MSI digs up 6-cell battery for MSI Wind

While the MSI Wind is truly one of the most standout netbooks on the market -- something that MSI's competitors have made exceedingly easy with their complete disregard for quality -- a big gripe of early adopters has been the paltry 2 hour battery life with the standard 3-cell battery. MSI is now addressing that with its promised 6-cell, offering up a $550 SKU with the new battery onboard. It's shipping now.

[Joe H @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:26PM]

Except from what I hear, recent buyers of the Wind aren't getting the same high-quality units as the review units, and parts have been changed for cheaper varieties.

[Ryan @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:38PM]

I got tired of waiting for the six-cell Wind, then upon hearing news of MSI swapping out hardware for crappier stuff, I jumped ship and bought a Asus Eee 1000h.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:39PM]

Yeah... cheaping out on parts with Dell less than 24 hours away (supposedly) was a poor move. If anything they should have jacked the thing up a bit to prepare for the competition to get serious.

[Flashpoint @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:16PM]

Wake me when MSI or ASUS have a netbook that can run CRYSIS.

I can't just settle for Quake 2 anymore.

[Jamma @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:04PM]

There are OTHER games, flashpoint

[JAmerican @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:24PM]

@Ryan: I agree. I got the 1000H as well and I love it. The 6-cell also doesn't bulge out like the MSI Wind's 6-cell. I am happy :D

[Ryan @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:54PM]

"I got tired of waiting for the six-cell Wind, then upon hearing news of MSI swapping out hardware for crappier stuff, I jumped ship and bought a Asus Eee 1000h."

Hey, my name is Ryan, too, and, oddly enough, my story is pretty much the same, except instead of buying the 1000H I got the Lenovo S10.

[Mega Math @ Sep 7th 2008 3:10PM]

By cheaper parts what do you mean?
Other than the synaptics touchpad what other parts have they made cheaper??

[jake @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:27PM]

i know that vga is a standard for projectors and such but id rather have some output that had more versatility in the non-business world. though i am unaware of the limitations of the videocard

[d00b @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:40PM]

It's an artificial limitation that Intel placed on its mobile Atom platform to prevent cannibalizing sales of higher-margin parts. No digital video out, screen size limits, some other ones. Same with its nettop variety, the mini-ITX based single-core (D945GCLF) and dual-core (D945GCLF2). You won't find any digital video ports there, although the dual-core will have an S-video port. Some folks in Europe have already gotten their hands on the dual-core board.

The only way out of this intentional crippling is if VIA or AMD release a more full-function netbook/top platform. But from gauging prelim reviews of the Nano (faster CPU, slower IGP, uses more power), it's gonna be all Intel Atom for this year.

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:57PM]

What's wrong with VGA? I have two monitors (one old and one new) and two HDTVs (one expensive and one cheap) in my house and VGA is the only input that every single one of them supports. Seems pretty reasonable that it is still included on laptops since it has the widest support among monitors.

[Benson @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:27PM]

Yeah, that's true, but DVI-I (and a VGA adapter included) gets you best of both worlds.

VGA, though, is smaller than DVI, so it takes less valuable edge-space, as well as having great versatility.

[jonac13 @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:28PM]

Is this battery going to be sold on its own? I already have an MSI Wind, but I'd love to get my hands on that battery.

[Evan @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:14PM]

ditto

[Samo @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:39PM]

Third.

[A1 @ Oct 8th 2008 3:09PM]

fifth

[Eric @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:38PM]

This thing comes in other colors than pink right?

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:40PM]

ARE there other colors?

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:49PM]

Yes, white and black.

I'm waiting for the $400 Aspire One model to hit the US with 6 cell battery and 160gb HDD!

[catter12 @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:55PM]

$550 for a netbook? I'm sorry, but that seems a bit steep, even for a 6cell battery. It's starting to nudge into full-fledged laptop territory there.

[WedgeTalon @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:08PM]

Exactly.

I don't understand the $500+ pricing on so many Netbooks. At that price I'd rather pay just a little bit more and get a full fledged notebook. Netbooks belong sub-$500, somewhere about $200 to $400, IMO.

Though, I guess who am I to say anything if these $500+ models sell? A fool and his money, afterall.

[Evan @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:29PM]

a fool?

What you both fail to address is the fact that not everyone wants to pay a little more and buy a laptop instead. I personally wanted a secondary, small (10" or less) portable computer that I could just toss in a bag and go. Sure, I could've bought a laptop for around the same price as my (upgraded) Wind, but I wasn't in the market for one - you really can't directly compare one of these to a laptop, they're meant to serve a different purpose.

