Medion notebooks

Can someone pls tell me how good Medion notebooks are?
They seem to be priced much less than the more popular ones.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1059745772647&type=product

 

Medion is a German company that has limited operations in the US. Their products are very cheap and are even sold in extremely low end retailers like Aldi. Aldi is actually a grocery store that sells some electronics in some stores. Picture getting clear yet? While they might have decent specs, I would strongly advise against spending money on something like this, unless you are very risk tolerant. You might be happy, but the odds really are not in your favor if you have high expectations for your notebook.

Brian

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Can anyone who bought Medion MD 40298 Centrinos tell me how the notebook performs in battery usage and video play? I know that the notebook is made via Taiwanese company (probably FIC...saw some reference to Medion and FIC on the net), so they are probably not much different than many notebooks out there. Thanks.

 

There's not much information to go off at this point. The only thing I could suggest is to buy one from a company with a generous return policy. I think Costco sells this line, so that might work.

Brian

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

I am going out of my way to purchase a Medion Computer. I had the chance to use one last semester and it was most likely the best computer I have ever used. Long battery life, thin screen, great performance. So shame on all of you who feel that because a "discount" reatailer such as Aldi-which is a leading International company-sells these great machines. http://www.medion.de
Daniel

 

Look, I didn't say they were garbage, I don't know if that's true or not. I did say you have to be risk tolerant or low-budget for them to work for you...unless you have prior experience. I'm glad you liked your last one.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Brian

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by drhty5

 

Well, let's not get hasty on associating quality by who sells a product. Unless, that is, you're willing to cast HP down into the cellars just because Wal-Mart sells them (They sell groceries, for God's Sake!)

That said, I'd only come anywhere near a product if I was able to find extensive feedback from past customers - to prove that the glowing review of one corresponds to actual, general quality.

 

Your witty reply would be valid except you overlooked something--and didn't actually read what I wrote. Firstly, Walmart is the number one electronic retailer in the USA according to volume. Where is Aldis on that list? [ ] Secondly, I was making fun of Aldis (yes, that was sarcasm in that post) as a place for buying a laptop; I stand behind that assertion. Go ahead and reread my post, where in that am I associating quality based on location of purchase?

I'm not associating quality based on who sells it, they just suck period. I don't care who sells them. But it strikes me as funny that Aldis would carry them as they aren't world reknown for selling electronics but rather generic groceries and food stuffs.

Also, although the place of purchase doesn't make a notebook bad or good I would never even CONSIDER buying a notebook at a place that normally does not deal with electronics--at least in general. . .nonetheless a place that ONLY sells groceries and the occasional budget electronic toy. Would you?

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by TheShaman

 

I purchased the Medion 42100 at Aldi's. I agree I never thought I would purchase a laptop from a grocery store. I have three laptops. A Dell and A CTX. This is by far a better machine. The features are great and I like the feel of the keyboard. It is a Centrino 1.5 GHz.

The Cd burner works great. The USB ports are 2.0 and work fine. There are 4 of them. It is very cool running. I got just over 3 hours on the battery.

For $799.00 I don't feel it was a bad purchase. How long it will last remains to be seen. It feels solid. It was very spooky buying a computer from Aldi's. Sometimes bargins are found in strange places

 

I recently purchased the Medion 42100 notebook. After checking out all comparable products on the market, this notebook was more fully featured than the rest for the price. I could not find any information prior to my purchase to suggest that these notebooks were in anyway problematic. After two weeks of total happiness and enjoying my new purchase, it suddenly refused to boot. It wouldn't even go through the boot process. The fan came on as usual, went off, then nothing. I have sent the unit back for repairs to Medion after being reassured that the process takes only 7 days. It is now going on day 10. It has yet to be shipped from their facility back to me at this point. I had some very important research on that notebook for a class I was taking. The loss of that data, as well as my notebook, cost me some valuable time. I was on the verge of just taking it back. After getting it back, I just may do that. That's a shame too!

 

One more thing - While Medion is German - the original laptop design is by MSI - go to their MSI website and see models s260 and s270 - identical to the Medion LS.

This is purely a guess - but I think Medion buys these laptops from MSI and puts their Logo on them.





It's all relative.

 

Purchased the Medion LS MD95334 12.1" from BestBuy about a week ago. Paid $950 on sale.

Love the small size and looks of this puppy. Lovely 12.1" screen 1280x800 high gloss - and the whole thing is light ~4 pounds. It even comes with a Windows CD - unlike so any other laptops.

This is one sexy laptop - so whatsnot to love? - Mostly cosmetic issues.

Keyboard - have to press a litle firmer to register the characters. The key back pressure is fine but - sometimes when you press a key - the character does not register, you can feel the click - but no character on the sceen. Plus the whole keyboard flexes (even with the slighest pressure) on the sides - way more than any other laptop keyboard I have tried - and I have tried dozens at BB, CC and Fry's.

The wrist rest area next to the touchpad is slightly warped - it rises visibly under the right wrist - presumably the space for harddrive is to cramped and it pushes up and cause a minor bulge under the right wrist. Plastic warpage is observable,and ou can fel the dips and rises whne you run you fingers across the top surface, in several places of the keyboard area. I went back to BB to check out the display model - same problem.

Ports are placed in poor locations: Placement of the plugs on the sides - for example if you want to use an ethernet connection - it plugs in on the right side near the front so you can bet it interferes with the mouse (I don't care for touchpads) usage and placement. A couple of the USB connections are there too - more obstructions.

These ports should have been placed further back towards the screen. Overall - the port design on this machine is poorly implimented. The CD drive could have moved to the bottom right side and the ports moved to the top left.

The pasted/embedded laptop brand name logo near the bottom of the screen is slighty off - by one or two degrees so it looks slightly twisted when you glance at it.

