MSI Wind: small notebook with 10" screen, available on June 3rd

[elty]

Release date: June 3rd (USA)

$399
- 10" 1024x600 screen
- Atom (hinted at 1.6Ghz)
- 512MB RAM
- 3 cell battery (2.5 hours)
- 80GB 2.5" HDD
- SUSE Linux

$499
- 10" 1024x600 screen
- Atom (hinted at 1.6Ghz)
- 1024 MB RAM
- 65 cell battery (5.5 hours)
- 80GB 2.5" HDD
- Windows XP
- Bluetooth

Seems to be much better value than the EEE 900. $150 cheaper, larger but slower HDD, slightly larger screen.

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/14739

[Rx-87]

Impressive.

Specs aren't too bad either.

[shabby]

Price seems about right, gotta love competition.

[B0000rt]

Do realize 1.6 Atom is not a 1.6 Core 2 Duo, or even fast as a Core Solo at the same clock for that matter.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerbase.de%2Fnew s%2Fhardware%2Fprozessoren%2Fintel%2F2008%2Fmaerz% 2Ferster_benchmark_intels_silverthorne%2F&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

The EEE has a 900Mhz Celeron-M.

[toalan]

Ding Ding, we have a winner. I wonder how this will compare to the soon to be realeased EEE with atom. I agree with MSI that right now SSD are overratted, atleast in the budget segment, users do not really care about the speed advantages, the power advantages are not that great and users have to live with the small storage space, the only big advantage is the physical size of SSDs.

This MSI product actually looks like the EEE that Asus initially promised but failed to deliver.

I am going to wait until DELL releases their own budget ultra-portable, hopefully it there will be a DELL's day of deal on it.

[Sash[DSL]]

I disagree. The HDD that will go into this subnotebook will most likely be a 1.8" Toshiba drive or the like. These are horrible performers, I've had a subnotebook running on a similar drive(Toshiba r100 with a 40gb 1.8" drive). The subnotebook was superb in every other respect but the slow hard drive murdered the experience.
Below are figures for the 80gb Toshiba
http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/tx_templavoila/HDTune_Benchmark_TOSHIBA_MK8007GAH_01.png
Random Access times I measured were pathetic too, above 20ms.
I would much rather have a 2gb or 4gb SSD + fast SD slot that I can put a 16gb SDHC in for $60 rather than this dead slow POS.

I guess the grass is greener on the other side. The EEE users are begging for a larger capacity standard HDD and I predict MSI wind users will be modding their notebooks with ATA=>CF adapters to replace their drives.

Just my 2c here.

[Topher]

There's nothing to stop you from opening this up and replacing the hard drive with an SSD. I just wish there was an option to have the SSD in the first place. 4GB would be plenty for me in a subnotebook anyway.

[brunes]

Surprised at the crappy battery life... 2.5 hours max life? What good is that? You probably can't even play a full 2 hours movie.

[Sash[DSL]]

There's nothing to stop you from opening this up and replacing the hard drive with an SSD. I just wish there was an option to have the SSD in the first place. 4GB would be plenty for me in a subnotebook anyway.

Yes but SSD's in that form factor are even less available than 2.5" SATA SSD's and are far from cheap.

[Topher]

;6840369']Yes but SSD's in that form factor are even less available than 2.5" SATA SSD's and are far from cheap.

4GB CF + http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10886

(if it fits)

[Badman]

well competition is always god and I think this is the first laptop to give the EEE a run for its money.

I would think about it seriously as I want a ultra compact laptop but need one till Sept/Oct.

[elty]

;6839454']I disagree. The HDD that will go into this subnotebook will most likely be a 1.8" Toshiba drive or the like.


It is stated to have a 2.5" HDD. The HP 2133 which is similar in size also use 2.5" HDD.

By the way the Atom EEE PC will be $649, also available on June 3rd, but only in Taiwan.

[BananaWeed]

The MSI Wind is out today. Expansys.ca has it for $650:

http://www.expansys.ca/p.aspx?i=168086

[noname]

The MSI Wind is out today. Expansys.ca has it for $650:

http://www.expansys.ca/p.aspx?i=168086

Availability: Due Thursday 26th June

[VanillaPep]

That price is extremely high. Isnt the suggested price 499$ US?

[sfu_lifer]

Surprised at the crappy battery life... 2.5 hours max life? What good is that? You probably can't even play a full 2 hours movie.
+1 to that. Hopefully they have higher capacity battery options. Can't wait to see this in some Big Box store to test out.

