The Wind, an acronym for Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. Another wireless feature that comes with the Wind is Bluetooth, this enables you to wireless connect to headphones, or other Bluetooth devices making it more convenient by not carrying around a bunch of tangled cords. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 Widescreen (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Two internal Speakers Built-in 802.11b/g/n Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN Integrated Bluetooth 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro Ports – 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.6 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Cute litte web surfer
I bought this specifically for web browsing. Mostly use it to check my fav websites while watching evening tv, uploading/dowloading pictures and to and from work on the bus.

4 Stars MSI Wind U100 – decent little machine
First thing that I found when I opened the package is the itty bitty laptop and the additional memory that I ordered. I STRONGLY recommend spending the extra 15 to 20 bucks to get the extra memory – it makes a massive difference in the performance of any machine.

The issue I had with the memory is that the laptot doesn’t seem to have any place to install it. The documentation doesn’t show where it goes. I found a video on Youtube showing how and where to install it. The apparent terrible thing about upgrading the memory is that it requires removing the back cover. One of the screws is covered by a security tape that says “warranty is void if tampered”.

I contacted tech support. It took two calls. Both times they answered within 5 minutes. The first call, oops, they dropped the phone and accidentally hung up on me. I got the same tech that did this on the second call. The tech support agent said that it is alright to remove the sticker to get to the screw. They have reviewed their policy and it will not void the warranty. They have stopped placing the sticker on new systems. With the cover off, I removed the sticker altogether and got the residue off with goo gone.

The tech support agent said that nothing else is user or locally serviceable. Not even the hard drive.

Next, I backed up the hard drive as delivered using Norton Ghost.

I then replaced the operating system by installing Windows Vista Ultimate to test the capability. It ran just fine. The Vista Performance rating gave it a 1 for the graphics card – or lack of.

I installed XP Pro. Office 2007 Ultimate. Joined the laptot to the domain. It is truly not a desktop replacement, but my wife likes it a lot!

I don’t know why they don’t offer XP Professional as an option for these machines. XP home is simply a broken version.

I wonder what OS these laptot manufacturers will begin shipping when Microsoft finally discontinues XP.

5 Stars great – love it!
I love this laptop! It has everything I need to surf the web and the battery has a long life. I’m especially impressed withthe keyboard, which is large for such a small computer. The heart design is very subtle.

5 Stars Great little machine!!
Originally leaning towards an HP mini I decided to go with this little one after discovering all its great features and tons of great reviews. It’s light, fast, has a great screen, the keyboard rocks, I have no problem with the mouse bar and I just love it! I drag it all over the place with me, it into the kitchen rather than printing a recipe and it worked like a charm, into the family room to surf, outside to work, everywhere – battery lasts forever and it doesn’t get hot like my Thinkpad I use for work.

5 Stars Portable Wind Netbook from MSI
Excellent product very happy with it, bought it for my wife, delighted with the product

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind U100 001US 10 Inch Pink Netbook 6 Cell Battery is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. Another wireless feature that comes with the Wind is Bluetooth, this enables you to wireless connect to headphones, or other Bluetooth devices making it more convenient by not carrying around a bunch of tangled cords. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 Widescreen (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Built-in 802.11b/g/n Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN Integrated Bluetooth 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro Ports – 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.6 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The Best MacBook Nano !!!!
I installed in it OS X 10.5.5 and works very good. There are some issues with the sound but

it can be worked out by buying a very cheap ( 8 dollars ) USB adaptor.

I have several Mac boxes at home and in the office and I happy that now I also have

a MacBook Nano

5 Stars love it!
I love my new laptop. It is easy to carry to school with all of my books. Works great too!

5 Stars great little product
[[ASIN:B001LNUJ5Q MSI Wind U100-280US 10-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 6 Cell Battery, XP Home) Pink]

I did some comparison particularly with the samsung n10 the biggest difference seem to be the keyboard, mainly the right shift key placement on the samsung (less awkward was the sentiment) and a tad longer battery life. But I find the Wind keyboard to be quite comfortable (especially for the difference in price). I will mainly be using this at home so battery life (extra 45 mins or so on samsung) is not a great issue for me either.

So far, I love my Wind and I really love the PINK.

4 Stars MSI Wind versus Acer Aspire One
Let me start off by saying I have owned both of these laptops so I can make a good comparison.

I bought the Acer Aspire One about a month ago. It is very pretty and stylish. The battery life was almost seven hours and the keyboard keys were very responsive and had a nice feel to them. However it did have some problems. I noticed that the cooling fan on the Acer was abit loud and was noticably slower while using for internet than my other laptops.

Also about a day after I bought it you would hear a beep about once every 30-45 minutes from the system board so it had to be sent back as faulty.

I guess you are wondering if I am reviewing the Acer or the MSI at this point? Well I am reviewing both.

Now as for the MSI Wind. I received it a few days ago and yes it was more money but after using it for some time it was well worth it. The screen can display full web pages. It seems like just the slightly larger screen on the MSI makes a huge difference in viewing ease.

The battery last about 4.5-5 hrs on the MSI still very good and the keyboard is spaced better the the Acer but the keys are somewhat mushy and don’t feel as responsive but can get used to it. I also found out that enen though both the MSI and Acer share the same cpu and memory size the MSI Wind was noticably fast in all respects including internet use. What I did not like about the MSI is that it is a little tippsy when on your lap if not carefull it could possibly tip over. That would be really bad.

PROS: MSI larger screen displays full web pages.

Screen is much easier to view than the Acer

Keys are spaced better than the Acer

Battery life is 4.5-5 hrs

Much quiter than the Acer both fan and hardrive noise

Feels much better build quality than the Acer

Surfs web faster than the Acer.

The speakers on the MSI sound better and get louder than the Acer

Comes with a really nice white with pink beading protective bag.

Much nicer bag than the Acer non-padded sleeve.

CONS: Not as stlyish and pretty as the Acer

battery has slightly less run time than the Acer

Cost more than the Acer

Can be somewhat tippsy on your lap

I would for sure recommend the MSI Wind

5 Stars Perfect for its purposes!!
I bought this netbook for my daughter who’s 13 and pink in every sense, and I don’t regret it. It is perfect! It works great, it’s fast, no problems at all with internet, or even the bluetooth. The screen is 10″, so it’s a little bigger than the usual 8.9″, and the keyboard is soft and easy to work with. Sound is ok, nothing extraordinary but if you want something else there’s always the chance to connect speakers. Battery is great, worked for over 5 and a half hours. In All an excellent purchase! I recommend it!

