MSI Wind Netbooks – MSI Wind U100, U120 10″ Netbook

Posted on February 20th, 2009 by admin

MSI makes some really good netbooks and has the #3 place in the Netbook market after Acer and Asus. Here I’ll walk you through the MSI Wind U100 and the MSI Wind U120 which are both 10 inch netbooks.

MSI Wind U100 10″ netbook.

MSI made a critical mistake by coming in with a stellar netbook that was priced quite a bit higher than competing netbooks. They’ve now fixed that by pricing their netbooks at a much more reasonable price-point. The main features are -

  1. A price of $399. There’s currently a $20 rebate to bring the price down to $379.
  2. It comes with an Intel Atom N270 Processor, Windows XP Home, 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, and a 6 cell battery. I would strongly recommend bypassing the models with 3 cell batteries.
  3. Ergonomic Big-Size Keyboard and Touch Pad – the keyboard has always been one of the MSI wind’s strong points.
  4. Weighs 2.6 pounds.
  5. The U100 is one of the best reviewed netbooks around.
  6. Its available in Black, White and Pink. The pink I’ve shown here might not be the same as the one available on Amazon.

MSIWindU100

I think the white and the black models look pretty good too.

MSIWindU100Black

 

MSI Wind U100 netbook Ratings

  1. Power + Performance: A. Very good specs.
  2. Price: A-. MSI has improved the price.
  3. Portability: A-. Very good battery – do buy the 6 cell battery.
  4. Looks: A-. Not as good looking as some competitors.
  5. Usability: A. Very good keyboard.

Overall, the MSI Wind U100 10″ gets a solid A- rating. Its a Recommended Buy and right behind the Acer Aspire 1 10″ and the Samsung NC10.

MSI Wind U100 Technical Specifications

Here are the U100′s technical specifications -

  1. Intel Atom 1.6 GHz Processor 512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz Bus speed 6 Cell Battery 1.3 MP Web Camera Includes protective bag
  2. Built-in 10/100 Ethernet LAN Card / Built-in 802.11b/g/n WLAN Card / Bluetooth Supported
  3. Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
  4. 160 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, 2 GB Max
  5. 1 Mic-In Port, 1 Headphone Port, 2 Internal Speakers, SoundBlaster-compatible Audio
  6. 10” Wide Screen Display
  7. Ergonomic Big-Size Keyboard and Touch Pad
  8. Built-in 1.3 Mega Pixels Webcam
  9. Built-in High-Performance 2 Channel Stereo Speakers, and Microphone
  10. 802.11b/g/n Wireless Lan with Bluetooth
  11. Measures 10.23 x 7.08 x 1.24 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 2.6 pounds
  12. Comprehensive Multi-Media Application Interface
  13. 1 VGA video output (15-pin, D-Sub)
  14. 4-in-1 memory card reader, compatible with Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro
  15. Fast Ethernet port for a 10/100 connection

MSI Wind U120 10 inch Netbook

MSI has a new netbook out that’s being sold at a very competitive price of $349 by retailers like Amazon. It has some good features, including ones the U100 doesn’t -

  1. It runs the same Intel® Atom™ N270 Processor that most netbooks seem to run these days. It has Windows XP Home
  2. It has a 10” Wide Screen Display.
  3. It has MSI EasyFace (Face Identification software).
  4. Same Ergonomic Big-Size Keyboard and Touch Pad as the U100.
  5. Built-in High-Performance 2 Channel Stereo Speakers, and Microphone
  6. There is also a more expensive model that has bluetooth (it’s $50 more).

The fact that its memory is not expandable is a big drawback – with Windows 7 right around the corner and the performance improvements that an additional 1 GB of RAM brings, I’d strongly recommend getting the U100 or another 10″ netbook.

The MSI U120 comes in white and black and looks good -

MSIWindU120

 

MSI Wind U120 Netbook Ratings

The cheaper price point does help the U120 in its ratings -

  1. Power + Performance: B. Good specs. I’ve taken off points because the RAM is not upgradeable – means you’re stuck with at most 1 GB RAM.
  2. Price: A. $349 is a great price. However the decision to have the 1 GB memory on board to reduce costs severely hampers expandability.
  3. Portability: A-. Insist on the 6 cell battery.
  4. Looks: A. I think it improves on the U100.
  5. Usability: B. Good keyboard. Speakers are poor.

Overall, the MSI Wind U120 10″ netbook scores an A-/B rating. The two main improvements are the lower price and better looks – however, the memory not being upgradeable and the poor speakers take away all the benefits. I’d recommend the Samsung NC10 or Acer Aspire One 10″ instead.

MSI Wind U120 Technical Specifications

The U120′s technical specifications are -

  1. Intel Atom 1.6 GHz Processor, 512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz Bus speed, 160 GB SATA Hard Drive
  2. 6 Cell Battery with 4.5+ hrs battery life.
  3. Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Modem Module, Built-in 802.11b/g WLAN Card
  4. Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
  5. Intel® Atom™ N270 Processor, 945GSE+ ICH7-M chipset
  6. Intel® GMA950 integrated Graphics
  7. 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM on Board – Cannot be expanded. and note that bus speed is 533 MHz.
  8. 10” Wide Screen Display – 10″ WSVGA LCD with 1024 * 600 resolution.
  9. Exclusive MSI EasyFace( Face Identification software) Inside
  10. Ergonomic Big-Size Keyboard and Touch Pad
  11. Built-in Webcam
  12. Built-in High-Performance 2 Channel Stereo Speakers, and Microphone
  13. 802.11b / g Wireless Lan
  14. 10.24″(L) x7.09 “(D) x0.78 “~1.30″(H)
  15. Weighs 2.23 pounds.

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One Response to “MSI Wind Netbooks – MSI Wind U100, U120 10″ Netbook”

  1. MSI Wind U100 vs. MSI Wind U100 Plus: What’s the Diff? | Netbook Reviews - Netbook Review Blog, on April 28th, 2009 at 12:07 pm Said:

    [...] MSI Wind U100 has gotten very good reviews for performance from Amazon users, and even from us, so there shouldn’t be major worries about getting the Plus. If it’s more efficient [...]

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