Entered CNET Catalog: 07/03/2008
SKU: 816909045925
Manufacturer: MSI Computer Corp.
Manufacturer description
The U100 has selected a 10" wide LCD display as oppose to the typical smaller sizes to provide better comfort while viewing or reading. In addition, the 1024x 600 resolution can relief concerns of the full display of WebPages while browsing, giving you the freedom when exploring the internet. The U100 is embedded with the LED power-saving backlight technology in providing better color fullness and brightness, elevating the total quality of imagery. Furthermore, the lower usage of power can offer a longer operating time. The U100 is equipped with the capability of magnifying text within software, so you may magnify any of the words displayed on the monitor freely, making it easier when you are viewing photos, editing or reading documents. It is only 19-31.5 mm in thickness making it extremely thin. The total weight added with the battery is not more than 1 kilogram, making the U100 very ideal for taking it on the go. The keyboard of the U100 not only has great texture, it also increased the space between the keys to 17.5 mm, allowing you to be as comfortable as you can. Plus, ingeniously designed spacebar and touchpad, so your fingers can move smoothly while avoiding strain. The U100 operates without the worries of not having enough memory capacity to record the greatest moments in life. The notebook is equipped with high resolution webcam, high-performance 2 channel stereo speakers, and microphone, all fitted perfectly within the framework design, expressing the slickness of technology and the elegance of modern fashion. Web-chats can be broadcasted instantly not missing one exciting moment. The photos taken is very sharp in resolution and brilliant in colors, capturing precise imagery both indoor or out, adding more fun to instant messaging. U100 offers a complete entertainment interface, which includes the 4 in 1 Card Reader (applicable to SD. MMC, MS, and MS Pro), so it may meet the standards of the mainstream memory cards, making it easy to upload digital files into the notebook computer. The long-lasting battery life can escalate the mobility and the productiveness of the U100, which can also make your daily lives much more convenient.Product summary
The good: Strikes optimal Netbook balance between portability and usability; polished look; fair price.
The bad: Wimpy three-cell battery is only option at the moment; no 802.11n Wi-Fi or WWAN; no option for solid-state hard drive.
The bottom line: The MSI Wind U100 makes a positive first impression with its polished design and roomy (for a Netbook) display and keyboard, but it's missing a handful of features--bigger battery, solid-state hard drive, and WWAN--that would turn it from a very good to a great on-the-go mini-laptop.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 07/16/2008
Editors' note: We have revised the rating of this product to reflect the changing competitive Netbook landscape.
When news and images of the MSI Wind first popped up online in March, we thought we had seen at least a competitor and perhaps the successor to the Eee PC, Asus' Netbook that started the low-cost, low-power laptop craze last year. When the MSI Wind arrived at our offices, unboxing the pearl white Netbook did nothing to alter our thinking. This 10-inch laptop boasts a polished design along with a slightly larger screen and roomier keyboard than the 9-inch Eee PC 901. And priced at $479, it's $120 cheaper than the smaller Eee PC. Inside, the two Netbooks share very similar configurations, including the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor. The Asus Eee PC 901 puts that extra money toward a solid-state drive and bigger battery--two items that allowed it to run for more than 3 hours longer than the MSI Wind on a single charge. (Thankfully, help is on the way; MSI will have a six-cell battery out in September for a yet-to-be-determined amount.) Though its battery life leaves a lot to be desired, the extra space the keyboard affords is greatly appreciated; after using the 10-inch Wind for a few days, we wouldn't recommend going with anything smaller. Until you can combine a 10-inch screen with a six-cell battery, however, you won't arrive at Netbook nirvana.
| Price as reviewed / Starting price | $479 |
| Processor | 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 |
| Memory | 1GB DDR2 SDRAM |
| Hard drive | 80GB, 5400rpm |
| Chipset | Mobile Intel 945 Express |
| Graphics | Intel GMA950 |
| Operating System | Windows XP Home Edition SP3 |
| Dimensions (width by depth) | 10.2 x 7.3 inches |
| Thickness | 1.0 to 1.6 inches |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 10 inches |
| System weight / Weight with AC adapter | 2.5 / 3.3 pounds |
| Category | Netbook |
Our MSI Wind came outfitted in a pearl white chassis that's perhaps a shade or two darker than the MacBook. (Black and pink are your other options.) It feels well built and not like a cheap plastic toy like the first Eee PC we reviewed last year. Though it has a spinning hard drive, it's very quiet during operation. The underside remains cool, too, even during long computing stretches, but the wrist rest and touch pad do get warm after a spell.
