Next generation of MSI products

[silver_cefiro]

What do you expect for next generation of MSI products ? Such as MB, VGA, NB, Barebone....etc.

[Fredrik]

For MSI: Less Nvidia, less VIA, less SiS, less Creative. More AMD, more Intel.

More in general:
- Graphics cards going the same way as processors: Higher efficiency, multiple cores, more power-saving options.
- Much improved onboard graphics on the motherboard.
- Less components visible on the motherboard - like chipsets, sound cards, graphic cards, RAID controllers, but much more features built into the or one of the processor (cores). Motherboard coming with onboard memory right from the start - ASUS made a great such mobo, but it was too expensive. 
- IDE-standard as we know it, opticals and hard disks, I think is approaching the end of it's life. Much can be saved if leaving that. Look at laptops and such toys!

[Bas]

Motherboard:

Better placed connectors, make sure they are not blocking large cards. Happens a lot with memory and sata.
Better placed PCIe slots, big coolers and VGA cards can block the next slot.

Onboard Wifi with antenna that can be placed behind the front of the case, like Medion does. (so no external case antennas needed)
Return of RS-232 port or a header, just 1 will do, many equipment like Sat-dish boxes and Radar equipment still use RS-232, it's an important port!

Removal of D-led, the information is mostly false anyway, simply a 4 stage led (cpu+memory + BIOS init + VGA init + OS-boot/harddisk) that counts a few stages that are important, but not so complicated.

Better manuals and memory explanation, and failed tested devices also listed. Many RAID/SCSI cards fail but are not listed!
Who cares if stuff only works, we really want to know if something is tested and DOESN'T work.

Less variations on boards, but better supported in BIOS and lifetime, MSI replaces boards too quickly and many boards have the same on options.

Diamond boards with Intregrated SAS controller Promise T3 with >4 ports internal and connected to PCI-e-4x! Also tell people it can take SAS disks!

Serious audio controllers on the Diamond Boards, not the Creative stuff as they are poor, if you have too, design your own card or talk to Terratec or one of the other better audio-card-manufacturers.

2 PATA controllers, it's a Diamond board, so it should not lack controllers.

Notebooks:

Less versions, there are simply too much variations, simplify to: GamingSeries / Professionalseries / ValueSeries

Gaming series -> Good sound / speed / graphics -> Battery life is not important 1 hour is fine.

Professional series -> Average sound / average graphics / average speed -> Battery life is very important

Values series -> A good laptop for cheap -> starting with the Wind series.

Another idea -> Custom series -> Very good laptop but the lids can be printed with people's own design! (maybe too difficult)

BIOS'ses:

Include AHCI enable/disable in EVERY BIOS! It's a shame some BIOS'ses are lacking this option. Disabled by default. (the function is questionable on it own, as it's unclear of it's benefit)

Include USB-power-standby on/off in every BIOS, some people want USB off at power down, others want sleep modes, make it selectable.

Spareparts:

MSI should open a spare-parts online shop in Taiwan (or at MSI Europe), where everything can be ordered from: BIOS-chips to I/O shields and laptop batteries.
Simply put, the customer asks (showing proof of purchase of a product) and MSI will deliver the spare part for a (small) fee including shipping and handling to satisfy the customers needs of a lost/broken part that otherwise can't be gotten.
Many people here in the forum complain about this, and mostly MSI Europe helps them if they have the part wanted.
However, retail products that shops carry can not be gotten there, only a d-bracket that is missing or stopped working, that sort of stuff that the normal channel refuses to carry.

That's about my list of what I think MSI should do or change.

[Stu]

With the increased popularity of mobile broadband USB dongles here in the UK, I'd like to see MSI notebooks have this feature built-in, so you could have a truly wireless notebook that can access the internet wherever there is a 3G mobile phone signal, without the need for an unsightly USB dongle. Users would just need to obtain the correct SIM card from their mobile phone provider, which could slot inside the notebook, maybe under a cover in the base of the unit.

Also, as Bas has already suggested, more mainboards with built-in wireless LAN. Especially in the mini-ITX and m-ATX markets, where users may be building small media-center type machines, and don't want to lose a PCI slot (which are often limited on these types of boards) for a wireless LAN card, or have a USB device poking out the back.

