First of all let us all welcome eprice to the site, we are happy to have you here and like to have input from all members. We also like to practice civil discourse, there is no need to flame a reviewer for giving their honest opinion on a product they actually have in hand. Do you already have one of these netbooks? If so then feel free to add to this thread with your own detailed review. If not, then perhaps this reviewer does know what he's talking about and you can take his words at face value.
If I may, I would like to address your concerns in the order of their appearance.
eprice wrote:I have a major issue when people write reviews that contradicts the evidence. The review claims that battery life is more important than power in a netbook. No, the review mentions that extended battery life has always been considered one of the advantages of a smaller, less powerful Netbook hmmm lets review the highlight tape: Only when using DVD play back on a faster, bigger, more powerful system did the NEO consume more power. So I'm not sure what you intend to do with your net book... but watching DVD's all day is not what I think the average person with an IQ would do... they have these things called portable DVD players for that! hmmmm does your portable DVD player surf the net, do office apps, allow you to day-trade, etc? And do you want to lug around your portable DVD player just to watch DVDs when you already have to carry your notebook/netbook? Most people with an IQ wouldn't... What the average consumer should have the choice of and should have been touted in this review is that if you don't want the weight of a laptop and you want more power than the average atom net book... you can purchase the Athlon Neo which had the best of both worlds. The best of both worlds should have an even tradeoff of power vs battery life, but this one also comes at a premium of $100 which some on a budget may think that the extra performance is not worth and extra C-note unless it has about an hour longer battery life to offset that cost. I would think the the battery life of this netbook with the option to "plug it in" and use the advanced power is an exciting option. Personal bias should not play a role in a review. I saw an unbiased review but then I read it with an open mind, whereas you seemed to have an agenda towards this particular review with your very first post. What I read and what I saw in the performance tests were diametrically opposed. This pisses me off ??? no need to be pissed unless you have a vested interest in the perceived marketability of this product more than when I read a review from a supposed Technical savvy person on a consumer website review a product and claim too much bloatware well, bloatware serves no purpose other than to give a manufacturer's partner a foot in the door on your computer, trial versions shouldn't be installed from the factory, instead put on a CD that you can either install yourself or throw in the trash or I wish the screen was bigger on a 10" netbook. I agree with you on this point, If someone wants a bigger screen they shouldn't complain about the netbooks, a smaller footprint with adequate features vs price ratio is one of their advantages.
If you are the expert... please act like one. You are being a bit harsh in your first post here, aren't you? The viewers of this review rely on some integrity and some lucid accuracy in reporting. Most of us here are completely trusting of LR Reviewers integrity, they look at products from a real-world perspective and will not rubber-stamp a manufacturers products with a fluff piece just to be on the "flavor of the month" bandwagon. In some cases a LR review has caused the manufacturer to reexamine their product to address the points outlined in the LR review, and the product was improved as a result. Legit Reviews is here for us, not as a free advertising hype spot for tech manufacturers. That's one thing we like about this site.
Final Thoughts:
Legit Reviews wrote: Pro= Overall, the MSI Wind U230 is a great netbook with a solid construction feel that we like to see in any notebook. Pro=The adoption to 12.1" LCD screen is something we have seen evolve over the past year from the previously standard 10" screen size on netbooks. The market seems to have demanded a 12" netbook and companies like MSI have answered the call. Con=At this time, the U230 is listed around $479.99 which is around $100 more than an Intel Atom-based 10" model. Balanced= Users will need to determine what is more important to them in the 12" dual core netbook arena as for roughly the same price, the ASUS Eee PC 1201N features NVIDIA ION graphics which performs much better than the ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics found on the MSI Wind12 U230. This is the beauty of competition as consumers now have the choice between better processing power or better graphics depending on how they plan on using their 12" netbooks.
Legit Bottom Line: Balanced= The MSI Wind12 U230 netbook uses the often overlooked AMD Athlon Neo X2 dual core processor which is a great performer when compared to the Intel Atom 330 without sacrificing too much battery life. Pro=MSI has a great implementation of this AMD processor in the U230 and is deserving of the LR Innovation Award for stepping outside of the Intel Atom comfort zone so many netbook manufacturers are in!
Glowing recommendation=Legit Reviews Value Award
I'm not sure exactly what you are finding offense with, it appears that the reviewer covers all the bases and has given this product a rather favorable review overall. The two detracting points deal with battery life (which honestly could be longer) and price (which at $100 more puts it in the price range of more powerful smaller notebooks albeit in a still smaller footprint if that is your preference). Giving both the advantages and the tradeoffs of a product is the kind of information we look for in a review, and most with an IQ can base their decisions to buy accordingly. Ultimately most every choice we make to purchase a product nowadays is based on weighing pros and cons, and I think this review has given a healthy balance of both.
I can honestly say that if it was the same price as the Asus Eee PC 1201N I would go for this one since I do like AMD better and I do like the extra horsepower so we are on the same page in this respect. But at $100 more I would probably wait until it was on special at the Egg. ;)
Thanks for your input eprice, hopefully we can look forward to your future contributions--but please keep in mind that the tone of your post (rant?) was more about "shooting the messenger" than about addressing or rebutting the slight shortcomings listed in this comparison review. It almost gives the appearance that you are somehow connected with MSI or AMD in the development or at least the marketing of this product and are peeved that
any of its' shortcomings were listed. I guess time will tell the answer to that if you stick around to be a member of the community or if addressing this single review was the entirety of our experience with you here.
What a wasted rebuttal, I'll bet he doesn't even have reply notification set on his account ;)
