MSI Wind U100

The MSI Wind U100 is a 10inch netbook with a resolution of 1024x 600. This netbook comes with the LED power-saving backlight technology. This technology helps to provide a better color and brightness on the netbook. Together with the battery, the Wind U100 weights at around 1 kg. This netbook comes in the color, white.

Features
It features 1.3 Megapixel Bezel Camera and Microphone. The keyboard on this netbook is different from the other netbooks by having slightly spaced-out keys. It features the Intel Atom N270 Processor @ 1.6 GHz with 1 GB of DDR2-667 Memory and 160 GB 5,400 RPM Hard Drive. There’s also a touchpad. It comes with a webcam with high resolution, 2 stereo channel speakers and a microphone. The webcam can be used for instant messaging purposes and to take photos. There’s also a 4 in 1 Card Reader that supports and accepts formats such as SD. MMC, MS, and MS Pro. Built-in devices are Bluetooth antenna, stereo speakers and a wireless LAN antenna. It measures 10.2in (W) x 7.1in (D) x 1.2in (H) and weighs 2.2 lbs. This widescreen netbook comes with the wireless capabilities of IEEE 802.11b, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11g. MSI added the “Insert Mold Roller Technology” (IMR) feature to this netbook so that it protects the Wind U100 from scratches and fingerprints.

Specifications
Processor is the Intel Atom N270/1.6 GHz with a data bus speed of 533.0 MHz and the chipset type of Mobile Intel 945GSE Express. It has a cache memory of 512.0KB and it is the L2 cache type. For RAM info, there’s a 1GB installed RAM on this netbook and it comes in the technology of DDR2 SDRAM – 667.0 MHz. Storage controller type is a serial ATA with the interface of ATA-150. Hard drive featured on this netbook is 80 GB and it is considered to be portable. It includes a 4 in 1 card reader and supports flash memory cards such as Memory Stick Pro, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard and Memory Stick. Display is a 10.0 in TFT active matrix with the maximum resolution of 1024 x 600 (WSVGA). It is a widescreen display that features an LED backlight. For video purposes, there’s the Intel GMA 950 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0 and for audio purposes, there’s a sound card included with the compliant standards of sound blaster and it also includes a microphone. This netbook features an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera. There’s a touchpad and keyboard featured like most netbooks. For network purposes, there’s a network adapter featured and it supports wireless LAN. It comes with the data link protocol of IEEE 802.11b, Bluetooth, Fast Ethernet, Ethernet and IEEE 802.11g and network standards of IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g. Interfaces on this netbook are 1.0 x Network – Input – RJ-45, 1.0 x Headphones – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX – 4 pin USB Type A, 1.0 x Display/video – Output – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1.0 x Hi-Speed USB – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 3.0 x Microphone. Power device comes in the form factor of external with the required voltage of AC 120/230 V and provided power of 65.0 Watt. Battery is a 3-cell Lithium ion installed. The U100 works on Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and it comes with its drivers and utilities. This netbook comes with a one year warranty and for service and support, there’s a limited one year warranty. The MSI Wind U100 comes with a carrying case. Together with this netbook comes a recovery DVD, a DVD with Drivers, Utilities and the Manual, a Quick-Start Guide, and a CE Compliance Booklet.

Reviews

“The MSI Wind U100 is one of the best subnotebooks I have seen come out of the mini notebook storm that has hit us the past few months. It offers a 10″ widescreen, 2.5-inch SATA hard drive, Intel Atom processor, and Wi-Fi with Bluetooth for well under what some of the other mainstream competition charge. All all of this seems to come with a small caveat right now: horrible battery life. MSI is only selling the 3-cell version of the Wind, which averages just a hair over 2 hours of mobile use. This is unacceptable for a travel companion device. Good news is sometime in the future: a configuration will be sold with an extended battery, and early adopters should wait for it. For the $500 price you really can’t ask for much more. The screen is great, the keyboard is great, build quality is top notch, and above all the thing doesn’t light your pants on fire… at least not due to heat.” (Brighthand, 2008)