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More juice for your Hackintosh Netbook.

(Credit: Boing-Boing Gadgets)

Although Apple doesn't have any clear Netbook plans on the horizon, that hasn't exactly stopped anyone from getting their own Apple Netbook the hacky way. Hackintoshes, i.e. PCs with Mac software loaded on them, hadn't truly started stealing the spotlight until the Netbook phenomenon. For as little as $300 and a copy of Leopard, you too could have the sort of ultraportable that Jobs and Co. would only sneer at.

The downside, besides no official hardware support from Apple, has been battery life, an area where OS X hasn't exactly been Netbook-friendly.

That is, until now.

Early reports from MSI forums claim boosts from 3 hours 45 minutes to 5 hours 5 minutes on a six-cell MSI Wind after upgrading to 10.5.7, which just became available Wednesday. The update doesn't claim battery life improvements as a feature, according to Apple's official documentation. If battery life improvements were true, one imagines they would be advertised.

On the other hand, maybe these improvements only show up on Atom processors. Others around the Web are planning to do their own testing to see if any Apple magic has been bestowed on their little Mac Mobile mutants.

We haven't tried it here yet, but have any of you found Hackintosh advantages? That is, if you have a Hackintosh. Let us know below.

The MSI WindTop hits online stores Tuesday.

(Credit: MSI)

According to our inbox, MSI's WindTop AE1900 touch-screen all-in-one PC is scheduled to hit online retailers Tuesday. It will join the already available Asus Eee Top and Averatec All-in-One in the niche-but-growing Nettop category. On paper, anyway, the Wind Top may stand out due to its many features.

The $525 WindTop essentially marries the key features of the Eee Top and the Averatec system with no price premium. Like the Asus system, MSI's WindTop will feature touch-screen capability, only with a larger, 18.5-inch screen that MSI says conforms to the familiar 16:9 screen ratio common to HDTVs. And as with the Averatec All-in-One, the WindTop also includes a DVD burner. The Eee Top is optical drive free.

Like these other Nettops, the WindTop is powered by a slow, low-power Intel Atom CPU. With Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and the Windows XP Home Premium operating system, the WindTop is only a serviceable computer (serious digital media work and 3D gaming are both out), but marketers and fans of the Netbook/Nettop movement will tell you that computing power isn't the point.

As long as Nettop prices stay low and real all-in-one prices stay high, we agree. The only problem is full-power systems like Dell's $699 Studio One 19 starting to emerge in the same price ballpark. If that trend continues, the "performance doesn't matter" argument won't hold up for long.

Photos: All-in-one Nettops

The Wind U120 will hit at the end of January.

(Credit: MSI)

MSI dished to Laptop magazine about its plans for its Wind Netbook.

The previously announced Wind U120 will ship in the U.S. at the end of January. As we learned last month, the U120 will feature the same specs as the U100 but introduce a new design along with WiMAX and mobile broadband connectivity. MSI's Director of U.S. Sales Andy Tung said about the U120, "the price will be about the same as the U100, but the 3G/WiMax may raise the overall price." MSI will continue to sell the U100 but its aim will be "kids and teenagers."

MSI will also release two new Netbooks in late January, the Wind U110 and U115, that will forgo the Intel Atom N270 CPU in favor of the Atom Z530 chip. Both chips feature the same 1.6GHz clock speed, but the Z530 is physically smaller and more efficient. The U100 and U115 models will feature 10-inch screens, which MSI believes is the sweet spot for Netbooks. (I would agree. Anything smaller and I'd rather use a smartphone. Anything bigger, and I'd probably spend a bit more for a more fully functional ultraportable or thin-and-light laptop.)

The U115 will also feature a hybrid hard drive that will include an SSD and spinning hard drive. You'll be able to turn off the hard drive for improved battery life; Tung estimates that the U115 will run for 10 hours on the SSD using its 6-cell battery. He expects the price for the U115 to stay below $699.

Other items of interest: MSI will be demoing touch-screen Netbooks at CES, has no plans to sell Linux-based Netbooks in the U.S., and will introduce a 1.3-inch ultraportable, the U300, that it promises will shockingly thin.

(Via: Gizmodo)

MSI on Friday announced the next iteration of its popular Wind Netbook, the 3-pound Wind U120. The updated model includes many of the same features as its predecessor, but sports a new look (white with black accents) and adds WiMax or HSDPA connectivity.

