• On MovieTome: X-Men: First Class' shooting next year?
July 30, 2008 9:31 AM PDT

MSI Wind gets a battery upgrade

by Dan Ackerman
  • Font size
  • Print
  • Post a comment

One of our favorite new netbook laptops is the 10-inch MSI Wind, which has decent specs and performance, but is saddled with a terrible 3-cell battery--we got about two hours max from it. MSI blamed supply chain problems for preventing the initial run of the Wind from shipping with the more common 6-cell battery found in systems like the Asus Eee PC 901.

Now we hear that the 6-cell version is on the way, already popping up for pre-order in several online stores. There's a catch, though; the new battery jacks up the cost by $50, bringing the total price to $550, passing our magic $499 netbook optimal-price point. Asus also offers a 10-inch model with similar specs for $550, the Eee PC 1000H, but both these systems have standard hard drives, not the SSD drives found in most netbooks.

We're currently testing new netbooks from Acer, Asus and Sylvania, so stay tuned for a serious netbook shootout to find which one is right for you.

New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan.
Recent posts from Crave
Top 5 car technologies
Dialed In 104: Visit from Asia
Junk-metal Nikes only a geek could love
Behold, the Porsche of flashlights
Motorola rolls out one tough Quantico
Chumby gets leaner, cheaper, and faster
Grass-covered mouse: Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia
Your wireless Xbox connection just got faster

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

As alternative energy grows, NIMBY greens

With more renewable energy projects trying to come online, the country grapples with the balance between local land use and a national push for clean energy.

Google to remake programming with Go

A Unix co-creator is among those behind a language Google hopes will speed computers and programming. Today, Go becomes open-source software.