Legit Reviews

I made a huge, huge post in Notebook Chassis about what I was looking at, bu the crash took out both my user name and my post.

So here I am reregistered and posting again!

Quick about me: I build a lot of computers but never a notebook, this is going to be a slow build as in, I can get things gradually but I dont have a lot of money and the chassis is pretty much last to be gotten. I found out about LR as I was at the Quakecon presentation (the one where some jackass stole the broken SATA laptop drive).


Here is the chassis I am looking at:

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=NB-12W-CMB

I like all aspects about

SuperTalent MS-1012 12.1 inch WXGA W/DVD/CD-RW Combo Notebook Barebone Computer (White) NB-12W-CMB $674.65 $674.65

Fujitsu 60GB (MHT2060BH) SATA 5400rpm 8MB Notebook Hard Drive (2.5 inch) DMFU2060BH $100.94 $100.94

Kingston KVR533D2S4/1G SODIMM DDR2-533 1G/128x64 Notebook Memory D2SO1G533K $99.91 $99.91

$875.50
Estimated Total
(before Tax & Shipping)

proc is lookin to be under 200...Still needs a wireless card but thats <$50 off Newegg (that site has nothing)

Just wanted to know if anyone has any experience with that chassis.

I'm aiming for an ibook killer...lots of people think that ibooks are better than any possible PC notebook, because there "arent any" small, cheap, but full featured and fast books. this seems to replace EVERYTHING from them

now i just need a mac logo with a red slash circle on it :p i know there are stickers for each, so ill probably get both and put them on.

oh yes.

That one's alright, but if you're looking for a real mac killer, and I fully stand by this product, I would go with theAsus Z71V barebone kit. It has a GeForce 6600 mobile graphics chip, better IMO than Intel's, and plus your display is actually at a good viewing range at 15.4" and can do 1680 X 1050, not bad res for a notebook personally. I know it doesn't come with a NIC or an optical drive, but that leaves more options open for you, and Asus is a great product, I've had nothing but good experiences with their products in the past. It's around $65 more than that SuperTalent you're looking at, but what you can get out of it in concerns for gaming and whatnot, I believe it's a good trade-off. I found this barebone notebook for approx $723 plus around $13 for shippinghere. Trust me, if you go with this notebook, and I'm pretty sure Apoptosis, Capper, and a few others would agree with me to a point on this recommendation. Just a good overall solution I believe . Must warn you though, if you're on a really tight budget, then I would go with the other notebook as it comes pretty well with what you want to start with except the obvious.

If your not looking for gaming, then the Asus Z63A is awsome, with the second battery i get almost 7-9hrs of batter time. And its under 5lbs with that battery. I have yet to do any reall testing of games and stuff but i will when i can.

I might have to check out more of these Asus barebones myself, I like Z71V, but of course you know me Yves, I love gaming!!! Gotta agree with infinitevalence, kronchev. His suggestions are usually dead-on, as he has a great deal more experience with these barebones than I (I'm a Padawan learner, rofl). Couldn't help the Star Wars reference, heheh

Just won a P-M 750 for $180 looks like this is gonna be pretty hooked up. Again the body is the most expensive part, blah...by a long shot. Buut I have a lot of refs for a job and I just gotta send the supervisor my resume and I probably have a source of income

that other shell looks ok but its a) bigger than I want (I want small) and b) doesnt "look as good" as the other one...both are extreme advantages, IMO. Although the much MUCH better vid (with that it would be equal to my desktop), I still would rather have a very small laptop, vid doesnet matter to me really, because its for internet/programming/nothing extremly graphical

Cheers on the job man. I'm looking for one myself, cuz here in SC the jobs are all being absorbed by those being displaced by the textile plant closings (there have been a lot of em this year). It's been a month now, but I'm still hopeful, and looking. Hopefully, when I get finished with my Cisco classes and pass my CCNA exam, there will be good jobs for me, but the good thing is that I'm getting a degree in Computer Tech with Networking Electives and will be finished by fall semester next year, so I can make at least $30,000 down here, a heck of a lot more if I decide to go north like I'm planning. Anyways, what type of programming are you doing on this? More like Flash? Java? or is it more on the application side and less on the graphical side? Because with graphical programming you can tend to need more CPU and GPU resources to compile and run the program. Anyway, congrats!

