MSI A5000-025US 15.6" Laptop: Intel Celeron T3000 1.8GHz, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, Nvidia 8200M-G, HDMI, Windows 7 Home Premium $320 @ Officedepot B&M

BIOS with overclock options/ ctrl-fn swap updated to latest version (X.0T) released 2010-07-26:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bb82vxyu1nepwyo

MSI A5000, and A6000 are based upon the MSI 1683 "Whitebook".

A5000 , A6000 series uses the same motherboard as the 1683 "Whitebook".
A5000 =11-2009 (2010) model=Win7, aka CR500 = Vista 2009 model?

http://www.msiwhitebook.com/produ...S-1683-ID1

Information supplied by Warner from MSI USA:

Vista = Win7
U210 = L2100 (1241)
CR600 = A6000 (1683)
CR500 = A5000 (1683)
CR400 = A4000 (1451)
CX600 = A6005 (1682)
http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=133088.0

Link to A5000-025US product page on MSI.com = as of 2011-06 I can't find it, typing A5000, A5000-025US does not bring up any hits for me... (This is not a good sign...I hate companies that once product is superseded you get "Nothing found" when you type in a model number. Typing in A5000-025US should bring up product page- Link to latest bios, drivers. (Tip search for CR500)

EDIT: Found the product page by GOOGLING some more, Google rolled me over to my own posts on Slickdeals in which I had posted links to the product pages for the unit! MSI really needs to update their search engine so it searches all divisions when a model number is typed in. IIRC there are several divisions of MSI and they don't link /forward info between them.
http://www.msimobile.com/level3_p...d=9&id=157

15" ~ 16" (Discontinued) > A5000-025US
Product Number: 9S7-168344-025

Drivers, Bios, manuals: Link on above page rolls over to CR500...
http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CR5...div=Driver

Assemble, disassemble VIDEOS, and PDF's of CR600: (sister unit to A5000)
http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=132295.0

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Windows 7 x64 =

MSI does not "do "x64, all systems, even ones with 4GB are shipped with 32-bit OS.

Search for posts by Hurt777 - he has a walk thru on installing Win7 x64

EDIT: It appears that x64 drivers are listed now: http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CR5...=Win7%2064

TIP: MSI sources parts from several vendors: Run a app like Belarc Advisor to find out what is in your unit.

Support: Long term impressions

Long term impressions of the unit is good- abit right now I have a problem in which the unit will not come out of sleep mode via any attached USB device due to BIOS is hard-coded to stop monitoring USB ports in Sleep mode.

Post 1199
Can't wake from S3 sleep mode from USB Mouse, keyboard, ehome Infrared Receiver (USBCIR)
http://slickdeals.net/forums/show...count=1199

Anyone has any info, feel free to post...



MSI sites are tricky to navigate, links go dead:
As I mentioned above about a year and 1/2 after purchase I can't find support pages. Links previously post here are getting 404 errors.

MSI has a forum board .
MSI really needs to do some spring cleaning so to speak- Get some of their tech's posting over there.
- I'd rate it about a 3 out of 10.

What to expect when posting on the MSI forum board:

1: There are more mods than users.
2: If you post anything about x64, BAS (mod) is sure to post his boiler plate response there is no need to run x64, 32 is faster.
3: Mods to post "We don't work for MSI" if you ask a hard question.... if you get a response at all.
4: Most threads lead to a dead end, with the boiler plate "contact MSI support for hard issues".

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RECOVERY DISCS- WARNING, MSI ships product without testing what they sell.

Update the SATA DRIVERS ASAP before you burn the recovery discs ! (Disc burn will fail, or discs will burn but won't work http://www.msi.com/index.php?func...aq_no=2134
(Crap-ola - 404 error.... What the FAQ, link to the files needed to update the SATA drivers for the burner said there was there was a LARGE number of units affected over several product lines- in which end users would burn the recovery discs only to find out "later" the discs were no good.
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Potential of T3000 CPU

The A5000 is powered by a Intel 1.8 GHz Dual Core Celeron processor. This processor (ranked #98, according to Notebookcheck.com benchmarks [notebookcheck.net], beats the M500 AMD II Processor (rank #99).
You can check out http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php to look at how it compares with others.

T3000 vs Pentium Dual Core T4200. Both are 45 nm "penryn" Core 2 Duo derivatives, with 1MB cache vs. 2MB in the C2D T6500.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inte...al-core.29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...45_nm.29_2

OVERCLOCKING:

A5000/A6000's based upon the MSI-1683 are GOOD OVERCLOCKERS with SVET's modded bios.
Search for posts by SVET (On MSI forum) , Hurtz777 for a detailed step by step overclocking guide.)

Sister units
As stated previously the 1683 motherboard is used on the 5000, and 6000 series. Same motherboard is used on various models.
This laptop is essentially the same as the MSI A5000-026US Notebook that was sold thru Circuit City.

This deal compared to the popular Acer Extensa 5230 a few days ago (2009-11?).

MSI has a Intel Celeron T3000 1.8GHz Processor (rank #98 on Notebookcheck.com benchmarks [notebookcheck.net]) vs the Celeron 900 2.2GHz ranked #181 on the same benchmark test. +1 MSI.
Screen resolution is different because one is 15.6" while the other is 15.4".
3GB DDR2 vs 2GB DDR2 memory. +1 MSI.
250GB HDD vs 160GB HDD. +1 MSI.
MSI Has HDMI. +1 MSI.
MSI has a 4-in1 card reader. +1 MSI.
Acer has 64-bit Win 7. +1 Acer.

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