The Wind is only slightly larger than the Eee PC 901; it's 1.2 inches wider and 0.4 inch deeper. Both models are the same thickness, tapering from 1.6 inches along their back edge to roughly an inch along the front edge. MSI makes good use of its extra width--the keyboard stretches from edge to edge. The space bar and Enter, Backspace, and Shift keys are amply proportioned, though we wish the period and comma keys weren't so narrow. On the whole, we felt much less cramped than we did when typing on the Eee PC 901; after about 30 minutes, we grew accustomed to it. The Eee PC 901 includes a row of multimedia control keys above its keyboard, but the only button you'll find above the Wind's keys is the power button.
The touch pad is a tiny 2 inches wide by 1.5 inches tall. There isn't any room to make it any taller, but it would be more useful if it was a bit wider--more of the shape of the wide touch pad found on the MacBook. The Wind's touch pad does feature vertical and horizontal scroll zones, which always come in handy when surfing the Web or working your way down a long Word doc or large Excel sheet. What you don't get are any sort of gesture controls as you do with the Eee PC 900 and 901. And the mouse buttons come by way of a single, rocker key, which the Eee PC 901 does away in serving up two separate mouse buttons. Even after a couple of days with the MSI Wind, we still found ourselves momentarily stymied by pressing the middle of the mouse button.
| MSI Wind U100 | Average for category [Netbook] | |
| Video | VGA-out | VGA-out |
| Audio | headphone/microphone jacks | headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | 3 USB 2.0, 4-in-1 media card reader | 2 USB 2.0, SD card reader |
| Expansion | None | None |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | modem, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | None | None |
The Wind's display is an LED backlit model and an inch larger than the Eee PC 901, but it features the same 1,024x600 resolution. It provides enough room to view Web pages without needing to scroll side to side, but we were hoping the slightly larger screen would have bumped up the resolution a notch. Above the display sits the ubiquitous 1.3-megapixel Webcam.
The tiny stereo speakers emit predictably tinny sound. You'll want to make use of the headphone jack whether you're listening to music or watching a movie.
The MSI Wind serves up the standard 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network connections. We're still waiting for a Netbook to include WWAN for true mobile connectivity out of the box. It does, however, provide Bluetooth. You can turn on and off W-Fi and Bluetooth simply pressing the Function and F11 keys. The 4-in-1 media card reader supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro formats.
The MSI Wind is the second Intel Atom-based Netbook to make its way through the labs. While neither model had the necessary resolution to complete CNET Labs' Photoshop benchmark and performed as expected on our iTunes test--well behind a Core 2 Duo laptop with double the memory and ahead of the Celeron-based Asus Eee PC 701 that featured half the memory--we were surprised by the Wind's poor showing on our multimedia multitasking test. Though its configuration is very similar to the Asus Eee PC 901, the Wind took nearly twice as long to complete the test. In the Eee PC 901's favor is a solid-state hard drive and the fact that its internal graphics chip is set to share up to 128MB of the main memory to the Wind's 64MB. Still, those factors don't add up to a 32-minute difference on this test.
Digging a little deeper, we discovered that the Wind's CPU is constantly toggling between 800MHz and 1.6GHz. While that may help battery life, it did not help the Wind when multitasking. The Intel Atom chip, however, did prove to be much quicker than the VIA processor found inside the pokey HP 2133 Mini-Note PC.
We don't want to place too much emphasis on performance here. For one, the screen is so small that any multitasking scenario will most likely be no more than having Firefox, an instant message client, and perhaps Skype open at the same time. Netbooks aren't designed for high performance, and in anecdotal testing, we found the MSI Wind's performance to be more than adequate. Applications loaded quickly and worked with nary a hiccup during the few days we had the Wind running.
