MSI Goes Green: Motherboards Will No Longer Come with Manuals or Other Paper Materials

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MSI has announced that going forward, its motherboards will no longer come packaged with user manuals, product catalogs, fliers, and the other usual paper attachments that one might find upon lifting open the box.



According to MSI’s press release, this is being done strictly for environmental reasons, but that hasn’t stopped some of the manufacturer’s biggest critics from claiming that this is just a clever attempt by the company to disguise what is actually a cost-cutting measure in a way that garners positive rather than negative PR. In any case, enthusiasts should be able to find all of the information they need from digital manuals and other online sources.



Next Step for Environmental Protection, MSI Motherboards will Remove Paper Attachments...
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Can't say I like this - while most of the content of your average motherboard manual is indeed a waste, there are some references that are mighty helpful - like how PCIe lanes are shared and more importantly not shared in particular configurations, where specific headers are, case lighting and buttons (front panel) configuration, and so on.

However, if they were to put just a few pages of the above in a quick start guide, I'm betting most users would be covered - especially if printed larger. I've found myself taking some of those pages and printing them out at full 8.5" x 11" just to have them for reference!
 
It would be nice if they had a QR code on the board you could just scan and get straight to the PDF. You will never misplace the board, after all, but I don’t know how you would do that and make it fit in with an aesthetic. Maybe a sticker you could stick on the case or something, or back with the IO ports?

I won’t miss a paper copy, but I often have to dig to find the exact model so I can Google it, and then sometimes there are different revisions. Some web sites have crappy layouts which make it more difficult to find that it should be.
 
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LazyGamer said:
Can't say I like this - while most of the content of your average motherboard manual is indeed a waste, there are some references that are mighty helpful - like how PCIe lanes are shared and more importantly not shared in particular configurations, where specific headers are, case lighting and buttons (front panel) configuration, and so on.

However, if they were to put just a few pages of the above in a quick start guide, I'm betting most users would be covered - especially if printed larger. I've found myself taking some of those pages and printing them out at full 8.5" x 11" just to have them for reference!
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With smart phones and the internet, it's really not necessary to have manuals in the box anymore. I do second the QR code idea though. That would be nice. They could also do that on the board boxes.
 
I'm on board with a condensed QRG for pin headers, board layout, etc. Everything else can be online with a QR code, sure.

Will this really save them any money? We could be talking about globally saving hundreds of dollars!

Keep following this route and motherboards will start coming in nothing but a static bag and bubble wrap.
 
Burticus said:
I'm on board with a condensed QRG for pin headers, board layout, etc. Everything else can be online with a QR code, sure.
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That's the meat of it yeah. I'll say that even that much isn't strictly necessary if the board is properly labeled, and you'd think they'd have that figured out by now - but they really haven't.
 
I can't read Chinese, Russian, french anyways. I usually look up the manual online a dl the pdf. Zoom feature is nice. This getting old crap sucks.

That can save the cd with drivers too, not that I see that a lot anymore these days
 
Dogsofjune said:
I can't read Chinese, Russian, french anyways. I usually look up the manual online a dl the pdf. Zoom feature is nice. This getting old crap sucks.

That can save the cd with drivers too, not that I see that a lot anymore these days
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Yeah the driver CDs are definitely a waste.
 
Burticus said:
Yeah the driver CDs are definitely a waste.
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I pondered this one. Yes, no one in the consumer or enthusiast space uses optical media for desktop computing any more. But would you really trust a USB drive? How else would they do it?

I can't say that I have an answer for this, because most start with, "on another computer connected to the internet...".
 
I'm not a fan of it. Yeah I know everything has to be paperless nowadays but I have used the mobo manual for every computer I've ever built. It's quick and convenient and I don't see a reason to stop with them. Yeah they can keep their warranty cards and fancy stickers but leave the manual in there.
 
They really just need a foldout pamphlet with the headers and base configuration/setup/installation information. Take the thick manual in 4 languages and toss it.
The cost spent on layout and printing and binding and all of the associated materials might be a drop in the bucket for 1 board but for all boards it makes more and more sense.

The Drivers is where I have issue. A person building a computer for the first time with no computer of their own other than a phone shouldn't be forced to have a friend download drivers to setup their new PC fast. I guess they are counting on windows having all built in drivers.

But based on my experience you know what it doesn't have drivers for by default. Killer Nic on board cards. So if someone is running one of those they will need a super secret way to get the nic online to get correct drivers... or another computer.

Not everyone is in a household with multiple laptops and a desktop. Anyone starting out will be with a phone most likely and that's about it.

So directions on how to make windows configure your special nic with default or generic drivers so you can connect to the internet and let it get current (or you get current) drivers is critical.

Hummmm I could see an onboard flash drive built into the motherboard with basic starter drivers on it that are updated regularly as part of an enhanced bios update. Just shows as a 16 gig drive to the OS that you can mount and install starter drivers from. You know I kind of like that... and with motherboards already costing 200+ average why the hell not?
 
Well, the Killer NICs are just repurposed NICs from other manufacturers - the one in my XPS15 (thanks Dell) is a bog standard Intel AX201. Only Windows sees it as a 'Killer NIC', Linux distros (literally all of them, I've tried dozens) just see an Intel WiFi radio.

Now, generally speaking, you'd probably want something more up to date than what's in Windows at install, but flip a coin if the Windows installer is more up to date than what the motherboard manufacturer provided :oops:
 
LazyGamer said:
I pondered this one. Yes, no one in the consumer or enthusiast space uses optical media for desktop computing any more. But would you really trust a USB drive? How else would they do it?

I can't say that I have an answer for this, because most start with, "on another computer connected to the internet...".
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While I do remember a not too long ago time where I had to use another computer connected to internet to get a nic driver or something like that, I can say I have not had to do this since Win 7 (but it was probably in the win 8 timeline). There has always been a generic realtek/intel/etc driver in windows good enough to get online then let windows update do the rest.

There is no reason they could not include a small usb drive with the needful on it. I mean who has built a computer in the last 10 years that has an optical drive? (yeah I have and do but optical nerds like me are in the minority)

So even going back to the days where we used driver disks.... what's the first thing you did once you got online? You went and got the latest drivers online.
 
Burticus said:
While I do remember a not too long ago time where I had to use another computer connected to internet to get a nic driver or something like that, I can say I have not had to do this since Win 7 (but it was probably in the win 8 timeline). There has always been a generic realtek/intel/etc driver in windows good enough to get online then let windows update do the rest.
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Same, at least for getting online - the scenario I imagine is when getting online isn't possible. Yeah, the system boots, but can you use it in that state?

And so on!
 
Last time I even bought an MSI mobo was back in the slot A socket days.

I do miss that 650MHZ that got me GHZ speed with golden fingers mod. Back when you could afford something worthwhile and get a good increase for minimum cost. Pencil trick AMD's were fun too.
Haven't done an MSI mobo since
 
Hey guys, remember when digital games were supposed to be cheaper than physical retail games because no boxes and no manuals and stuff?

While I always download a PDF version of a motherboard's manual from the official product webpage to serve as a backup copy, I still end up using the physical printed manual that came in the box a lot. Then again I'm one of those guys who really misses manuals coming with games. I agree that mobo manufacturers can leave out all the other papers and sh1t. The manual I think should stick around though.
 
Burticus said:
I'm on board with a condensed QRG for pin headers, board layout, etc. Everything else can be online with a QR code, sure.

Will this really save them any money? We could be talking about globally saving hundreds of dollars!

Keep following this route and motherboards will start coming in nothing but a static bag and bubble wrap.
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They could print the reference on the box.
 
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