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THE MSI WIND
The MSI Wind U100 is a small and affordable netbook with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, three USB ports, a card reader, a 10-inch LED screen and a comfortable keyboard
The MSI Wind U100 is a small and affordable netbook with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, three USB ports, a card reader, a 10-inch LED screen and a comfortable keyboard. (JP/Zatni Arbi)
It was my friend Michael Hariman from Chip magazine who first drew my attention to the mini notebooks from MSI. I must admit that, prior to our conversion I had scant familiarity with this Taiwanese brand.
All I knew was that this company designed and manufactured desktop mainboards and other PC components, but I had never looked at their notebooks.
Michael told me he had bought an MSI UMPC for his personal use. Now, if a technical guy like him was willing to spend some Rp 5 million on an ultra-mobile notebook, there must be something special about the product.
The MSI notebook came up as the two of us were walking in and out of the booths at Computex 2008 in Taipei a couple of months ago.
Raising my curiosity further, he said that MSI had just launched the second generation of their mini notebooks and he was seriously thinking of dumping the one he had bought not so long ago and buy the newer model.
I asked him what made him so enamored by the notebook. Instead of explaining, he led me to MSI’s booth, where I had the opportunity to touch the real thing. It was then
that I began to understand why he was so crazy about the Wind U100.
Like most of the latest crop of netbooks launched and showcased at Computex 2008, the processor inside the Wind U100 is the 1.60 GHz Atom from Intel. I have been told that the giant chipmaker has required all notebooks using its new Atom processor be called “Netbook” instead of “Notebook”. So, the product’s official name is actually the MSI U100 Netbook.
The MSI Wind U100 netbook sports a 10-inch LED backlit screen that is bright and offers some surprisingly high quality features. Most other netbooks come with an 8.9-inch display. An extra 1.1 inches may not seem like much, but it makes a difference of 10 percent in screen real estate.
For a tiny notebook, it is significant enough and it makes reading the characters on the screen more comfortable to read.
Because of the larger screen size, the Wind U100 is also wider and deeper compared with, say, the Aspire One. Still, it can be easily stowed away inside an airline seat pocket when it is time for the meal to get served.
What I like the most is definitely the keyboard. It has just the right amount of tactile feedback. It doesn’t give
a mushy feel that may quickly cause fatigue. MSI makes
the rim very thin on both
the left and right sides,
allowing for a wider keyboard that is comfortable enough
for fast typing. The space bar sits high enough relative to the touchpad.
The touchpad has only one bar below it, but the left and the right ends function like ordinary mouse buttons. A very simple design, but it does its job pretty well.
The audio subsystem is high-definition from Realtek. It has an equalizer and even a karaoke function.
My black test unit came with Windows XP and Office 2007 already installed. They ran very smoothly during
my trip to Beijing last week: perhaps because the Wind U100 has 1 GB of memory. Opening multiple software programs in addition to several Internet Explorer windows does not slow this machine down.
The netbook uses a 2.5-inch SATA hard disk with an
80 GB capacity instead of a solid state drive (SSD). Expect to have a rather short battery life or plan to invest on a 6-cell battery when it becomes available.
One important consideration in choosing a notebook is the heat that it generates. I can happily report that this mini notebook does not get that hot after two hours of continuous use.
The MSI Wind U100 comes in three standard colors — black, white and light pink. My favorite color is, as always, white.
Design-wise, it is not as stylish as the Aspire One, though. If you are looking for a flashy netbook, the Wind U100 is not for you. However, its built-quality is great.
A review will not be complete unless I also highlight the weaknesses that I have found. In the case of the Wind U100, I can only mention some very minor ones.
First, the hinge does not allow for the screen to be opened flat so that it forms a straight line with the keyboard. This is a small drawback for me, because I usually place the notebook on a makeshift notebook stand. For 99 percent of users, though, this will not be a problem at all.
Second, although the keyboard is large, the arrow keys are still too cramped for the three middle fingers, forcing the user to use two fingers to press the left, down and right arrow keys. Again, this is not completely unacceptable.
Connectivity is supported by built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Ethernet. There is not yet an integrated HSPA module, but there are three USB ports so an external USB modem can be easily attached.
If you want a capable netbook as your travel companion, you should very seriously look at the Wind U100. You will appreciate its excellent screen and keyboard and understand why the netbook has won a lot of hearts — including Michael’s.
