MSI Wind U100 (Intel Atom N270 processor 1.6GHz; 2GB)

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By Rory Reid, CNET.co.uk
Jul 07, 2008

Who'd have thought super-small, super-cheap laptops would be the hottest property in the world of computing? ASUS certainly did and its success with the Eee PC has led to other manufacturers competing for a slice of its pie.

MSI--peddlers of graphics cards, motherboards and the occasional overclockable laptop--is the latest to try its hand in this area. Its effort, dubbed the MSI Wind, isn't just here to make up the numbers. It's stylish, has a strong enough specification to give its rivals a scare and is cheap--just S$849 (US$568.16) for a large 10.1-inch machine.

With the huge success of ASUS' Eee PC, the mini laptop market is suddenly crowded with imitators, but MSI's effort could well be one of the best so far. It looks gorgeous, it comes with Windows XP or Linux, plus it's very affordable and it's amazingly well-specced.

Editors' note :

This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The Wind is very pretty. MSI will sell it in a variety of colors, but we're very happy with the white review sample we were sent. It's the sort of thing the Sex and the City characters would love to show off in a trendy New York coffee shop. The curved corners and pearl white finish give it a very contemporary look and although the MSI logo on the lid might spoil it for Carrie and company, the rest of us will adore it.

There are two USB ports on the left side and a third on the right. That's two more than a MacBook Air and one more than the HP 2133 Mini-Note.

It's very portable, too. It only weighs 1kg with the 3-cell battery--or 1.1kg with the 6-cell battery--so it's easy to carry. It's large by Netbook standards: Its dimensions are 260 x 180 x 19mm, so while it dwarfs the Eee PC 901, it lacks some of the cute factor people find so appealing in Netbooks.

The main reason for its extra girth is the fact it's designed to use a 10.1-inch screen, instead of the more common 8.9-inch display used on most of its rivals. There's a large bezel surrounding the screen--complete with a 1.3-megapixel Webcam and mic--but that doesn't negatively affect the looks. MSI has said it will release an 8.9-inch version of the Wind later this year.

The biggest benefit of the Wind's large chassis is the fact it can accommodate a large keyboard. This one is infinitely more comfortable than the keyboards on most Netbooks and large enough to touch type on. The Shift keys are of an ample size, as are the return and cursor keys. The only flaw for the user is the left-most Ctrl button, which isn't at the bottom left of the keyboard--the Fn button is and that can be annoying to anyone that uses Ctrl-based keyboard shortcuts.

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