By way of comparison and to illustrate how far laptop prices have dropped, we offer this tidbit: for the same $499 (which includes a $150 discount at Best Buy) and a simple swap of portability for performance, you can get a Dell Inspiron 1525. From the charts, you can see how much faster a modern (but by no means cutting-edge) dual-core laptop is when viewed next to a single-core Intel Atom-based Netbook. Then again, the 15-inch Dell Inspiron 1525 weighs about three times as much as the Wind.
Netbooks are designed in large part to run for long stretches when you're away from a power outlet, and unfortunately the Wind was unable to top the 2-hour mark on CNET Labs' battery drain test, thanks to its three-cell battery. In anecdotal testing, we never made it past two hours either. That's a far cry from the 5 hours 15 minutes we got from the Asus Eee PC 901 and its 6-cell battery. Due to a battery shortage, MSI won't begin offering a 6-cell battery until September. The company hasn't settled on a price yet, but the 6-cell battery will be offered separately and also included with future Wind models. While the AC power adapter thankfully features a very small power brick, do note that it has a three-prong plug, which may limit your charging options.
MSI backs the Wind with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty. The user manual and driver downloads can be found on MSI's global Web site along, with FAQ pages (only a few exist at the moment for the Wind U100) and helpful glossary of tech terms. Calls to tech support require a toll call; lines are open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. PT, and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test Windows laptops.
System configurations:
MSI Wind U100
Windows XP Home Edition SP3; 1.6GHz Intel Atom; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 945 Express; Western Digital 80GB 5400rpm hard drive
Asus Eee PC 901
Windows XP Home Edition SP2; 1.6GHz Intel Atom; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 945 Express; 12GB Phison Solid State Drive
Asus Eee PC 701
Windows XP Home Edition SP2; 900MHz Intel Celeron Ultra Low Voltage M353; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 915GMS Express; 4GB SiliconMotion SM223A Solid State Drive
Dell Inspiron 1525-121B
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T2390; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 160GB Western Digital 5,400rpm
HP 2133 Mini-Note PC
Windows Vista Business Edition; 1.6GHz VIA C7-M Ultra Low Voltage; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; VIA/SG3 UniChrome Pro II IGP; 120GB Seagate 7,200rpm
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7out of 7 user reviews
Great netbook for a fair price
Pros: EXPANDABLE MEMORY! definitely a must.. free slot to upgrade to 2GB
HDD easy replaceable: will recognize a 500GB disk in a breeze
Will work with Windows 7.
Lightweight and compact
Cons: Keyboard is not small, but not as comfortable as typing in a Samsung NC10
out of 7 user reviews
Amazing with OS X
Pros: Light
Fast
Bluetooth
Keyboard Size
Cons: Not The Best Wifi.....
-Not saying it is bad, I live in a colonial with the router on one side of the house and it still gets signal on the other side...
Trackpad shows wear after a while... i recommend you get a trackpad protector.
Couldn't ask for a better netbook.
out of 7 user reviews
Excelent, one of the best NetBooks, or the best
Pros: Fast
Runs cool
Low noise
Very bright LCD
Cons: None for a NetBook or standard laptop
Got mine today - MSI Wind U100 with 2GB RAM. Let me first add that I use it as a desktop computer, with mouse, keyboard and monitor atached.
Mechanical:
Looks good, seems solid, nice design, somewhat impressive for this price. Status lamps are placed at the edge of the base for you to see also when the lid is closed - good - especially when used as desk-top computer. Connections are all placed on the sides - good and bad. Good that the USB connectors and 4-in-1 are placed for easy plugin, not at the back fumbling around. Bad for the VGA and power connectors, quite unpractical. They have to rethink the layout of the mainboard. I would like to see 2 USB at the back panel, and 2 at the sides. I would like to see the on-off button outside.
Display:
Impressive, the LED backlight gives a bright picture, aslo in bright daylight. The LED backlight is in my opinion a key issue, sets all non-LED netbooks on the sideline. This realy gives you some thaughts when comparing with the good old LCD monitor. The LCD of the Acer C110 has a faded patina compared with this MSI.
Install:
Fast and with no problems. Finally a machine whichs comes relativly clean, instead of the usual bunch of sw packages which you havnt asked for, but is installed even you want it or not. Good !
