*Note: If you hate Celeron processors, this deal isn't for you.*
Office Depot will be putting the MSI A5000-025US laptop on sale for $319 this Sunday. I normally see these laptops sell for around $450 to $479 so this might not be a bad deal if you missed out on WalMart's $298 HP laptop or Best Buy's $249 Acer or $349 Toshiba laptops.
I still haven't opened my WalMart one. In comparison, looks like this one has better CPU and a Webcam for $20 more. Although WalMart have better drive DVD drive. Decisions...
Dual Core vs Single for CPU, Better GPU, HDMI out, Wireless N, etc.
Cannot compare burner at this point and declare a winner...the WalMart/HP has lightscribe, but the only thing that truly matters is reliability which is just unknown at this point (however with potential 3 year warranty you could hand it to the MSI for this one).
Potentially 3 year limited warranty through MSI.
This deal wins EXCEPT for one caveat. And that would be the 7200 rpm hard drive where as this one is unspecified and probably 99% a 5400 rpm. And this is not just a slight perk but a pretty big one...however all the other perks of the MSI definitely adds up to beat it overall especially since it wins on some important features.
Good deal. 28% more expensive than the Acer from Best Buy that I bought though. That's not too too bad, as this one has the dual-core T3000, a bigger hard drive, more RAM, and HDMI.
Those who are too ignorant to understand that the Celeron's of today aren't the ones from way back when, hopefully won't even bother clicking on this deal after seeing the title. The Acer from Best Buy w/ the single-core Celeron is definitely fast enough, runs cool, and battery life is 3-4 hours. I'm impressed for the price.
cruzmisl
Member
posted: Nov. 13, 2009 @ 5:55p
IS this processor fast enough for browsing the web, emails etc?
From what I can tell looks pretty good, probably one of the better PC deals I've seen including those from what we know of BF so far. Laptop keyboard includes the 10-key numpad...this is pretty unorthodox and I have no idea how it'd feel. Fn key and Ctrl may be considered 'reversed' when compared to other builds as well. Seems pretty solid overall.
From what I can tell looks pretty good, probably one of the better PC deals I've seen including those from what we know of BF so far. Laptop keyboard includes the 10-key numpad...this is pretty unorthodox and I have no idea how it'd feel. Fn key and Ctrl may be considered 'reversed' when compared to other builds as well. Seems pretty solid overall.
Got in on the TD deal 3 weeks ago for $380 after $20 Bing Cash Back and no sales tax. Highly recommend with built in webcam and HDMI out. Only downside is very sensitive touch pad - it jumps during typing and messes up what you're typing.
Pretty impressive laptop and it's better price/deal even with sales tax. No wonder OD's ad says minimum 3 per store.
timdao
Member
posted: Nov. 13, 2009 @ 7:36p
S105dude said: gocint said: i am shocked no one asked this before...does it come with 32bit or the 64 bit ? anyone ?
I used to assume that anything with 3GB of RAM or less came with 32bit. But the Acer from Best Buy has 2GB of RAM and it came with 64bit. Go figure..
If you are a technical person, 32 vs 64 bit is not a huge issue since a key that is valid for 32-bit *should* be valid for 64-bit unless there is some OEM specifics I'm not aware about (i.e. vendor only wants to support 32-bit and puts some restriction but I doubt it). And if you aren't technical you should probably stick with 32-bit anyways just for better driver support out of box. The only issue then would be the question of media, and you can pretty much get this for free or nearly free if you are technical and look for it as well.
timdao
Member
posted: Nov. 13, 2009 @ 7:39p
BPH789 said: timdao said: Link to TigerDirect for a very closely related model from what I can tell from the pics and specs Similar MSI on TigerDirect
From what I can tell looks pretty good, probably one of the better PC deals I've seen including those from what we know of BF so far. Laptop keyboard includes the 10-key numpad...this is pretty unorthodox and I have no idea how it'd feel. Fn key and Ctrl may be considered 'reversed' when compared to other builds as well. Seems pretty solid overall.
Got in on the TD deal 3 weeks ago for $380 after $20 Bing Cash Back and no sales tax. Highly recommend with built in webcam and HDMI out. Only downside is very sensitive touch pad - it jumps during typing and messes up what you're typing.
Pretty impressive laptop and it's better price/deal even with sales tax. No wonder OD's ad says minimum 3 per store.
Does the keyboard still feel like a full size keyboard or more of a netbook keyboard because they chose to cram the 10-key numpad in there? I'm currently using full-size on a 15.6 so thats my biggest concern would be suffering with a netbook keyboard on a fullsize laptop.
timdao said: BPH789 said: timdao said: Link to TigerDirect for a very closely related model from what I can tell from the pics and specs Similar MSI on TigerDirect
From what I can tell looks pretty good, probably one of the better PC deals I've seen including those from what we know of BF so far. Laptop keyboard includes the 10-key numpad...this is pretty unorthodox and I have no idea how it'd feel. Fn key and Ctrl may be considered 'reversed' when compared to other builds as well. Seems pretty solid overall.
Got in on the TD deal 3 weeks ago for $380 after $20 Bing Cash Back and no sales tax. Highly recommend with built in webcam and HDMI out. Only downside is very sensitive touch pad - it jumps during typing and messes up what you're typing.
Pretty impressive laptop and it's better price/deal even with sales tax. No wonder OD's ad says minimum 3 per store.
Does the keyboard still feel like a full size keyboard or more of a netbook keyboard because they chose to cram the 10-key numpad in there? I'm currently using full-size on a 15.6 so thats my biggest concern would be suffering with a netbook keyboard on a fullsize laptop.