[Badman]

+1 to that. Hopefully they have higher capacity battery options. Can't wait to see this in some Big Box store to test out.

well they have the 6 cell battery for the windows xp model that last for 5.5 hours.

[elty]

Heard it has LED-backlit LCD.

$499 seems to be much better deal than any EEE, assuming we can find it for $499 that is.

Review: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/msi-wind.aspx?page=1

[CanadaBoy]

http://pcvonline.com/productDetails.aspx?id=7205

:)

[fenrus]

how is life with a 600 height resolution anyways? not sure if I could stand that...

[expat247]

so where is this laptop available anyways? lots of hype saying it has been released but stores taking preorders is not considered 'released'. any ideas guys?

[dinb]

;6839454']I disagree. The HDD that will go into this subnotebook will most likely be a 1.8" Toshiba drive or the like. These are horrible performers, I've had a subnotebook running on a similar drive(Toshiba r100 with a 40gb 1.8" drive). The subnotebook was superb in every other respect but the slow hard drive murdered the experience.
Below are figures for the 80gb Toshiba
http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/tx_templavoila/HDTune_Benchmark_TOSHIBA_MK8007GAH_01.png
Random Access times I measured were pathetic too, above 20ms.
I would much rather have a 2gb or 4gb SSD + fast SD slot that I can put a 16gb SDHC in for $60 rather than this dead slow POS.

I guess the grass is greener on the other side. The EEE users are begging for a larger capacity standard HDD and I predict MSI wind users will be modding their notebooks with ATA=>CF adapters to replace their drives.

Just my 2c here.

HD is an 80GB 5400RPM one so quite decent.

[dinb]

I made a mistake of getting a 17" laptop last year. Too big and heavy to carry around so something like this would be usefull for me. Only thing is that some sellers are saying it might come with 3 cell battery instead of 6 due to battery shortages!

[expat247]

from the spec release the winxp version has a 6 cell while the linux version has a 3 cell. its not like they can shortchange people unless they are willing to upgrade buyers later when stock is more plentiful.

[dinb]

from the spec release the winxp version has a 6 cell while the linux version has a 3 cell. its not like they can shortchange people unless they are willing to upgrade buyers later when stock is more plentiful.

Yeah I saw the mention of all models being 3 cell on the site linked by another poster previously.

[expat247]

has anyone managed to snag one of these from a cad retailer? keep checking the pcv site compulsively but no updates and google does not turn up much for canada other than the usual suspects. oddly canadacomputers only lists eee's.

[bokep]

marked up $150. **** you canadian retailers.

[CaptainReboot]

marked up $150. **** you canadian retailers.

Source? I can't find Canadian pricing.

[expat247]

pcv lists the msi wind as $399.00 and they have locations in toronto. however they only allow you to preorder.

[expat247]

pcv just jacked up the price to $509. i suppose they realised the price wasnt 'canadianized' earlier.

[kingkao]

delayed yet again. shipping july 7th.

[dinb]

pcv just jacked up the price to $509. i suppose they realised the price wasnt 'canadianized' earlier.

That is a good price bro... Wind's MSRP is 499 US, so 509 is a fantastic deal. Expansys preorder is 650!

[kayoko]

Weirdness. I was just at Pacific mall and saw Pacific Notebook selling the MSI Wind for $600 (XP version). Perhaps they imported it?

[bhuachua]

pcv just jacked up the price to $509. i suppose they realised the price wasnt 'canadianized' earlier.

$399 pre-order deal was for MSI Wind with linux and 512 ram. Now they are only offering Xp version with 1gb ram at $509 which is good comparing the $499 suggested retail price in US.

[squall458]

delayed yet again. shipping july 7th.

I hope thats the release date. I cant wait to see it in person.

[expat247]

$399 pre-order deal was for MSI Wind with linux and 512 ram. Now they are only offering Xp version with 1gb ram at $509 which is good comparing the $499 suggested retail price in US.

is there anywhere else selling the msi wind for the 399$ price? I dont want to pay 110$ for 512mb extra of ram. We all know XP is free.

[B0000rt]

is there anywhere else selling the msi wind for the 399$ price? I dont want to pay 110$ for 512mb extra of ram. We all know XP is free.

Why not just buy the $399 version and add ram yourself? But doesn't XP version come with the large 6cell battery?

[expat247]

Why not just buy the $399 version and add ram yourself? But doesn't XP version come with the large 6cell battery?

Thats my point. unless im mistaken, i dont see the 399 version listed anymore.