In fact, I'd also like to see more mini-ITX boards aimed at the mainstream consumer market. Small, energy-efficient 'green' PCs are a big market waiting to be tapped into, as not everyone needs a superfast dual-core system to browse internet and use simple office packages. The Wind 'nettop' series is a good start, but better marketing and promotion (and price-point) is required, otherwise it is doomed to failure!

Oh, and bring back the MSI case stickers too!

[ziggycat]

Personally I would like to see MSI introduce new devices such a wireless hdmi (see Belkins FlyWire due to launch soon). Can see a big market for products of this nature at the right price of course.

[FoamingToad]

One beef I have is the excessive amount of time taken to poll devices at system startup - particularly where a RAID device is included and needs to poll attached devices.

It may be a pipe dream on my part, but I'd seriously like the option to be able to set and forget things like the RAID config, so the startup time is reduced. 

Also, there's one thing I saw on (I think) a Gigabyte mainboard recently.  Basically they provided a mini-header for the USB and PC Front Panel headers - so you connected the individual wires to this detachable header, which then attached to the mainboard.  It's a really nifty little idea and one I'd like to see more often.  Apologies if this is already part of the MSI line.

[james1701]

Also, there's one thing I saw on (I think) a Gigabyte mainboard recently.  Basically they provided a mini-header for the USB and PC Front Panel headers - so you connected the individual wires to this detachable header, which then attached to the mainboard.  It's a really nifty little idea and one I'd like to see more often.  Apologies if this is already part of the MSI line.

That came in the box of my P45 Platinum.  So, that's taken care of in newer boards.

I would also like to add another vote for the manual. 

[kippie]

7 wishes:

• touch screen products
• cooling with nanospreader (vapor chamber)
• more DrMOS
• all notebook models also as barebone (whitebook)
• a real thin client with OS support
• low-end products: easy and clear
• high-end products: no limits, well documented

and...
not 'nice to have' but 'to have' is my motto.
"Quality Products Create Faithful Customers"

[bashirsouid]

machines with like 12 hour battery life.  seems like people are finally thinking about half day and full day battery usage.

also linux machines are great.  they are cheaper to produce, cheaper for the customer and run faster and can have better battery life (if configured properly).

[acidrecords]

1) Better Tech Support!! Momentary Support is the badest i`ve ever seen. that is the most important thing!

2) open notebook bios without limitation

3) irq setting for notebooks in bios

4) full expresscard support for notebooks. (there are many problems with pr200 and expresscard)

5) testing testing and testing before releasing products.

[fraggle]

Better bios and better memory performance.

[blizzard182]

For motherboards: HDMI and eSata support on a middle market mobo.

For notebooks: replaceable pcie vga cards and better battery life. Not that my battery in the u100 doesnt last enough, but I would love to be out all day without having to pack my av cord.

[eGGnext]

For notebooks: More battery life, backlit keyboard, better cooling, maybe an option for slot-load drive? Ah... and make some models pre-loaded with Ubuntu or some other popular linux distro.
And please keep making quality products at good value. Never go the cheap-and-crappy way...

[jpntaka]

Better component locations.
Why does RAM have to be in the way of the air flow. I think it should be more efficient for the majority of people using air cooling, like me, if it was parallel to the pci slots.

Since most graphics cards are using up 2 slots, there should be a space for one slot right under the PCI x16 slot.

[Richard]

I would like to see MSI continue to provide Motherboards with more options on them, MSI leads in Value for the money. The Motherboards usually out pace the competition on bells and whistles offered. I would like to see more options in the Motherboard BIOS to help the enthusiast market.

When it comes to Video Cards, I would like to see the trend started with the 8X GeForce4 Ti cards where they provide innovative cooling solutions. (Back in the day it was called the "T.O.P Tech Cooling".) Use RAM with higher then spec response times which when combined with the MSI cooling solutions allow the enthusiasts to get the most of of their Video Cards and continue to attract that market.

I would also like to see MSI push further into the HTPC Market. Work a medium performance for people just looking at using it as an HTPC and a high end for people looking to double as a gaming platform on their HTPC.

I would like to see onboard Dolby Digital Live on the motherboards. Still after all this time, there is little out there that compares to the SoundStorm which MSI had on their nForce2 Motherboards.

