MSI teases with details on new U91 and U120

While some manufacturers are just now getting in on the netbook craze, others are rolling in the cash from their first generation and are already prepping for the launches of their second and third. Such is the case for MSI, and in an interview with Impress, Notebook Product Manager Neo Lin dropped a few interesting nuggets about the U91, an 8.9-inch successor to the U90; and the U120, a wholly new 10-inch model. Both will offer HSDPA and could receive new keyboard warmers: VIA's Nano was considered but discarded, while Intel's dual-core Atom 330 might just make the cut -- if engineers can figure out how to feed it twice the power of its predecessor without killing battery life. 2GB of memory seems to be the plan on the U120 at least, which might break it out of Microsoft's "ULPC" category, meaning Vista instead of XP Home. Yeah, Lin didn't sound too happy about that prospect either.

[Arran @ Sep 18th 2008 10:34AM]

UMPCs are BACK!

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Sep 18th 2008 10:45AM]

Isn't there quite a difference between UMPCs and netbooks? As in UMPCs are more of the pocketable, slate tablet sorta variety?

[d00b @ Sep 18th 2008 12:26PM]

Can anyone who speaks Japanese provide a more coherent translation of the interview? The article has many interesting factoids, but it's really hard to decipher the butchered Google xlate. TIA.

[waffles @ Sep 18th 2008 10:44AM]

he's only 3 rings short of calling captain planet

[Ed @ Sep 18th 2008 11:46AM]

is it just me, or does it seem like that chicks head is HUGE?

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 18th 2008 12:11PM]

That would be the U120. The other one on the left is the U91 in the white shirt.

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Sep 18th 2008 10:49AM]

In the interview, did they hint at future models having 1280x768 resolution screens and 16:9 aspect ratio options as well? I think Asus had also hinted at 16:9 screens in future EEEs.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 18th 2008 11:05AM]

Shouldn't it be 1366x768 then?

[Alex Linhares @ Sep 18th 2008 10:51AM]

UBUNTU!!!!

[Macdelaney @ Sep 18th 2008 10:57AM]

Yeah, i mean, why would anyone want vista in a netbook when most desktops cant even run it properly?

[Joni @ Sep 18th 2008 11:03AM]

SUCKS !!!

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 18th 2008 11:06AM]

@Macdelaney

Upgrade that super sweet 400mhz Celeron of yours and maybe you'll have an easier time running Vista.

[BrokenMonkey @ Sep 18th 2008 11:41AM]

Vista runs better than XP on my U100 with 2GB of RAM.

[Scott F @ Sep 18th 2008 10:53AM]

She's hot.

[White @ Sep 18th 2008 11:44AM]

no, she's not

[Wind @ Sep 18th 2008 11:03AM]

sorry no, just no.

[konshuss @ Sep 18th 2008 1:24PM]

i'd hit it.

[absinthe party @ Sep 18th 2008 3:15PM]

I'd tease _her_ details.

[Macdelaney @ Sep 18th 2008 10:56AM]

So, when are the dual-core atom going to actually come out? I'm holding off the whole netbook thing for those, altough some serious battery improvements should be done.

[Barri @ Sep 18th 2008 11:01AM]

Ha ha love you long time. chinese man still get treated better than chinese woman. No lapytopy for you baby.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 18th 2008 11:04AM]

"...meaning Vista instead of XP Home. Yeah, Lin didn't sound too happy about that prospect either."

'Either?' So, you aren't happy about the idea of Vista? Why not? Have you ever used it? Screw XP. With a dual-core Intel processor and 2GB of RAM, it'll run like a snap. What a couple of crybabies, Jesus.

And by the way, I don't care what any of you reading this think of Vista, XP, OSX, or Linux. I'd rather not turn this into a thread about the virtues of Ubuntu. ::gag::

[CraigJ @ Sep 18th 2008 2:11PM]

define snap.

[Uchiha Sasuke @ Sep 18th 2008 11:15AM]

I think Neo should consult the Oracle if Vista can turn the tides against Agent Smith.

[Luisen @ Sep 18th 2008 11:36AM]

The woman is hot :)

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 18th 2008 11:38AM]

I doubt netbooks and UMPCs are in any position to tease anymore. They've thoroughly whored themselves out.

[stevenfbchi @ Sep 18th 2008 11:41AM]

Id hit it

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 18th 2008 11:52AM]

He must work out.

[andy @ Sep 18th 2008 12:16PM]

@ Serial 8-Ball Mouse

Nice "Dumb and Dumber" reference.

[Dustin Leiblein @ Sep 18th 2008 12:08PM]

comment

[tpadekar @ Sep 18th 2008 1:34PM]

Nice "comment", Dustin!

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 18th 2008 2:13PM]

reply

[absinthe party @ Sep 18th 2008 3:17PM]

witty retort

[waffles @ Sep 18th 2008 3:34PM]

first

[humps @ Sep 18th 2008 12:28PM]

Do the new one still use the crippled Sentellic touchpad which doesn't do slide to scroll? Frankly, I don't trust MSI anymore after the touchpad switch and over inflated prices for the 6 cell.

don't tell me to get a mouse, you can take your mouse up where the sun don't shine. I get a netbook and I expect to use the netbook only.

[Yes, I'm still very bitter after buying one based on the in store demo unit that had Synaptic pad which all the online review units had and MSI switched to something far inferior for later production batches]

[Marcello @ Sep 18th 2008 12:38PM]

when are these new models supposed to be shipped? january 2009, february or maybe may or june? by the way i hope this time Msi will ship to Italy more than twentyfour!!

[Ian @ Sep 18th 2008 2:18PM]

So to get really good battery life, are they going to have to increase the battery to an 8 or 9 cell? The Intel 330 is supposed to use a peak of 8 Watts of power rather than the 2 W enjoyed today.

These netbooks are going to end up exactly like every other laptop out there, except slower. They're not even that cheap anymore. It's just a slow computer with no optical drive. They're not at Apple MBA prices, but they're getting closer and closer to $700.

[mike @ Sep 18th 2008 2:37PM]

Photo from the latest Engadget meetup?

Rock on!

[Lancelot @ Sep 18th 2008 6:32PM]

"Vista instead of XP Home" is a killer for me.. I refuse to pay this kind of cash for a netbook that will have such a shitty OS.. If they can't use XP then why don't they offer "Ubuntu"...??

[Fanfoot @ Sep 18th 2008 7:51PM]

Screw the dual core. The Atom as defined today should be entirely adequate for most of what people want to do with these things. And any reduction in battery life would be a very bad idea.

Why not just switch to SLC SSD? The boot time would go down a lot and from the testing jkk has done the systems in general perform much better with multiple tabs/apps open when you do this. Yes it would cost more, but I assume these vendors want to differentiate themselves somehow and justify the higher prices they'd like to charge...

If they have to stick with 1GB to stay with Vista they should do that. Just make the memory slot easily accessible so we can upgrade it after the fact.

[ssrat_ @ Sep 19th 2008 1:26AM]

Vista looks like an OPTION, according to the article, you can still get it with XP.

I'm just looking for a 10" linux version (6cell) so I can get at the cheapest price and load Xp on it myself

[ice @ Sep 21st 2008 3:46PM]

We all know everyone of us is albe to install th os he prefers the best...
so let's concentrate on hardware:
_at least 5hours battery in 1,3-1,5kg max
_no more than 500$
and..
_I'd link to have backlight keyboard
I just get a brand new latitude E6400 and I just can't figure how my next latptop could miss it.....