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind U100 280US 10 Inch Netbook 1 6 GHz Intel Atom Processor 1 GB RAM 160 GB Hard Drive 6 Cell Battery XP Home Pink is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for “Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook, or “netbook” is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Built-in 802.11b/g Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.3 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Nice Bang for the Buck
Pros: I decided to wait a little while before I wrote a review so that I could provide some insight that went beyond just my initial impressions. My OBE (Out of Box Experience) was fantastic. I had looked at a number of different models before I chose this one. I was leaning very heavily towards getting an Acer until a friend of mine lent me his MSI for an overnight test drive. The display was very impressive and I found being able to fit the full width of a web page very helpful. I’m a rather clumsy typist and I found the keyboard to be sufficient enough to accommodate my paw and hope technique.

My main purpose in getting a netbook was to get something that was as portable as possible and still be able to surf the web with relative ease. I recently purchased a notebook for my wife, she is an accountant and insisted that the keyboard be full sized and have a 10 key pad on it as well. I got her a very nice machine with an incredible display with all of the bells and whistles. The problem was that at about 9 pounds, it was not anything that I would care to lug around.

With portability, ease of surfing and price my key factors I happily made the purchase (300 bucks). This computer quickly exceeded my expectations. I found that not only could I easily surf the web, but this computer was more than I hoped for. It easily runs office and most any other application you care to throw at it with relative ease (heavy gaming excluded). I suspect that this is due in part to the fact that it comes with XP Home Edition instead of Vista. This machine will never be a good choice as a primary computer but it does what it is meant to do extremely well and then some.

In an effort to keep the weight and cost down I opted for the 3 cell battery. I knew that this would limit my time that I could spend away from an outlet and I am getting about 1:45 worth of actual time on a full charge. Keeping the brightness on the monitor down as low as practical and turning off unnecessary features definitely helps. I have an adaptor in my vehicle that I bought at Sam’s club which allows me to plug any small to medium sized AC powered device into my cigarette lighter. I would highly recommend getting one as this really helps! I think I paid something like 30 bucks for a two pack a couple of years ago. I have one in my truck and one in my wife’s SUV.

The WIFI on this is excellent. I am able to pick up signals very easily and the dropouts are at a very acceptable level. The Webcam although not great, gets the job done. I am not sure if this thing has Bluetooth or not. The Bluetooth software is there but the box that the computer comes in indicates that there is no Bluetooth. Since I do not have any Bluetooth devices I can’t determine if Bluetooth is there or not.

The processor is better than I expected and runs programs faster than I thought it would. Even with just 1 GB of RAM this thing runs very well. Here is where I am very confused with respect to the processor. It was my understanding that the Atom 270 was a single core, however when I bring up task manager, there are two cores present. When I monitor the task manager CPU usage window it behaves exactly like a dual core would. Each core is displayed separately and is acting independently from the other. I either received a dual core processor or I am missing something here.

Cons: As I indicated, my OBE was exceptional and had I written this review the day after I received the computer I would have easily given it 5 stars.

After about three weeks my computer stopped being able to run on battery power. I have no idea what happened but one day it simply stopped working. It still worked fine on AC but I didn’t buy a desktop. I treat my computers with great care and I typically get 6 or more years out of a computer. I suspect there was simply a loose wire inside.

Amazon made it very easy to return the item and I received the replacement in short order. If I remember correctly I filled out the RMA on a Sunday and I received the replacement the following Thursday. I sent the defective unit back via parcel post and I paid for a receipt notification. I received notification back both from Amazon and the USPS that the return had be received.

Although the replacement came in very short order, the OBE fell way short of the first computer. The first annoyance was that the processor was not as fast as the first one. I cannot gripe too much on this point because the Atom is clearly marketed as a 1.6 GHz processor and I got that both times. The cool thing about the MSI bios is that it allows you to overclock the processor. You can select an 8, 15 or 24% increase in the rated processor speed. The basic process is to start low and work your way up until you hit 24% or your computer locks up whichever comes first. Not to worry though, if your computer locks up you can simply re-boot and then lower the speed.

The first computer that I received allowed me to ramp it up an additional 15%, the second computer only allowed me to bump it up 8%. I treat this as a disappointment but nothing that can really be held against MSI since Intel clearly has rated the processor at 1.6 GHz and nothing more. Anything above that is gravy and is due to minor defects in the silicon that determine the amount of over clocking that can be obtained.

My second issue however is something that I feel I can hold against MSI. There must have been a difference in the image that shipped on the two computers. The first one was flawless and everything worked perfectly the first time. The second computer suffered from a MAJOR memory leak when using Internet Explorer 6. I had heard about this before but I had never actually seen a computer that had it. Basically when I got on the web, each page was taking up about 50-75 MB of memory that was never released. It took me quite some to figure out that this was happening. I would go online and after about 15 minutes of surfing I would get a memory full error. If I closed IE and then re-opened it I could continue for about another 15 minutes.

Clearly there was something very wrong. Even though I had installed all of the patches I still got the memory leak. I could monitor the memory leak by having the task manager open while I surfed; I even upgraded to IE 8 and although the memory leak was not as bad it was still unacceptable.

I finally bombed the computer by hitting F3 during the boot process when F3 appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen. This did a complete re-install of the image including formatting the drives. After I re-imaged the computer and installed all of the necessary updates I took IE6 for another spin and things were much improved although there was still a noticeable memory leak. The leak was small enough that I could have a decent surfing session and not run out of memory. It was something that I could live with if I had to but I wanted a better fix.

Finally I decided that the best course of action was to give Mozilla’s Firefox a try. I installed Firefox and “poof” the memory leak disappeared! Although I have just started using Firefox I have to say that it is sooooo much faster than IE! It may not have all of the bells and whistles that IE has especially in terms of interoperability with other Microsoft applications, but in terms just browsing, this thing has IE beat hands down!

Other thoughts: Overall I am very happy with this computer. The price is fantastic and given its diminutive size this thing delivers better than expected performance. I can only give this item a rating of 4 stars because I should not have had to go though all of the hoops that I did in order to fix my memory leak. Given what I know now, I would not hesitate to buy this computer; however, I would save myself some hassle and install Firefox right away. I am very happy with Amazon’s return policy and they made it very easy to return the item.