The laptop has the Intel 915 graphic chipset - about average in speed - lacks smoothness when moving windows about. Dedicated chipsets from ATI or nVidia are smoother.

What else... oh yes, the other thing that bothers me WHOLE A LOT, and will bother most of you, is the CPU fan - though low in noise and not high-pitched - it constantly turns on and off - on for three seconds - off for 5 seconds and on again for 10 seconds - on off on off on off on off - three and four times a minute - even when all I am doing is typing this review. My current room temperature is 68f/20c. So it is not too hot - but this puppy starts turning on and off and on and off soon after I start using hte laptop -- argh. Anyone know how to turn it off? In the Sony 13.3" models - one can the set temperature when this thing comes on. Anyone know how to do this on the Medion? Please let me know.

Had I previously known about this problem - I would have not purchased this machine. In fact it may go back tomorrow anyway - hate those restocking fees! I need lighweight and portable machine - don't have too many options in this price range.

I have not used the wireless connection or the CDburner yet - can't comment on then - though I don't anicipate problems.

Sigh! - a love hate relationship that probably won't last. Keyboard and fan are deal breakers for me.

It's all relative.

 

Now THAT'S a review! Made me think twice about buying one.

 

I really advise not to buy a Medion notebook. I've bought one two years ago, and sure, the first months I really enjoyed it. However, after a year I started having troubles with the DVD/CDRW player (not reading cds/dvds randomly, making strange noise), and later the notebook started to produce much heat. Now, after two years, the battery only lasts less than 30 minutes and the notebook shuts down randomly because of overheating. I've always been a happy buyer at Aldi, even got a desktop last year with which I'm really happy, but the notebooks really aren't worth buying, not even for such a low price.

 

Ok people, this thread seems to be veering off course. This is the Medion forum, so let's try to keep it on topic. If you want to discuss quality of stores, please continue the discussion in the Off-Topic section.

Thanks,

-Vb-

 

Any comments on the color of the laptops? Since they are white it always makes me think they will look "dirty" after a lot of carrying around - is it the case?

 

I haven't used one long enough to answer this, but I don't hear a lot of complaints out of iBook owners.

 

I recently bought Medion MD 95302 (1.3 Pentium M, 512 Work.mem, 60 gbyte disk). Yeah it's white and I like it. It's different from all those black notebooks. The thing is working fine sofar. It get's a little worm but so what? It's good on cold nights. The only thing which dissapoints me is the battery. It only lasts about 75 minutes which is much to low. No notebook should last less than 3 hours in my oppinion. I have minimized the screen energy drane by taking away the screensaver and wallpaper but still I only get 75 minutes.

If anybody knows anything (maybe it's extra light battery) please let me know.

 

I lowered the light on the display, took out the PCA-card and now the little white thing is going for 2 hours. Not enough though. Looking into stronger batteries and software (smartdisk and norton utilities)

 

i bought a medion desktop around 5 years ago (p42.0ghz 384ram 60 gb) still going fine now i love it great for gaming oh course i had to upgrade to a 128 graphic card and 512mb and ethernet card but other then that i love it running woindows MCE 2005 fine! ( i bought it in PCworld)

 

Last May I bought a Medion Akoya EX (MIM2060) from Best Buy. Did a lot of research, liked the portability and features as well as the white color. I still like it a lot, except for a couple of glitches.

White color: The pearl white finish is painted on, so one must take care not to scratch it off, unlike ibooks, in which the white color is solid plastic. I've had mine about 10 months and have only one scratch, but I keep it in a good case always when it's not in use.

Keyboard: My keyboard has two annoying problems: 1) it beeps at me frequently to tell me it just recorded my last keystroke twice (two "w"s) or that it will not record my next keystroke, whatever it will be; and 2) It randomly locks into a caps lock mode (but without the caps lock light illuminated) and at the same time places a bookmark wherever the cursor is at the moment, then wherever you move the cursor, it highlights everything in between. Sometimes I can "undo" this glitch with some combination of "Ctrl" "Fn" "Shift" "Caps Lock" keys, sometimes I have to reboot.

Battery Life: It's great - has the oversized battery that protrudes 3/4" out the back side. I get 5 hours of document or photo processing time, as long as any air flight I've been on since I bought it. I don't know about dvd use and battery life; haven't tried that.

 

I bought a Medion Akoya EX last year from Best Buy (with the warranty) and I really like it. It's light weight and thin. The only 2 problems I have is that the Letters on the keyboard are wearing off and the lights (wireless, Number loick, Caps lock etc) on the bottom left-hand side dig into my wrist when I'm typing. I have not had the white paint problems, beeping problems, or the caps lock problem and my battery lasts at least 5 hours and even more if I turn off the wireless.

This is the larger one with 14 inch screen adn CD/DVD burner but I did notice the smaller and older version's keyboard was on a plastic mat which makes all the keys move at once.

Does anyone know where I can get new keys since the letters have worn off?

 

You'll have to buy the full keyboard - single keys aren't sold.

 

did you find any solution?
it also happened once just after 5 minutes of using it, so it was not that 'hot'.

it also happened that I worked all day without any problems. I have been using always the same applications so I cannot see what's the problem.

I also runned an antivirus and it found nothing. Do you know of any freeware/trial antivirus?

any other tips?

thanks.

 

Check your CPU`s temp. Use Notebook Hardware Control

Most probable causes: clogged air vent or dried out/degraded thermal paste, bad RAM, whatever.

Dust out that air vent if you haven`t done so already.

Oh, and don`t reply to threads that died 6 months ago

 

hello guys.....i have a problem with my medion akoya ls.....i have problem with the verticals photos...it doesnt make them show smaller and be normal...it makes the bodies look like dwarfs....any suggestions?

 

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