MSI VR610 (MSI Megabook VR610 S3612FD)

Member Name: Anonymous bin Ich

Product:	MSI Megabook VR610 S3612FD
Date:	19/01/09 (267 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Standard hardware, Cheap

Disadvantages: Design sucks, machine will start falling apart after a year

I bought this laptop 6 months ago. This was my first laptop so I handled it as carefully as possible. So here we begin...

Good things:
1. Standard hardware - will be fully supported on Linux.
2. Numeric keypad - for those who use it.
3. Decent graphics card for such a budget machine. With custom settings, I was able to play Half Life 2 and NFS Underground 2 on it.
4. AC power cord is not very small, as I saw on some Fujitsu Siemens machines.

Quirks:
Ok, these are just quirks you will get used to in time.
1. Keyboard is crammed up to give space for numeric keypad.
2. Touch pad is a not in the center of the laptop but in the center of the "Keyboad minus numpad".
3. Multimedia keys are not different, but are accesible via Fn key.
4. 64 bit processor, but the machine can't be expanded above 2 GB RAM.

Now, now... we all know this is the part you are looking for...
Bad things:
1. The design is not sturdy. Here and there, and you will most probably break some internal connection.
2. MSI WARNING: *Customer support sucks!*
3. Only after a couple of months, fan started making so much noise that sleeping became difficult.
4. Dirt prone - as I said, design is crappy...
5. Mouse pad buttons are too loud and hard. Every click is really a *tak* *tak*

My machine came with Freedos. Drivers for Windows XP/Vista are available on MSI website. Won't connect to internet without drivers, so have them beforehand while installing windows. Ofcourse, Linux will detect all of them.

Summary: Good return for a cheap machine...

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