Richard

[Chupacabras22]

My wishlist:
1. better stability and much better driver quality (especially for x64)
2. super-quiet solutions (for HTPC, etc.), passive coolers (with as low performance impact as possible)
3. small factor motherboards with HDMIs (for HTPC)
4. increase warranty length (5 years)
5. stop producing notebooks. really, take it as good advise. better to produce nothing than notebooks with very poor quality

(He has no MSI notebook nor any experience on MSI notebooks, Bas)

[MDDI]

I recently purchased a MS-1722 barebone notebook. I am not a MSI system builder partner, I am an end user. This is my first MSI whitebook. I am pleased overall with the MS-1722, however, I am not able to register the warranty.

I have purchased other brands of whitebooks in the past and not had an issue with product registration. It seems that MSI only allows partnered system builders to register the warranty on whitebook products.

The company I purchased my MS-1722 from is a re-seller but not a builder. They have not been able to help me with my product registration. I am not able to register my whitebook on the MSI website, it will not allow me to do so. The website instructs me to register through the builder partner, which is not an option.  

I have made attempts to contact MSI Tech Service without successful results.

In the future, I request that MSI allow end users who purchase and configure their own whitebooks to register their products. If MSI does not want to do so, do not allow re-sellers who are not builders to sell MSI whitebook products.

[TristanVash38]

Imagine where a leading-edge team of IT experts drew out the perfect motherboard blueprint.  But then realized it wasn't to ATX spec.  

I work with the Army Corps of Engineers, Lockheed Martin, and Dell.  The computers in use are great, especially the 5400's with the dual-xeon and eight threads to work with.  I'm in their IT department and get to play with supercomputers.  Like, the CRAY XT4.  

My point is, not even government wants to get out of the "safety net" of using a different form-factor for a motherboard.

It would make me proud to build my customers, and myself, on the side a new computer, with a case that MSI has designed themselves, a NEW STANDARD sized motherboard.  We have been using the ATX formfactor for TOO LONG and trying to make things work with this.  Create a new standard form-factor MSI, make me proud.  This is the next generation.  Make the motherboard the shape YOU want it to be, make it as big weird looking as possible.  All I ask is that you, of course, make a computer case that it will fit in.  Peace guys!  

P.S. typical wants would be to use more reliable fans and materials that make these fans.  I think that's not the case with my P7N diamond, but the K8N-NEO4 platinum northbridge chipset fan went out about 8 months after I had it.  (Granted, it was left on almost 24/7 doing protein foldings but oh well it got it's money's worth I believe )  

[Sealance]

BIOS well documented,so many times I find Bios functions with no documentation on what they do or the settings.

 Replacement part's that can be shipped on a turn around basis, now we have to send a part in that has a issue and
wait for weeks to get it back. Some of us out here can not afford to have multiple  High end parts laying around!

  Next, Gaming Laptop's , not all have to be 17 or 18 inch screens, ones that work well and that have a discrete video cards.
This would open up a large market, as I look daily for units like this for the Soldiers that I get laptops for to take overseas so they
can play games and stay in contact with there family's .  IF you can make units as this that do not cost so much that very few can afford  you
will sell a goodly amount. Battery life is not an issue with a Gaming laptop. Also the sound on said laptops , it does not have to have high end speakers
most if not all use headphones or speakers from the outside.

    Cooling Fans, we need a better quality fan, I have had to many fail in use in to short of time. Or a better cooling setup.

  I use mostly MSI products on the machines that I build, I have had very few issues with this product and I promote MSI as much as can be done.
The cost on your products is one of the best on the market and getting better.

[jeremym]

Well now with Abit exiting the motherboard market im back in the hunt for another good motherboard maker.  I was looking at MSI.  Here is what i want:

1. Keep producing quality Nvidia motherboards!  I absolutely love nvidia motherboards.  They are fast boards, offer a lot of extras, and SLI for any nvidia graphic card that supports it
2. More tweaking such as Abits Uguru brought to their boards
3. DDR2 motherboards.  DDR3 is just way to expensive for now especially when it doesn't bring much more to the table than DDR2.

[bstarynk]

What I expect most from MSI products (this is a sine qua non condition for me) is good support of Linux thru open-source (free) software drivers (preferably GPLv2+ licensed). Thiis includes not only the main components (northbridge, southbridge, ethernet, usb, SATA disks, graphical chipset) but also gadgets like modem, webcam, ....