As an additional piece of advice, make sure you keep EVERYTHING when you receive your package. Just set it aside in a nice safe location because you never know. This is an old habit of mine and I even keep the shipping materials. That way if the need to ship it back arises then you can ship it back exactly the way you received it. This can save you time money and hassles. You can be charged a restocking fee if you do not send it back properly. Also (and my wife had fun laughing at me for this one), I document the entire repackaging process with my digital camera so that I have additional proof that I sent everything back. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean that someone isn’t out to get me

4 Stars Inspiring, Fast, Efficient, and Easy-to-Use (mostly)
I would have given 4.5 stars if possible.

I waited to write the review until I’d had the tiny netbook for about a month, just so I could really give a comprehensive review. I have the Gig of RAM recommended by an earlier review here on my couch still in the box. The computer is so fast that I haven’t found I need it and I wanted to make 100% sure I was keeping the computer before I installed anything.

The MSI Wind U100 is nothing short of incredible. I wish they made these 10 years ago. It fits in my ordinary-sized purse and it’s light enough to carry around anywhere I go (and I do). I have the 3 cell battery, but I’m probably going to upgrade to the 6 cell, since the battery life is ok, but not fantastic. I tried many netbooks and the keyboard on the MSI U100 is the easiest to use (except for the trackpad, which I’ll explain below). The webcam quality is good enough to make me look like a celebrity, but not so good that it’s possible to see that I just woke up (I’d enclose a video, but I wanted to make sure it was read– I never watch video reviews). The wireless is so good that I was able to pick up a signal from two blocks away. The computer itself is fast and fun to use. I never sit around waiting for it to catch up (ok, once I did, but I restarted and everything was ok… I think I had some pretty heavy stuff processing in the background). Though the MSI website is really terrible, their support forum is really fantastic. People are there to help and are quite eager to do so (at least, in my experience). Apparently, it’s possible to do a lot of modifications on the MSI U100, but I’m not technically inclined enough to try it. The keyboard is just fine for me, and even the controversial “.” key is not too small for me now that I’ve gotten used to it (they made it about half the size it usually is, so some people complain that they can’t hit it).

Now for the drawback. There’s only one, but it’s REALLY annoying. The trackpad that came with mine has tap-to-click enabled and it’s not possible to disable it. I went to the forum with this issue, and it seems that it’s a crapshoot if you get the bad trackpad (mine) or the good one. When I’m typing, my thumb occasionally hits the trackpad and moves my cursor or clicks whatever it happens to be hovering over. This has lost emails and forms and has resulted in much frustration while typing. I’ve had to become really proactive about watching my thumbs, and even then, I am accidentally clicking around quite frequently. And my thumbs are not large… I have what people say are “piano player” hands. This would not be *such* a huge issue, but it’s not even possible to disable the trackpad in general. Even if I plug a mouse in, the only way to disable the trackpad is to uninstall the driver. The forum suggested a new driver that has click-to-tap as an option, but I installed that driver and still have no way to turn off click-to-tap.

However, even with the trackpad issue, I still would not hesitate to buy another. I recommend them to everyone I know and even started a website just for fun: [...]

I am planning on buying a bigger external hard drive, a big monitor, and a USB DVD drive. In my opinion, it’s better to have that stuff as components rather than lugging everything around in a single laptop that doesn’t even fit in my purse.

2 Stars Had to return it, Wifi didnt connect to my router
I updated all the drivers to the latest ones on MSI’s website. I upgraded the firmware of my router, which isnt some obscure router its a Linksys WRT54G. Still the Wind despite being one room away from the router and having 4 bars wouldnt hold a connection to the router. It would work for a few minutes then the connection would freeze. This wasnt some minor annoyance all laptops will drop a connection once in a blue moon. This was chronic and rendered the netbook unuseable. So I returned it to Amazon. If you look on the web it seems this isnt an uncommon phenomena. Many people seem to give up on the internal wifi card and buy an external card to maintain a solid connection.

The most impressive thing about the unit was the keyboard which I liked and the low weight of the unit. The speakers were also acceptable, and could reach a decent volume. Some netbooks at full volume are almost inaudible. Also the overclocking functions are useful if you want to play some basic 3d games on the unit. A 25% overclock is quite significant.

Compared to other netbooks I thought the polish of the unit was lacking. The plastics on the unit are pretty cheap feeling compared to plastics on Asus netbooks. When you look at the rather large vents on the bottom you can see exposed circuit boards. Seems like a weak design as dust, crumbs, etc can easily get in there and I would imagine could cause potential hardware failures.

The screen was fairly weak, similar to most netbooks. Theres a speckled look to the screens which prevents them approaching the quality level of full size notebooks. I think this comes from the fact netbooks use screens intended for portable DVD players not for computer text. I would expect future netbooks to improve screen quality.

The instructions that came with the unit were lacking and incredibly sparse. One not very well written poster page and thats about it.

Overall if you just want a basic netbook that isnt by anyones estimation the best netbook out there but is the cheapest then this could fit the bill. That is if the wifi connects for you, for me it didnt.

However there is some merit to the saying ‘you get what you pay for’. Though the Wind is acceptable overall I think there are better options out there even if they cost a little more money.

5 Stars BEST Notebook
$ for $ this is the best notebook u can buy. Its runs so smooth and the 3cell battery is not as bad as many people make it out to be. The keyboard is a lil smaller but it is very comfortable to type. I upgraded the ram to 2gb and installed vista. Its runs so much smoother than XP. I think MSI didnt want to add the extra ram and vista for their own cost savings. But this thing with Vista business runs smooooth and fast. Try it out for yourself

4 Stars Love this Laptop!
I love this little machine. It does everything I could possibly want and at a ridiculously low price. Only minor reservation is regarding battery life, which is only 2 hrs. Of course, 6 and 9 cell batteries are available, if you need more non-AC time.

A bonus is the ability to overclock very easily, pushing the processing speed to about 2 GHz. I HIGHLY recommend the MSI Wind U100!!!

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind U100 451US 10 Inch White Netbook 3 Cell Battery is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for ?Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. Another wireless feature that comes with the Wind is Bluetooth, this enables you to wireless connect to headphones, or other Bluetooth devices making it more convenient by not carrying around a bunch of tangled cords. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers International Keyboard supports 5 different languages (English, French, German, Dutch, and Polish) Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Built-in 802.11b/g/n Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN Integrated Bluetooth 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.6 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Great value for versatile notebook
This notebook is great for normal computer use including email and microsoft office. Works just as well as my $1200 Dell. Does not have a CD/DVD drive. Battery life is excellent. 4-6 hours at 3 months depending on use.

