Finally a breath of fresh air in an area of computing where the only major difference in products was appearance and price!

I’m really glad to see some interesting new stuff from MSI. We recently talked about the MSI Wind U120 [Portal page] which is just like the original U100 but with 3G and some increased storage options, but that isn’t very exciting is it?

Now news is spreading that MSI will be releasing two additional netbooks some time around January. The netbooks will be the U110 and U115; I’ve put the interesting things in bold:

• 1024×600 10" screen
• 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU - which is a more expensive but less power hungry chip (2w) than the Atom N270 (2.5w) which is in almost every netbook you see today
• Poulsbo US15W chipset - most netbooks are using the Intel 945G. Poulsbo in combination with the Z530 CPU will make for a total chipset drain of 4.3w
• 6-cell battery
• Up to 250GB HDD for the U110
• Hybrid Storage - The U115 will feature SSD and HDD combinations. The idea is that the OS and programs can go on the smaller capacity SSD (8/16/32GB) for quick booting and program launching, then there will be plenty of room for media and other storage on the HDD (80/120/160GB). Computers such as the VAIO TZ have used a similar storage configuration. It will be important to the success of the U115 that this doesn’t consume too much power running both drives.
• Wi-Fi B/G/draft-N
• The rest is pretty common; Bluetooth, 1GB of RAM (up to 2GB on the U115), 3x USB 2.0 ports, 2.0MP webcam etc.

Like I said, all of this is new and exciting to see in a netbook. However, after reading this I can’t help but wonder how they plan on keeping the prices down. Nearly everything in this list will run the price up over current netbooks: new CPU+chipset, two storage drives, and draft-N Wi-Fi. We’ll have to wait and see but I would image the top end U115 will run you somewhere around $700 if not higher.

[Blogeee] via [Liliputing] [Electric Vagabond]

The upcoming MSI Wind U120 has been unboxed over at MSI WIND en Español. The MSI U120 is very similar to the original MSI Wind U100 [Portal page], apart from the U120’s standard larger capacity battery, larger HDD (120GB), 3G option, and color. The unboxing video isn’t terribly exciting; it seems a bit confusing that the box says "MSI Notebook" and "Wind Netbook" [my emphasis] on the very same side of the box. Head over to MSI WIND en Español to read some Google translated first impressions and see the unboxing video below.

[Liliputing]

The Wind is arguably one of the best netbooks on the market today. MSI has just released the U90 8.9inch screen variant a while ago and its already thinking of future products. Andy Tung from MSI recently stated there will be a new “business-minded” U120 (Wind 2) model coming end of November/beginning of December. The new device is said to be a complete redesign, will have 3.5G (HSPDA), and options for an SSD or Harddrive. The price will be under $600 which sounds like a pretty good deal. Look out for numerous rebrands of these appearing over the next few months. Also if you are looking for the current U100 model, you will soon be able to head down to your local “major retailer” (Im guesing Best Buy) and buy the 3 cell/ Win Xp version for $399.

Via Engadget

Kevin C. Tofel over at JKotR has spent some time benchmarking the 6-cell extended battery for the MSI Wind. I have to say, I’m really impressed. Using BatteryEater, Kevin was getting 3 hours and 39 minutes running the minimum runtime test, which uses the CPU at 100% capacity until the battery dies. Running the test a 50% screen brightness, Wi-Fi on, and no Windows power management, it is easy to how a regular work load could give you nearly 5 hours of runtime. Kevin also ran BatteryEater after toggling the Wind’s ‘Turbo’ button, which cuts the CPU speed in half. Running at 800MHz, the Wind went for an impressive 4 hours and 59 minutes under full CPU strain. Kevin says that with regular usage and power management, you could hit 7 hours with the extended battery. Head over to JKotR to see the full article including a comparison to the Asus Eee 1000H.

Not Joanna Stern!

Joanna Stern, queen of netbook-land it seems, has published her full review of the MSI Wind and given it 4.5/5 on the morning that it officially launched. Good timing MSI!

The review covers pretty much every aspect of the device from design to battery life (Mmm, battery life. Why the cheap, low-cap batteries MSI? It could have been a lot better) and is the must-read if you’re considering the device, which, if the stats on UMPCPortal.com are anything to go by, is a huge number of people.

Laptop Magazine MSI Wind Review

The press release and product pages are now available.

Via Engadget.

MSI Wind details, specs and updates being added to our MSI Wind product page.

It certainly looks like the MSI Wind is taking point in the mininote race right now. Everyone seems to love the design that’s slightly bigger and heavier than the Eee PC 900. The price, style and specifications seem to be spot on. There’s a tough 2 weeks ahead for all mininote product managers but with reports like this one from Crave being published, MSI’s product managers can be happy that they have the right momentum at exactly the right time.

…it could take the throne from the Asus Eee PC as the best mini laptop on the planet.

Crave mention a few ‘tricks’ too, like the TurboDrive button and a keyboard that is ‘miles miles’ better than the Eee PC 900. We’ll have to see about that but it’s not often you hear the Brits getting over-excited about something so maybe, just maybe, this is the one!

More images and notes over at Crave.cnet.co.uk

Thanks to Expansys last week, the UK prices and specs for the MSI Wind were revealed but the only US prices we had until now were import prices. Today, LAPTOP magazine has revealed the US-local specs and pricing and rather than charging similar prices for both the Linux and Windows versions of the Wind as in the UK, the MSI US marketing team are choosing to offer an Eee PC 900 12G (Linux) competitor at $399 with the 80GB drive, 512MB and Novell SUSE Linux. If you want XP you’ll be paying $150 more and getting an additional 512MB into the build. It doesn’t seem to be worth $150 but there could be additional specifications that  haven’t been revealed  through the LAPTOP magazine article. I’ve been using Suse Linux for about 8 years and have always been very happy with the desktop interface and the ‘YAST’ system management tools. I even ran it on my work-supplied Pentium 1Ghz notebook with 512MB RAM for 2 years and only went back to Windows when I started  getting into UMPCs. [more after the break]

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Expansys have put their pricing up for the 10″, XP and Linux versions of the MSI Wind.

The XP Home version based on the 1.6Gz Diamondville (assumed) Atom processor, 10″ LED-Backlit, 80GB (2.5″) hard drive, 1GB of RAM, Wifi, Bluetooth and a 1.3MP WebCam is available for pre-order for 350 pounds. The Linux version is 30 pounds less. By Expansys pricing, this puts it at only 70 pounds (about 25%) more expensive than the 4GB Eee PC. The XP version of the wind is even the same price as the Linux version of the HP 2133!

Looking across Expansys Europe, the German price (for the UK, XP Version) is 459 Euro’s which makes the Packard Bell Easynote look expensive at 499.

Update: US price (UK version export through expansys-usa) is $610.

At these prices, I think the MSI Wind might take the cheap mininote crown, especially with the girls! Interested parties can make their way over to Expansys. (Affiliate link.)

Specifications and details available on the MSI Wind product page.