh.... Rkcomputer is selling the WSXGA+ barebone for so cheap!! Canada shipping is worldwide express though, making it sorta overpriced .

 

I guess it takes another day to get to the point in the US where the "day first starts"

 

Days in transit do not include the day it ships.

Ground tracking will typically (but not always) show the departure, and then not show any progress until it arrives at the destination hub. This is because they are wrapped on pallets in the trucks, and there is no reason to scan the actual package until it reaches its destination hub.

 

Mine shipped from Michigan and made a stop in Illinois. That's about 10 hours depending on which hub they use in my area. That means it will probably be here late tomorrow, but UPS doesn't run on Saturdays, so it'll be sitting in a warehouse all weekend.

 

Oh well, already waited five weeks (order first week in Aug) what's another couple of days

 

Good Point, it's been almost seven weeks since I ordered. The stats they're giving us are making me feel pretty confident in my decision to wait, I guess we'll see on Monday.

 

._. Sigh... So many of you have the lappy shipped already!!
Wonder if mines will ship tomorrow .

Rob, if you have time, can you also give us a bit of information on notebook temps after stress?

Thanks

 

Sure..............................

I did not take any temp readings on the previous ones I tested but these after being stressed were extremely cool running.

 

Have any of these laptops shipped from Xotic yet? I think all the people who said their's shipped ordered from PNB.

 

mine has been phase 2 at xotic since monday, still hasn't shipped

 

Mine shipped today from xotic, supposed to arrive wednesday of next week, but i ordered a barebone model, so i'm not sure if they get those done any quicker than their Force series.

 

Mine could ship tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday. After that, they're technically late.

 

I think yours has a good chance shipping tomorrow or Monday . I doubt it will be late, as Xotic seems to be piling through these orders quickly.

@knivez, the only reason barebone would ship faster is if you ordered less parts (i.e. no ram and cpu). However, the barebone isn't getting mines shipped any faster

 

Rob, I checked your website out and noticed that the regular 1651 (silver bezel, 1280x800) was XXX, but the DVD drive was not included. When I added that, it came to XXX.

What is interesting is that if I click on the other model (brushed) and downgrade the display to 1280x800, it is actually cheaper than the cheaper model as it includes the Integrated DVD player... It comes to XXX, which is cheaper... Is that a mistake?

To the other venders - my biggest concern is dead pixels, but I don't particular believe that it is worth XXX amount of money. It is worth something, as I only want the display to arive without dead pixels, if they go bad after day 1---> and beyond, I'd take my chances. So do you guys negotiate anything?

Paladin, I really like your companies logo and what you stand for - however, I don't particular care for the fact that you cannot use a cheaper processor. I know the P8400 is great and has a worse case scenario thermal limit of 25Watts, but I find that many of these laptops have plenty of bruce force CPU, but are lacking in the GPU department, such is the case even with MSI 1651. The 9600M GT DDR3 is a GREAT Mobile GPU, but it still doesn't take much CPU to drive it. A decent T5550 would do just fine. Something i'd like to see offered as an option - a way to save some coin on something that probably will not be noticable.

If this conversation needs to be discussed in PM, feel free... I honestly don't want to have to PM 3 different people the same questions (Xoticpc, PowerPro, RKComputer), especially when they are generic like this.

 

If you want to have a cheap CPU, go barebone + P7350
I don't think any vendors would negotiate to change to a CPU that isn't one of the options

 

Thanks, the options have been fixed. Your other questions i cannot discuss here or via PM due to reseller rules..........
If you have sales questions for resellers you will have to use the contact info in our/their signature.

 

Thanks for the information. It is to bad that they put those guidelines on the resellers. I personally do not see the big deal with it, especially if it is customer initiated... Oh well, rules are rules. I'll look into contacting you when I have a bit more time.

Thanks again!

 

I narrowly convinced my dad that buying from a small retailer in the US was in fact a good idea. I think he still suspects I've been scammed, so I've been getting some grief from him lol. Aside from that I just really need it ASAP.

 

LOL my mom thinks the same
She's a bit edgy recently whenever I talk about getting stuff for the laptop

Especially suspicious after my laptop moved from phase 2 to phase 1 lols

 

Back when I thought I would get this thing in the last week of August I thought I would have time to write a nice review before school got going. I don't know if that's going to be possible now.

 

Can you give an estimate of how long i twould take to ship after placing my order? I can wait longer if it'd be another month until I saw my laptop like some others on the forum.

 

^-^
We can usually ship within three to four business days of receipt of your good funds, but if you need expedited shipping please let us know and we will attempt to accommodate your needs.

 

It would appear that Xotic is lagging behind PNB for this particular model.

 

yeah, this is the 5th day I've been in phase 2 at xotic, and it still hasn't shipped.

 

Mine Shipped Today! Can't wait...

 

We are shipping them daily and have been for the most part of the week Shipments will continue next week until all units are shipped.