[Deal is DEAD] MSI X340-218US 13.4'' Ultra Slim Notebook for $394.99 after 10% BCB and $100 MIR

How's the rep of MSI? Also can I put Mac OS on this?

Ashoro said: Surprised no one thinks this is a good deal. The X320 got 5 greens at least on FW and that was an atom processor, 4 cell battery, and Vista for $380.

only 400 people have seen it. Green for you OP.

lavamatrix18 said: damm CA tax.

good deal other then that

for those who wants to avoid tax, get it from here.
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-X340-218US-Bluetooth-Widescreen/dp/B00...

rebate works too.

It is a NOTEBOOK. Netbooks use Atom processors and are far less powerful than this in every aspect.

shom123 said: Its a NETbook and NOT notebook

gaspra said: It is a NOTEBOOK. Netbooks use Atom processors and are far less powerful than this in every aspect.

shom123 said: Its a NETbook and NOT notebook

Yes it's technically a low end notebook in terms of the performance.

Granted there are Acer 11.6" SU2300 "computers" out there that are faster than this one, and I am tempted to call an 11.6" a netbook myself... Sadly I don't see the X350 available yet, those use Core 2 Duo.

Mhotep said: How's the rep of MSI? Also can I put Mac OS on this?

MSI is one of the big motherboard manufacturers, below Asus and Abit of course. They're considered below that of Acer and Asus for notebooks but generally a good brand. Their X-Slim line gets bad reviews regarding its cheap plastic body, flexy keyboard, and bad touchpad. This model addresses the keyboard issue for sure not sure about the touchpad. The plastic body is one of the factors that makes this cost a small fraction of an Air so it's here to stay sadly. I wonder how much a metal coating mod would cost one hmm.

No idea on the OS X part.

thrunner said: Although not a bad deal for a slim notebook, this is an older model from May, 2009
When it comes to raw processing and graphics performance, the (Mac) Air has a huge advantage, given its 1.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU (with 256MB of memory). The X340, with its 1.4-GHz Core 2 Solo ULV processor and integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics, was designed to offer decent productivty performance and battery life.

Ya the X340 came out around that time, this specific model is newer with the only difference being that it comes with Windows 7, 8 Cell battery instead of 4 by default, and upgraded keyboard.

I find it cool since this is a through eBay deal that I can see that 5 of you guys actually already purchased it . Buy.com how about giving me a free gift card for this !

One of you guys actually bought 2! Careful with the rebates there! But I see you were smart enough to make it as 2 separate purchases.

canhelp said: where mention 3 years warranty?

The bottom of the specs page on MSI's website that I posted:

"WARRANTY
Manufacturer Warranty 3 Years Limited Warranty (includes 1 Year Global Warranty)"

Darn.... this thing has the same weird right shift button layout as well.

No more from Buy.com on eBay.

onlycom said: Darn.... this thing has the same weird right shift button layout as well.

No more from Buy.com on eBay.

Including me a total of 10 were sold at $549.99. One person bought it before me back in Jan 21 for that price as well.
Not only is it sold out but they actually tried to change the listing to $597.99 on eBay, but everyone in the history shows $549.99. They have more available on Buy.com but they raised the price to $597.99 over there now as well (was $549.99 not too long (hrs) ago). Your overall cost is going to be $100 more than the original deal not including whatever Buy.com BCB you can get.

From the eBay page I'm looking at it actually says 10 available $597.99 but I can't purchase or change quantities. I think Buy.com is making adjustments or something or they're reposting with changes, so I wouldn't be surprised if in a few hours or by tomorrow you can buy more on eBay but with an extra $50 added to it.

muniala said: This is an excellent laptop. Well built and really sexy form factor. Amazing price/deal

Thanks. I was asked to help someone find a good deal on a notebook. This same posting has two thumbs down on SD right now so I was like freaking out about making a bad purchase for a friend lol. I hope FWers are smarter than SDers on this haha.

chaphree said: OOS

back now with a $50 late fee :/.

muniala said: This is an excellent laptop. Well built and really sexy form factor. Great specs/form factor/price/deal. Ive played with one extensively and love it and have been looking to get one.

