Product 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 high resolution can relief concerns of the full display of web pages 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.The U100 has the 802.11b/g wireless all region Internet connection and Bluetooth transmission interface, so you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet at home or out. There will be absolutely no obstacles getting around your daily life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1329 in Personal Computers
• Brand: MSI
• Model: U100-053US
• Dimensions: 5.50 pounds
• Display size: 10

Features

• Box Contents - MSI Wind U100 10? Mini Notebook, 6-Cell Lithium-ion Battery, 65W (100/240v) AC power adapter, Carrying Bag, Software Bundle - Windows XP Home, 1-Year Limited Warranty
• Intel Atom 1.6 GHz Processor
• 512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz Bus speed
• 1024 MB DDR2 (PC2-5300) RAM Max - 2 GB
• 80 GB SATA Hard Drive

Amazon.com Product Description
Enjoy ultimate computing mobility with the lightweight yet power-packed MSI Wind U100 Mini Laptop, which features a 10-inch LCD screen for excellent web browsing, Intel's newest low-power processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and familiar Windows XP Home operating system. The crisply and colorfully designed Wind U100 also includes an integrated webcam for video chats and an ergonomically designed keyboard that's makes typing easy.

The MSI Wind U100 in black.

Designed especially for mobile devices, the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure new hafnium-infused circuitry--which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors--to conserve energy, giving you more time away from the wall outlet--up to 6 hours with the included 6-cell battery. This model also features an 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB max), internal stereo speakers, multi-format memory card reader, three USB ports, and a VGA monitor port. This model comes in black, but the Wind is also available in pink and white, and it includes a carry bag that matches its color.

Ride With The Wind
The Wind--which stands for for "Wi-Fi Network Device"--offers a number of convenient features that make this mini notebook a highly functional and easily portable laptop PC. The 10-inch LCD screen has a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution, which enables you to view full web pages while browsing the Internet. It's also embedded with an LED power-saving backlight technology, which not only helps to lower power usage but also provides richer and brighter colors. The Wind U100 is also equipped with a 1.3-megapixel webcam (placed in the bezel above the LCD) and integrated microphone, allowing you to snap still photos of yourself while on the go for sending via email or join video chats with friends and family.

The keyboard is 20-percent smaller than a standard full-sized keyboard, but offers excellent spacing between keys.

Magnify a portion of the screen for closer viewing of photos or documents.

The ergnomically designed keyboard--just 20 percent smaller than a full-sized keyboard--provides excellent texture and tactile feel when typing, and the keys are spaced at a comfortable 17.5mm width (0.68 inches). Additionally, the ingeniously designed spacebar and 2.1-inch touchpad allow your fingers to move smoothly while avoiding strain.

The Wind U100 also has the ability to magnify text within software--whether it be an Internet browser or office document--with a unique magnifying glass overlay, making it easy to focus in on what you're reading or precisely edit photos.

Finally, your Wind U100 will is constructed using a special Insert Mold Roller (IMR) technology that protects the notebook from fading and also reduces the impact of fingerprints, so the laptop will continue to look brand new.

Processor
The Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure that packs in 47 million transistors into a single chip sized at just 22mm (0.87 inches), and it uses just 2.5 watts of power--less than 1/10 of the 35 watts used by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor--for excellent battery management. This 1.6 GHz Atom processor also includes a power-optimized front side bus of 533 MHz for faster data transfer on demanding mobile applications and a 512 KB L2 cache (which temporarily stores data).

Hard Drive
While smaller in capacity than the average hard drive found in larger, standard-sized laptops, the 80 GB hard drive (5400 RPM) is just the right size for what the Wind U100 was designed for--mobile Internet access. You'll have more than enough space to store a good range of applications as well as a decently sized digital audio and video library. This Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to Firewire and USB 2.0.

Memory
This laptop is installed with 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, which has a top-of-class 667 MHz speed. It can be expanded to a maximum of 2 GB. To receive the faster data transfer benefits of the dual-channel DDR2 RAM, any RAM additions require memory modules of same capacity and clockspeed.

DVD/CD Drive
Because of its size, the Wind U100 does not come with an integrated optical drive, but optional CD/DVD read/write drives can be connected to the laptop via one of the three USB ports, enabling you to create your music mixes, burn movies to DVD, and more.

Networking, Connectivity & Expansion
This notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's fully compatible with 802.11b/g wireless networks, allowing you to link up to home networks as well as Wi-Fi hotspots while on the go. You'll also enjoy wireless connectivity to a wide range of peripherals with the built-in Bluetooth. It comes with the following ports:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 1 headphone/line-in and 1 microphone/line-out
• 1 VGA video output (15-pin, D-Sub)
• 4-in-1 memory card reader, compatible with Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro
• Fast Ethernet port for a 10/100 connection

Dimensions & Weight
The MSI Wind U100 measures measures 10.23 x 7.08 x 1.24 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 2.6 pounds.

Power
This model of the Wind U100 comes with a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which provides up to 6 hours of usage. The long battery life is aided by the low power consumption of the Intel Atom processor, as well as MSI's ECO energy-saving technology, which can distribute power intelligently and adjust screen brightness to prolong the operating time of the battery. Using the ECO Engine software, you can choose between five power modes--gaming, movie, presentation, office and turbo battery.

What's in the Box
This package includes the MSI Wind U100 laptop in black, AC adapter, carry bag, and printed instructions. It's backed by a one-year manufacturer's warranty.