I not only hate hardware without support on Linux, but also hardware with proprietary Linux drivers. I really want free (= open-source) software driver, that I could eventually patch or enhance.

--
Basile Starynkevitch (France) - with a MSI S270 laptop, that I would probably replace within 6 months.

[jcasares]

1. Better board design and connectors placement
2. Less heat dissipation and power consumption
3. Option for legacy connectors (serial/parallel/PS2) but not in board, just as addons
4. Legacy PCI slots (not kjust PCIe)
5. Fully integrated boards but with nice quality (like the old GeForce 6150 boards)
6. More SATA connectors
7. Wireless USB

[Tom Philippart]

I'm only talking about MSI mainboards:

1) always place the PCIe 1x slots on top of the PCIe 16x, big coolers block the slots and in case it fits the fans won't be able to "breathe"
2) improved BIOS fan control which controls all system fans and the CPU fan (the Asus BIOS fan control has an advantage over the MSI options)
3) better software: live update is a nightmare in Vista x64 with UAC enabled and Dualcorecenter needs a better interface and better controls, I'm talking about something like the new AMD overclocking utility for their Phenoms (furthermore DUALCOREcenter isn't a state of the art name anymore)
4) the driver CD should check for an internet connection and immediately download the most recent drivers and should only install the "old" ones from the CD when there's no internet connection available
5) more Circupipe and Drmos products!
6) include a small linux distribution in every future motherboard. This small OS should be tweaked for the product in order to achieve an almost "instant boot" which is possible with tiny distributions and it should only contain must have drivers, no bloatware please, like damn small linux or ASUS' EEEPC Xandros. It should cover every basic need like an internet browser and an office suite and of course a system info tool to track down possible bad configurations and applications like memtest... That way you should be able to troubleshoot your hardware without harddrive and without "real" OS while being also able to perform basic tasks in an easy environment (no console operations please!!).
7) passive or hybrid passive&watercooled cooling solutions are a must, no more motherboard fans!
8) no power connectors near the I/O shield, the cables always are always hard to connect, create a mess and harm the air flow, keep the power connectors on the other side (right side) of the board

This almost sounds as if I was unhappy with my MSI products, in contrary, I'm very happy to own them, they are all great quality, stable and MSI offers a TOP tech support which is friendly, fast and effective! Please keep up the good work! That's why I would also like to thank MSI by this occasion!!

[Junner2006]

I was almost happy with my PR200, except for the LCD screen which was - in my opinion - really poor! Still, here some suggestions:

• Use the best LCD component available at the market - this is something a user can't change, so, put a nice one in there, even if this would make the MSI more expensive!
• High-capacy battery - it is a laptop, so, make it work as long as possible while on the go!
• GPS Chip - Navigation is becoming a BIG THING on cell phones and PDA's, why not also on Laptops?
• EASY-TO-REMOVE Hard drives - would be nice if a hard drive could easily be 'plugged out' and replaced with another one (which then might have a different operating system), well, this is maybe too advanced?
• For sure: BLUETOOTH and W-Lan
• Keep HDMI OUT as a standard port but also include S-Video for older tv sets, minimum of 3 USB 2.0
• Strong and scratch-resistant housing
• Min. Memory 3GB
• DVD-RW drive with BLUERAY PLAYBACK capabilities and DIRECT LABELING!

[jason str]

Trade up program would be nice that is offered by other manufactures.

Offer stickers and case badges with new products. ( Almost free advertisement anyways ).

Be sure upfront about capabilities of products before listing. (CPU support, 3 way SLI support ETC...) Really bit the dirt with the P6N Diamond i purchased that was listed for a long time as having newer CPU support only to find out there is not.

Better color scheme on motherboards.

Maybe a coupon or something for discount for other MSI products when products are purchased. ( Buy our motherboard and get 10% off MSI video card)

Last but not least have support in the forum from MSI to make a one stop support for all products.  The forum is a great place but support from MSI would make things even better.

[dale77]

How about open-source bios?

[rockit00]

I'd love to see lighted fans on the motherboard like the old school 875P/865PE Neo2 series!