5 Stars The little netbook that could
The MSI Windbook fits the bill perfectly for me. I was in the market for a laptop that I could easily carry around with me at home and not have to worry about lugging around power cords. Not only that, but I also wanted something with reasonable power that could run most of my low key applications, do some surfing, and could also view multi-media. Some of the benefits of this model vs. others is that it includes Wireless N and Bluetooth, and has the 6 cell battery. I get about 4 hours of operation when running most of the hardware, including the wireless card, webcam, etc. This is a great netbook for the price and you won’t be disappointed. I looked at the ASUS, Dell, and HP models and this one seemed to be the best bang for the buck. Also, it seems that many other “enthusiasts” like the MSI because of its capability to be overclocked. I’ve been buying MSI motherboards for years and the quality and support has been great, and I believe the same is true for this product. I was able to get Windows 7 beta up and running within 30 minutes, all hardware was recognized with the exception of the wireless card- but once I did a windows update there was a driver that installed and everything works perfectly.

The only cons that I’ve run across so far- the keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to with all the international keys. After about 30 minutes of typing you get the hang of it, and I’m now typing about as fast as I normally do on a full sized keyboard. I was a little worried that the international keyboard would get in the way, but it really doesn’t. A minor gripe is that you have to push the function (fn) key and the arrows to use home, page down, page up and end. But you can’t have separate buttons for everything on a computer this size! Another minor thing- when you have the battery installed the laptop has a tendancy to tip backwards but only if you do not have it on a flat surface. For isntance, you might find it irritating if you were watching a video while you have it resting on your lap. Something I am still trying to figure out is why my wireless N is not connecting super fast. So far I’ve been able to get a max speed of 65 Mbit. I have a new router (dlink) and I think I may need to tweak the settings a bit. On the plus side, the wireless card has a tremendous range and can see most of my neighbors connections, which I had never seen on my other laptop with a wireless g card.

With these minor annoyances I still give the product 5 stars! You won’t be disappointed.

5 Stars Great little netbook
Meets all my expectations. Speakers are not great. With bios upgrade and turbo mode, don’t see the need to upgrade to 2MB of ram. Some programs work better in 800×600 resolution. Dual language keyboard layout on this model not a problem for me but may bother others.

4 Stars A good travel companion
I bought the MSI U100 10″ Netbook for travel and school. It is a lot easier and lighter than a 15″ notebook. Portability and under 3 pounds. With a 180G HD it holds more than my other laptop. The keys are near full size so data entry is OK. The keyboard is configured for other countries as well as the USA so there are some minor diferences of the auxilary keys, easy to get used to. No problem connecting to the internet both by cable and wireless. I am now working with it connected to my home LCD monitor, great when you want a larger screen and a diferent screen ratio. The non glare screeen helps in bright lighting and outdoors. Battery life astounds my co workers (near 6 hours for most apps). Downsides – it needs feet at the very back. The battery pack makes it unblanced toward the rear but not serious, The power converter comes with a long heavy cable that seems to be bigger and heavier than the computer – I changed mine to a short light cable. A promised protective sleeve did not arrive with the computer, I am still waiting after calling.

Buy/More Info

MSI Microstar WindBook U100 422CA 10 Netbook Black is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for “Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook, or “netbook” is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Facial Recognition Software for Security Built-in 802.11b/g Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.3 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Caution–No Memory Expansion
Seeking a way to present my PowerPoint lectures conveniently, I investigated the very popular netbooks. The MSI Wind looked dandy, and I requested one from the Amazon website. “Purchased with this item”, a common Amazon addendum, included a one gig memory stick add-on. This I ordered as well. Imagine my surprise when, after trying unsuccessfully for 20 minutes to remove the netbook bottom, I went on line and learned that THIS MODEL WILL NOT ACCOMMODATE MEMORY EXPANSION!!! This little fact was not mentioned in the product description, and the come-on to buy a memory stick was further misleading.

Now, the product itself is terrific. Even without the added memory, it is fast, clean, in fact perfect. I highly recommend the MSI wind netbook as a light, highly portable, classic windows machine.

4 Stars Reviewing the MSI Wind U120 Notebook
Works good. It has met all my expections. Haven’t had any problems with the computer. Using it just for e-mail.

1 Star Disappointed
Negative:

Speakers are two tin cans with a string. Why bother?

Seller did not mention that you could not upgrade memory–amazon even promoted that you buy memory with this product!

System is a bit slow at times and have not added any additional software!

Mouse would be better positioned in the center.

6 cell battery lasting 3.5 hours

Top heavy….tips back…be careful!

Would have bought the U100 if I had it to do all over again and WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT FROM THE SELLER I BOUGHT FROM!

Would return it, but need it for class and no time to reorder

Positive:

It’s small and light-weight.

5 Stars excellent value & performance
perfect solution for commuter to work in the train, or play some games.

perfect form and function

5 Stars good compact netbook
I got his computer for my mom and she loves it. Eventhough the screen is too small for me, she seems to like it.

It is also the perfect travel netbook for college students looking to use it for note taking.

I got

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind U120 024US 10 Inch White Netbook 6 Cell Battery is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for Wi-Fi Network Device,” features the new speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz Processor in a small desktop unit that can be placed horizontally or vertically. Besides being 83% smaller compared to most ATX desktops, the Wind Nettop produces an average of 30dB noise level which makes for quieter machine so you can focus on what your working on. Requiring only 35 watts of power during full speed operation compared to the normal 300 watts on other desktops, this Nettop will save you about 90% on electricity, virtually paying for itself while slowing down global warming. But being small doesn’t also mean getting less, you still have HD 7.1 Audio, 6 USB ports, 4-in-1 media card reader, slot-loading DVD drive, LAN and WiFi all built in! Getting the Wind Nettop is the perfect basic desktop for work or as a second computer at home, so pick up yours today. Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Card Slot Loading Super Multi DVD+-R/RW Drive 7.1 High Definition Audio 802.11b/g Wireless LAN 10/100/1000 Base-T Gigabit Ethernet LAN 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, xD Front ports – 2 x USB, Headphone, Microphone Back ports – 4 x USB, 6 x Audio Jacks, RJ-45 (LAN), VGA CF Card Expansion Slot Approximate Unit Dimensions – 9.45 (L) x 2.56 (D) x 11.81 (H) Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse is not included

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Frustrated Linux sharpie
The MSI CS120 does in fact run Windows XP with what seem to be no problems. However, it does not come with an expert system manual, and trying to figure out the key to push on startup so as to set up the bios for a Linux boot is not clear from any documentation. After hitting enough keys during one attempt, I got a menu for choosing which drive to boot up from, so I chose the Toshiba CD/DVD reader with the gobble the CD insertion process. Still booted only Windows. If Amazon, or anyone, has the real information for the F? button to push, please post it.

