ZT Element

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834210003

Anybody got more info on this company?

 

I wanna know, too.

 

I need to know as well. That looks like a screaming deal, well under 1k even after upgrading it to 2gb RAM...

 

Someone in a review said it's based on the MSI's MS 1636 barebones.

Now I need to do some research on that because this looks like a great deal.

Krista

 

Looks like a good deal. I didn't see the "element" laptop model line on their webpage though...

http://www.ztsystems.com/

 

Hey guys/gals,

I just bought one of these ZT Element S1002i-74 from Newegg. I've had it since last Wednesday. I wouldn't describe myself as a notebook "expert" however this will be the 4th one I've owned/used. I do have vast PC experience, in building, upgrading, fixing, supporting friends/family. That being said, I can give my initial impression of this laptop (on it now)

So far I am happy with the laptop. I did not buy it to play games, nor is it a PC replacement. It is going to be used as a laptop. Mainly living life out in the family room for web browsing, and general internet duties.

The screen is widescreen, is very bright and looks really good compared to previous laptops I've used. The laptop is pretty thin and is lighter than I expected it to be.

Some (from newegg reviews) have complained about the DVD Drive eject button placement. It is pretty far forward, and I can see where it will be easy to hit. I have accidently opened it one time so far.

The "full" keyboard isn't exactly full sized. The right shift key is the size of a standard key, which takes some getting used to for sure. I am also not a fan of touchpads, and when using the laptop with the touchpad enabled, I move the mouse all over the place while typing. I plan to purchase a bluetooth mouse real soon. I'm currently using a wireless mouse from logitech (v200).

Generally speaking it runs cooler than my old Thinkpad, and seems to even run cooler than my work laptop (Dell D610).

The wireless / Bluetooth radios are operated via a hardware button located up near the power button. While it may be possible I have not figured out how to keep the wireless on between reboots/power off's. I would like the on/off to remember it's state between reboots.

The laptop comes with Vista Home Premium. I was actually looking for a laptop that came with vista. I have had my grubby hands on Vista a couple times, however this is the first PC in the house with Vista. I was pretty sure I would absolutely hate it, but I don't (yet). I disabled the UAC which made things much better.

I have installed: Firefox, Open Office, Miranda, NOD32, Foxit Reader, and SecureCRT.

I have uninstalled: MS Office Trial. Adobe Reader, some system control utility that doesn't seem to work.

I have disabled the MSI wireless config manager as I was having all kinds of issues with it. I am just using the built in windows wireless manager to remember my network password (wpa2-psk) and ssid (not broadcast). This seems to work fine. I just try to remember to hit the hardware button to turn wifi on as windows is booting so I don't have to wait once I'm booted.


This laptop has BSOD'd 5 times, and I'm currently in the process of trying to figure out what's causing it. I had updated my video drivers using the driver links off the MSI website for the EX600 and thought that might of been causing it, however I reverted back to stock and it BSOD'd again.

The BSOD has a stop code of:
0x0000009F or DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

I had a high speed lexar 133x SD card laying around and had it in the 4-n-1 card reader as well as the logitech mouse. Those are the only "hardware" things plugged into the laptop. As of today I have removed the SD card (was using it for ready boost). If it still crashes, I'll remove the mouse and at that point if it continues to crash I will get ZT Systems involved.

Hope that wasn't too long... If you have any specific questions an owner of this laptop can answer let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

As of right now, for the price and what it is I would buy it again.

Dallace

P.S: I did order an additional 1gb of Crucial ram at the same time I ordered the laptop. $36 at Newegg. The original DIMM is also Crucial.

 

ZT Systems (formerly ZT Group) is one of the larger North American based PC manufacturers. They have been around for over 10 years and sell products through CompUSA, Staples, OfficeMax, & NewEgg to name a few. They do final assemble and service through their NJ production facility. The particular notebook in question does appear to be a MSI based notebook platform. I have several ZT PCs and they have done well for me.

 

Starting to look like the Logitech V200 wireless mouse is the BSOD culprit. almost 24h without a BSOD and I've been in and out of stand-bye a couple times now. Which has been pretty much an immediate BSOD.

 

Ok I've done a bunch of research and I thought I'd share it with you all. This is indeed a MSI barebones unit. See here. The laptop model is not listed on ZT systems website and it considerably cheaper than anything on their site. But that may be due to what seems to be some kind of deal between them and newegg. See here. Anyway, I hope this info was usefull. I would buy it if I were looking for a laptop right now.

 

How is the fan noise on these things? I like the price, and the look is decent, I'm thinking of getting one for my traveling laptop. The only thing I am concerned about is fan noise and overall system noise. I once had a slick Sony laptop, top of the line, but the thing was louder than hell, so I returned it. Any insight into this?

thanks,

Brian

 

My laptop is pretty quiet. You can hear the fan, but it is quieter than my work laptop (Dell Inspiron 610) It seems to be cooler running also.

Hope that helps.

FYI, it plays Half-life 2 just fine, and it can even play COD4 demo. I did NOT buy it to play games, however my game PC is down right now with a broken video card. I moved my hl2 saved games over and am playing on the laptop no problem. (Ya, hl2 is old, I played it in 2004, but am revisiting it before I play portal)