Customer Reviews

Superb Notebook!
What a superb laptop! Tiny in size, yet the screen is large enough to be very usable. The system comes with a 5400 rpm 80GB SATA Western Digital Scorpio hard drive, which is nice. The nicer part about the hard drive is that it is easily upgraded. I upgraded mine to a 250 GB 7200 rpm Seagate which swapped in without a hitch. It also comes with 1 GB DDR2 RAM, and has an extra slot that can hold up to a second 1 GB stick. Unfortunately, anything larger than a 1GB stick will cause the computer to not POST.

The screen resolution is limited to 1024 x 600, which is very usable, but it would be nice if it had options to go to a higher resolution to mitigate the size. Some applications are too large at this resolution to use with ease due to the increased need to scroll up and down.

The laptop is actually smaller than my day planner. And, the weight is low, but the laptop does not feel cheap. The hinges were something I worried about before buying the laptop, as my previous laptop had a hinge problem. But, the hinges are strong.

The ports on the laptop are very convenient with the exception of the power connection. It is on the side of the laptop, and with the small width of the laptop makes the power connection vulnerable to wear and tear when you use the laptop on anything other than a table-like surface. USB ports are USB 2.0, and there are three. The VGA port works well.

The laptop's sound a bit anemic, but that is standard for most laptops.

The keyboard is slightly smaller than a normal keyboard, but nowhere near as small as the Asus Eee keyboard. It's easy to move from a regular sized keyboard and back from the MSI without having errant keystrokes from muscle memory issues. There is an interesting function that allows some of the keys to be locked into a number keypad, but the keys are not labeled, so it is difficult to use. But, it is a feature that the keyboard allows.

The mouse could use a little work. The left/right click button is a single bar that see-saws back and forth. The plastic hear is cheap, and it bends over time. It is still functional after a month, and is a minor detail, but MSI could have done better.

I bought the 3-cell battery version, as that was all that was available at the time, and MSI was affected by the battery shortage. I get about 2 to 2.5 hours out of the 3 cell running several applications (large hdd usage). Not bad.

The key issue with the MSI is that there are many sites out there that cater to the MSI Wind and altering the software and hardware. Users have even modified Mac OS X (10.5.4) to optimize it for installation on the Wind. I currently have a dual boot Win XP (default OS) and Mac OS X (buy a license if you do so.)

The laptops comes with a bag which unfortunately will not fit the power supply.

There is no CD/DVD drive, of course, due to the size, but there are plenty of small external USB drives out there.

The car reader is something I have yet to use, but many online have mentioned using it to load OSes or software, as it is a bootable drive. In fact, the BIOS allows for a host of bootable drive options, which is nice.

When comparing this to the Asus Eee, two things drove me to the MSI Wind - 1) the full sized keyboard on the MSI and 2) the SATA drive that performs better than the solid state drive on the Asus.

A superb laptop! I highly recommend it if you want something very portable.

Geek Love
I'm a fan of the netbook concept. When I first saw the Asus EEE 4G I bought it on sight and never looked back at my old laptops...

Well, at least until the novelty wore off. After awhile the 7" screen and tiny keyboard drove me nuts. The EEE had a special place in my heart, but it was hardly practical. I fortunately sold it before the new crop of Atom-based processors came out, still hoping for a future machine that would "get it right."

The MSI Wind gets it right. The screen is just the right size, the battery life is terrific, build quality is solid, and the keyboard is a joy to use. After evaluating everything from the Acer Aspire One, the 901 and 1000 series Asus EEEs, all the way to the Dell Mini 9 (which I ordered -- and canceled after trying the Wind), this is the clear winner.

From a geek perspective, this is a fun machine to mod. I upgraded RAM to 2GB ($20), bought a new 250GB Scorpio hard drive on Amazon ($80), and then created a dual-boot Windows XP and OS X Leopard machine... Yeah, that's right, this baby runs the Mac OS like a dream. Do a search for MSIWindosX.iso and read up if you're so technically inclined. After replacing the internal wireless with a surplus Dell card that has a Mac-recognized Broadcom chip($15), I've got the only-to-be-dreamed-of 10", sub-3lb. MacBook that Apple never made... Much cheaper than the compromise of the Air.

Note: making this a Mac breaks the license of the OS X EULA. It also requires a fair bit of technical savvy.

Excellent Netbook
This little netbook is wonderful. I bought it to web surf and read email and it's perfect for that. It is light weight, has long battery life, and easily moves from room to room with me.

I have wanted a system like this ever since the EEE PCs came out a couple of years ago, but I didn't think a 7" screen was big enough. So, this year when the larger 9" and 10" screens were announced I eagerly kept track of each system as it was unveiled, read the reviews, and also read the comments of folks as they bought the various netbooks.

When the Wind was announced I was pretty much hooked. I've used MSI's motherboards for years and have been very happy with their products. The Wind had everything I wanted hardware-wise with an Atom processor, 10" non-shiny screen (I tried a 9" netbook in a store and decided I wanted the larger screen size), 1GB ram, decent-sized hard disk drive (I had decided I didn't want SSD as I could put that in later), bluetooth, 1.3mp camera, 6 cell battery, etc.

By the end of the Summer my choices had come down to the Wind or Lenovo's S10. What eventually made me buy the Wind were things that might seem innocuous, but are important to me as I would be using this netbook on a daily basis. The reviews said it ran really cool and it had a fairly standard keyboard layout (on other netbooks the right shift is in an odd place and this matters to me as I am a fast touch typist). In addition, there is a robust user community (msiwind.net) and someone has already written up the instructions (and problems) for installing the version of Linux I plan to ultimately use. Also, it looks to me like it is not difficult to do hardware upgrades on the Wind.

I am sure the other netbooks are fine products, but I have no regrets and am delighted with my purchase.