MSI Wind gets detailed further

With just days remaining before MSI's Wind becomes available in the US, wouldn't you like to know as much as humanly possible now to better form your potential purchasing decision? Great, we had a feeling you would. According to CNET's UK branch, MSI's promising subnote will ship with 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, a trio of USB ports, 4-in-1 multicard reader, VGA output and a 3-cell battery that will theoretically provide 3- to 4-hours of life. You'll also find a 10-inch 1,024 x 600 resolution panel, and just like the TurboBook GX600, a dedicated button to activate TurboDrive and overclock the CPU by "about 20-percent" (wait, what?). Check out the read link for all the gory details.

[Thanks, T.I.]

[Kaiser-Machead @ May 29th 2008 10:59AM]

So long as it's XP, sub-gig RAM will not be a problem.

[Flashpoint @ May 29th 2008 11:10AM]

I still have a HP 8570c from almost 9 years ago running Win XP with 450mhz + 256 MB Ram.

I use it to dub DVD's and sometimes for internet. It still runs great.

[eggothewaffle @ May 29th 2008 11:00AM]

The MSI Wind is so foxy; I can't wait for this to be released! Oh and wasn't the Windows version (~$550 instead of $400) supposed to be released with a 6 cell battery or something?

Here's a dimensional size comparison of this compared to a few other notable portable notebooks (I apologize for the ungainly link):

http://sizeasy.com/page/size_comparison/12962-MacBook-Air-vs-MSI-Wind-10-vs-HP-2133-Mini-Note-vs-Asus-Eee-PC-900-vs-Asus-Eee-PC-700

Dayyyyum.

[alex @ May 29th 2008 11:12AM]

It comes with the option of a 6 cell battery, at least that's what the article says.

[philly @ May 29th 2008 12:59PM]

another site said something about the manufacturer for the 6 cells having a shortage or something so it may not release with it... which would completely blow cuz i'm not buying it w/out the 6 cell

[kiwiboyus @ May 29th 2008 11:16AM]

I'm getting a black one and calling it Kitt.... because of the turbo, get it?

[Kaiser-Machead @ May 29th 2008 11:26AM]

If it doesn't have snarky comments in Mr. Feeny voice, I'm afraid that's a big load of FAIL right there.

[Reader @ May 29th 2008 2:35PM]

I rather put a NOS sticker right next to the boost button, then I'd be hella rice.

[Scott Culp @ May 29th 2008 11:20AM]

So the "Wind" part is what you get when pushing the turbo button and the poor (and probably noisy) fan tries to keep this thing cool?

[Abuzar @ May 29th 2008 3:44PM]

Screw you. God damn pessimists.

[pegleggedpete @ May 29th 2008 11:35AM]

i really wish they were coming out with the 8.9 here in the states. i guess it'll be time to hit ebay or something when this sucker comes out.

[Luka @ May 29th 2008 2:43PM]

why? arent cases all same size?

[RikF @ May 29th 2008 11:55AM]

Due to cost or size? The article says that the smaller screen will come in the same form factor, so you'll be back to the hideous border again...

[philly @ May 29th 2008 12:02PM]

i read somewhere that the 8.9 and the 10in both share the same chasis, so u'd just end up having a fugly border around it so no real benefit there. if it was smaller then i'd be all for it

[Mike Silva @ May 29th 2008 11:43AM]

What about the linux version?
I'd like to see the new Ubuntu netbook remix ;)
and please close those M$ windows forever, it's enough wind for me.

[CosterMonger @ May 29th 2008 12:06PM]

wind without dohs?

[CosterMonger @ May 29th 2008 12:05PM]

alright turbo button, but what is the reason behind it, is it to reduce heat output or to reduce power consumption, decrease screen brightness, et al.

and can we clock it all the way down to 66Mhz when turbo is off?

[silverblackvoid @ May 29th 2008 12:08PM]

hmm...lets see. asus eee pc 1001. and now the msi wind. i think im gonna wait for the mini-inspiron.
decisions.decisions.

[scjessey @ May 29th 2008 12:15PM]

I wish the new Dell mini Inspiron had a keyboard like this.

[Howard @ May 29th 2008 1:06PM]

Yeah, WTF is Dell thinking by having that huge-ass battery taking up space that could have been used to fit a decent keyboard? Would it really have been that hard to lower the battery 1/4"?

[martianaurora @ May 29th 2008 12:21PM]

According to TFA, the turbo button will put the system in overclock mode when it is plugged in AC power. Otherwise, in battery mode, it will underclock the unit to preserve battery power.

[scjessey @ May 29th 2008 12:25PM]

I particularly like the rounded corners and the slew of USB ports. Having the unit "underclock" when on battery power is pretty clever.

[mohaine @ May 29th 2008 2:08PM]

From what I understand, modern processors don't save power by slowing the clock speed. Well they do save a little, but you save more more power by getting back to idle faster.

ie: 1 second at full speed + 1 second at idle < 2 seconds at half speed

My guess is it for heat reasons, not power reasons.

What I want to know is does it have an LED to tell me what the current speed is?

[Howard @ May 29th 2008 3:44PM]

Power *is* heat. The faster a processor runs, the more power it consumes. The more power it consumes, the more heat it emits. Power dissipation is directly proportional to frequency, and that's what things like SpeedStep take advantage of to save power by slowing the clockspeed when the processor isn't being loaded very heavily.

[riggs @ May 29th 2008 12:34PM]

can joystiq post reviews of all subnotebooks coming out? or a buyers guide as to which would be best? cause man.....I CANT DECIDE!

[whatishalo? @ May 29th 2008 12:50PM]

Just be careful not to drop it...you dont' want to "break Wind"

[BMErdin @ May 29th 2008 1:23PM]

http://www.instantrimshot.com/

[tiuk @ May 29th 2008 1:03PM]

This looks like the most promising one so far, in terms of price/features. I'm so over the Eee, Asus blew it.

It'll be interesting to see how the mini Inspiron gets priced, though.

[Dave @ May 29th 2008 1:49PM]

I think I'm going to get this instead of the 901. The 1000 looks ugly, and the keyboard on the 900 is just too small.

Here's a size comparison including the Sony TZ:
http://sizeasy.com/page/size_comparison/13422-MacBook-Air-vs-Sony-TZ-vs-MSI-Wind-10-vs-HP-2133-Mini-Note-vs-Asus-Eee-PC-900

[BlakNinja @ May 29th 2008 4:22PM]

How can i swap the crlt and the Fn key? I dont like their position..

and would've been nice if they lowed the directional keys..

[chickenator @ May 29th 2008 4:44PM]

yeah u can't swap crlt

[capissen @ May 29th 2008 11:59PM]

Previewed the Wind yesterday and today. We just got a 3-cell XP Home model, and the battery life is totally decent, but they're claiming six hours on the 6-cell, which I'll believe when I see. The screen looks great, and even running Windows, it's nice and snappy. I didn't see a dedicated "overclock" button anywhere, but there are Fn-type keys for wifi, bluetooth, and a power-saving mode. This one has an Atom 1.6GHz (soldered) CPU, takes a full-size 2.5" notebook hard drive, has 1GB onboard but can be expanded to 3GB using the one RAM slot. Also has a Mini-card slot, currently occupied by a Ralink wifi card (aircrack, anyone ;-). Had this sitting side-by-side with a Classmate PC, and there was just no comparison- the Wind wins!

[duma @ May 31st 2008 3:50PM]

is the trackpad multi-touch? if not thats the only thing holding the wind back imo. would it be easy to install a multi-touch trackpad?