MSI Wind U100

The MSI Wind is the latest entrant to the already overflowing ultra portable notebook market with the Asus EEE PC 700 / 900 / 1000, HP 2133 Mini Note, ACi Ultra Mini, Everex Cloudbook, HCL MiLeap fighting for market share and the Acer Aspire One and Dell 500 just about to enter. This promises to be a savage competition and is currently being led by the Asus EEE PC’s having the first mover’s advantage. The Asus EEE PC 701 was a runaway hit following its launch in 2007 and grabbed many awards including the “The most wanted Christmas Gift”. It was a favorite everywhere and created a new low cost, ultra portable notebook or “Netbook” category with many other manufacturers jumping in to offer their creations. Of these, the new MSI Wind seems to be the most promising one with its good balance of price, features and portability. It seems to be the only viable option to the EEE PC’s. The new range of EEE PCs namely the 900 / 1000 are priced a bit high, competing more with normal notebooks in terms of price. They aren’t very portable either like the EEE PC 701’s. In this review we look at the MSI Wind and check whether it manages to grab the crown from the ruling EEE PC’s.

MSI Wind U100 Specifications

• Processor: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ
• Display: 10″ WSVGA (1024 x 600) LCD
• OS: Linux / Windows XP Home Operating System
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950 Integrated
• RAM: 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 Memory
• HDD: 80 GB 2.5″ SATA
• Connectivity: Wifi-802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0
• Battery: 3 Cell 11.1v 2200mAh Battery / 6 Cell
• Size: 10.2″ x 7″ x 1.3″
• Weight: 1.3 KG
• Price: $549.99

Design

The MSI Wind has a nice clean design and looks very similar to the white EEE PC with an almost similar layout and battery position. It has a glossy look and soft rounded edges which make it great to look at and work with. In all, it has a nice sombre look that looks great and likeable. It has an excellent build quality which is inspired from the Asus EEE PC and the HP Mini Note 2133. The build materials used are top quality which makes working with the MSI Wind U100 a pleasure. The MSI Wind has dimensions of 10.2″ x 7″ x 1.3″ and is slightly bigger than the EEE PC due to its larger 10″ screen. It is light and very portable at just 1.3 KG.

The MSI Wind houses a USB 2.0 port, a 4 in 1 memory card reader, mic and headphone jacks, a VGA port, and an Ethernet jack on the right side. On the left, you find 2 more USB 2.0 ports and the power jack and the fan exhaust. On the rear is the battery and the front is graced by cute little activity LEDs.

Display and Sound

The MSI Wind features a LED backlit, 10″ LCD with a default resolution of 1024 x 600 px (WSVGA). It is good with vibrant colors and great brightness and contrast levels. It has good wide viewing angles both horizontally and vertically. The horizontal viewing angles are less then the vertical though. The visibility is good under direct sunlight too so it might be your perfect companion on that camping trip. The 1024 x 600 resolution is optimum and requires almost no horizontal scrolling when surfing the internet. It also has a 1.3 MP webcam and a mic seated right next to it.

The speakers are quite decent but not very loud. They suffice for casual users - the MSI Wind wasn’t meant to be a media powerhouse anyways. The volume levels are good but a bit low while the clarity is good. You can always plug in your headphones if you need to.

Performance

The MSI Wind is powered by the latest Intel Atom N270 which is clocked at 1.6 GHZ and offers 512KB L2 cache. It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. The Wind can be operated in 2 modes - Normal and Eco, to switch between powersaving and performance mode. In the normal mode, the Wind runs at full power - 1.6 GHZ clock while in the Eco mode it is underclocked to 800 MHZ increasing the battery life and decreasing the heat. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 667 MHZ RAM, upgradable to 2 GB. It has the Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics which can easily manage low end games and almost all non-HD video playback. It comes with two Operating System options - Windows XP and Linux, with the XP version priced more than the Linux version having the same configuration. It boots Windows XP in less time and can handle 4-5 applications without any lag. It is capable of running all the basic Media, Office and Web applications easily. It has a 2.5″ 5400 RPM SATA HDD which means that it is slower and heavier than the SSD counterparts in the EEE PC. But it does have a great space advantage. The overall performance is great just as expected from an ultraportable.

Keyboard & Touchpad

The MSI Wind U100 features one of the best keyboards we have seen in ultra portables. It is close to a full size laptop keyboard with good key spacing and travel and offer good feedback. The keys are covered with some protective material increasing their life. It has a slightly changed key layout but that takes very little time to get used to. It is a great keyboard and should be comfortable enough for most users.

The touchpad on the MSI Wind is a bit too small to scroll the whole screen at once but is good and sensitive. It features a bar at the bottom for the left and right mouse buttons. The buttons require a firm click which is a bit of a problem. It could have been more responsive. However it is perfectly usable and features no other significant problems that could hamper its usability.

Battery life

The MSI Wind comes with a measly 3 cell 2200 mAh battery which offers just about 2 hrs 40 mins of battery life under normal usage. However it comes with a 6 cell battery upgrade at an extra cost which boosts the battery life greatly offering about 5 hrs. You can also switch to the ECO mode to increase battery life at the cost of performance. It runs absolutely cool with minimal fan noise and temperatures peaking out at about 48 C after about 2-3 hours of usage.

Pros:

• Nice clean design
• Light and Portable
• Great Display
• Runs cool

Cons:

• Low battery life

Conclusion:

The MSI Wind U100 is a great little notebook, offering the right mix of portability, features and price. It is priced slightly lower than the EEE PC 1000 with similar specs and seems to be a good alternative to it. It doesn’t have any major shortcomings. You can’t get more features than the MSI Wind’s at $550. It works great for casual and outdoor usage and isn’t a replacement for your desktop. We like this notebook and definitely recommend it.

Our Rating: 4.25 / 5.