MSI Wind to be available in US on June 3rd for $399

[greggh]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/msi- ... he-us-399/

Although there'll be both 8.9-inch and 10-inch versions worldwide, we're only getting the 10-inch in both XP and Linux flavors, starting June 3rd. The SuSE version will feature that 1.6GHz Atom, 512MB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, and a 3-cell battery rated at 2.5 hours of use for $399

At $150 cheaper than the eee I'm really liking the Wind now. I just want to know the size and weight. If it's not much bigger and heavier than the eee, I'll be buying it.

Edit: Size and weight...

http://www.geek.com/msi-confirms-wind-s ... -expected/

Dimension 10.23″ x 7.08″ x 0.748″ ~ 1.24″
Weight 2.3 lbs

[LinuxMint-4]

Thanks

[snarkout]

Those specs show the linux version being substantially crappier for some reason - less ram, no BT, worse battery, etc. WTF is up with that? And WTF is up with all these pay-to-play, bloated linuxes being installed on ultralights? Better than nothing, I realize, but sort of ass backwards IMO.

[dann]

that does stink, half the ram and half the battery life. Maybe they were trying to get something in under $400 and there was no way xp was going to run on those specs.

I also notice that a lot of the UMPC's coming out these days are running distros that signed agreements with MS. I wonder if there is any correlation?

[greggh]

I don't think the specs are that bad. I mean it's the same price as the eee 4G and you get a 10" screen. Yes it's a few inches bigger, but it only weighs a few ounces more than the eee's. The use of the Atom seems to allow the 3 cell battery to get as much time, if not slightly more time, as the eee's. Does the eee 900 have bluetooth? Also,it's $100 cheaper than the Linux version of the HP Mini-note, and that doesn't spec out any better.

[snarkout]

And it would be just that much sweeter if they weren't treating linux users like second class citizens when compared to their windows users. I shouldn't complain, though - I don't have any intention of buying any of these types of machines right now anyhow.

[greggh]

And it would be just that much sweeter if they weren't treating linux users like second class citizens when compared to their windows users.

I don't think they're treating Linux users like "second class citizens". They're treating us like poor citizens, and are just trying to be helpful by getting the model for the Linux crowd as cheap as possible. After all, everybody knows that communist, money hating Linux users don't have the bucks to throw around.

[greggh]

Chilean MSI Wind gets in-depth hands-on

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 42014.html



That 10" screen looks great

[snarkout]

Yeah, that does look like a nice little machine - the keyboard looks like it actually might not suck.

[greggh]

Another hands-on...

http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/2008 ... table.html

The two most striking things about the MSI Wind are the screen and keyboard – both are bigger than the Asus Eee PC 900’s. The screen has a 10in diagonal and a 1024 x 600 resolution, and is very crisp – it’s easily as good as the Eee PC’s. The keyboard is bigger than the Eee PC’s and a little smaller than the HP 2133 Mini-Note’s, but it extends right to the edges of the case. The key tops are large and comfortable to type on. The the trackpad is small, but it’s responsive and works well –take note, HP!

MSI has also added a novel feature to the Wind – a two-mode ‘turbo’ function, accessed via a keyboard shortcut. One mode overclocks the processor by a small amount to increase its performance; the other drops the clock speed (along with screen brightness) to prolong battery life. Since this is a hardware feature, it will be available on both Windows XP and Linux versions, too

In underclocked mode, Windows XP’s battery status indicator reported battery life to be 7 hours and 10 minutes with a 99% charge – though bear in mind that this was with the optional six-cell battery and no applications running. Even so, this bodes well for the MSI Wind – we’ve yet to see an ultra-portable of this type with a battery life that lives up to expectations.

Most impressive of all, however, was performance. We didn’t run any benchmarks, but the MSI Wind felt extremely snappy in general use – little different to a laptop with a mid-range Intel Core 2 Duo processor, in fact. The base also felt quite cool to the touch and MSI reckons that this is the case even with the processor in overclocked mode (the processor is actively cooled).

All in all, we were extremely impressed by the MSI Wind and based on the short amount of time we spent with it, we reckon that it’s the first low-cost ultraportable to deliver on all counts – and again, that processor plays a significant part in this.

We’re hoping to see a final production model of the MSI Wind in a week or so, so we’ll run some benchmarks and provide a more detailed write-up then. In the meantime, if you’re eyeing up an Eee PC 900 or HP 2133 Mini-Note, we’d strongly advise you to hold on to you money until the Wind is launched – MSI looks like it have a monster hit on its hands.

[LinuxMint-4]

MSI First look

Lots of detailed pictures

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks ... SI-Wind/p1

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks ... SI-Wind/p2

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks ... SI-Wind/p3

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks ... SI-Wind/p4

[greggh]

I'm starting to have serious doubts about MSI selling this for $399 in the US. There's just no way their announced £329 price in the UK can translate to a cheap $399 here.

[greggh]

It looks like I was right to have those doubts about MSI keeping to a $399 price.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BIK9H4

[snarkout]

This whole space is becoming less attractive. I do think there is room for it as a product, but the rise in price makes it very niche. Most people don't need a lappy the size of a dvd case, most need a lappy they can afford. Now that the prices are meeting or exceeding prices of full-sized rigs, I really doubt the public enthusiasm is going to continue in the same degree. Personally, I'd much rather have a last-gen thinkpad z or r series than a brand new microbook or whatever the hell name people are going to settle on - I don't travel much, but when I do, it's not my lappy (14.1" thinkpad t43) that's a hassle.

[jturning]

It looks like I was right to have those doubts about MSI keeping to a $399 price.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BIK9H4

Actually, that's the XP version so they should be able to meet the $399 for the Linux version. Looks like they got a break from Microsoft on the OS as it's $50 cheaper than they originally quoted for the XP version. I think it's compelling on price if you want a little laptop. The 80GB HD makes it much more usable. I bet it would be a screamer with Slackware and a light desktop on it.

Bugz