MSI Laptops Vs. The Rest

GarrettGraff

GarrettGraff

Cui Bono?
Joined
Jun 12, 2018
Messages
61
Likes
42
Degree
0
I bought an MSI Laptop about 10 months ago and have been completely displeased with it. Anybody else have better luck?

I picked it up because for $800 I could still use it for streaming our podcast (high end i5 and a NVIDIA 1060 with 8GB RAM) while on the road and I was looking at $1200-$1500 to buy a decent comparable brand.

I've had to totally disable the touch pad, even after firmware updates, mobo reflash, driver updates etc. When I type, the slightest vibration activates the mouse as a click and ing like this sentences end up look.

Other than that it performs as you'd expect. While I am on the topic of MSI, last summer I also built a new machine with a MSI Mobo and NVIDIA based graphics card and was not at all impressed with their documentation.. I switched to the darkside and tried the new AMD Ryzen. What I didn't know that MSI had rushed the ryzen mobos out with BIOSs that didn't work. So, I assembled the PC, hooked up my monitors and hit the power button. Machine wouldn't boot. Removed everything, and only inserted 1 stick of RAM and the graphics card. Still wouldn't post. spent 2 hours on the phone with a Russian tech support guy that I couldn't understand, and he said to RMA everything MSI that I had bought. It wasn't until I finally figured out that YOU CAN'T HAVE DUAL MONITORS PLUGGED INTO THE GRAPHICS CARD that the machine would finally post so I could reflash the MOBO with a properly working BIOS. How can't you document that shit, and your tech support guy not know?

/rant
 
I can't add anything to the MSI discussion but I'll take a moment to rant.

I have an Apple Macbook Air and a Mac Pro. Both were the bee's knees... until I decided to upgrade to High Sierra when it came out. I don't know why I keep having to learn this lesson over and over, but they suck me in with talk about Metal graphics enhancements and new file systems and all this.

Well, when I updated the Macbook Air it completely bricked it and I had to start over with the original OS. Then I updated the Mac Pro (after taking a backup) and it went over perfectly. Except now I'll go for months where it'll freeze 3 or 4 times per day. Then magically months will go by where it doesn't freeze. Then it starts again. Other people online complain about it but there's been no statements or fixes yet.

They also still have issues with peripherals. Sometimes they do great, other times they get confused. Although I have to admit I have an ungodly amount of stuff connected to the Mac Pro. Then again, if they didn't want that, they shouldn't have added so many inputs.

I guess what I'm saying is, why are some of the problems of the 1990's still plaguing computers now.

Like your dual monitor problem. I have 3 monitors, but if I don't connect them one at a time in the right order it freaks out. Once you get them working, you dread the day you ever have to unplug them and re-battle the set up again.
 
OMG Right!?

It is 2018 - how hard is it to write a standardized driver or something. I get there are tons and tons and tons of different ways a certain peripheral could be connected via different hardware but .. aren't there standards to be followed?

Like every week on our podcast, I never change any audio settings but without fail somehow it gets messed up.
 
Ryuzaki said:
I can't add anything to the MSI discussion but I'll take a moment to rant.

I have an Apple Macbook Air and a Mac Pro. Both were the bee's knees... until I decided to upgrade to High Sierra when it came out. I don't know why I keep having to learn this lesson over and over, but they suck me in with talk about Metal graphics enhancements and new file systems and all this.

Well, when I updated the Macbook Air it completely bricked it and I had to start over with the original OS. Then I updated the Mac Pro (after taking a backup) and it went over perfectly. Except now I'll go for months where it'll freeze 3 or 4 times per day. Then magically months will go by where it doesn't freeze. Then it starts again. Other people online complain about it but there's been no statements or fixes yet.

They also still have issues with peripherals. Sometimes they do great, other times they get confused. Although I have to admit I have an ungodly amount of stuff connected to the Mac Pro. Then again, if they didn't want that, they shouldn't have added so many inputs.

I guess what I'm saying is, why are some of the problems of the 1990's still plaguing computers now.

Like your dual monitor problem. I have 3 monitors, but if I don't connect them one at a time in the right order it freaks out. Once you get them working, you dread the day you ever have to unplug them and re-battle the set up again.
Click to expand...

I was just searching for a fix for my MacBook Pro's kernel_task issue. CPU usage ramps up for kernel_task, crippling the system, which I suspect is caused by having three external monitors (with the MacBook Pro lid largely shut but cracked open a bit for air flow). Two monitors are connected via thunderbolt using an HDMI to thunderbolt and DVI to thunderbolt adapter, while the third display is connected directly into the laptop via HDMI. From what I've read, the issue may be caused by the system's intentionally ramping up the CPU in order to trigger the system's fans, which doesn't make sense to me. An alternative suggestion that's been made is that the multiple monitors triggers the higher end graphics card to activate, causing increased heat and taxing the system. The system's a 2.7GHz i7 with 16 gb ram and the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M with 1gb of ram and an SSD hard drive. Long story short, any chance you've run into this issue and/or have a proposed fix? It's irritating.

Edit: To add insult to injury, the programs I am running include Messages, Skype, a browser and Microsoft Word. I'm not video editing or doing intense design/photo editing work.
 
Thunderbolt is handled by the CPU. So, you're essentially running those two monitors off your CPU which can be quite a load.
 