killswitch83 wrote:Cheers on the job man. I'm looking for one myself, cuz here in SC the jobs are all being absorbed by those being displaced by the textile plant closings (there have been a lot of em this year). It's been a month now, but I'm still hopeful, and looking. Hopefully, when I get finished with my Cisco classes and pass my CCNA exam, there will be good jobs for me, but the good thing is that I'm getting a degree in Computer Tech with Networking Electives and will be finished by fall semester next year, so I can make at least $30,000 down here, a heck of a lot more if I decide to go north like I'm planning. Anyways, what type of programming are you doing on this? More like Flash? Java? or is it more on the application side and less on the graphical side? Because with graphical programming you can tend to need more CPU and GPU resources to compile and run the program. Anyway, congrats!

I would be doing C++ and Java somewhat, but mostly PHP/mySQL. while my 500 mhz $200 laptop does that just fine, i spilled a powerdrink on it once so the keyboard is sticky :p plus the batteries on it are back, its pretty heavy, its big compared to this, etc etc. nooo graphical programming, im definitly not into that :p

oh ok, well then the SuperTalent notebook should do you fine, except for the fact you're going to have to buy a wireless card, but no big deal, just so long as your processor is stout enough to handle all that compiling.

killswitch83 wrote:oh ok, well then the SuperTalent notebook should do you fine, except for the fact you're going to have to buy a wireless card, but no big deal, just so long as your processor is stout enough to handle all that compiling.

1.87 pentium M, itll thrash most anything except a higher M :p

so the proc i had to drop 180 on immediatly since it was an auction, but other wise ive raised around 130...i can wait and hopefully get the other 570 (got a 300 sale in the works, and a 400 psp package on ebay that hopefully will get BIN and then im pretty much set to get EVERYTHING at once :p) soon, and just trickle in the items, or i can get the memory and harddrive now, and just have everything but the chassis sitting around until i actually get the chassis...decisions, decisions

i think ill just hold off, now that i typed that all out. so its gonna be a bit before any REAL update

well isnt that excellent..the chassis i had up there is GONE from the site. now they only have the similar one...i really dont know the difference, but this one is about $60 more expensive for really, no difference

i cant wait anymore, this was the only lead i have. i paid off my credit card so i have 800 open (dont feel like nearly emptying my bank account :p) and as soon as it goes through, im getting this chassis.

/edit: i noticed they have the black of the old one still around...the difference is, the one i had picked out thats cheaper has a CD burner, while the white expensive one has a DVD burner. in reality i dont need EITHER, as long as it can READ dvds. so i think im going to lose my awesome anti-mac theme and go for the much cheaper black one:

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=NB-12B-CMB


/edit2: i got the processor today and now im anxious to use it :p


/edit3 (lawls): http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/store/ ... Fid=825863

ill check that company out and if its good hell im using them, thats the color i want and cheaper...


/edit4: their rating sucks. why is this so hard to do, sigh

If you need any leads, I think either Apop or Capper posted a list of sites to look at if you still want the white chassis. It's in this forum, I think under the sticky. Can't remember exactly, but the sites are helpful; I leafed through a couple of them and they seem pretty well-stocked, so I would start with the sites that are posted in this forum, unless you just want to settle on black, what can I say, I'm picky, lol

well i just ordered the chassis from chumbo.com, they had a good reseller rating...so now my credit card is absolutly maxed but hey :D

i just sold my psp so i got 350 coming in to help defer the cost of this, plus some other stuff.

now i just need the ram, harddrive, and network card. i actually have 256 of DDR lying around, i honestly cant get a straight answer if this laptop uses 1 or 2 but if its 1, ill use the 256 until i get money for a full gig. as for harddrive, i got a 20 gig in my old one i can take out and use till again, i get a better one...hell, what itd come out to is, selling this old laptop will probably pay for the ram + harddrive so ill only be without a laptop a few days, if even.

