MSI Wind gets terse pre-release review

It's pretty tough to wrap your melon around, but MSI's Wind has not yet officially launched per se. That being said, it has still managed to end up in the hands of quite a few eager subnote lovers, and Laptop Mag is no exception. Shortly after the UK branch of CNET posted up their initial impressions, along comes yet another mini-review to get you even more worked up about June 3rd. Here's the skinny so far: the screen is amazing, keyboard is as well, the trackpad is simply too cramped and the port assortment is very respectable. All in all, critics were left "seriously impressed," and they even threw together a video and image gallery for checking out afterwards. Head on over, alright?

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 31st 2008 2:19PM]

This thing is going to kill Eee.

[DarkLight @ May 31st 2008 2:55PM]

Not if they don't make a black version, dude.. (or someone makes a black keyboard and bundles it with a can of vinyl spray paint :-)

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 31st 2008 2:59PM]

Who said that they won't?


": Right now we are offering black, pearl white, pink, and silver. We will have a limited baby blue. The original four colors will be available in the U.S. at time of purchase on all the SKUs. We might reduce the supply chain after we can gauge the popularity of certain colors."

-MSI’s Director of US Sales Andy Tung certainly
( Source: http://blog.laptopmag.com/msi-wind-revealed-10-inch-mini-notebook-to-hit-us-in-june )

[DarkLight @ May 31st 2008 3:42PM]

Thanks dude, I somehow missed that...

This just did it for me. I'm getting this instead of the black 901... You just can't beat the value

[marlatodd @ May 31st 2008 5:09PM]

Hey FlashPoint
I am not a Mac fan boy but your comment is missing the fact that it still runs Windows and is ugly as sin. It will never be a F'n cool as the Air. NEVER

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 31st 2008 5:13PM]

@ marlatodd
Yes, it will never be like MacBook air, due to the fact that this will never be an overpriced piece of shit with 1 usb port and shitload of other drawbacks.

[BobTurbo @ Jun 1st 2008 2:37AM]

I don't know how anyone can suggest that it is ugly. It is quite good looking. Time to realise you have no taste?

I have always had good experiences with MSI components so am looking forward to this thing.

[kccboy2004 @ Jun 1st 2008 4:24AM]

I am gonna buy one of tese as soon as they are available. A month or two after the Dell is released, I am gonna buy one of them. Probably... in another 6 months I am gonna buy the next offering.

These "things" are so cheap, it is not worth procrastinating over.

My kitchen and daughter and nephews and nieces are going to be sub-notebook rich.

I am really pleased that this technology is now disposable available. My environmental concerns will be dealt with in due course.

[Flashpoint @ May 31st 2008 2:19PM]

Add a $100 200 GB portable HDD to one of these subnotes with Win XP and you'll have a smaller, BETTER deal than the Mac Book Air.

and just in case you don't like carrying around a portable drive - there is something about the MBA you need to know...


(Oh yeah macfanboys...I JUST WENT THERE)

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 31st 2008 2:27PM]

you can always repalce on the onboard drive.

[X-BLADE @ May 31st 2008 3:06PM]

isnt the hard drive replacable on this thing?

[OneLove @ May 31st 2008 3:47PM]

I only hope they make the ram, hdd easy to upgrade.

[Silverbolt @ Jun 1st 2008 5:28PM]

OneLove: You can upgrade the ram with another stick; has a completely empty slot.

http://msiwind.net/dissected-msi-wind/

[Stella @ May 31st 2008 2:23PM]

Terse?

How so? I don't follow your word choice.

[Evan @ May 31st 2008 2:32PM]

It's terse because it's not a full, complete review. They are lacking all the performance benchmarks which are under and NDA until June 3rd.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 2:45PM]

Indeed. Terse does not have a positive connotation. In fact, I believe this is the first time I've ever seen an attempt to use the word in a positive context.

Engadget fails again.

[Stella @ May 31st 2008 2:56PM]

Kieth, that's what I'm saying. Terse is being curt. A short answer, generally negative. As in being short-tempered or what have you. I suppose it does mean brief, but I've never heard it used in this way.

It just seems like someone wanted a synonym of brief to dress up their headline so they just looked it up based on it's first definition without knowing it's common usage.