I contacted MSI’s online technical support, and they demand information not included with the system package before they will even accept the form input. I would rate MSI technical support as “extremely unhelpful”.

I bought both the CS120 with the slot dvd player and Windows XP _and_ the barebones. If you only run Windows on the CS120, it probably is a good machine for you. The slot dvd player has some problems reading CDs. I may have a defective player, so I was able to install some old Windows software, and the slot player took a few seconds to decide how to read it. I inserted a Linux boot disk into the slot player, and it took at least a minute to decide how to read the iso boot sector and go into boot mode. Something is not well with this device. Also, after I booted Linux and did work with the “live” system and shut the machine down, the machine refused to boot up Windows. I kept getting an “insert disk and reboot” message from the bios. I managed to look into the bios and discovered that the hard drive (/dev/sda in Linux) was absent. There is a bios setting in the ide disks or boot configuration or both that you have to reset to hard drive present in order to boot up Windows again after booting up with any other than the hard drive as media. This also happened when I booted a Linux system from a sandisk compact flash inserted into the reader (mentioned in the previous review that it won’t boot at all from a pendrive).

Oh yes, the cs120 manual doesn’t mention it, but you push the delete button on the keyboard to enter the bios for editing.

Lucky I bought the barebones and a memory stick. The barebones came with the that information the cs120 was missing. I am writing this from a Linux slackware on 2 gigabytes of sandisk on the barebones. The barebones may have the same bios problems as the cs120, but I don’t immediately plan to find out, I am so pleased with it as a Linux machine.

4 Stars Good solution for everyday computing
I purchased theis nettop to use as a music server on my home network and for net surfing when needed.

Chassis is fairly good quality and easy to access. I just added a hardrive, optical drive, memory, WIFI card, and operating system and got things going. I ended up using a Gigabyte N300 for WIFI interface.

I have two gripes.

1. The case fan that comes with it is very noisy. I replaced with a 60mm Silenx. That really helped bring the noise level down.

2. The supplied antenna did not perform as expected (with any of the WIFI cards I used). I ended up purchasing a couple of tyco antennas and hid them in the chassis. That brought great reception to the table. The supplied antenna may have been defective as it didn’t pickup my home network one room away.

Otherwise, it fit the bill as expected.

5 Stars Atom dual core performace is excellent and = low watts
This is the best low consuption computer.

COOL

> There is no hard drive, memory, or disc drive. So you can choose what you want and save money, and choose low power hard disk

> Only 30 W of power are required Earth will thank you

> Atoms dual core performance is great, don’t worry about it if you are planning using it like a server 24/7

BAD

> There is no wifi card

> Intel GMA video chip is slowly and crappy. Here is my recomendation:

You will realize, that you actually can’t play high definition videos with the wife of the Atom processor, the Intel Graphics Media “Accelerator” (GMA). Frame skipping and audio cuts, will be totally a mess.

Can be frustrating, but there is a solution:

> Deactivate deblocking filter on all the codecs that support it (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC)

How ?

Install klite codec pack, and at the end of the setup, choose deactivate deblocking.

If you use build-in codecs player programs such GOMPlayer, there are options for quit deblocking filters.

This way you can play even 720p hardly encoded videos, you will see some blocks here and there, but no frame skipping or audio cuts.

Alternately, if you need more performance, you can choose 16bit of color depth.

FEATURES:

There is a:

1) cdrom/dvd bay, 2) mini pcie port, 3) wifi antenna -and rear socket for it- 4) rear jacks for 7.1 speakers system -and line-in/out and mic- 5) one frontal speakers jack 6) one frontal microfone jack 7) two frontal usb ports four rear usb ports 9) one rear ethernet jack 10) one rear VGA port 11) one frontal SD/MMC card slot 11) two SATA internal ports -sata only- 12) CF internal port -compact flash port- 13) one DDR2 200-Pin SODIMM Laptop Memory RAM slot 14) 3.5 hard disk bay 15) one power button 16) one power supply 17) one disc with drivers/controllers 18) one vertical stand adapter 19) one multilanguage user manual

There is no:

1) reset button 2) wifi card 3) DVI port 4) IDE ports -sata only- 5) hard disk -must get it- 6) compact flash drive 7) dvd/cd drive ram memory -must get it-

Enjoy your hardware.

5 Stars a good thing made better
I purchased one of the single core models like this for personal use, and was so impressed, I got one of these dual core models to use in my “day job.” I wanted to experiment to see how well these beasties stood up against the other full sized PCs we use. I started out using Ubuntu Linux, but plan to try XP on it as well.

This barebone computer is NOT complete; minus RAM, a hard drive or Compact Flash card, an optical drive, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and operating system. Adding all those items can easily cost more than the basic machine, depending on how much you have sitting around. Since I had plenty of monitors, keyboards, and mice, I only needed to add RAM, hard drive, and optical drive to be ready to install Unbuntu. (I actually had a spare new SATA hard drive as well.)

Installing the parts was about a 20-30 minute task. The case and motherboard are quite well made and solid. I haven’t installed a Compact Flash card on the motherboard, but that would require removing the motherboard due to the case size and positioning of the connector. Installing, updating, and running Ubuntu on it is a breeze. The wired network connection works quite well. I rarely use wireless, so haven’t tried that.

While some people like to complain about fan noise, I come from an era where computers were a lot more noisy than they are today, and that doesn’t make much difference to me. I don’t find the fan to be a problem.

Benchmark tests I have seen rate the overall average performance gains from the dual core model at about 30% over the single core Atom. I can say that I noticed a very clear difference in how the Flightgear flight simulator worked on the different models. The dual core performance gain with that software was very apparent.

This is NOT a game machine or a 3D rendering machine, so don’t compare it to those. It is a small, low power, basic computer that works well for most desktop uses, as well as many media uses. I have run photo slide shows while also playing WAV files (not smaller mp3s) with no problems at all on the single core machine. This beastie and a 17 inch (or larger) monitor would make a great digital picture frame.

This is the only computer I have seen using the dual core Atom chip, and I am surprised that more aren’t using it. It would probably create some heat issues for tiny netbook-style cases, so this might just be the ideal format for it.

This is a sweet little computer, and you can hardly go wrong getting it for most daily uses. It is one of the most cost effective computer solutions available. I am currently using it in a small TV control room for monitoring online video conferencing recording, and it does just fine with that.