GarrettGraff said:
Thunderbolt is handled by the CPU. So, you're essentially running those two monitors off your CPU which can be quite a load.
Click to expand...
Granted, but we're talking about crippling an i7. Maybe I am expecting too much.
 
becool said:
Long story short, any chance you've run into this issue and/or have a proposed fix? It's irritating.
Click to expand...

No, but that could be what's happening to me. I have 3 monitors, all connected with Thunderbolt. That sucks about the CPU usage for Thunderbolt, which I didn't know, considering I have two great GPU's in the Mac Pro that largely go unused. They're great for video editing and conversions and all that, but I'm fairly disappointed in their gaming abilities (although I know Mac's aren't even remotely optimized for that purpose).

I think in the semi-near future I'm going to try out a big Ultrawide monitor instead of three huge ones. I don't really use all the space (the outer portions of the side ones) and I think it'd be cool to not have bezels, which I feel dictate how I use them (less effectively). Maybe that'll solve the freezing issue, but I'm in my weird phase where it doesn't freeze at all. I'm sure in a month or two I'll be back to 3 freezes a day.

I'm on a 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5. I can't imagine it's getting crippled. 16 GB of RAM. Two AMD FirePro D300 graphics cards.

I did read people saying to do the PRAM & SMC reset, which did nothing for me. Others said that we could have bad blocks on our hard drives. I don't know. Thank god I have an SSD for the main system hard drive though. The reboots are really fast and most windows open right back up to how they were.
 
Well, Im gonna jump in on this too.

I have a MacBook Pro 17-inch a la 2009 or something like that.

From the first day I had it, I knew it wasn't the bee knees that everyone told it would be. I drank the Kool-Aid and found out several thousands dollar sunk into it, it didn't do jack better than a PC. It worked the same as my PC desktop when it came to freezing up, beach ball/pinwheel-ing all the time, etc.

I use it for very low end tasks now, like writing ( some apps I like better on Mac ) and doing the simple podcast and youtube videos I do, but it's always hanging on me still.

I run almost nothing on it and have done all the stuff I could to it, but it's been just as problematic as my PC all these years.

I'm not saying its junk, I'm just saying it's not better like everyone told me it would be.

With that said, I was looking to buy a smaller version for traveling.. it's just that this time I won't have the high expectations, or the want to spend a ton more compared to a Windows version for that expectation.
 
becool said:
Granted, but we're talking about crippling an i7. Maybe I am expecting too much.
Click to expand...

Probably shouldn't be crippling an i7, but i wouldn't be surprised if it took 1/3 to 1/2 of your cpu power to run two screens, depending on resolution and refresh rate
 
eliquid said:
Well, Im gonna jump in on this too.

I have a MacBook Pro 17-inch a la 2009 or something like that.

From the first day I had it, I knew it wasn't the bee knees that everyone told it would be. I drank the Kool-Aid and found out several thousands dollar sunk into it, it didn't do jack better than a PC. It worked the same as my PC desktop when it came to freezing up, beach ball/pinwheel-ing all the time, etc.

I use it for very low end tasks now, like writing ( some apps I like better on Mac ) and doing the simple podcast and youtube videos I do, but it's always hanging on me still.

I run almost nothing on it and have done all the stuff I could to it, but it's been just as problematic as my PC all these years.

I'm not saying its junk, I'm just saying it's not better like everyone told me it would be.

With that said, I was looking to buy a smaller version for traveling.. it's just that this time I won't have the high expectations, or the want to spend a ton more compared to a Windows version for that expectation.
Click to expand...

I like the build quality. I cannot stand the latest iteration of Windows (which is another reason why I've historically stuck with Apple). I also have an Air which is fantastic for traveling (and haven't encountered any issues to speak of with the Air, but I'm not trying to drive three monitors off of it). Having that said, I like Lenovo's ThinkPads (or at least I did years back). The limitations I am complaining about with respect to the MacBook Pro could simply be caused by using a notebook as opposed to a desktop - I really don't know anymore, but it sounds like @Ryuzaki has a Mac desktop which is also causing him grief. A budget Dell workstation should be able to pull this stuff off without an issue.

I may just purchase a cheap PC workstation and plug in a video card that has three outputs, HDMI, or otherwise.
 
My experiences with Apple computers has been... keep it at the factory configuration you order. @CCarter had it right when I bitched to him about this: We need to keep them at the same operating system version they come with and just stay there until you buy a new computer. Repeat.

For me, it's been the OS upgrades that botch everything. Otherwise they work like magic.
 
I wonder if Apple has a bad habit of, as they produce new operating systems, not updating drivers/firmware or making an effort to make things more compatible with older hardware.
 
hp spectre x360 my weapon of choice, plus an asus ROG gaming laptop (sub par but is has a seperate video card for good videoing)
 
I'll represent for the pre-2012 (old keyboard style) #ThinkpadMasterRace. Ya'll need to get you some! If you type a lot, and more importantly if you enjoy typing, you can thank me later.

Not gonna lie, you won't have an amazing time with games on one of these. For typical day-to-day stuff though, they'll get the job done just fine.

At this point, Windows is malware. Windows 7 is bearable for now, but that probably won't last much longer. Ubuntu or Linux Mint are decent gateway drugs to escape the MS world, though they'll always lack a bit of compatibility with some of what you might be used to. For a daily workstation though, some form of Linux or BSD + an old Thinkpad is an excellent combo towards a less painful system to maintain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back