MSI vr201 english review
Wednesday, May 21. 2008
Ever since i first posted this article in norwegian i have experience a great deal of visits from both norwegians and forigners. So no I have finaly decided to post it in english.To read the article please press the "read more" link below.
If you want to read the norwegian testclick here
And PS! sorry for any spellinerrors etc. Please point them out to me so i can fix them :)
A couple of months back i bought a new ultraportable laptop and this is my review of it.
If you want to read the norwegian test click here
Specs:
12,1" screen, 2048MB RAM, 160GB Harddrive, Intel DualCore T2330 @ 1,6GHz, Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express, 8-cell battery, DVD+RW, bluetooth, 802.11b/g WLAN, irda.
Bundle:
There is no suprises to the bundle that came with my model. The usual load of CDs, manuals, and powersuply was all there. There was also a softcase for preventing the laptop to get schratces etc. during transport. Small but neat because schratches is actualy an issue if you drag the laptop between school and home 5 day every week.
Advantages:
The size itselves is probably every ultraportables biggest advantage, as it is with this one. The weight is only 1,96 kg (use google if your not into metric units :p). This makes it easy to transport. But the price was probably the biggest advantage when i bought it. If you look at the price at 7000 NOK (this is aprox 1400 USD and that includes 24% tax) and the specs you discover that you realy can't get a better ultraportable for less or the same amount of cash. The battery-life during normal useage is a little over 5 hours. This is superior to the other laptops i have owned.
The design is simple and solid. No unnecessary shortcutbuttons (my opinion) or other fancy details. The DVD-burner is placed on the leftside of the laptop, this is a big advantage if you use an external mouse with the laptop. There is almost no noice at all during usage and there is no issue with it getting hot beneath. So you can have it in your lap without having to take breaks every no or then because your skin is on fire.
Disadvantages:
Even though i am very pleased with this laptop there are som drawback that i would like to mention.
First of all it didn't have norwegian key layout. Just a scandinavian one, that missed a few of the norwegian special characters. To compensate for this the laptop came with stickers to place over some of the keys. But unfortunately there were two buttons that still wass wrong.
The soundquality on the speakers could be better, but this is not critical and there is no problem to watch a movie on the move. The keyboard is also a bit loud for my taste. And of course, it's not a gaming machine when it comes with an integrated graphic controller. However i had no problem playing GTA San Andreas with default graphic settings.
Conclusion:
When you look at all you get for the money, it's beyond my doubt that this is one of the better ultraportables on the market today. Let's just hope that the other manufactores picks up the thread.
Thumbs up!
If you want to read the norwegian test click here
Specs:
12,1" screen, 2048MB RAM, 160GB Harddrive, Intel DualCore T2330 @ 1,6GHz, Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express, 8-cell battery, DVD+RW, bluetooth, 802.11b/g WLAN, irda.
Bundle:
There is no suprises to the bundle that came with my model. The usual load of CDs, manuals, and powersuply was all there. There was also a softcase for preventing the laptop to get schratces etc. during transport. Small but neat because schratches is actualy an issue if you drag the laptop between school and home 5 day every week.
Advantages:
The size itselves is probably every ultraportables biggest advantage, as it is with this one. The weight is only 1,96 kg (use google if your not into metric units :p). This makes it easy to transport. But the price was probably the biggest advantage when i bought it. If you look at the price at 7000 NOK (this is aprox 1400 USD and that includes 24% tax) and the specs you discover that you realy can't get a better ultraportable for less or the same amount of cash. The battery-life during normal useage is a little over 5 hours. This is superior to the other laptops i have owned.
The design is simple and solid. No unnecessary shortcutbuttons (my opinion) or other fancy details. The DVD-burner is placed on the leftside of the laptop, this is a big advantage if you use an external mouse with the laptop. There is almost no noice at all during usage and there is no issue with it getting hot beneath. So you can have it in your lap without having to take breaks every no or then because your skin is on fire.
Disadvantages:
Even though i am very pleased with this laptop there are som drawback that i would like to mention.