I have not tried playing DVDs or HD video files on these machines, since a DVD player is far less expensive. At some point in the near future, I will try a DVD in the dual core machine and update this review.

5 Stars One good energy efficient machine.
The unit works as advertised, quiet and energy efficient. This is a great web browsing machine. You will just need 2 Gbytes of memory and a HD.

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind Nettop CS120 Desktop PC Black is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for “Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook, or “netbook” is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Facial Recognition Software for Security Built-in 802.11b/g Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.3 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars excellent value & performance
perfect solution for commuter to work in the train, or play some games.

perfect form and function

5 Stars good compact netbook
I got his computer for my mom and she loves it. Eventhough the screen is too small for me, she seems to like it.

It is also the perfect travel netbook for college students looking to use it for note taking.

I got

4 Stars Reviewing the MSI Wind U120 Notebook
Works good. It has met all my expections. Haven’t had any problems with the computer. Using it just for e-mail.

1 Star Disappointed
Negative:

Speakers are two tin cans with a string. Why bother?

Seller did not mention that you could not upgrade memory–amazon even promoted that you buy memory with this product!

System is a bit slow at times and have not added any additional software!

Mouse would be better positioned in the center.

6 cell battery lasting 3.5 hours

Top heavy….tips back…be careful!

Would have bought the U100 if I had it to do all over again and WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT FROM THE SELLER I BOUGHT FROM!

Would return it, but need it for class and no time to reorder

Positive:

It’s small and light-weight.

5 Stars Caution–No Memory Expansion
Seeking a way to present my PowerPoint lectures conveniently, I investigated the very popular netbooks. The MSI Wind looked dandy, and I requested one from the Amazon website. “Purchased with this item”, a common Amazon addendum, included a one gig memory stick add-on. This I ordered as well. Imagine my surprise when, after trying unsuccessfully for 20 minutes to remove the netbook bottom, I went on line and learned that THIS MODEL WILL NOT ACCOMMODATE MEMORY EXPANSION!!! This little fact was not mentioned in the product description, and the come-on to buy a memory stick was further misleading.

Now, the product itself is terrific. Even without the added memory, it is fast, clean, in fact perfect. I highly recommend the MSI wind netbook as a light, highly portable, classic windows machine.

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind U120 001US 10 Inch Gray Netbook 6 Cell Battery is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

The Wind, an acronym for “Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook, or “netbook” is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Web camera and microphone. Another wireless feature that comes with the Wind is Bluetooth, this enables you to wireless connect to headphones, or other Bluetooth devices making it more convenient by not carrying around a bunch of tangled cords. With the Wind netbook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Web camera and Microphone Facial Recognition Software for Security Built-in 802.11b/g/n Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN Integrated Bluetooth 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.6 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Just as described
Everything written about this item turned out true. Reliable, comfortable keyboard, nice screen in size and color fidelity, length of battery time, pretty and compact. Even the fact that it is slightly top heavy or “tipsy”. But nothing unmanageable or bothersome. Strongly recommended for netbook use. Especially the XP OS!! The included pouch is extremely useful and attractive and one does not need to buy another carrying case like I did.

4 Stars definitely usable and useful
i got this netbook a couple days ago and have since had time to play around with it a bit. I’m not an advance user and won’t be soldering new parts to the MB but i’m pretty tech savvy:

Pros:

-Fit and finish of the computer is quite good, no screen wobble keyboard is solid. the contrast black and white looks good.

-quick learning curve to type on the keyboard

-screen is nice, even when in eco mode easily viewable in a bright room

-about 4 1/2 hrs of battery life doing internet type tasks in eco mode.

-very little bloatware, if you’ve ever gotten an HP or Dell you will find this refreshingly bare (can’t speak for the U100).

-Touchpad works quite well except issue mentioned below

-It has decently loud speakers, not great by any means, but you can hear them. Anything you wish to get any sound quality out of should be through earphones.

-it’s downright usable for almost all basic tasks, can’t really encode video on it but can play some older games, have multiple internet windows and media software open. Also surprisingly easy to type on.

cons

-cannot, as far as i can tell, upgrade RAM to 2gb. that is to say there is no apparent slot for an additional stick. Most benchmarks show minimal performance gain from this anyway but as i bought a stick with the computer i was slightly PO’d

-no touchpad scrolling, tried a couple different drivers, no luck. Not even the corner of the pad tap to scroll appears to work as of now. Seems like there would probably be a solution to this once people smarter than I start trying to solve the problem.

-charger plug sticks out of the the side of the computer pretty far. It’s about 1.5″ and seems like it could be a long term issue with durability.

2 Stars If you dont mind a small, underpowered, unbalanced computer
I bought this with high hopes, which may have been the problem. I’ll cut to the chase:

1. The position of the battery makes the computer completely unbalanced while on your lap. It wants to rock back onto its screen. Gets annoying.

2. The track pad is waaaay too small.

3. The mouse buttons are hard to press.

4. If you don’t mind your palms hanging off the computer while typing or you have small hands, then you’re fine. (I’m 5’10″ so I’m no giant, but the keyboard was a little small for me.)

5. I know its a netbook, but it seemed slow.

6. The screen was a little smaller than I was hoping.

7. I was hoping to be able to windows key + arrow to rotate the screen so I could hold it like a book, but the graphics card doesn’t seem to allow it.

8. The battery life was great!

5 Stars 5 Stars
I have had this Netbook for over a week and have to say this is by far the best looking of them all! The white with black trim really makes this netbook look sharp and very professional. Key pad is excellent, touch pad and build quality is way better then the older U100, excellent sound quality for a netbook. I have no need for 2gb and in fact it is way over rated as far as netbooks are concerned this netbook with 1gb is just as fast as my older U100 w/2gb which by the way I am replacing with the U120 and am much happier with the superior touchpad, performance, looks and solid build quality of this model.