Mobile broadband was one of the items we thought was missing from the Wind U100, so we're glad to see it's been included with this update, at least in theory. (At the moment, WiMax networks are pretty scarce in the U.S.) Also included is a six-cell battery, which is a necessity when you're talking about a device as mobile as a Netbook. In fact, our only wish that isn't granted with the Wind U120 has to do with storage: though the hard drive size has doubled to 160GB, there is still no solid-state drive option.

The Wind U120's other specs look similar to the previous version, including its 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, three USB ports, and 4-in-1 card reader. In a concession to those who hate the Netbook's tiny touch pad, it ships with an external mouse.

MSI did not specify pricing or availability for the Wind U120, but the announcement press release trumpeted that the minilaptop will be on display at CES in January 2009.

MSI appears to be the only thing standing in the way of Asus and its attempt to take over the world with Eee-branded products, including an Eee Nettop that is on tap to be announced Thursday. MSI sees Asus' Eee Top and raises it three Wind Netons, MSI's (odd) name for its new line of all-in-one Nettops.

At the low end is the Neton M16, which features a 15.6-inch screen and a $400 price. In the middle sits the M19, an 18.5-inch model for $500, and at the top of the line is the still reasonably priced $799 M22 with, you guessed it, a 22-inch display. The two low-end models serve up 1366x768 resolutions, while the M22 does 1920x1080 while also including a Blu-ray drive. All three have touch screens.

I assume the prices quoted are for the single-core Atom chip, but MSI will also offer the dual-core Atom. Linux isn't offered, but you do get a choice of OS: XP with a single-core chip and Vista with a dual-core chip.

You won't see these Netons until next year--the M19 in January, the M16 in February, and the M22 in March. By then, perhaps someone will explain to me why I'd want a computer based on an Intel Atom processor that doesn't also include a battery.

Via Engadget China, which has photos from the MSI event.

(Credit: Fudzilla)

Before you pick up MSI's Wind U100 Netbook at Best Buy, you'd do well to take a look-see at purported photos of its sequel, the Wind U120.

It appears to be very similar to the U100 in size and design, keeping the 10-inch screen but going with a two-tone look with a black screen bezel and sides and a white lid, keyboard, and wrist rest. The U120 will reportedly target business users, adding 802.11n Wi-Fi and 3.5G WWAN. Other rumored specifications include a 120GB hard drive or 20GB or 40GB solid-state drives and no changes to the Intel Atom CPU or other components. The MSI Wind U120 is expected to hit in December.

Try before you buy, and make sure the MSI Wind's tiny keyboard isn't too tiny.

The MSI Wind is hitting retail store shelves. That's good news if, like me, you'd like to see just how cramped a Netbook's keyboard is before your fat fingers pull the trigger on a purchase. MSI today announced that its 10-inch Netbook, available only online from Amazon and other direct sellers until now, is on store shelves at Best Buy.

The MSI Wind U100 model at Best Buy looks very similar to the $479 model we reviewed earlier this year, featuring the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory, and Windows XP Home, but it trades the 80GB hard drive for a larger 120GB drive and trims $80 off the price in the process, coming in at $399. Unfortunately, it features the puny 3-cell battery that underwhelmed us in testing, lasting less than 2 hours on CNET Labs' battery drain test, instead of a bigger six-cell battery that MSI has started to offer on some models. MSI will place only one configuration in Best Buy, at least initially, but you will have your choice of color: black or white.

Nvidia, Dell, HP, step inside...

Hey, remember when Nvidia issued that business update saying it was expecting to lose money repairing or replacing flawed graphics cards, but then declined to state which cards were affected and which manufacturers bought them?

Well, this week, both Dell and HP finally came out with a list of laptops that included the defective cards. Check your laptops, people, or you too may be treated to "multiple images, random characters on the screen, lines on the screen, no video" or even a "notebook (that) does not start."

Moving on, analyst group Gartner says the $100 laptop is a pipe dream, but the $200-$500 laptop is going strong. This week saw Intel's Classmate PC primed for a third-generation release; the MSI Wind started shipping with a 6-cell battery (though that bumps the price to $550); and Asus reportedly prepared an Eee PC 701 powered by Intel Atom chips.

That last item is apparently part of Asus' plan to cook up a total of 23 varieties of Eee PC over the coming months (or years, the timeline isn't clear). It's enough to make me wonder if Asus will continue to manufacture any non-Eee PC computers in the next few years. Or will we soon be receiving a press release announcing that Asus is changing the company name to Eee?

Meanwhile, memory maker Buffalo gets our carpe diem award for recognizing the market opportunity in DIY solid-state drives for the Eee PC. First runner-up is Samsung, which finally recognized business users as a prime market for the UMPC and added a few enterprise features to its Q1 Ultra.

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.