Yeah, I agree that the lower-end netbooks should sit around 2-4 bills, but why discourage production on higher end?

[SHoe @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:30PM]

I bought my Acer Aspire One for $399 and I freaking love it - it's portability makes it better than my wifes 14.1 inch laptop and I can do the same things she uses hers for.
If you dont want a small lappy that bad then yes, it does make more sense to get a 'full sized' laptop. But understand that many people have different usage patterns than you and it is worth more to them to have a smaller laptop. Hell, if we want to spin the argument further - why spend $500+ on a ginormous laptop when you can get a 'full', proper PC for the same?

[philly @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:13PM]

i've had my 6 cell wind for over 2 months now and i paid $456 for it including 2 day shipping.. old news

[BrokenMonkey @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:46PM]

Yeah this shouldn't be posted now the 6-cell has been around for a while.

[digitallysick @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:34PM]

I got sick of waiting and got a Eee pc 1000H , it rocks. The only advantage i see of the msi wind is it runs leopard almost flawlessly where the 1000H wont really without a lot of work

[JAmerican @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:39PM]

The EEE 1000H is definately where it's at. You can change the HDD, RAM and WiFi Mini-PCI card without voiding your warrenty :)

[telepheedian @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:35PM]

With the same price as the Eee 1000h but with lower quality parts, there really is no reason to buy this.

[Sam Zebian @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:44PM]

OH, FINALLY it shows that the MSI wind isn't cheaper compared to the eee 1000 when spec'ed out similarly. It doesn't even have a lot of the features of the Eee 1000h at the same price! Like the multi-touch trackpad, the built in wireless N and bluetooth, or the built quality of an Asus. I don't see why anyone would buy the wind with the -cell at this point...

[deslock @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:59PM]

The Asus 1000H has several advantages, but it also weighs ~25% more than the 6-cell Wind (3.2 pounds vs 2.6 pounds). That may not matter to you, but it's important to some.

(note that I don't have either... I picked up an Acer Aspire One for $300 a month ago via the live.com/Ebay/Paypal cashback deal)

[golfreak @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:45PM]

Sorry but the Wind blew this one.
They had a chance to really shine in this market but they goofed.
I just bought an Ideapad S10 for $365 and its better in everyway.
$15 for 1gb of memories(1.5 vs 1gb) and its the same config minus the battery.
Same screen size but a smaller footprint.

[RK @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:17PM]

agreed.
Ordered the S10 as well...the MSI Wind or EEEPC 1000H are $180 or 50% more expensive - that's crazy considering they all use pretty much the same components..
Once the Dell, Acer and Lenovo start shipping in volume, the prices of the MSI and Asus will tumble...

[cletus @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:08PM]

You got that 15% discount? Did you receive the S10 already? I tried like hell to get that discount but it never worked.

[cletus @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:09PM]

You got that 15% discount? Did you receive the S10 already? I tried
like hell to get that discount but it never worked.

[Shane @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:18PM]

I want a Wind with the 6-cell battery, but it simply will not do without the synaptics touch pad. The one they're apparently using now is a POS.

[MickeyMoo @ Sep 3rd 2008 8:00PM]

the current track-pad isn't quite a POS - but it won't let you turn off tap to click and it's WAY WAY too sensitive - carpal tunnel or external mouse, choose your poison.

[hannibal @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:57PM]

@Flashpoint - Wakie, wakie!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cUl9WFv7g

[kg @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:37PM]

what does "its shipping now" mean?

[kg @ Sep 3rd 2008 6:42PM]

wait im confused... the 6 cell has been out for a while now- why is this news?

[kg @ Sep 3rd 2008 7:08PM]

Why is this news? The pink 6 Cell has been on newegg for weeks

[genkikid @ Sep 3rd 2008 7:53PM]

@golfreak: where did you find the Ideapad S10 for $365???? please tell me!

[chop @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:50PM]

i got mine for the same price. estimated ship date is 9/9, but my guess is that it wont even be in a box shipped for another month at the earliest with the way every manufacture has been delaying these netbooks after putting them up for sale.

[Ryan @ Sep 4th 2008 12:08AM]

Lenovo sold it for about that with a coupon code (which I found posted here on Engadget).

[Jaws @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:03PM]

I would have bought the 6-cell wind if it had been available back in June, but not any more with the switching out of parts like the touchpad to cheaper components. That really scares me about what your actually getting. Now, I can't wait until Lenovo drops their 6-cell, 120GB S10 version in the US. Hopefully it will be soon!!!

[elad @ Sep 18th 2008 7:41AM]

where in manhattan can i buy only a battery for msi wind, 6 cell????