[input]

Too bad they're only shipping Windows XP Home with the $499 one. Roughly, how much would a 6-cell battery, and the upgrade to 2GB RAM would cost? I'm guessing it would cost as much as the $499 one if were to upgrade the $399 one.

[B0000rt]

Too bad they're only shipping Windows XP Home with the $499 one. Roughly, how much would a 6-cell battery, and the upgrade to 2GB RAM would cost? I'm guessing it would cost as much as the $499 one if were to upgrade the $399 one.

A battery upgrade is typically $30 and ram is <$50 for 2GB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010260381%201309221136%201309121117&bop=And&Order=PRICE Or ~$20 for 1GB.

[Mgz]

Weirdness. I was just at Pacific mall and saw Pacific Notebook selling the MSI Wind for $600 (XP version). Perhaps they imported it?

maybe a clone one ?

[dinb]

What is this "pcv" place people are talking about here?

[B0000rt]

What is this "pcv" place people are talking about here?

http://www.pcvonline.com/productDetails.aspx?id=7205

[bhninja]

maybe a clone one ?

no i saw it at pac mall also and it doesnt look like a clone to me.. the store is called pacific notebook (they have a website also) but $600 is too expensive for something like that for me...

[input]

Apparently, MSI has soldered the RAM on to the motherboard according to a disassembly report made by Bit-Tech.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/05/breaking-wind/1

Hmmm....

[B0000rt]

Apparently, MSI has soldered the RAM on to the motherboard according to a disassembly report made by Bit-Tech.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/05/breaking-wind/1

Hmmm....

One thing we found interesting is that there is a DDR2 SO-DIMM slot to upgrade the memory, unlike the Eee, which means the Wind has a much more simplified future expansion compared to your average cheap sub-notebook. However, it is a complete oxymoron considering there's no specific access panel to do this easily. Just like how Asus solders part of it's SSD to the PCB, MSI has soldered eight memory chips to the PCB (four on either side) in the Wind, for the standard 1GB of system space.
Soldered on, but there's an expansion slot... So who cares!

[Goonish]

When is the Dell UMPC set to be released? I'm seriously looking into these things now...

Hopefully competition will drive the prices down in no time.

[Mgz]

Soldered on, but there's an expansion slot... So who cares!

ability to accept 2 GB SO-DIMM = Win, but I have to wait for further confirmation :(

3 GB Windows XP :idea: :idea: :idea:

[input]

Isn't it either 512MB or 1GB onboard RAM soldered on to the motherboard and an expansion slot for another stick of RAM?

If you were to get the Linux model with 512MB, adding a 1GB RAM stick would equal 1.5GB of RAM.

If you were to get the Windows XP model with 1GB, adding a 1GB RAM stick would equal 2GB of RAM.

Right?

[bahasad]

how is the battery life on this?
how much will it retail for when it comes out?

[dinb]

Ease up on the ram guys, my old comp had 512mb of ram and it ran XP perfectly. Taking the 512 Wind to 1.5GB with a 1GB mem would be WAY more than is needed.

[MIT]

Really interested in the wind and the like. I saw that the UK has the wind rebadged version called Advent 4211. Its cheaper than the wind there, and its identical. Does anyone know if these will be available in North America? Any idea when the Wind is supposed to hit NA?

thnx.

[expat247]

is the linux 512mb version of this system for $399 available anywhere?

[sexyj]

is the linux 512mb version of this system for $399 available anywhere?

think linux is pushed back til august

[7jaii]

think linux is pushed back til august

Any delays at this time just give the big names time to steal market share. Dell & HP are launching good products, Acer "looks good" but their 8GB SSD has performance issues, MSI has the cleanest looking mobo right now and Asus Eee dropped the ball. They had the whole market to themselves and screwed with their pricing.

If they announced a 901 + 20GB with memory access panel they'd retain 1st place. If rumours are true and Dell's E basic config is $299 then I'm buying that first - at least I'm familiar with their warranty & support.

[Realrena]

If rumours are true and Dell's E basic config is $299 then I'm buying that first - at least I'm familiar with their warranty & support.
I'm waiting for that also... It's much easier to get support/warranty from big names like Dell, too bad HP's mininote sucked (CPU wise) and expensive :(

[7jaii]

I'm waiting for that also...

Get in line, I want one. Their leaked PDF shows a complete line with good features, different pricing of course :)

How are you enjoy the summer my friend? I've been bored with the lack of new hardware releases.

[Realrena]

How are you enjoy the summer my friend? I've been bored with the lack of new hardware releases.

Haha same here, I got so bored that i'm gonna purchase some Mini-ITX D945GCLF to play with :(