First Look: MSI's Wind sub-notebook - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 30th May 2008, 17:20

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...sub-notebook/1

The netbook revolution continues to motor forwards, and with the launch of Intel's new tiny Atom processor just a short while away - we take a quick first look to see what MSI's new 10-inch Wind is like to use. If you have an Eee already - you might want to look away now.

Jipa · 30th May 2008, 17:40

The part that really interests me is the touch and reliability of that thing. Usually cheap laptops are simply rubbish, but if this one is any better than I might take one of these over an used IBM...

IanW · 30th May 2008, 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Swinburne

It also uses a fan though – on the left hand side is the vent. This is unlike the current Eee PCs which just use the metal keyboard underlay as a heatsink to keep your fingers warm.

Actually the Eee does have a teeny-tiny little fan, but it won't come on until the CPU hits 55C.

Tyinsar · 30th May 2008, 17:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Article

We shouldn’t really be comparing the Eee to the Wind though – they aren’t direct competitors

Still, Id like an idea of the relative CPU performance - to me they are competitors.

HourBeforeDawn · 30th May 2008, 18:10

huh Im a little confused I was told by a MSI rep that this wont be a consumer based product that its directed for businesses and there for wont be sold in a retail line, did they change their mind on this and will be selling it to everyone?

Phil Rhodes · 30th May 2008, 18:23

I'm becoming a bit tired of places like Bit-Tech reviewing (or previewing) these things and comparing them to the Eee without giving a price. Sub-notebooks of these sorts of sizes have been available for years; until recently they started at around £1800. If this thing costs that much, it is not a competitor to the Eee.

Jipa · 30th May 2008, 19:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

I'm becoming a bit tired of places like Bit-Tech reviewing (or previewing) these things and comparing them to the Eee without giving a price. Sub-notebooks of these sorts of sizes have been available for years; until recently they started at around £1800. If this thing costs that much, it is not a competitor to the Eee.

AFAIK this is supposed to retail at around 500 €, which could be compared to the larger Eee. Small notebooks aren't a new thing, cheap small notebooks are.

Tile · 30th May 2008, 19:25

Deleted

EmJay · 30th May 2008, 20:35

Hm, this one may be what I go with. I'll need to see if I can find it in person. Then it's just a matter of waiting until I can afford an SSD to put in it!

Fruitloaf · 30th May 2008, 22:50

To me this sort of thing looks really exciting. Currently I have a Sony T2XP which was gifted to me. Its a 10" laptop with a PM 1.2GHz, 512MB of RAM and most importantly a decent resolution (1280x800). Its light, pretty fast installed with Ubuntu or WinXP and generally a wonderful however they retail at £1200+ and now the Wind will do this at £500!.

Sure you can see this as an EEE competitor but really its an ultraportable competitor. At the moment an EEE is simply too low powered and low a resolution for many if any people to use it as anything other than a secondary machine though thats not to say its useless.

crompers · 31st May 2008, 01:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tile

MSI has a real winner on their hands. I like the fact that the laptop has a standard storage unit and it can be replaced with a SSD one if needed. Forget the Eee PC.

I think forget the Eee is probably a little strong, this product is clearly aimed at a slightly different market. It is probably better compared to the HP.

OleJ · 31st May 2008, 13:48

Bindi:
Third to last paragraph: Xandos
Should be Xandros

evanbraakensiek · 31st May 2008, 14:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jipa

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

I'm becoming a bit tired of places like Bit-Tech reviewing (or previewing) these things and comparing them to the Eee without giving a price. Sub-notebooks of these sorts of sizes have been available for years; until recently they started at around £1800. If this thing costs that much, it is not a competitor to the Eee.

AFAIK this is supposed to retail at around 500 €, which could be compared to the larger Eee. Small notebooks aren't a new thing, cheap small notebooks are.

Not to sound pedantic, but the Asus EEE PC 900 costs 330 (GBP), even going off your rough estimate of 500, there's a huge difference of almost 200 pounds, and considering these are marketed as 'cheap small notebooks', price would be of paramount importance. Having said that, I own a PC 900' and think this looks lovely, really admire the graphics on the lid.

konsta · 31st May 2008, 16:47

I'd like to know what this costs, and whether the physical size stacks up against the EEE.

I bought an eeepc 701 4G on day of release, and I'm still perfectly happy. I wouldn't even choose the 9" model if i had a choice of both.