Uses XP, not Vista - good !! Was plannning to put Windows 2000 prof on, but now I will reconsider this - well dual boot just to check and play, but think it will create more problems than it solves - this is not final though. If you look for more computing power, W2K prof might be the solution, perhaps combined with overclocking.
HDD:
Nice 160GB HDD, very good. There are a lot of discusions regarding SS disks contra traditional HDD. To understand the problematics in a SS, you need to understand the flash technology. Unlike the RAM memory which you can read and write as you like, a byte in the flash chip can only be written once, then you have to erase it by a special embedded routine which takes time. A single byte cant be erased, you must erase a full block of 64Kb at a time. This requires sophisticated driver to manage, there are special flash drivers managing which bytes have been written, which bytes are "dirty", and which are ready for writing. Once in a while the disk gets filled up with bytes which are dirty and needs to be erased, and the driver performs a "garbage collection", moving data around and formatting the sector ( like disk fragmenting ). If the SS disk is full or above 60% this gets a quite timeconsuming task, since you have less and less space to work in, garbage collection is happening more and more frequent, till when its 90% full, you cant write on the disk without performing a garbagecollection. With this knowledege, its easy to conclude, that the good old HDD is supirior to the SS. SS is used for storing data, not ment to be a working disk. Soon - well they said that for years now - we will se a new type of high capacity FRAM which has the ability to remember the data when power is removed, but acts like a RAM.
Optical drive:
Do we need optical drives in the year 2009 - the world is going SS and vinyl, CD and DVD is the past, old technology. All programs are now baught and downloaded from the net, when did you last time buy a program on a physical media ? XP is on the HDD for system recovery, no need for a install CD/DVD here. My standard programs, like Partition Magic, W2K Prof etc, are all on USB keys. USB keys is today a cheap media, you get them every where as gifts, part of the package, second hand ... Backup I make on a 500GB USB HDD ( well the paranoied count of two HDD backups ). No fooling around finding a CD/DVD ( down to the shop ). Even it has LAN connection this seems to be slower and more compliated than just turn on the external HDD box using the USB connection.
Heat and noise:
Heat no problem, no need of heat guns and other temperature measuring equipment - just put your hand on, it runs quite cool -less than hand temperature. As I normally run it with the NetBook closed, the inside/keyboard temperature is higher than normal, a bit above hand temperature.
Fan noise. Its on all the time and you hear it. I baught this MSI as the reviews said its very quiet - not for me. Comparing with the Acer C110 from 2003 which is grave silent, no fan, its a dissapointment that they in the year of 2009 still cant make silent portables. I can live with it - move it away from the desk - but for those who use it as a netbook, this might be an issue - even its better than other netbooks in terms of noise, dosnt mean it makes it a good one in terms of noise. Either you hear the fan or not. You could say that this disadvantage gives an advantage in reliability and product life. The static on fan lowers the overall temperature in the unit, the higher you stress a electronical device temperature whise, the shorther product life. Called the bathtop curve.
out of 7 user reviews
Very nice machine, excellent for surfing the web
Pros: light weight with an excellent screen.
Cons: nothing yet, 2 months old
out of 7 user reviews
problematic with a cherry on top
Pros: lightweight but on the usability side too
Cons: type and etxt skipping eliminates about one third of work product, power problems shut down battery life and estimated time remaining not accurate. This machine has cost me more money than i have been able to make with it.
wordpad fails. Word fails. MS suite install failrs. errors genrated. Windows explrer shutdown and Internet explorer frequent shutdoan without error emssage or notification. machine frequently "responsd" to commands or key combinations not given. Since paying $70 extra bucks wasn't incentive enough for best Buy to return this, I'll wait and repair my old laptiop. it was heavy but it )*(&ing worked.
out of 7 user reviews
Light, fast and runs leopard!
Pros: The best of the netbooks by a mile...Very light, bright display and it runs leopard better than any of the other netbooks..It also doesn't have that embarrassing dell,samsung,toshiba,apple ad nauseuk i got ripped off vibe about it...
Cons: Only one, the small trackpad and single bar
out of 7 user reviews
Best of the Netbooks
Pros: Size, keyboard, XP, battery life
Cons: Nothing worth mentioning. If CNET is knocking this netbook, it likely because they don'tspend money advertising...
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