good times

usually, at least in some of the newer chassis, there are 2 DDR slots: one up under the keyboard (just gotta pop the keyboard loose by unhinging the clips beneath it) and one on the back where you unscrew the panel. If I were you, I would do a little spelunking when you get your chassis, just to make sure. Be careful not to damage the keyboard or break one of the clips. Other than that, good deal

killswitch83 wrote:usually, at least in some of the newer chassis, there are 2 DDR slots: one up under the keyboard (just gotta pop the keyboard loose by unhinging the clips beneath it) and one on the back where you unscrew the panel. If I were you, I would do a little spelunking when you get your chassis, just to make sure. Be careful not to damage the keyboard or break one of the clips. Other than that, good deal

yeh, i promised the forum im on that i would give a how-to with this, there are a few interested people and as whitebooks go, nobody realizes how easy and cheap it is

i see threads about dells and alienwares and its absurd how much they spent

So the chassis comes today :D :D :D

I finally did some hardcore research and found these pages on it:

http://www.digitalstar.com.au/_PowerNote_S260_SPEC.aspx
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/m ... 07&kind=11

Two things, first off the MSI American site sucks ass. There was nothing on the notebook except its default fully-built config. I had to do a very careful google search and lo and behold, the stuff on it is on the TAIWANESE site. So yes the manual is in English but damn them for doing that. Second, the retailer I bought it from had absolutly no info on it, and neither had really any of the others I looked at...barebones notebooks have a way to go.


But anyway heres the relevent part of the manual:

HDD form factor 9.5mm(H), 30/40/60GB
IDE Controller Ultra DMA ATA-100

Technology DDR 333
Memory DDR SO-DIMM X 2 slots
128/256/512/1024MB DDR SDRAM
Maximum 2GB (1024MB DDR SO-DIMM X 2)


Now the issue here is, I still am having trouble figuring out which parts I should be getting that will be compatible! Also that size listing is BS, as there are prebuilt companies using this chassis and offering 80,100 gig drives. The point is, I was looking at these:

Harddrive
RAM

I'd also like to point out that regular DDR for notebooks is markidly more expensive than DDR2 (from what I saw, about $30 more...yeesh).

While I can always just wait until it gets here later today (I hope I'm here or they leave it with the apartment office, I really dont want to have to chase the guy down at the Fedex office), does anyone have any opinion if those will fit? My problem with the harddrive is that its ATA-6 which IIRC is ATA-100, but it doesnt list the height and the MSI specs says 9.5mm. The problem with the ram is...I'm paranoid :p

thanks for help and consider that a slight status update :p

ohhh and if this is compatible with both "regular" things, I have 256 DDR333 and a 20 gig harddrive sitting around, so I can get this up and running tonight...at the least, I'd like to take pictures and post a thread on the other forum with the people saying that whitebox notebooks "are too much of a hassle' and "too expensive" and "don't use standard parts and have really small impossible screws"

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Well I spent way more on the harddrive to get it the day the chassis came in, and I'm using 256 megs of RAM my friend gave me until I sell some stuff so I can buy a gig, but basically

IT'S DONE!

Just a quick bunch of pictures of taking it apart :p

[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(1).JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(2).JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(3).JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(4).JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(5).JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(6).JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.kronchev.com/laptop/laptop%20(7).JPG[/img]

Great news! Get the OS and all installed on it yet?

Apoptosis wrote:Great news! Get the OS and all installed on it yet?

Yep, I actually got it done Thursday...that meant I went a bit over budget as I had to get a harddrive at compusa (140 for an 80 gig 5400 RPM, nocticibly more expensive but i really dont have patience), and I'm using 256 megs of RAM my friend gave me at the moment as I now cant afford the 1 gig due to that :p

but yeh its all installed and its really, really nice even with the limited ram...had issue getting the miniPCI wireless working, then I figured out its turned off by default and you gotta put their power management software on...but now I cant go into standby, its literally as if the option does not exist in windows...in power management the "standby after N minutes" open is blank, not even greyed out, when I go start->shutdown its not an option, etc etc...very disconcerning.