Only slight negative I see is that the MSI website says that the Maximum RAM is 2GB. i assume that it has only one RAM slot. Anyone know if this will actually take a 4GB memory chip ?

If it can be upgraded to 4Gb, I would add the RAM and replace the hard drive with a 128 GB SSD and this would be a smoking laptop. Cost for that would be RAM 140 + SSD 230 - 60 (eBay hard disk) = 310.
total cost for laptop = 394 + 310 = 704$ for a Win7 ultraportable. Granted its not a thinkpad X301 but at this price its really amazing.

btw Laptop magazine reviewed the older lower specd X340 with Vista at a $799 price point and compared it favorably to the MacAir based on its $799 price and gave it 4 stars. This win7 version will run faster and it has the upgraded keyboard and battery. Link to Review

Link to X340 MacAir comparison

I haven't had any luck finding someone saying they successfully upgraded to 4GB. The manual says 4GB (optional) but the manual is a general manual for the X-Slim line and could include the X350, X500, and X600 as well. What was interesting was there was a BIOS upgrade to enable multi-touch for the touchpad for the X350 only it says... I wonder if this is a physical limitation or if it's possible to enable it in the X340 as well. I did find an online store claiming they sell 4GB memory modules for specifically the X340 however here. But either way it would also void your warranty I believe, as you would have to open the case, no easy way to do the perhaps possible upgrade.

in for one. just need to decide between this and the gateway from bestbuy...

dancingboy said: How about this one Acer Aspire AS1410.
Same processor su3500, but only $400 at Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LEXA64
with hdmi too.
smaller screen, but smaller screen is not always cheaper.
Not bad, but... (few things quickly looking)
6-cell battery vs 8-cell w/MSI
250GB SATA instead of 320GB SATA w/MSI
Vista vs Win 7 w/MSI
smaller screen like you mentioned too, which to some is a con

g0dMAn said: dancingboy said: How about this one Acer Aspire AS1410.
Same processor su3500, but only $400 at Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LEXA64
with hdmi too.
smaller screen, but smaller screen is not always cheaper.
Not bad, but... (few things quickly looking)
6-cell battery vs 8-cell w/MSI
250GB SATA instead of 320GB SATA w/MSI
Vista vs Win 7 w/MSI
smaller screen like you mentioned too, which to some is a con

considering it's half a pound heavier and almost twice as thick, i can't see how the smaller screen helps out here. usually people like smaller screen just because it means the laptop is smaller. in my opinion, the acer is closer to the netbook side of things whereas the msi is closer to the macbook air. glad i went with the msi...just wish i got in at the sub $400 price!

Pretty good deal! Repped, OP!

Ashoro said: also scary rebate process to make the deal work

Wow, I remember some companies scamming people on rebates years ago (I remember TigerDirect being a main culprit). It's amazing that these shenanigans still go on. For those of us who ordered, lets keep this thread updated with details on the rebate process.

papajoker said: How can I get any invoice from Buy.com.

I do get one receipt from paypal. Would Buy.com send an invoice with the laptop? Anyone knows that?

I hear they give you an actual one when your shipment arrives. So far I've gotten an email from Buy.com saying my order has been shipped, and I can go to Buy.com put in my order number, my last name, and zip code and print a printable receipt which I'm not sure if that's what the rebate wants. I'm thinking of giving MSI anything that can be considered an invoice within reason to be safe, does anyone think they'll disqualify my rebate for sending forms that were not requested?

I can print out a Buy.com receipt that says this is my receipt and to print for my records (which would mean it's a copy since I'm printing it... that part scares me, they might argue it's not "original"... I could also photoshop out the "This is your receipt. Please print for your records."). It also has my address, payment information, price, sku, product, etc.