[mdawgmike]

For motherboards:
Just two things I would like to see in the next year or two from ANY manufacturer:

1)  More high-end mATX boards.  I personally don't think I'm the only one asking for this.  Building compact gaming rigs is a growing market and I'd think manufacturers would like to tap in on it.  If MSI were to make a mATX P45 board I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.  DFI is the only company making one that I know of and it just, well, is horrible.  Even if you're only running one card it still throttles it down to x8.

2)  Offer boards with no on-board audio or video, and focus on less often upgraded items such as more USB and e-SATA ports.  When most people build higher-end computers they add on their own cards anyway.  I have the opinion that all on-board audio is horrible, even the Creative chipsets (Audigy SE, "X-Fi").  Just do us all a favor and leave it off the higher end boards (and go back to the way it used to be) to save us the cost.  Don't include a mandatory audio card with the purchase either.  On top of the price complaint it just feels wasteful to have hardware that you'll never use.

For graphics cards:

I would like to see more "petite" high end cards if you will.  An example would be the 55nm 9800GT, such as the one EVGA makes.  I am an avid gamer, but I just don't like the trend graphic cards are going in.  Every things getting bigger, hotter, and more power hungry.  It would just be nice to see a little more innovation in that regard.  I know it's getting harder and harder nowadays to get transistors smaller though.  It's just concerning to me that high-end cards over the last few years have gone from this:
http://www.v3info.de/english/images/cards/voodoo3-2000.jpg
to this:
http://www.ozone3d.net/tutorials/images/hyperion_nutshell/gf6800gt.jpg
to this:
http://www.futurelooks.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/zotac_gtx280_0002.jpg

[Hans]

serious Linux support.... drivers, utilities, everything. People should be able to use MSI's hardware and choose their own operating system.

[BradMajors]

Support for Linux.

[imp_cat]

Better Linux compatibility.

Is that too much to ask for?

[uid313]

More openness.
Support for open standards.
More publically-available detailed hardware documentation with specification, registers, diagrams, charts, tables, etc.
Support for Coreboot firmware.

Would be nice with open source BIOS, open source device drivers.

Would be nice with CAD drawings, Verilog/VHDL circuit diagrams, etc.
Sun released the UltraSPARC T1 cpu as open source source.
VIA released the OpenBook with CAD drawings.
Stuff like that...

[xeper]

No legacy [PS-2, parallel, serial] ports and more new ports [HDMI, optical audio]

[amp_man]

What I expect to see: More top-notch motherboards, video cards, and other pci cards.

What I'd like to see: MSI get more into the embedded market, with nano- and pico-itx offerings. Perhaps get involved with the coreboot projected (www.coreboot.org) like AMD, Via, and Gigigabyte have done recently. Coreboot is like the ultimate BIOS for embedded: free, open-source, and wicked fast

[reef12]

Better Bios and Totally hands off update.

M/B you have are the greatest I have been  using one since 2000 and that is about 6 different ones.

Only had two go bad on me after years of service.

[slugbug]

- Power and reset buttons directly on the motherboard. They come in handy when testing out of a case.
- A detailed manual which clearly explains what each and every bios option is for. I've been building and overclocking computers for years and still don't know what all those options are for.
- An integrated Linux OS in the bios with 5sec boot, like a competitor has on its motherboards.
- An x58 motherboard with four pci-e 16x slots for gpu folding.

[BradMajors]

Bare bone systems and motherboards which are very quiet, very small, low power, support linux, and are low cost.  This likely means systems which have no fans and have low performance.  They are many applications where high performance is not needed.

[aemgtz]

Completly Support - OSX86



 

[bizzybody]

I'd like to see a low-cost Linear Tape-Open drive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open There are single tape LTO drives that fit in a 5.25" half-height bay, but they're still $2,000+ USD.

Why LTO? Because currently it is the only backup medium that isn't a hard drive, which can backup the average PC's complete storage capacity on one piece of media without (or even with) compression.

Get a sub-$500 LTO-4 drive out the door and MSI would grab a huge chunk of the single tape LTO market. Don't try going after the outfits who make the huge LTO systems with 100 drives and 1,000 tapes. The big corporate and government backup market is already saturated. Carve out your own niche in the home and small business PC market.

[boshi]

I would like to see a workstation board, with dual Xeon sockets, and 8 x FB-DIMM slots. I would also like it to have good onboard sound, dual gigabit, and all the other goodies.

I think it's high time that we see a serious PC land competitor to the 8-core Mac Pro workstations.