The MSI Wind has been around a long time by Netbook computer standards and generally gets good reviews. Laptop magazine, for example, loved it. Back in July, CNET gave it 3.5 stars out of 5.
The model CNET reviewed was, at the time, $479. It ran Windows XP, came with an 80GB hard disk and included Bluetooth networking. If you can live without Bluetooth, you can now buy a very similar model, the Wind U100-420US, with a 120GB hard disk for only $349. For that price you get a gigabyte of RAM, an Intel Atom processor, a 10-inch matte finish screen, Windows XP Home Edition, and a reasonable keyboard (all Netbook keyboards involve trade-offs).
This is a great price for a well-received 10-inch Netbook. Less than a month ago, it was $399. Laptop magazine referred to the price as "amazing" but warned, as did CNET, about the 3-cell battery. As Netbooks go, a 3-cell battery is bottom-of-the-line and generally doesn't offer much more than 2 hours of run time. That said, the Wind is able to toggle between a high performance mode and a slower mode designed to extend the run time.
(Credit:
MSI)
In comparing the cheaper U100-420US with the more expensive U100-016US model, Liliputing.com also points out that the cheaper model doesn't offer gigabyte Ethernet. I think it's a great trade-off.
Both Liliputing and Laptop magazine blogged about the machine being available at Best Buy. However, my local Best Buy didn't have it on display on Sunday, and the Best Buy Web site currently shows the machine as being back-ordered.
The Wind U100-420US is also available, for the same price, at Newegg. It must be new there too as there aren't yet any customer reviews. However, the very similar U100-016US model has 23 reviews.
The Wind U100 is very similar to the Asus Eee PC 1000H. Last month Liliputing ran a detailed comparison of the two machines. If you're in the market for a Netbook, it's a worthwhile read.
Compared to the Acer Aspire One
On a personal note, this kills me. I very recently purchased an Acer Aspire One (AA1) for the exact same price. The Wind U100-420US is a much better value.
For one thing, it has a 10-inch screen versus only 9 inches for the Acer Aspire One. Also, the Wind screen has a matte finish (which I prefer, but opinions vary), the Acer screen is glossy. My recent posting Choosing a Netbook--a picture can be worth a thousand words illustrates the difference between a 9-inch glossy screen and a 10-inch one with a matte finish.
If the AA1 has a battery-saving low power mode, I haven't run across it.
The Wind keyboard is larger, I find the keyboard on the AA1 to be just a bit small for my adult-size fingers. According to Matthew Miller at ZDNet, the MSI Wind Netbook doesn't compromise on the keyboard.
The mouse buttons on the Wind are also better positioned. They are under the touchpad, where most people prefer them. I am not alone in disliking the button placement on the AA1 (instead of being under the touchpad, the buttons are on either side). Also, I use the Page up and Page down keys a lot and they are better positioned on the Wind keyboard.
You get the idea.
There is, however, one thing to be on the lookout for. Dave Winer had a hard time getting his Wind to connect to a couple of different Wi-Fi routers. In the end, he returned the computer.
Just for the record, I have no relationship at all with MSI, Best Buy, Newegg, or Acer.
See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.
If you are in the market for a Netbook computer there are many decisions to be made. The pictures here may help with a couple of them. Shown below are an Acer Aspire One and an Asus Eee PC 1000.
The Acer Aspire One (left) and the Asus Eee PC (right)
The machines are as different as any two Netbooks can be. The Acer runs Windows XP, the Asus runs Linux. The Asus has an SSD, the Acer a traditional hard disk. The Asus supports Wi-Fi N, the Acer doesn't. The smaller Acer machine has a weaker battery and was significantly cheaper.
But the picture above points out other differences (see a larger version of the picture).
The smaller Acer has a 9-inch screen, the larger Asus is 10 inches (approximately). Measuring the other sides of the triangle, the Acer screen is (approximately) 7.5 by 4.5 inches, whereas the Asus screen is 8.5 by 5 inches. Both screens have the all-but standard Netbook resolution of 1024 x 600, which means that everything is just a bit bigger and easier to see on the Asus machine.
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I've been watching the new category of small cheap laptop computers since they first came out. Watching, but not buying. The time, however, may have come to take the plunge.
One of the few Netbooks* I've actually used was the first Asus EEE. It was an amazing machine, small, cheap, light, sturdy and reasonably fast. It sparked my interest in the emerging new hardware category. But, it wasn't amazing enough to get me to buy it. The keyboard and the screen were just too small.
The flood of subsequent Netbook models have all seemed to have a fatal flaw, to me at least.
Sometimes the flaw was the operating system. I can't understand why every hardware company feels the need to create a customized version of Linux. What's wrong with the popular distros? Then too, some of these underpowered laptops ship with Vista, which, to me, is a mistake on multiple levels.
Often, the flaw is the price. A big part of the appeal of the original Asus EEE was the low price. HP is perhaps the biggest offender here, their Mini-Note 2133 KR948UT came out at $949 and just had its price reduced to $789.
Sometimes the flaw was the processor. From what I've read, waiting for the Atom processor was the way to go. This ruled out a slew of early models, but now there are many Atom based models to chose from.
In part the flaws probably stemmed from the hardware manufacturers not understanding their target audience.
In July, I attended The Last HOPE hacker conference where I was surrounded not only by techies, but by many ultra small, ultra light laptop computers. At one point someone sitting next to me was using an Asus EEE to sniff the WiFi traffic in the room. That machine certainly wasn't running the factory-installed operating system.
Sometimes the flaw is the hard disk. I long for a laptop that can be bounced around while running without risking severe damage to the hard disk. In other words, I'd prefer a solid state hard disk (SSD) rather than a traditional rotating platter model.
But hardware vendors seem married to the idea that more storage is better than less storage. When the incremental cost is trivial, this may be true, but SSDs are expensive. Thus large capacity SSDs come with large price tags. Here too, I think they mis-judged their audience.
A Netbook class machine is often a second computer rather than a primary one. Thus, it doesn't need gobs of gigabytes. Six or eight gigabytes would be fine by me. Anyone needing more storage space should be able to stick a memory card inside the machine. Those of us looking for a secondary machine shouldn't be burdened with features meant for a primary computer.
I'm not the only one struggling to pick a specific machine. In Building the perfect Netbook CNETer Dan Ackerman says "... we found that none of these Netbooks hit all the benchmarks we were looking for-- some were underpowered, some had terrible batteries, and others simply cost too much for what should be almost an impulse purchase."
So where does that leave those of us trying to settle on a particular cheap, small, light-weight secondary computer?
On paper, I agree with CNET's recommendation of the Acer Aspire One as the best combination of features and prices. I say "on paper" because I haven't actually used one. The new Lenovo Netbooks may be even better, but they are not yet available.
The problem with the Aspire One is picking a model, each entails compromises. More on that next time.
See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.
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