I get so worked up by "news" organizations paying no mind to this kind of thing. I mean, it's bad enough every blog article I've ever read, practically, needs to be spell-checked. But this I find it misleading.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 3:09PM]

Stella: Indeed. I was agreeing with you. :)

[Darknephilim @ May 31st 2008 3:12PM]

Right on! I saw this in my RSS and having planned on buying a Wind, I immediately thought, "Uh-oh" when I saw the title of the article.

[huh @ May 31st 2008 3:33PM]

Main Entry:
terse Listen to the pronunciation of terse
Pronunciation:
\ˈtərs\
Function:
adjective
Inflected Form(s):
ters·er; ters·est
Etymology:
Latin tersus clean, neat, from past participle of tergēre to wipe off
Date:
1601

1: smoothly elegant : polished2: devoid of superfluity ; also : short, brusque
synonyms see concise
— terse·ly adverb
— terse·ness noun

[LondonConsultant @ May 31st 2008 4:08PM]

Some meanings of "terse" are neutral and some are negative. It's funny that some readers who are ignorant of the neutral meanings get angry at Engadget...

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 4:21PM]

Use of terse in a neutral of positive way is not common in the English-speaking world, at least not in North America and, to the best of my knowledge, England. It just isn't. It doesn't matter what that dictionary says.

[TheHoldSteady @ May 31st 2008 4:41PM]

The three vent ports on the side are kind of fugly, but that's about the only fault I can see (other than the icky XP). 822.11n would have been nice, but too soon and too expensive I suppose. The box is titled 'Wind NB'; I keep thinking NB could also stand for nota bene as this this refinement of the ultra-notebook is well worth noting.

[0megapart!cle @ May 31st 2008 5:21PM]

Terse has a nuetral meaning, asshats. Stop talking about nothing!

The Wind kicks ass, and shows what a joke the Air is, and always was.

[the tansman @ May 31st 2008 6:30PM]

"Use of terse in a neutral of positive way is not common in the English-speaking world, at least not in North America and, to the best of my knowledge, England. It just isn't. It doesn't matter what that dictionary says."

it doesn't matter what the dictionary says, not bad. there's nothing more painful to watch than someone who can't back down from the wrong side of an argument. it's called "perverse." look it up in the dictionary, which of course doesn't matter.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 6:36PM]

the tansman: Sorry, but your premise is flawed. The reason the dictionary is not always right, is that it's filled with near-countless examples of anachronistic usages of words and this just happens to be a perfect example.

My friend: I have 2 degrees from ivy-league schools. I am a grammar Nazi. I am the guy that calls people on their mis-use of the language. The way that word is used here is outdated and no longer used. Sorry if that's hard for you to accept, but it's the truth.

[the tansman @ May 31st 2008 6:56PM]

"My friend: I have 2 degrees from ivy-league schools. I am a grammar Nazi. I am the guy that calls people on their mis-use of the language. The way that word is used here is outdated and no longer used. Sorry if that's hard for you to accept, but it's the truth."

To put it tersely: You are an idiot.

To be less terse: That's what's truly difficult for one of us to accept. Terse means brief. The only way it acquires a negative connotation is in context. (See, e.g., "To put it tersely: You are an idiot.") The word itself means brief. It means brief throughout the English-speaking world today. Perhaps one day there will be enough like-minded idiots who think the word carries an inherent negative connotation. When that glorious age arrives, dictionaries abandon their anachronisms and victory will be yours. But until then, you're just a guy with 2 ivy-league degrees who doesn't know what the word "terse" means.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 7:02PM]

I am afraid *you* are the idiot. Try using terse in anything but a negative context sometime and see what kind of response you get (assuming the people you are talking to possess sufficient vocabulary to even know what the word means...).

But look who I'm talking to: a guy that calls someone "perverse" because he thinks they misused a word. *That's* real normal ,:) ...

[riggs @ Jun 1st 2008 1:21AM]

this damn post shouldve been terse.

[crazacool @ May 31st 2008 2:25PM]

I want.

...there really isn't much I'd add to this box, save for an SSD. Give me one of those, and I'm sold.

