U123-004US MSI, great little machine!

Overall Rating55555

great little machine!

Just got my red MSI u123 (9 cell) last night. I am NOT tech-y at all and set it up in 20 mins with ease. The battery bump serves to elevate the back of the computer, which is really a thoughtful and useful solution to what might have been aesthetically really ugly. Some power users might find it a little heavy, but after carrying around a 7-pound full size laptop AND and A-5 Filofax, it feels like a feather to me :).

I have read reviews complaining that the netbook does not fit the case, but it really does. Here’s the trick: first put the charger and power cord in the accessory pocket (Uncouple them so that the cords will lay smoother) THEN, holding the netbook by the battery, insert it into the case, making sure that the bottom of the netbook faces the accessory pocket. (The battery will be at the open end after insertion) If you do it this way, the cords in the accessory pocket fit into the natural space formed by the bulge of the battery. It is snug, but it definitely fits. (with room for a flash drive and maybe even a mini mouse in the accessory pocket as well)

Update (2/6/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, MSI U123-033US 10.2-Inch Netbook - Blue Personal Computers, was written by a reader.

The average rating for this item is 5 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.

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Reviews (3)

James Dickinson

February 15th, 2010 at 6:00 pm    


Overall Rating55555

Netbook that beats out the ASUS 1000HA
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RB2S1LEL4RMYZ My name is Jim Dickinson. I bought the MSI Wind U123-003 to use in the field while I work for my computer consulting company, i-SupportDesk, and now I use it as my primary workhorse! I bought a 2GB memory upgrade, a bluetooth mouse, and some USB powered speakers and I am sitting pretty! I have a colleague that has the ASUS 1000HA, another top-notch netbook, but I think we both like the WIND a little better!


a reader

February 18th, 2010 at 12:02 am    


Overall Rating55555

great little machine!
Rated 5 stars.


JW Scott

March 5th, 2010 at 6:21 am    


Overall Rating55555

Compact Impressive Practical even with the drawbacks
I fell into must have mode upon seeing this item in blue and knowing
MSI made a red casing I instantly questioned them via their site. Much to
my disappointment I got nowhere fast, after almost two hours on the phone
listening to a recording of “somebody will be with you shortly” I gave up on that route. Finally got somebody from MSI to respond almost instantly via email, again only disappointing me. He offered very little assistance in telling me what I wanted to hear, and was very generic in telling me that MSI did not customize.

So knowing I wanted the longer battery life with built in cam, bluetooth, and b/g/n I ordered the 123-003 blue. While tracking that order, I then stumbled across where amazon.com was now offering 123-004 red as a pre-order. Amazon was very cooperative and understanding to my plight. I simply refused the order, it was returned to them a few days later. My order was fully refunded and was informed I may pre order at my leisure, with no pressure from them to do it in a hurried fashion. Amazon.com gets major kudos for that.

Despite them suggesting the item was ready to be shipped til a certain date, so I bumped up the pre-order free shipping to second day. Then I found out that pre-orders were not leaving til that date and it was actually available sooner with more cash involved for shipping. Honestly, find this to be a negative with amazon.com, for I had pre-ordered at miniumum of three weeks prior to it being
available for shipping, and they had it ready to be shipped out, it would have been nice if they would have shipped it, rather than hold on to it trying to get folks to bump up the shipping. Poor practices if you ask me.

The computer itself, AWESOME! Fast small easy enough to navigate.

I recommend getting a mouse and installing additional drivers for the touchpad so you can disable it if you are plannin on doing any typing. Its very annoying when it jumps the cursor around and also deleting typed text. UGH.

If you are upgrading the memory, be weary. This is not a one two three you’re done. There are no instructions as to how to separate and replace bottom cover, I was only able to find out online that there are a total 10 screws that would need to come out, 10th one being underneath the ‘if seal broken violates warranty sticker’

Which I understand why, you’re tinkering around with electronic and plastic components where its very easy to snap and hear the wrong sounding pop. So just be warned I found this aspect of getting it up and running very difficult and stressing.

The screen is sweet and better than what I had anticipated,
displays almost perfectly (with room to spare) my favorite gaming site.
Which I had seen on smaller systems and knew 8.9 would not suit my needs.

The speakers, well less than par, but honestly, its something you’re going to overlook if you are buying this for the sake of having a very portable very convenient netbook.

I am unsure what Windows is actually doing with their new OS and I hope they take in mind that more and more of us will be using netbooks to run their OS. I have heard they are suggesting a limited version of 7 for netbooks where they would be crippling the computing environment so that end user would only have 3 programs running. That scares me a bit, but I love XP, so as long as I have XP I will be extremely happy with my present purchase.

Oh one major drawback to this computer, UGH UGH, the bag that is a freebie add-on…does not fit the computer with the battery in. I find that to be the dumbest thing ever, to send out a product with a carrying case that does not carry the item you purchased safely or conveniently. Sortta like giving me a gas card for a 100 gallons of reg unleaded when I
bought a vehicle with a diesel engine. Just plain DUMB. Thankfully its something you’re going to ultimately overlook as you try and figure out WTH am I going to do with this.

Yes I would recommend to friends and family, and feel it was worth my nickels dimes and pennies.


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