Asus Vs. MSI: The Battle Has Begun!

I'm jaded enough to believe that when a company is pushing for market share, it will employ information -- and even disinformation -- shock troops to go on the Internet and cast Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt on a competitor's product.

Has this begun to happen with the battle between champion Asus and contender MSI? From the very popular and very active tipdpc.com forum in the Philippines comes the first skirmishes of the war ahead!

Read this from COOLTOYZ, posted on May 20, 2008 03:35 PM (scroll down at link):

As a store that used to sell MSI;

1) We just found too may customer returns to the detriment of the customer.

2) They keyboards are really horrible on all models. It is noisy and lacks depth compared to Dell, HP, and IBM. It is even much worse that the keyboard of Acer. I guess that is our disadvantage because we are able to test units side-by-side - for us nothing is worse than a bad keyboard because you can not avoid using the KB.

3) Friends who insisted on buying the MSI have been complaining that the plastic of MSI gets warped easily. The base warps because of heat so when you type on a flat table, the laptop is not even. (Checked all rubbers and they were complete) I guess you get what you pay for.

And then later on from the same COOLTOYZ, posted on May 20, 2008 04:29 PM (again, scroll down):

a) I am putting a wager/bet. The MSI Wind with a 10inch display and standard 3-cell battery will not reach 2Hours on battery. WiFi On while surfing the net at 90% screen brightness; all stock settings. Our personal Estimate is 90minutes.

b) I will bet P2,000.00 to an owner of a unit that can demo battery life at our store. ^.^

And then from Det, posted on May 21, 2008 12:08 AM (scroll down):

recently lang nag po produce ng laptops ang MSI but in other hardwares they are pretty good ..... sa motherboards i've had several MSI mobos ang they never broke down ever even with overclocking .... not the best but pretty reliable and good value for money. I do beleive MSI will make better laptops than their first attempts.

And then from roleano, posted on May 22, 2008 09:15 AM (again, scroll down):

MSI is a good brand. They have been engaged in laptop business and yet, their product seems to be okay. I have an MSI laptop and it has not bogged down yet. With their new product, the MSI Wind, this will be a great notebook.

And it goes on.

For someone who has never bought anything from MSI, some FUD has been injected into the buying equation. Will that plastic warp from the heat of constant use? Or will the keyboard be so bad that buyers who purchase sight unseen will immediately return it?

I don't mean to cast aspersions on any of the people I've quoted above. In fact, COOLTOYZ is a legitimate dealer who's been a member of that forum since November 04, 2003.

I use these quotes as illustrations of the kind of give-and-take we'll all be experiencing for at least the next month (if not more!).

No one will really know anything until we experience the MSI Wind personally. Reviews can help, but aren't personal final verdicts!

And, of course, Asus would like us to also consider its rumored 10"-screen EeePC 1000!