| Value | 5 | | Performance | 5 | | Ease of Use | 5 | | Overall Satisfaction | 5 |
| |
5 of 5 Great little laptop! Saturday, September 06, 2008 Keith Iding from Portland, Oregon
I have been looking for a sub-notebook for a while, finally admitting that my PDA wasn't cutting it - way too slow and underpowered for someone used to a desktop environment. I read the reviews and noticed that there was some sort of hesitation by manufacturers to release all those announced eee-PCs that came out this spring at the 'Computex' trade fairs. I was also waiting on the release of AMD's mobile PUMA processor, and couldn't find it anywhere in retail form. The Intel ATOM CPU was getting good press, so I decided to go ahead and get on Buy.com's waiting list for the MSI Wind because the price was so good, and because I was impressed that there was a Win XP version available.
The wait proved to be not that long, and I haven't looked back at all for buying it - very pleased. The size is just about perfect for what I was looking for - the screen is very detailed and the slightly smaller keyboard is easy enough to get used to. The setup time isn't much of a factor, a few typical Windows updates to go through, but the big news was that I got onto my secure WPA-PSK home wireless network the firs try, with the pre-installed drivers, and the range is excellent.
I was also very pleased to have 3 standard USB ports and a multi-card reader slot that works with SDHC cards and lets me download and review all my multimedia files when I'm away from home. The mini-laptop comes with a trial version of MS Office, but you can load any app that Windows can run, including all the open source options. It also came with a multi-media suite from Cyberlink, which turned out to be a real benefit because it can read files directly off my JVC hard drive camcorder, and even edit them.
Although it doesn't have a cd/dvd drive, interfacing with any Windows compatible external drive should be effortless. I had an Iomega 16x dvd drive burning an edited video off my camcorder high density SD card within a day of getting the MSI Wind.
The one little irritation to me was the same one that most laptops have - the touchpad mouse isn't as user friendly as a regular mouse, but that was fixed by plugging in a USB mouse, eventually replaced by a wireless bluetooth mouse that was recognized quickly by the system. The 1024x600 display is a slight bit under what I really need for Powerpoint or video to a projector etc., but the VGA output isn't limited by that pixel restriction, so it's definitely a portable presentation device.
The speakers aren't great on bass, but the output jack is quickly switchable between headphone or line out for external speakers. The built in webcam is a nice touch too, pretty good resolution for sharing stills or video like with Skype or whatever. Also, heat from the processor was not an issue. I found it to run cooler than most laptops I have used. The underside gets barely warm to the touch. The battery life for my U100 6 cell version is so surprising, easily 5 hours of uninterrupted use. This may not be a complete replacement for your fully-featured desktop, but what you are buying is meant to be ultimate portability, reliable convenience in a tidy little package. I don't think most people will regret making this purchase. Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Excellent Product Wednesday, August 27, 2008 dverma from charlotte NC
This product is excellent in terms of features, technical specifications and especially its light weight. With a resolution of 1024 X 600 the web browser is able to display full web pages. In built camera is great which i tested through video conferencing. The 6-cell battery gave me about 6hrs of backup with wifi switched on. Works like any other notebook. Bluetooth and memorycard reader works fine. Stereo speakers are not that good. Overall performance is excellent. Great Product!!! Was this review helpful?
5 of 5 Great MSI netbook! Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Kit Wong from Lake Oswego, OR
Great value and works perfectly! Was this review helpful?
|