Just saw this one: MSI A6000-030US Spec from MSI CPU Type Intel® Core ™ 2 Duo Processor Technology Speed 2.2GHz Front-side Bus 800 MHz Cache 2MB OPERATING SYSTEM Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium COLOR Color Gray LCD Size 16" TFT-LCD Display 16:9 Backlight WXGA / Glossy Type Resolution 1366 x 768 CHIPSET Chipset NVIDIA® MCP79MVL GRAPHICS GPU GeForce® 8200M G Video Memory Share AUDIO Audio HD Audio Speaker Internal Speaker x 2 (1W x 2) SYSTEM MEMORY Spec 4GB Memory(2GB x2) Max Memory Supported 4GB HDD HDD Capacity 320GB HDD Interface SATA OPTICAL DRIVE Optical Drive Type Blu-ray Drive COMMUNICATION LAN 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet WLAN Built-in 802.11b/g/n WLAN Card Bluetooth N/A SUPPLEMENTAL DRIVE Card Reader 4 in 1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro) WEBCAM RESOLUTION Webcam 1.3 MP Webcam I/O PORT USB USB2.0 X 3 Video Port VGA (15-pin, D-Sub) X 1, HDMI X 1 Audio Port Mic-in X 1, Line-in X 1, Headphone X 1 Express Card Express Card / 34 AC ADAPTOR AC Power Adaptor Output: 19V DC, 65W Input: 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal BATTERY Battery Pack 6 cells PHYSICAL SPEC Dimension 14.73"(L) x 9.73"(D) x 0.63"~1.18"(H) Weight 5.46 lbs (6 cell) ADDITIONAL INFO Accessory N/A WARRANTY Manufacturer Warranty 1 Year Limited Warranty (include 1 Year Global Warranty) <-- will be 3 yr warranty after mail in registration form and proof of purchase!
We apologize for any inconvenience you may experience. It appears that the item(s) marked with "**" are no longer available or we have insufficient stock to fulfill your order; please try reducing the quantity of the marked item(s). For further assistance, please contact our Sales Department at 1-877-688-7678.
I guess I should have known better. I called the San Diego Fry's located off Aero Dr. around 11am and gave the guy in the computer department the SKU to check. He said they had many in stock. When I asked how many, he said "lots". If he had checked the computer, he should have been able to give me a number. So apparently this Fry's has some lazy young computer salespeople. Needless to say when I got down there, another guy said it was sold out overnight. I should have asked for the guys name before I drove down so I could confront him personally.
timdao
Member
posted: Nov. 27, 2009 @ 6:53p
This was $430 at Office Depot. Not only that but now the price at OD is now back up at $479 or so. Including tax + shipping, I can't consider this hot at all. The MSRP may list $599, but my bet is after BF blows over people will still find this laptop for $480 easy.
NM I see this is a slight variant that includes Blu-ray. This makes the deal definitely hotter. The fact that it most likely suffers from poor built-in speakers and headphone jack is a mighty shame for what could have been a good Blu-ray portable but is now better served as mediaPc via HDMI. You should emphasize Blu-ray in the title or OP.
This one does have Blu-Ray, but it also only has a 1-year warranty according to the manufacturer's website (whereas the -029US that OD had shows a 3-year warranty on the manufacturer's website).
STL said: This one does have Blu-Ray, but it also only has a 1-year warranty according to the manufacturer's website (whereas the -029US that OD had shows a 3-year warranty on the manufacturer's website).
Very good point about the warranty. Thanks. Once again proof that it pays to read the fine print. I wonder why they backed down on the 3 year coverage? Perhaps becasue it was too good. Don't other laptop makers have 2-3 year warranties?
timdao said: This was $430 at Office Depot. Not only that but now the price at OD is now back up at $479 or so. Including tax + shipping, I can't consider this hot at all. The MSRP may list $599, but my bet is after BF blows over people will still find this laptop for $480 easy.
NM I see this is a slight variant that includes Blu-ray. This makes the deal definitely hotter. The fact that it most likely suffers from poor built-in speakers and headphone jack is a mighty shame for what could have been a good Blu-ray portable but is now better served as mediaPc via HDMI. You should emphasize Blu-ray in the title or OP.
The Office Depot MSI is NOT the same model as this one at Fry's. They are marketed under two distinct model numbers - one with bluray, one without.
Hopefully there will be other Bluray laptop sub $500 deals soon.
alphabetsoup
New Member
posted: Nov. 28, 2009 @ 5:31a
Can anyone confirm that the one with the blu-ray has the software required to play a blu-ray movie? How does this baby look hooked up to a big screen lcd?
russrimm
Member
posted: Nov. 28, 2009 @ 5:03p
Yes, i'm typing on one right now I got from Fry's yesterday.. It comes with Intervideo WinDVD 8. I stuck in dark knight blu-ray and it played very well. It so far is a great little laptop.. Am prepping it to give to wifey for x-mas. It has 4gb of ram, 3.25 after the shared video ram is consumed. Nice display... The keyboard layout is a little funky but nothing you couldn't probably get used to after awhile. Yes, the built in speakers aren't that great... Everything else seems quite acceptable for $480.
That's interesting and not too bad of a price considering the MSI website still has it at a list price of $699. I wonder why Fry's would lower their price after the one day sale? In the LA area, Frys.com says the Anaheim store has it.
