Laptop opinions? (How's MSI?)

[Statica]

Hey guys .. looking to get somewhat of a general purpose laptop with nothing in the way of heavy duty usage expected from it (no gaming etc.) And was wondering what you had in the way of recommendations.
Budget is around the $700 range. Preferably with I3; but not averse to a Core2Duo.

Something that caught my eye was: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152179 and was wondering what you folks felt about MSI. The most attractive points at that price was the 64bit Win7Premium with HDMI and BD.

TIA.

[glc]

Not much choice out there if you want the HM55 and BD drive. It's probably at least as good as the alternatives (Acer, Toshiba, Sony). Dell doesn't have anything even close yet.

[Statica]

Hey G .. thanks for the reply. While I was really interested in the specs vs pricepoint of MSI, I finally went with http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...X0DER&v=glance

It didn't have the niceties of an HDMI and BD, but I think it was a good buy for the person I bought it for .. esp. for it's feature-set and intended usage. MSI is such an unknown variable for me, that I didnt want to go down that route. I wasn't able to find much in the way of laptop reviews (not just this but for other MSI products) that gave me any confidence to them as a laptop brand. A similarly configured Dell worked out to a slightly lower spec for HDD space and 802.11n .. at the same price. Factored in the increased price on shipping and taxes for MA on Dell; I decided to go with the Toshiba.
Personal preference, my experiences have been better with Toshiba for service and warranty in the past .. so just went with the brand loyalty.

Thanks for your response.

[mattaggie]

I use an MSI Wind netbook at work and have been very pleased with it. I had never even heard of MSI before but have been pleasantly surprised.

[jmr30183]

Here's an article that was very educational to me about who really builds laptops for all of the big computer companies...ASUS and MSI are among the few companies that build their own...and some for HP, Dell, Toshiba and Sony! It's definitely worth a quick read-

http://www.xoticpc.com/really-makes-...cret-a-47.html

[Strider]

I'm very pleased with my Dell Studio Laptop which about a year ago was around $749.

[Iamjosh]

Originally Posted by jmr30183 Here's an article that was very educational to me about who really builds laptops for all of the big computer companies...ASUS and MSI are among the few companies that build their own...and some for HP, Dell, Toshiba and Sony! It's definitely worth a quick read- http://www.xoticpc.com/really-makes-...cret-a-47.html

very interesting read.thanks.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Iamjosh very interesting read.thanks.

You can't beat Lenovo Think Pads. A little more but very high quality and made to last.