First of all it didn't have norwegian key layout. Just a scandinavian one, that missed a few of the norwegian special characters. To compensate for this the laptop came with stickers to place over some of the keys. But unfortunately there were two buttons that still wass wrong.
The soundquality on the speakers could be better, but this is not critical and there is no problem to watch a movie on the move. The keyboard is also a bit loud for my taste. And of course, it's not a gaming machine when it comes with an integrated graphic controller. However i had no problem playing GTA San Andreas with default graphic settings.
Conclusion:
When you look at all you get for the money, it's beyond my doubt that this is one of the better ultraportables on the market today. Let's just hope that the other manufactores picks up the thread.
Thumbs up!
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hi! great review! I have this laptop and it's great, but I can't get to open the memory cards reader slot :s how does it opens?
It dosn't open :P the chassie is made with a slot for it, but this particular model don't use it. Probably the biggest downside with this notebook.
Thanks for the kind words though.
Thanks for the kind words though.
Great review, Magnus. I`m considering buying this machine to replace my 15 inch MSI and i`m glad none of the drawbacks you`ve pointed to put me off. I don`t need the Norwegian keyboard layout :P, i`m not much of a gamer nor am i that bent on speaker quality. Battery life, that`s smth else.
Another thing. My current laptop has an 1.8 GHz AMD Turion X2 CPU that can only be scaled down to 1600 MHz and 800 MHz and kind of tends to heat up when at high freqs. How low can this Intel Dual Core go? :D
Thanks,
Alex
Another thing. My current laptop has an 1.8 GHz AMD Turion X2 CPU that can only be scaled down to 1600 MHz and 800 MHz and kind of tends to heat up when at high freqs. How low can this Intel Dual Core go? :D
Thanks,
Alex
I can find out for you as soon as i get home (tonight). One thing is for shure, it dosn't heat up. No matter how long I use it dosn't get to hot to have on the lap, not even close.
Sorry for late reply.
I tried to set the three powerplans to "power saver", "balanced" and "High performance" but i couldn't see any difference on the system properties. But if someone can give me a tip on a program that monitors CPU-speed I can find out more.
There are no bundled software to control CPU-frequency. But the powerplan settings in windows vista works ok. As far as i know theese are dynamic, so there are no static frequencys
I tried to set the three powerplans to "power saver", "balanced" and "High performance" but i couldn't see any difference on the system properties. But if someone can give me a tip on a program that monitors CPU-speed I can find out more.
There are no bundled software to control CPU-frequency. But the powerplan settings in windows vista works ok. As far as i know theese are dynamic, so there are no static frequencys
www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php CPU-Z displays detailed info on CPU,mainboard and memory
www.almico.com/speedfan.php SpeedFan monitors fan speed (rather obviously) and system temperatures
As far as confining the CPU to a specific clock speed, i don`t know any Windows app to do that (though there should be). I`m running Linux and that`s easy to do with either KPowersave or GNOME Power Manager.
www.almico.com/speedfan.php SpeedFan monitors fan speed (rather obviously) and system temperatures
As far as confining the CPU to a specific clock speed, i don`t know any Windows app to do that (though there should be). I`m running Linux and that`s easy to do with either KPowersave or GNOME Power Manager.
In vista it idles on around 800 MHz not matter what power plan I run. The difference is how high its willing to go on load.
If you're thinking about running linux on it, you shold be aware that the atheros wifi hardware is not supportet out of the box on any of the distroes i have tried on it so far (that includes mint, ubuntu, mandriva, openSuse and a couple more).
If you're thinking about running linux on it, you shold be aware that the atheros wifi hardware is not supportet out of the box on any of the distroes i have tried on it so far (that includes mint, ubuntu, mandriva, openSuse and a couple more).
Ok so this CPU won`t go below 800 MHz either. Not too big a deal though. I`ll either go for the VR201 or one of the funky coloured PR210. (slightly more expensive, but they have Core2Duos, these should be more power efficient).