The 479 is/was a great deal, the same deal they had on black Friday Even at 529 it's a good one due to that internal blu ray drive
joetweakhead
New Member
posted: Nov. 30, 2009 @ 1:13a
Hey alaphabetsoup, got the MSI with bluray. At first on when I put in Clone Wars blu-ray, it asked me what region I'm in. Picked US. Blu-ray played just fine on the laptop monitor. I then switched display to dual clone or 2 monitor extended and every combination thereof. When I hit play on WinDVD (that came pre-installed with Win7) it stops and says on the WinDVD OSD "Your display environment does not support protected content playback". I can't wait to call MSI Monday morning. I don't think anyone at Fry's (only one in Vegas, heck the whole state) could answer that question. I'm hoping it's only a software problem. I'm sold on everything else about the laptop. It could play DVD to both laptop and big screen lcd, so does old avi home movies from tapes, which is the 2nd biggest reason I bought this unit. The video card is lackluster in modest games like Mount and Blade but haven't tried the benchmark Crysis. It's also only 32 bit, which for the purpose it will serve, is good enough. This will sit next to the big screen most of the time, so the biggest reason for this purchase has to be satisfied, it has to play blu-ray on the big screen or back to Fry's it goes.
I'll re-post a follow up the minute I hear from MSI.
I'm Joe Tweakhead
Sandersann
Member
posted: Nov. 30, 2009 @ 1:37a
I don't think there is anything wrong with your laptop. it is likely that your monitor is does not have HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). Windows 7 DRM will make sure that you cannot output to a device that does not havr High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. MSI will not be able to help you. You will problably get a newer monitor that supports HDCP
Sandersann said: I don't think there is anything wrong with your laptop. it is likely that your monitor is does not have HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). Windows 7 DRM will make sure that you cannot output to a device that does not havr High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. MSI will not be able to help you. You will problably get a newer monitor that supports HDCP
yes that is why...but there are ways around it
joetweakhead
New Member
posted: Nov. 30, 2009 @ 5:57a
Hiya Wackyrabbit, Sandersann,
Thanks for your responses. I've made the video work, getting it on the big screen lcd (47"JVC 1080P 60hz) but the audio will have to come out of laptop soundcard analog 2 track stereo to receiver. Is this the nature of the HDCP standard? Interestingly enough, the sound also comes out, simultaneously from the laptop speaker/headphone jack and my little USB-to-headphone-and-mic $4 gadget. Each has its own virtual volume slider. The stereo information could stay in the digital domain if the receiver has usb digital audio inputs or a converted optical audio input. What would be nicer is if the usb interface could retain the multi-channel information out the fiber to the receiver. So if one has a MOTU 828USB laying around the house, that would spit the USB audio out to fiber optic toslink in 8 channel increments, enough for 7.1 This, of course, all depends on the blu-ray audio outputting to USB in multi-track. We already know USB will do stereo. Just thinking out loud.
Back to the MSI laptop being worth it. At $479, a bd player albeit analog audio, dvd player, avi player or any other video file your laptop supports, you see on the big screen. After trying other hard drive-style video player interfaces like (WesternDigital's) WDTV, if it even works at all after converting all avi files to their proprietary files. Nothing beats a pc in doing all formats above. Plus the kids enjoy playing their 3D games on the big screen. It could also benefit from at least another 256 of video memory so I can play my games. I also don't mind the absence of firewire, which I could always get an express card for if need be. One express slot is built-in. The card reader also read our SDHC cards which also addresses our Sanyo HD csmcorder requirement. So yeah, I think it will do the job I bought it for. Time to take the plastic sheet off the screen and the top of the hood. It's staying.
You should be able to get audio over the HDMI cable. I think someone (in another MSI thread here -- maybe the OD M6000 or M5000 one) mentioned they needed some different drivers to make it work with their Philips HDTV.
alphabetsoup
New Member
posted: Dec. 1, 2009 @ 1:20p
Thanks Joe, very usefull. I look forward to the followup.
twflz
New Member
posted: Dec. 2, 2009 @ 12:04a
Just received the laptop today. I put in the newly bought STAR TREK BD (from Target with $5 coupon) in and it played smoothly (sound was not good though). The touchpad has scrolling function already When I registered at MSI web site, I was surprised to find out that the warranty is actually three years if I send in the form and proof of purchase/receipt. I am happy to replace my 5-year old Toshiba M35x which is almost dead (won't boot up until ~15 minutes wait). Well worth $480 + shipping I paid on BF at frys.com!
I'm not convinced this model really has a 3-year warranty. On MSI's website (www.msimobile.com) it clearly says, "1 Year Limited Warranty (include 1 Year Global Warranty)" for the A6000-030US but for other models like A6000-029US and A5000-040US it says, "3 Year Limited Warranty (include 1 Year Global Warranty)".
For those of you still mourning over missing this deal, the next best bluray laptop deal is from Best BuySony VGN-NW270F/T 15.5" HDMI laptop $699. Same CPU, same memory, HDMI, same hard drive size.
dang, been following this lappy after missing out @frys. went to 529, then oos. now back in @ $649! crap. anyone else wanna suggest a comparable laptop in speed w/ bluray around $500?
mwerner1
Member
posted: Dec. 7, 2009 @ 1:44p
You can snag this lappy on eBay right now for $650 shipped - 20% Bing CashBack. The non-bluray model is around $410 after Bing. Not bad...
excellent question, anyone know the answer? I'll inquire w/ msi tomorrow altho i'd have more peace of mind purchasing it from a store w/ my credit card so i could double the warranty
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