Tiny system delivers big value
IN THE NEW BUDGET ultraportable laptop class, the $499 MSI Wind U100 strikes the best balance yet between portability and performance.
Powered by Intel's 1.6 GHz Atom N270 processor, the 2.3-pound Wind performs better than netbook competitors like the early Asus Eee PC models and HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC. It includes 1GB of RAM and currently ships with Windows XP Home Edition; the company's planning a lower-cost SUSE Linux version, as well. Storage comes from an 80GB hard drive-roomy compared with the solid-state drives used in some budget netbooks-but as with those other systems, there's no optical drive on the Wind.
The keyboard doesn't feel quite as sturdy as that of the 2133 Mini-Note PC, but its sculpted keytops are more comfortable to type on. The 10-inch screen, meanwhile, features a 1,024x600 wide-screen resolution. The Sound Blaster-compatible audio is fine when using the headphone jack, but the built-in spekers are poor, adding lots of distortion to the Wind's output.
Due to battery shortages, MSI shipped the first Wind units with a meager three-cell unit; at press time, MSI said that a larger six-cell battery would soon be available. With the three-cell unit installed, we were able to use the Wind for 2 hours and 22 minutes with Wi-Fi and power saving enabled.
As for connections, there are no PCMCIA for ExpressCard slots, but the Wind does include three USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, an SD/DHC memory-card slot, and a VGA connector. Wireless connectivity includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. -Denny Atkin
source: Computer Shopper October 2008.
www.msi.com.tw
October 12, 2008
MSI Wind U100
September 16, 2008
Instant Overclocking
Instant Overclocking
MSI may have been busy with its Wind U100 netbook, but we're happy to see that the company has found time to introduce the GX620 and GX720 gaming laptops. The 5.6-pound GX620 comes with a 15.4-inch display,2.4GHz Core 2 Duo P8600 CPU, 4GB of RAM, Nvidia Geforce 9600M GT (512MB) graphics, and a Blu-ray player/DVD burner. The GX720 bumps the display up to 17 inches and offers an option for a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo P9500 processor.
Both notebookss offer quick-launch buttons that activate MSi's on-the-fly overclocking technology and its battery-conserving ECO Engine Management function.
MSI,www.msimobile.com.
source: Computer Shopper October 2008.
July 31, 2008
Computing the breeze
Budget ultraportables have been booming this year, and now it's MSI's turn to get in on the action.
The MSI Wind is a business notebook available for both Linux ($399) and Windows ($499). You get mostly the same components in each model: A 1.33Ghz Intel Atom processor, a 10-inch display, an 80GB 2.5-inch SATA hard drive, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. Battery life and memory vary between models, but each weighs less than three pounds-perfect for slipping in your briefcase.
source: Computer Shopper August, 2008.
www.msi.com.tw
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