As for the Atheros chipset and linux, my current laptop also has one (5007). I`m typing this on a Ubuntu derivative from my WLAN. So been there, done that.
Great NDISwrapper howto:
http://blog.linuxoss.com/2008/05/08/ubuntu-804-enabling-atheros-ar5007-based-wireless/
Many thanks for your replies and your review Magnus
Cheers,Alex
As for the Atheros chipset and linux, my current laptop also has one (5007). I`m typing this on a Ubuntu derivative from my WLAN. So been there, done that.
Great NDISwrapper howto:
http://blog.linuxoss.com/2008/05/08/ubuntu-804-enabling-atheros-ar5007-based-wireless/
Many thanks for your replies and your review Magnus
Cheers,Alex
Np ;) thanks for the nwiz wrapper guide, have been trying to get ubuntu on it. But im no linux expert, so I gave that up :p
--does this laptop has a special-key, that in combination with "Fn" key will turn off the mouse pad ???
--which is the processor? Core 2 Duo OR Core Duo, many sites tells both, but Intel has only T2330 Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo
--which is the processor? Core 2 Duo OR Core Duo, many sites tells both, but Intel has only T2330 Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo
Fn + F3 will turn off the touchpad. The CPU according to MyComputer -> Properties is "Intel Pentium Dual CPU T2330" So no "2" in there...
thank you !!!
--can you say an overall rating (100 is maximum) ?
p.s: good thing that you've post in english ;)
--can you say an overall rating (100 is maximum) ?
p.s: good thing that you've post in english ;)
Yes I can. I would say it's about an 85. The reason for this rating is that it is easy to carry between school, home, work, etc. The batterylife is also very positive. But lack of a memorycard-reader and the not to good (its not poor) grapichal preformance is pulling the overall grade down.
I don't honestly belive that you get an better ultraportable laptop for the same kind of money.
So there you have it :) I'll be happy to answer more questions as well
I don't honestly belive that you get an better ultraportable laptop for the same kind of money.
So there you have it :) I'll be happy to answer more questions as well
me again
--can you please post a video in youtube with this notebok, i like it, but i want to see how is doing while you run windows and do something there like playing a movie / a game / ......(if you have some time, it will be better for all, there are none with this notebok) ?
--how is the display quality (i know that it does NOT have ACS / Glare capabilities) ?
thanks again
--can you please post a video in youtube with this notebok, i like it, but i want to see how is doing while you run windows and do something there like playing a movie / a game / ......(if you have some time, it will be better for all, there are none with this notebok) ?
--how is the display quality (i know that it does NOT have ACS / Glare capabilities) ?
thanks again
Yes I can, but it will have to be later, Maybe i'll be able to make somtheing during the weekend. The display is glossy, so if your planning to use it a lot outside in the sun your gonna have a problem. But indoors it's sharp, bright and great to use.
Btw. the builtin speakers are not the best, it is okay to watch movie, but i dosnt replace your hifi
Btw. the builtin speakers are not the best, it is okay to watch movie, but i dosnt replace your hifi
great, thanks for all the infos
another thing, does this laptop has a buton from which, in windows, you can control the cpu voltage ? I know that MSI provides this thing (I have a MSI M670 laptop that has this button, and using an utility from MSI, I can control the voltage, and so I control the overall performance).
Not as far as I have discovered. This sounds like the kind of thing that falls in the category: "to fancy for a small cheap ultraportable" :p
Thanks for the english translation!
Although there is not much to find on the web about the vr201, here's also a nice one (try the translate option in google)
http://www.referenta.com/vr201-el-portatil-ultrabarato-de-msi
They also successfully installed mac-os on the msi :-)
Pictures of the vr201 disassembled:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/referenta/sets/72157604054764378/
Although there is not much to find on the web about the vr201, here's also a nice one (try the translate option in google)
http://www.referenta.com/vr201-el-portatil-ultrabarato-de-msi
They also successfully installed mac-os on the msi :-)
Pictures of the vr201 disassembled:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/referenta/sets/72157604054764378/
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