MSI ships 12.1-inch, Athlon Neo-equipped Wind U210
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 15th 2009 5:24PM
posted Sep 15th 2009 5:24PM
MSI US Announces Availability of the New 12.1" Wind U210
The U210 Features the new AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 Processor, 12.1" HD LCD, and a Spacious 250 GB HDD
CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA – September 15, 2009 – MSI Computer, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, is excited to announce the availability of the new Wind U210. Weighing in at just 3.2 pounds, Wind U210 is MSI's first notebook to feature the AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6 GHz processor. The newest edition to the Wind family of ultraportables, also features a 250 GB hard drive, 2GB of DDR2 memory, and an energy efficient 6-cell battery with a 4+ hour life.
MSI paired the Wind U210's 12.1" HD (1366x768) 16:9 aspect ratio LCD with ATI Radeon X1250 for crystal clear graphics. The combination delivers a bright widescreen visual experience with exceptional color saturation and crisp imagery.
The Wind U210 also features MSI's EDS (Ergonomic De-stress) keyboard with keys that are 51% larger than those on a standard keyboard. The larger keys greatly improve finger contact range, which reduces stress on fingers and wrists to provide a more comfortable typing experience.
Additionally, MSI included a 1.3M webcam, HDMI port, 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA port, and a 4x1 card reader in the U210.
The new Wind U210 is available now at Amazon.com and Newegg.com for just $429.99. MSI offers a 1-year limited warranty with the U210 and extended customer services hours at 1-888-447-6564.
Now if only this had a faster processor, this would be a killer deal.
as much as i'd like it to i don't think netbooks are going to get anything faster any time soon. the major selling point is portability and battery life and putting a 2.0GHz CPU or above would put them at pretty average notebook battery life. i would still love to see dual core Atom and Neo CPUs put in these things.
the last notebook i owed was a Toshiba with a 1.4GHz Celeron, 80GB HDD and 512MB RAM and i had no complaints lol
Ion seems too good for a single core Atom. I'd like to see a single core Atom with something along Tegra lines. Just that little bump from Nvidia that it needs to stay strong.
Yes, I know Tegra is for phones. Just an example of INSANELY low power consumption with some oomph.
Actually, Tegra is not *just* for phones.
The Tegra lineup consists of a wide-variety of chipsets ranging from those made for mobile phones and media players to tablets and netbooks.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/handheld.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra_odm_devices.html
HP TX2 will do what you want.
I just bought one recently, 12.1" multi-touch tablet with a Turion 2.x (depending on model can be 2.1, 2.2, etc), 4GB ram, 320GB HDD, resolution of 1280 x 800.
The battery life is great, the screen is great, I'm most impressed by the little machine. This is coming from someone who usually doesn't go for the whole HP thing - I've seen some pretty bad consumer models from HP, especially in the Touchsmart line.
Tegra is ARM-based so if you don't mind Windows CE or an ARM Linux flavor, you can get it on a Smartbook or something
Getting there... soon perfect netbook will be made...
Not until OLED screens...
This laptop just seems to be caught in limbo, just slightly above netbook specs but not quite powerful enough to be considered a full-blown laptop. Is the Neo processor pretty decent, or can I just expect something on par with Atom?
Neo processor is quite a bit better than the atom. I have a hp dv2 and an acer aspire one and the dv2 blows it out of the water. ( The Neo even streams HD flash!!!! )
Why does it have to be considered anything?
Must we all be categorised!
Avivo and HDMI.. would be nice to see some a comparative test against and ION-based machine.
I've got mine from Newegg already, and I love it. Only major drawback is a lack of bluetooth. The HDMI output works flawlessly, and the graphics card can push a full 1080p without missing a beat.
@Nareau - Is the battery flush? Please, please, PLEASE say yes! (But please say no if, you know, it's not.)
It's not flush. It props the back of the laptop up by about 3/4". Makes for a nice handle, doesn't really bother me.
@Nareau - Darn, thanks for the info though.
i'm ready for congo with dual-core neo...
and for real graphics. forget a lanbox haha.
Battery life is garbage....Get Acer 1410, much better performer
I need a head to head between the two.
@Cheesus(Crust) - I agree, I'd really like to see a comparison. I think the Acer would really lag behind in terms of 1080p/HD performance though since it only has Intel 4500 graphics. The ATI stuff in the MSI should be a lot better.
The 1410 can stream HD Flash, at least all the Youtube HD trailers I've watched lately, and can do 1080p MKV playback (through HDMI obviously as the screen is only 1366x768) with 50% CPU usage. The Neo processor is slow, close to Atom in terms of performance, while the C2S is closer to that of the C2D. The U210 battery is rated for 3.5 hours, the 1410 battery lasts 6-7 hours. Sucky battery life defeats the purpose of having the portability of a netbook.
Shame the graphics card is only close as powerful as the Intel 4500MHD, but if we compare it to the Intel GMA950, there's a world of difference :P
Can anyone confirm that the battery DOES NOT stick out of the bottom? If the battery is flush (non-flush batteries annoy the hell out of me) then I might just have to order this and dump the 1000HE...
12.1 inches != netbook. When will you learn, Engadget?
I'm pretty sure Engadget will continue saying netbook since that's what the OEMs call it, and what AMD markets the Neo chips for.
i wouldn't call it a netbook but i wouldn't call it a notebook either. the last thing we need is more categories to confuse everyone with. so lets sick with netbook
kojo87, a netbook is a -type- of notebook. Saying you can't just call it a notebook is just downright stupid. How is it confusing to just call it a notebook? The vast majority of notebooks are not named to indicate their price/features/etc. For whatever reason netbooks are, but that doesn't mean we should confuse people by distorting and twisting that definition. A netbook is defined by price, performance, and size. It's a small (10.1 inches at the most) notebook that is cheap and lets you get on the internet. Hence, netbook. When you've stepped the display up to 12.1 inches then you're in normal laptop country. A cheap laptop that isn't very fast, and we've never had problems calling those just "noteboks" in the past.
so now laptops and notebooks are two different things? nobody told me that
At no point in my comments did I say that "laptop" and "notebook" meant something different. Why would you even think that?
Here's a little review of the MSI Wing U210 just for you guys =]
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/38858_msi-wind-u210-netbook-review.html
Thanks for the link! Great video, but really - dump the music!
Anyone know if the MSI Wind community will come out with a OSX for this? If so...I'd buy this in a heartbeat.
I ordered my Wind U210 tonight, hope to take it to California next weekend!
I don't get why no one offers what everyone actually wants, an afordable 10" netbook with ION/HDMI.
"Anyone know if the MSI Wind community will come out with a OSX for this? If so...I'd buy this in a heartbeat." - yes I want to know too.....
Hopefully they change the name when it reaches our shores. "U210" or "u-two-ten" in our native language sound like "ututen" which means someone who farts a lot. hahaha And combined with WIND ... I can hear the jokes already. "MSI Foul Air" comes to mind.
MSI enjoys a good following here since its release of the 1st Wind netbook, being the 1st to locally launch the 10 inch variety and have established themselves even before with its gaming and multimedia focused notebooks.
Woot! I really like this netbook. It's not too small like my U100 but it's still light enough for me to carry around. I heard the keyboard is a lot nicer than it's smaller cousins. Can this run on the OS too?