MSI Wind U123 netbook now being stocked by US retailers
By Ross Miller 
posted May 5th 2009 5:16AM
posted May 5th 2009 5:16AM
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I'd love to buy one, but c'mon someone has to throw a Atom 330 and and ION in one sooner or later....I'd much rather it be sooner than later.
So sick of these underpowered Atom chips. Love the small form factors and netbooks w/ SSDs but until manufacturers offer netbooks with better processors and at least 64 gig SSDs this type of thing is just not appealing. Thoughts?
(BTW kudos on the 6 cell battery, MSI)
I'm with diggit, what's with the weak processors?
Because not every laptop is made for gaming and video editing. The Atom is 'good enough' for basic computing tasks, regardless of what people that think they're in the know tell you. The CPU is fine, its the chipset that sucks. Do you goto every car dealer and wonder out loud why every car doesn't have a V8?
The processor can't do hulu, that's enough for me to say it's weak. Granted hulu should be using the GPU but that's a different story.
It can't handle Hulu??? Somehow I find that difficult to believe... Can anyone confirm this?
yeah, I have a mini 9 and it struggles with hulu in OS X. In linux the flash code is worse so the performance is even worse.
Just got my u123 - hulu works fine for me. Just watched an ep of Family Guy, no need to adjust frame rates or anything. There was a bit of slowness loading, but that's because my husband is doing a raid in Warhammer right now....
Battery life, duh.
You don't need more than 20GB on the road, it's a netbook.
Frosty the Snowman sells computers now?
Damn.
I'm waiting for one of these things to have a switchable (for battery saving) backlit keyboard.
Seriously, it's been six months since CES and not one netbook with Ion? On top of that, Asus and MSI have stated that they will not build netbooks with Ion because of the cost? Well then screw them then. Seriously. I will not buy the same rehashed crap...and if I wanted to, I'd buy the best version of it - the Samsung NC10 or NC20.
Not everyone who wants a netbook is motivated by bargain basement prices. I want an ultraportable that doesn't break the bank. I am willing to spend $500...but I need to at least be able to play HD videos streamed from the net and local sources. I don't need a quad core, but how about a GPU that isn't flat out embarrassing?
Want to sell me a $500 netbook tomorrow? Then give me this:
Ion
2GB of RAM (seriously...ENOUGH with the 1GB crap)
1024x768 (don't tell me you can't fit it...the frames on these netbook monitors are FREAKING huge)
Bluetooth
Don't bother me until then.
I bought an NC10, and it is truly awesome. Has some of the best features built in, not all that you would want, like Wireless N for example. But it is still as underpowered as the rest. I agree that it is 'good enough' for most basic tasks most people need on the road, but I for one would sacrifice an hour of the 6 working hour battery life for more processing power on demand. Altho, one of the other reasons for the lighter chip is the heat, adding more fan or venting shouldn't be a deal breaker for upgrading the processor. And truly I believe that a better chipset would be more beneficial, incorporating a scalable graphics set would be most welcome. This would allow us to offload at least some work from the cpu.
All in all, the sammy is a beautiful machine, best in class by far. At least for now.
I'm with you 100% budski
You're right aswell It has been a long time since CES and i've been excited this entire time... just cmon already!
I got myself an ideapad s10 from Lenovo about a month ago. Paid $299 exactly same specs as this one + PCMCI slot which MSI doesnt have. And in my personal opinion S10 looks and feels much better than my friend's MSI wind. This one seems a bit overpriced compared to competion.
with that huge 3 cell battery that last for hours...
I guess "same specs as this one" doesn't mean the same to you as it does to me. Mine has 6 cell battery as well. Read before posting.
Cool...the conversation is still going on...and I am getting back on my soapbox! :)
Honestly, for me, the battery is no big deal. I don't plan on using a netbook on-battery much...if at all. Wherever I have wifi or a hardwired network connection, I have AC power. Could I use it on a plan or on a train? Sure, I suppose, but that's not my likely use case. In fact, I'd rather have a very small battery and either have the netbook lighter-weight or have more functionality built-in....or have it run cooler.
No, the battery isn't my thing...nor is "all day" usage. I want one of these things just because they are small and light. I can bring one to destinations that I would not consider bringing a full-fledged laptop...like on weekend trip. Even better, I can use one in bed to read PDFs and other docs that I don't want to print. Yes, I could use an e-book reader for *some* of these file formats, but I'm not interested in slow gray scale e-ink. I'd also like to be able to surf. I read tons of technical articles (and purchased PDF-based textbooks) and I'd rather read them in bed next to my wife instead of parked in my home office.
I've tried using a full-fledged laptop to read such documents in bed, but they haven't worked well because they are heavy, throw a lot of heat, and their fans bug my wife.
What I really want is a Crunchpad that can read PDFs and Word docs:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/10/about-those-new-crunchpad-pictures/
...but the Crunchpad is not yet out and they haven't committed to anything beyond web pages...so I am looking at netbooks. Netbooks that are small enough to hold like an ebook.
I don't need it for $250...but I also don't want to drop $1800 on an ultraportable. $500 is fine...but I feel like the manufacturers are driven to the bottom right now...and that folks like me don't matter. Ultraportability is either dirt cheap or insanely expensive.
How about those of in the middle? Give us the best of the NC10:
- small
- light
- quiet
- cool
- easy to upgrade
- decent wireless performance
- bluetooth
...and get rid off:
- glossy cases (seriously, how many times do reviewers have to use the phrase "fingerprint magnet" in their reviews before Asia figures out that we don't want frigging shiny cases)
- 600 pixel height (you've got a big frame...at least give us standard 768 height for that 1024 width)
- 1GB installed. (seriously, what's the delta for manufacturers? 10 bucks? I can get a replacement 2GB chip for $25...and then I still have the 1GB chip and I am paying retail in quantities of one. WTF? And WTF is up with Dell when they solder 1GB to the motherboard? Are you kidding me? I suspect that this 1GB debacle is all about advertising the holy grail longest battery life...at the expense of actual usage performance)
Okay, that's a *start*...but we also need a GPU that can actually allow us to watch DVDs, Hulu and other online video without dying. Gosh, where could we find a beefy low-power GPU that is already paired with Atom? Oh yeah, ION...you freakin MSI b&%$#@s !!!!
I'm not asking to run Crysis...but video is a very standard utility for netbooks. Ion is too expensive MSI? Well, as far as I am concerned, $5 is too expensive for a netbook that doesn't meet my minimum requirements. Hear that MSI?
The other parts of Ion (like GB Ethernet) would also be appreciated, but I'll settle for a faster GPU.
$0.02
(okay, maybe $0.04)