[Brady @ May 31st 2008 2:43PM]

I completely agree. This would be completely wishful thinking but if this had that SSD you were talking about plus GPS, a touchscreen, and even more RAM then it would just be perfect. Oh and even more of a pipedream here, if they somehow found a way to fit a DVD burner into this. All that ain't gonna happen though but maybe with modding it will be a reality.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 2:50PM]

At a minimum, I would say they could improve this by increasing max RAM to 4 GB & implementing a dual core ULV processor.

Maybe next gen. Ah well, I'm still getting the Dell...

[Brady @ May 31st 2008 2:55PM]

How can you know that without even knowing any of the Dell specs? Or have any pf the specs been revealed?

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 3:08PM]

Brady: the informed speculation is that it will have a 1.6 Ghz Atom processor, 2 GB RAM max, a 1280x800 display. Dell has already said it will be less than $500.

I'm certainly not going to make the snap purchase of an off-brand product from MSI when I can wait and get something better from Dell. What? MSI isn't "off-brand"? When it comes to anything but motherboards they are. I think even when it comes to motherboards they're considered second tier...

[Patriks7 @ May 31st 2008 4:32PM]

yah well there are already specs for this.. announced specs != speculated specs
and didnt asus claim the eee to be 200$?

[Keith MacDonald @ May 31st 2008 6:26PM]

Patriks7: Well I guess you'll just have to wait till Dell releases their product to be proven wrong (again), now, won't you?

[Abuzar @ Jun 1st 2008 12:42AM]

I was waiting on these things for so long. Also they don't have DVD burners, which messes things up a lot.

So I looked on Craigslist and I found a 13.3" Sony VAIO with a Core 2 Duo CPU, and 2GB of RAM for 500. It's almost as portable and it looks great! I love the power.

They seriously need to put optical drives in these machines.

[Patriks7 @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:04AM]

wrong? again?
how :")

[Max @ May 31st 2008 2:39PM]

This is definitely the first subnote that actually piqued my interest. It has style and functionality. The option for Linus or XP is also great because it really allows anyone to use one. It seems like the perfect machine for a lightweight linux distro.

[Brady @ May 31st 2008 2:40PM]

The only thing that could be keeping me from getting this would be the Dell netbook. If a Wind comes to a local brick and mortar before the Dell netbook's specs hit the net then I have no choice but to buy this thing. Of course, Dell's netbook probably wouldn't come out until way later so I'll probably get this anyways. Long story short, the Wind is awesome and June 3rd can't come soon enough.

[marcin @ May 31st 2008 2:42PM]

yes this thing looks very nice and if it launches at sub $500 i may get one.

but is MSI a good, reliable brand? i never heard of it prior to the announcement of Wind. i'm guessing its a british brand.

[Jesse S @ May 31st 2008 2:48PM]

Nope, they make great motherboards.

[antiver @ May 31st 2008 2:51PM]

"i'm guessing its a british brand."

lol

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 31st 2008 2:55PM]

Try Taiwan...Though don't be afraid and don't think it's one of those cheap knockoff companies... MSI has been making great motherboards and video cards for years, in fact im running a motherboard by MSi right now.

[David @ May 31st 2008 3:30PM]

lol I nearly came just from imagining a British ODM

Royal Britannia!

[Dan @ Jun 1st 2008 2:21AM]

Why does his post have a low rank?
He asked a simple question.

And as others have said, MSI makes good motherboards; one of mine has one, it runs just fine.

[thesource @ May 31st 2008 2:44PM]

What about a multitouch trackpad...why doesn't this have one? It is the only thing that prevents it from having everything better other than the SSD. It looks as if they chose a bigger keyboard and sacrificed the size of the trackpad otherwise you would have to increase the size of the case down a bit. The new 901 EEEPC has a smaller keyboard and form factor but has a multitouch trackpad.

Being used to apple products, twofinger drag, etc. I think I will wait to see if they upgrade this in the future.

[David @ May 31st 2008 3:19PM]

yeah seems like MSI went the same way as HP with regards to keyboard vs touchpad

Even so they couldv made the touchpad wider, to match the screen shape

[BigD145 @ May 31st 2008 2:49PM]

Is the Linux version still nerfed?

[Jesse S @ May 31st 2008 2:50PM]

Which CPU does it have? I know Atom, but how powerful is it?

If this thing actually has a full-sized keyboard, and can run Debian, I may just get it.