Buy/More Info

MSI Wind U120 020US 10 Inch Netbook White is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com

At less than 3 pounds, this notebook is perfect for any lifestyle – indoors or out. The Wind, an acronym for “Wi-Fi Network Device,” features a speedy and energy-efficient Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor to provide longer operation hours and better mobile lifestyle. This notebook, or Netbook is lightweight and ultra-portable, measuring about 7 inches wide by 10.23 inches long, and weighing just 2.6 pounds. Being small doesn’t mean ultra-small keyboard, the Wind features an ergonomically designed keyboard that is only 20% smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, with keys spaced a comfortable 0.68 inches apart. The Wind comes equipped with a 10″ backlit LED screen that provides superior color quality and brightness giving you better comfort while reading reports, watching online videos and viewing photos. In addition, the 1024 x 600 screen resolution can fully display web pages, which makes it ideal for Internet browsing. With the 802.11b/g/n wireless built-in, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing the Internet anywhere and video chat with family and friends with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and microphone. With the Wind notebook weighting less than 3 pounds, makes it a great second computer to use at school, work and to take on vacations. 10 WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Backlit Display Two internal Speakers Built-in 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera and Microphone Built-in 802.11b/g Wireless 10/100 Ethernet LAN 4-in-1 Card Reader – SD, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro 3 x USB 2.0, Headphone out; Microphone-in, VGA, RJ-45 Approximate Unit Dimensions – 10.23 (L) x 7.08 (D) x 1.24 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 2.3 Pounds

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Had to return it, Wifi didnt connect to my router
I updated all the drivers to the latest ones on MSI’s website. I upgraded the firmware of my router, which isnt some obscure router its a Linksys WRT54G. Still the Wind despite being one room away from the router and having 4 bars wouldnt hold a connection to the router. It would work for a few minutes then the connection would freeze. This wasnt some minor annoyance all laptops will drop a connection once in a blue moon. This was chronic and rendered the netbook unuseable. So I returned it to Amazon. If you look on the web it seems this isnt an uncommon phenomena. Many people seem to give up on the internal wifi card and buy an external card to maintain a solid connection.

The most impressive thing about the unit was the keyboard which I liked and the low weight of the unit. The speakers were also acceptable, and could reach a decent volume. Some netbooks at full volume are almost inaudible. Also the overclocking functions are useful if you want to play some basic 3d games on the unit. A 25% overclock is quite significant.

Compared to other netbooks I thought the polish of the unit was lacking. The plastics on the unit are pretty cheap feeling compared to plastics on Asus netbooks. When you look at the rather large vents on the bottom you can see exposed circuit boards. Seems like a weak design as dust, crumbs, etc can easily get in there and I would imagine could cause potential hardware failures.

The screen was fairly weak, similar to most netbooks. Theres a speckled look to the screens which prevents them approaching the quality level of full size notebooks. I think this comes from the fact netbooks use screens intended for portable DVD players not for computer text. I would expect future netbooks to improve screen quality.

The instructions that came with the unit were lacking and incredibly sparse. One not very well written poster page and thats about it.

Overall if you just want a basic netbook that isnt by anyones estimation the best netbook out there but is the cheapest then this could fit the bill. That is if the wifi connects for you, for me it didnt.

However there is some merit to the saying ‘you get what you pay for’. Though the Wind is acceptable overall I think there are better options out there even if they cost a little more money.

4 Stars Nice Bang for the Buck
Pros: I decided to wait a little while before I wrote a review so that I could provide some insight that went beyond just my initial impressions. My OBE (Out of Box Experience) was fantastic. I had looked at a number of different models before I chose this one. I was leaning very heavily towards getting an Acer until a friend of mine lent me his MSI for an overnight test drive. The display was very impressive and I found being able to fit the full width of a web page very helpful. I’m a rather clumsy typist and I found the keyboard to be sufficient enough to accommodate my paw and hope technique.

My main purpose in getting a netbook was to get something that was as portable as possible and still be able to surf the web with relative ease. I recently purchased a notebook for my wife, she is an accountant and insisted that the keyboard be full sized and have a 10 key pad on it as well. I got her a very nice machine with an incredible display with all of the bells and whistles. The problem was that at about 9 pounds, it was not anything that I would care to lug around.

With portability, ease of surfing and price my key factors I happily made the purchase (300 bucks). This computer quickly exceeded my expectations. I found that not only could I easily surf the web, but this computer was more than I hoped for. It easily runs office and most any other application you care to throw at it with relative ease (heavy gaming excluded). I suspect that this is due in part to the fact that it comes with XP Home Edition instead of Vista. This machine will never be a good choice as a primary computer but it does what it is meant to do extremely well and then some.

In an effort to keep the weight and cost down I opted for the 3 cell battery. I knew that this would limit my time that I could spend away from an outlet and I am getting about 1:45 worth of actual time on a full charge. Keeping the brightness on the monitor down as low as practical and turning off unnecessary features definitely helps. I have an adaptor in my vehicle that I bought at Sam’s club which allows me to plug any small to medium sized AC powered device into my cigarette lighter. I would highly recommend getting one as this really helps! I think I paid something like 30 bucks for a two pack a couple of years ago. I have one in my truck and one in my wife’s SUV.

The WIFI on this is excellent. I am able to pick up signals very easily and the dropouts are at a very acceptable level. The Webcam although not great, gets the job done. I am not sure if this thing has Bluetooth or not. The Bluetooth software is there but the box that the computer comes in indicates that there is no Bluetooth. Since I do not have any Bluetooth devices I can’t determine if Bluetooth is there or not.

The processor is better than I expected and runs programs faster than I thought it would. Even with just 1 GB of RAM this thing runs very well. Here is where I am very confused with respect to the processor. It was my understanding that the Atom 270 was a single core, however when I bring up task manager, there are two cores present. When I monitor the task manager CPU usage window it behaves exactly like a dual core would. Each core is displayed separately and is acting independently from the other. I either received a dual core processor or I am missing something here.

Cons: As I indicated, my OBE was exceptional and had I written this review the day after I received the computer I would have easily given it 5 stars.

After about three weeks my computer stopped being able to run on battery power. I have no idea what happened but one day it simply stopped working. It still worked fine on AC but I didn’t buy a desktop. I treat my computers with great care and I typically get 6 or more years out of a computer. I suspect there was simply a loose wire inside.

Amazon made it very easy to return the item and I received the replacement in short order. If I remember correctly I filled out the RMA on a Sunday and I received the replacement the following Thursday. I sent the defective unit back via parcel post and I paid for a receipt notification. I received notification back both from Amazon and the USPS that the return had be received.

Although the replacement came in very short order, the OBE fell way short of the first computer. The first annoyance was that the processor was not as fast as the first one. I cannot gripe too much on this point because the Atom is clearly marketed as a 1.6 GHz processor and I got that both times. The cool thing about the MSI bios is that it allows you to overclock the processor. You can select an 8, 15 or 24% increase in the rated processor speed. The basic process is to start low and work your way up until you hit 24% or your computer locks up whichever comes first. Not to worry though, if your computer locks up you can simply re-boot and then lower the speed.

