Digital Trends

MSI Wind U100

August 18th, 2008 | by Nick Mokey

Ergonomics

While processors, RAM and even hard drives continue to shrink every year, making subnotebooks faster and more capable with every generation, there’s only so much that can be done to make a 10-inch keyboard and matchbook-sized touchpad more comfortable. MSI has done its best by stretching the keyboard to the absolute edges of the notebook, and doing the same for the keypad. That said, ham-fisted users and sloppy typists will still have trouble dealing with the shrunken proportions, which is just an inevitable trade-off to using a notebook this size. One factor that could have been improved: MSI’s screen hinges only allow the screen to rotate back roughly 45 degrees from laying out flat, which makes it difficult to see when using it in your lap at certain angles.

Software

In a refreshing change of pace from many modern notebooks, MSI has kept third-party bloatware on the Wind to an absolute minimum, with barely anything installed that didn’t come with Windows. We would even wager that this helps account for its impressive speed as much as the upgraded specs do. The only drawback for novice buyers would be the extra step of installing some common necessities like Word without an optical drive, but we would call it a worth-while hassle in exchange for a pristine copy of Windows preinstalled.

The MSI Wind is available in Black, Pink and White

Battery Life

For a computer that will end up being tossed in backpacks, glove boxes and purses, then pulled out for spur-of-the-moment computing, battery life is a major issue – but subnotebooks don’t have much room for bulky battery packs. MSI attempted to make the most of the Wind’s battery with two major battery-life savers: an efficient LED backlit screen and Intel’s miserly Atom processor.

Both seem to have paid off. Our Wind came equipped with MSI’s extended six-cell battery, which promises five to six hours of battery life, and in testing, our Wind actually delivered. Granted, we had to lower the brightness settings to a squint-worthy level and lay off the CPU, but we imagine that most users could still get work or browsing done under these conditions.

It’s worth noting, however, that the currently available U100 ships with a three-cell battery that will cut that impressive run-time in half. While that makes it appropriate for home use, those who really intend to put its portable nature to use will probably find 2.5 hours of runtime annoying, and may want to invest in the larger battery, adding expense to the purchase.

Ports

For such a tiny machine, we were quite impressed with the number of ports packed onto the Wind’s petite little frame. MSI managed to fit microphone and stereo out jacks, VGA output, a card reader, an Ethernet jack, and three USB ports onto its skinny sides. We can’t even imagine a situation where we would connect three USB devices to this thing, but they’re there if you need them. 

Portability

Astute readers may notice that the Wind is actually heavier than previous subnotebooks: It weighs 2.3 pounds compared to 2.0 pounds for the Asus Eee 701. While you could put that in a percentage and make it sound more severe (“The Wind is 15 percent heavier than the Eee.”) we found in testing that it was totally negligible. Consider throwing the weight of an extra cell phone into your laptop bag and you’ve imagined the weight difference. You can still hold it in one hand easily, still toss it into a backpack without worrying about waking up with a stiff back the next day, and still carry it from room to room like a book.

Conclusion

Move over, Asus: MSI has skipped the imitation game that most other manufacturers have played so far and actually bested the Eee with the Wind. Its $550 price tag may make it $150 more than the original Eee, but the refinement and features MSI has added make it well worth the premium, especially when Asus’ 10-inch Eee runs for $700. For the moment, MSI’s Wind definitively blows away the competition.

Pros:

• Bright, spacious 10-inch screen
• Lightweight and portable
• More powerful than expected

Cons:

• Three-cell battery may be inadequate
• Build quality leaves something to be desired