I hate the tiny backspace and the space bar key is much smaller as well. All in all this ten key number pad is not useful resulting in rather unusual and cramped keyboard.
timdao, the number pad on the right is becoming more prevalent with these 15.6" screens that the industry has forced upon us (which are slightly wider and quite a bit shorter in height than their 15.4" predecessors), thus providing enough room now for that type of keyboard layout. the entire industry has switched over to this size screen now, which is not a welcome improvement, or advancement, in my book. it's just the industry pulling the wool over the general public's eyes, because the fact is, you're getting LESS screen real estate now, but it's marketed as just the opposite, i.e. people think the screens are 'larger'. to me, screen size is far more important, than a number pad on a laptop, or this notion that a wider (hd movie viewing) screen on a laptop is a good idea. not to mention the ergonomic disadvantage of constantly having to type with your hands placed off center to the left. personally i'm sticking with my 15.4" (larger) screened laptop with it's much more comfortable vertical viewing area, and more natural centered keyboard/touchpad, until the industry goes back to the way it was.
cmsanto said: 5400 rpm hard drive is not such a bad thing. The laptop may run a bit cooler than the slightly faster (in real use terms) 7200 rpm hard drive.Same can be said for cpu speed. I'll stay w/faster.
Unclear at this point. I'd assume that it is a B&M only deal but Office Depot has made some hot deals available online as well. Check the website on Sunday.
cruzmisl said: IS this processor fast enough for browsing the web, emails etc?
Yes, I have an old desktop in the other room that has one of these and it is more than adequate for what you describe as well as office documents and editing video as well as moderately sized photos. It tended to slow down when I tried to work on large uncompressed 14-bit RAW files but most people don't do anything that intense on these processors.
I don't see why people dislike "Celeron", I mean w/ new 45nm core and 1MB L2, T3000 can go head to head with entry level Core 2 Duo, like T5250/ T5450.
I got bored, here is CPU mark testing result. ( all UNDER Windows 7 )
S105dude said: gocint said: i am shocked no one asked this before...does it come with 32bit or the 64 bit ? anyone ?
I used to assume that anything with 3GB of RAM or less came with 32bit. But the Acer from Best Buy has 2GB of RAM and it came with 64bit. Go figure..
Good point especially since Windows 7 64bit requires 2 gig to run in full 64 bit mode. That leaves ZERO ram left to play with unless you buy additional. That Best Buy Acer 5230 for $29 needed to come with 3 gig. After you buy that, it's realistically more like $280 before tax.
ron111 said: Good point especially since Windows 7 64bit requires 2 gig to run in full 64 bit mode. That leaves ZERO ram left to play with unless you buy additional. That Best Buy Acer 5230 for $29 needed to come with 3 gig. After you buy that, it's realistically more like $280 before tax.
I am sorry, but I can not agree with " 64bit requires 2 gig to run in full 64bit mode ". In fact, I was wondering who started this inaccurate info?!
Simply put, 64 bit OS uses same memory amount as of 32 bit version when executing a program. Assign 8 bytes instead of 4 bytes in 64bit OS is to optimized for larger or more complicate operation without delay from memory address limitation. 64-bit is just more efficient but does NOT mean it require 2x of memory!!!!
This looks pretty good. It's a 1.8GHz core architecture Penryn 45nm CPU with 800MHz FSB and 1MB cache. From what I'm seeing, it is the exact same CPU as the Pentium T4200 and T4300, except it is at 1.8GHz instead of 2.0GHz. It seems like this is called a Celeron for pure marketing reasons, as no Penryn below 2GHz is marketed as a Pentium Dual Core.
link626 said: how much better is the nvidia 8200 than the intel igp? Link positions 135 and 137. Based on the four available benchmarks, the 8200 looks to be 71 to 82% faster. On average over the 4 benchmarks, 78.7% faster.
So anyone have any luck sliding in a quick Staples coupon at OD or they just don't do that anymore? You could get this for right at $300 which pretty much seals teh deal.
By the way, I recall that the WalMart laptop was advertised as having a 7200 RPM drive...my box says it's 5400.
Skipping 193 Messages...
WeAreNotAlone
Senior Member
posted: Dec. 9, 2009 @ 5:46p
For those looking for info: Try Googling " MSI A5000-025US 15.6" Laptop: Intel Celeron T3000 1.8GHz, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, Nvidia 8200M-G, HDMI, Windows 7 Home Premium $320 @ OfficeDepot B&M ", might want to throw in Hurtz777 as well as he is the one that's posted overclocking info on the unit.
The MSI A5000, A6000 units are based upon the MSI-1683 "Whitebook" barebones laptop (you build yourself)
As a MSI assembled unit it goes by the models CR500, CR600 (shipped with Vista), A5000,A6000 ship with Win7.
For everyone desiring to run Windows 7, x64..... Head over to the MSI forums and create a THREAD asking when MSI is going to get up off their rears and start providing x64 drivers.
Note that you can expect: 1: Several mods to post in the thread discouraging remarks about x64 not being any good, blah, blah. 2: Mods to post "WE don't work for MSI". (Which may be true, thing is the mods over there act like anytime someone asks a x64 question, or asks about flashing the BIOS on a machine like it's coming out of their paycheck.... Almost like they are working for MSI...
Why should everyone create a THREAD on the lack or x64 drivers /support?...
Simple, MSI does have people on the board, the more threads created the faster they will address the issue. If no-one says anything I guess MSI will go to x64 with Windows 8.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
