Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Purchased this at Fry's Electronics for $399. There is a rebate associated with it for $50. I live in Illinois so I had to pay sales tax. Still under $400 out the door after the rebate (been told it takes 3 months or so) but that's no big deal.
Quick start up guide suggested I make an msi recovery disc set upon 1st boot, so I did (easy but slow - 8x is the highest speed on the included optical drive). Removed all the bloatware (not much actually came pre-installed) with PCDecrapifier. Black pinstripe finish is different (highly susceptible to fingerprints & smudges). Battery is good for about 3 hours (maybe a little less) with light use (msi's WIND series can go for 15 hours - WOW).
Bonus warranty: Upon receipt of my mail in registration form, msi extends their manufacturer's warranty to 3 years! Pretty sweet! (If you get this make sure you get at least 3 rebate receipts or make copies for all the forms you have to send in).
Fry's customer service is pretty lousy - I placed the order online & went in to pick it up with a hard copy of my receipt in hand. They had no record of the order and I had to wait a 1/2 hour for them to figure that out & then another 1/2 hour to take me over to the returns desk to place & process a new order. Took forever and they weren't that busy. They did NOTHING to make it up to me. Also, BE AWARE, Fry's charges a 15% restocking fee on laptops - no exceptions. That is $60 out of your pocket on this A6200-428US if something goes wrong or if you change your mind after you open it.
How does it work? Boots fast. Runs cool & quiet. Nice display. A lot of connectivity (USB 2.0 x 3, Express Card, Video Port: VGA (15-pin, D-Sub), HDMI, Audio Ports: Mic-in, Headphone output,). I really like the msi "chiclet" keyboard and number pad. Thin and light, easy to carry but the display doesn't lock when you close the laptop - just something to be aware of. Wireless LAN found my home network right away. I bought this to use for school and it is overkill for the typical "student" requirements.
Cons: Power button has a bright blue LED. It is just under the screen located at the top right side of the keyboard - distracting when reading the screen (nothing a piece of tape can't fix). Due to the short battery life I want to buy another battery just in case. Overall, this is pretty hard deal to beat.
Includes:
Windows 7, 64 bit
Fast Intel® Pentium® Dual Core Processor P6000 with a 1066MHz FSB & a 2MB cache
320 GB 5400 RPM SATA HD is partioned into 2 halves (or close to it)
3GB 1066MHz DDR3 SO DIMM(upgradable to 8 gigs (2 slots))
4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/XD)
LAN Ethernet LAN 10/100
WLAN Built-in 802.11b/g/n WLAN Card
Stereo speakers (not bad for a laptop)
1.3MP Web cam with microphone (not great but works ok)
Optical Drive Type: DVD Super Multi (slow)
*UPDATE* I am now at the 4 month point of ownership and felt like updating my review.
After all the constant updates for Windows the computer is using 50% of the RAM all the time - just to run the machine. Makes running other programs difficult. I had McAfee installed and that bogged it down even more. Uninstalled McAfee and installed Kaspersky. Kaspersky seems to be working better.
About two months ago a friend of mine got an HP 15.6" Pavilion dv6-3122us Turion II Entertainment 4GB Laptop 500GB Notebook PC and it blows away the msi for only $100 more at the times of respective purchase. The display, software suite, webcam, audio, storage, graphics, and speed are all superior on the hp. Even the finish on the outside is superior in that it doesn't show fingerprints everywhere like the msi.
I just got the rebate from msi last week. My friend got their rebates from hp before I got mine from msi and they sent them in 2 months after I did.
The webcam has been problematic. I try to skype with other students but they cannot hear me unless I call them on my cell. I've checked all the settings and everything is supposed to be working fine but the msi warns that the connection isn't strong enough to support this service. I have a desktop in the same room, farther away from the wireless gateway and it handles web conferences just fine. Has to be the msi. The audio is really quiet. All the way up I can hardly hear professors & fellow students.
I've ordered more RAM for the msi hoping this will speed it back up. If I plug in headphones I can hear others during conferences. They can't hear me but there is a spot where I can "chat". I use sticky keys when zi type and the msi is very slow to recognize or doesn't recognize at all the keys being pressed. When writing an essay it misses the first couple of key strokes when it's running slow. There is no bloatware on my pc and there are very few programs installed. Not many applications or processes running in the background either. So I have no idea why the msi is running as slow as it is these days.
It seemed really good at first. basic. simple. just enough to get the job done. I'd lower it to 2 stars if I could and I would have bought the hp instead seeing as I just shelled out $80 to upgrade the RAM to full capacity on it. The msi is / feels heavier than the hp too.
Click Here to see more reviews about: MSI Mainstream A6200-248US 15.6" Notebook (Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor P6000, 3 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit)
The MSI A6200-248US Laptop Computer is a powerful work, entertainment and multimedia platform that can still travel wherever you do. It is powered by an Intel Pentium Dual-Core P6000 1.86GHz processor, 3GB of DDR3 memory, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system. Store your data, software, digital pictures, movies and more on a multitude of storage options including a 320GB SATA hard drive, DVD Super Multi Drive, and 4-in-1 media card reader.
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