MSI's Wind U120 just went on sale last month here in America, and already we're being presented with yet another hue from some other corner of the globe. The stark gray version looks to posses the very same innards as the white and black model already out, but externally, it's an entirely different animal. 'Tis a shame we haven't a clue where this is headed for release, but we'll put our bucks on somewhere not named USA -- at least at first.

Update: Well, what have we here? It's on sale now at Amazon for $349.99.

[Via Slashgear]

Those obsessives over at Laptop Mag wrangled up a new MSI Wind U120 and did the review thing, and while there's plenty of good here, the wide availability of similarly specced, strongly designed netbooks throws the Wind's flaws into sharper relief. With the same internals and battery of the original, and yet oddly less battery life, the main improvement here is the more "professional" chassis design. Not a ton to get excited about, but at least the $379 pricetag has a decent edge on other higher-end (in looks, anyways) laptops of this ilk.

The Wind U120 has been drifting around for months now in the minds of undersized laptop aficionados, and being that you've already heard it talked up, seen it ripped apart and perused a gallery full of hands-on images, all's that left to do is break out the plastic. Yeah, we know -- $469.99 is tough to hand over even for a rather respectable 10-inch netbook, but at least you get a six-cell battery, right?

[Thanks, Abigail]

If you thought that MSI would allow CES to pass it by without unleashing a veritable smorgasbord of new kit upon us, you're dead wrong. For starters, the company will be showcasing its Wind U115 and U120 netbooks for the first time in the public eye at CES, and those oh-so-intriguing NetOn all-in-one machines we spotted overseas will also be making their US debut. Said rigs will arrive in 16-, 19- and 22-inch flavors, and it's expected that Intel's dual-core Atom will be powering the trio. Carrying on, we've got the EX625 and EX623 entertainment lappies joining the EX family with inbuilt subwoofers and Blu-ray drives, and the GT725, GT727, GT627 and GX420 will all be sliding into the gamer-centric GX line. Finally, MSI will be demonstrating its first "eco-friendly carbon fiber concept gaming notebook," so we'll definitely be sashaying over to wrap our paws around that. Head past the break for the full release.

MSI has unveiled the 13.4-inch X-Slim 320 (is that you, U300?), which at 1.98cm and about 2.87 pounds puts it just a teensy bit lighter and thicker than its Cupertino-born doppelganger, and comes with either a 4 or 8 cell battery that lasts up to 10 hours. The company provides no specs in its presser, but our cohorts at Engadget Chinese were at an MSI pre-CES event and report that we're looking at a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1366 x 768 resolution, up to 2GB DDR2 RAM, 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3.5G network card, three USB ports, an Ethernet port, VGA output, and an all-in-one card reader, and according to Crave it might be using the NVIDIA Ion platform. It's coming second quarter of 2009 for about $800 -- we'll see it for ourselves later this week.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

Read - MSI press release
Read - Crave report

We already knew that MSI's Wind U120 was coming this quarter. Now DigiTimes has pegged the launch to November. Available in white or black, DigiTimes' sources claim that the U120 should launch for roughly $552 with a built-in 3.5G data module, Atom N270 proc, 1GB memory, and a 120GB hard disk loaded with Windows XP. For its part, MSI did say that it will not be introducing a netbook with touchscreen due to the high cost (eh hem, hear that ASUS?). MSI does, however, plan to launch its second generation Wind netbook with "new innovations" at the beginning of March at CeBIT 2009. We're hoping for thought-control enabled by a quantum processor but expecting something more akin to a race to the bottom.

Considering that MSI's Wind U120 is on track for release this quarter, it follows logic that we'd see a few press shots as the run-up to launch continues. Once again, we're told that this bugger will sport a 120GB HDD (or a 20GB / 40GB SSD), 802.11n WiFi and built-in 3.5G WWAN. As you can easily see, the U120 isn't too much different (style wise) from the U100, and unfortunately, it's not a whole lot thinner either. Still, the unit does look a bit more edgy, and hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more (read: in the wild) shots as December comes closer. Speaking of, check the read link for a whole load of press images.

[Thanks, TheLostSwede]

Slowly but surely, MSI is following in the laughable footsteps of ASUS. At first, the Wind was simply the Wind. Now, we've a smattering of variants to keep up with, and according to a recent interview with director of US sales Andy Tung, that trend isn't about to stop. Starting next week, the Wind U100 will be available at an undisclosed "large national retailer," with the 3-cell / WinXP version going for $399. Additionally, Tung gave us all a reason to hold off on making that very purchase by revealing that the business-minded Wind U120 (or Wind 2, as he called it) will be landing on US soil in late November or early December. Said machine will boast "a whole new look," new HDD / SSD options and inbuilt 3.5G WWAN connectivity for under $600. Also of note, MSI's internal research has found that Linux-infused netbooks get returned four times as often as units with Windows XP; we can't say we're shocked that people don't feel like learning a new OS, but we're deeply, deeply saddened that reading comprehension levels (particularly on specification labels) in this nation are so obviously low.

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.