The first computer that I received allowed me to ramp it up an additional 15%, the second computer only allowed me to bump it up 8%. I treat this as a disappointment but nothing that can really be held against MSI since Intel clearly has rated the processor at 1.6 GHz and nothing more. Anything above that is gravy and is due to minor defects in the silicon that determine the amount of over clocking that can be obtained.

My second issue however is something that I feel I can hold against MSI. There must have been a difference in the image that shipped on the two computers. The first one was flawless and everything worked perfectly the first time. The second computer suffered from a MAJOR memory leak when using Internet Explorer 6. I had heard about this before but I had never actually seen a computer that had it. Basically when I got on the web, each page was taking up about 50-75 MB of memory that was never released. It took me quite some to figure out that this was happening. I would go online and after about 15 minutes of surfing I would get a memory full error. If I closed IE and then re-opened it I could continue for about another 15 minutes.

Clearly there was something very wrong. Even though I had installed all of the patches I still got the memory leak. I could monitor the memory leak by having the task manager open while I surfed; I even upgraded to IE 8 and although the memory leak was not as bad it was still unacceptable.

I finally bombed the computer by hitting F3 during the boot process when F3 appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen. This did a complete re-install of the image including formatting the drives. After I re-imaged the computer and installed all of the necessary updates I took IE6 for another spin and things were much improved although there was still a noticeable memory leak. The leak was small enough that I could have a decent surfing session and not run out of memory. It was something that I could live with if I had to but I wanted a better fix.

Finally I decided that the best course of action was to give Mozilla’s Firefox a try. I installed Firefox and “poof” the memory leak disappeared! Although I have just started using Firefox I have to say that it is sooooo much faster than IE! It may not have all of the bells and whistles that IE has especially in terms of interoperability with other Microsoft applications, but in terms just browsing, this thing has IE beat hands down!

Other thoughts: Overall I am very happy with this computer. The price is fantastic and given its diminutive size this thing delivers better than expected performance. I can only give this item a rating of 4 stars because I should not have had to go though all of the hoops that I did in order to fix my memory leak. Given what I know now, I would not hesitate to buy this computer; however, I would save myself some hassle and install Firefox right away. I am very happy with Amazon’s return policy and they made it very easy to return the item.

As an additional piece of advice, make sure you keep EVERYTHING when you receive your package. Just set it aside in a nice safe location because you never know. This is an old habit of mine and I even keep the shipping materials. That way if the need to ship it back arises then you can ship it back exactly the way you received it. This can save you time money and hassles. You can be charged a restocking fee if you do not send it back properly. Also (and my wife had fun laughing at me for this one), I document the entire repackaging process with my digital camera so that I have additional proof that I sent everything back. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean that someone isn’t out to get me

4 Stars Inspiring, Fast, Efficient, and Easy-to-Use (mostly)
I would have given 4.5 stars if possible.

I waited to write the review until I’d had the tiny netbook for about a month, just so I could really give a comprehensive review. I have the Gig of RAM recommended by an earlier review here on my couch still in the box. The computer is so fast that I haven’t found I need it and I wanted to make 100% sure I was keeping the computer before I installed anything.

The MSI Wind U100 is nothing short of incredible. I wish they made these 10 years ago. It fits in my ordinary-sized purse and it’s light enough to carry around anywhere I go (and I do). I have the 3 cell battery, but I’m probably going to upgrade to the 6 cell, since the battery life is ok, but not fantastic. I tried many netbooks and the keyboard on the MSI U100 is the easiest to use (except for the trackpad, which I’ll explain below). The webcam quality is good enough to make me look like a celebrity, but not so good that it’s possible to see that I just woke up (I’d enclose a video, but I wanted to make sure it was read– I never watch video reviews). The wireless is so good that I was able to pick up a signal from two blocks away. The computer itself is fast and fun to use. I never sit around waiting for it to catch up (ok, once I did, but I restarted and everything was ok… I think I had some pretty heavy stuff processing in the background). Though the MSI website is really terrible, their support forum is really fantastic. People are there to help and are quite eager to do so (at least, in my experience). Apparently, it’s possible to do a lot of modifications on the MSI U100, but I’m not technically inclined enough to try it. The keyboard is just fine for me, and even the controversial “.” key is not too small for me now that I’ve gotten used to it (they made it about half the size it usually is, so some people complain that they can’t hit it).

Now for the drawback. There’s only one, but it’s REALLY annoying. The trackpad that came with mine has tap-to-click enabled and it’s not possible to disable it. I went to the forum with this issue, and it seems that it’s a crapshoot if you get the bad trackpad (mine) or the good one. When I’m typing, my thumb occasionally hits the trackpad and moves my cursor or clicks whatever it happens to be hovering over. This has lost emails and forms and has resulted in much frustration while typing. I’ve had to become really proactive about watching my thumbs, and even then, I am accidentally clicking around quite frequently. And my thumbs are not large… I have what people say are “piano player” hands. This would not be *such* a huge issue, but it’s not even possible to disable the trackpad in general. Even if I plug a mouse in, the only way to disable the trackpad is to uninstall the driver. The forum suggested a new driver that has click-to-tap as an option, but I installed that driver and still have no way to turn off click-to-tap.

However, even with the trackpad issue, I still would not hesitate to buy another. I recommend them to everyone I know and even started a website just for fun: [...]

I am planning on buying a bigger external hard drive, a big monitor, and a USB DVD drive. In my opinion, it’s better to have that stuff as components rather than lugging everything around in a single laptop that doesn’t even fit in my purse.

5 Stars BEST Notebook
$ for $ this is the best notebook u can buy. Its runs so smooth and the 3cell battery is not as bad as many people make it out to be. The keyboard is a lil smaller but it is very comfortable to type. I upgraded the ram to 2gb and installed vista. Its runs so much smoother than XP. I think MSI didnt want to add the extra ram and vista for their own cost savings. But this thing with Vista business runs smooooth and fast. Try it out for yourself

4 Stars Love this Laptop!
I love this little machine. It does everything I could possibly want and at a ridiculously low price. Only minor reservation is regarding battery life, which is only 2 hrs. Of course, 6 and 9 cell batteries are available, if you need more non-AC time.

A bonus is the ability to overclock very easily, pushing the processing speed to about 2 GHz. I HIGHLY recommend the MSI Wind U100!!!

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MSI Wind U100 641US 10 Inch Black Netbook 3 Cell Battery is a post from: BestNetbooksReviews.com