I'm a student, and the eeepc is most certainly not my main machine. It's for lectures, working in the library and internet access at my grandmother's house..

I only wanted something extremely basic, and for £215 I got my product. The price moves it almost into the disposable territory - less than you pay for some mobile phones and mp3 players.

g3n3tiX · 31st May 2008, 20:12

It does have a lot of status LEDs near the keyboard.
How are these Atom processors doing ? with everyone saying this will be a breakthrough and all.

Mother-Goose · 31st May 2008, 20:49

I've wanted the Atom based eee for a long time, but tbh, the Dell option, visually at least, looks much more enticing. we'll see though I guess. This is definitely interesting, but you can't help but think that if they'd used SSD the battery life would be so much more impressive.

fathazza · 31st May 2008, 21:30

dunno where you guys are getting the £500 figure from, last i heard the xp version was £350, and the linux one was £320...
Thats what expansys had as their price too for preorder, tho they have since taken it down to some command from intel apparently

bumfluff · 31st May 2008, 21:37

Note that he is from Finland and quoted a price in euros.

fathazza · 31st May 2008, 21:44

note the two other non finns talking about £500

Solinx · 1st Jun 2008, 16:36

I'd put more stock in the recently announced prices:
http://forums.msiwind.net/stock-wher...arter-t96.html

Without taxes the 6 cell version should be £320

@g3n3tiX:
visit www.forums.msiwind.net
One of our members got to review the Wind for two days and did some tests during that period. These aren't rock solid professional benchmarks (you need more time for that), but it's certainly enough to give you a good idea of what the performance is like.

@Richard:
Thanks for the review. That the fan doesn't start before the temperature hits 55 degrees is good to know.
While running in ECO mode that should pretty much mean it won't spin up at all.

30th May 2008, 17:20	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	First Look: MSI's Wind sub-notebook http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...sub-notebook/1 The netbook revolution continues to motor forwards, and with the launch of Intel's new tiny Atom processor just a short while away - we take a quick first look to see what MSI's new 10-inch Wind is like to use. If you have an Eee already - you might want to look away now. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

30th May 2008, 17:40	#2
Jipa Licenced idiot. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Tampere, Finland Posts: 3,063	The part that really interests me is the touch and reliability of that thing. Usually cheap laptops are simply rubbish, but if this one is any better than I might take one of these over an used IBM... __________________ Abit IP35 - E6750 - 8800GT 1024 MB - 2 GB 800 MHz - enough HDDs - 750 W Silverstone - CM Storm Sniper Asus P5Q-VM - Q9450 - 4 GB - 400 W Silverstone - Fortress FT01 AllTheMods - MetkuMods - LedCalc

30th May 2008, 18:10	#5
HourBeforeDawn a.k.a KazeModz Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Cali, USA Posts: 1,796	huh Im a little confused I was told by a MSI rep that this wont be a consumer based product that its directed for businesses and there for wont be sold in a retail line, did they change their mind on this and will be selling it to everyone? __________________ Current Rig: RubyRED • Lian-Li A05B • (2) Swiftech 220 Radiators • (2) D5 Variable Pumps • (2) Res • and a whole lot of modding • Retired Rig: Project F.E.A.R. • TT Lanbox Lite • Swiftech H2O-120 • Q6600 G0 OC@3.6ghz • 2900XT • 4gb SuperTalent Memory •

30th May 2008, 19:25	#8
Tile Banned Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 376	Deleted Last edited by Tile; 3rd Nov 2008 at 01:02.

30th May 2008, 20:35	#9
EmJay Supermodder Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 315	Hm, this one may be what I go with. I'll need to see if I can find it in person. Then it's just a matter of waiting until I can afford an SSD to put in it! __________________ Current status: Modding on

30th May 2008, 18:23	#6
Phil Rhodes Supermodder Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 579	I'm becoming a bit tired of places like Bit-Tech reviewing (or previewing) these things and comparing them to the Eee without giving a price. Sub-notebooks of these sorts of sizes have been available for years; until recently they started at around £1800. If this thing costs that much, it is not a competitor to the Eee.

30th May 2008, 22:50	#10
Fruitloaf Multimodder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 112	To me this sort of thing looks really exciting. Currently I have a Sony T2XP which was gifted to me. Its a 10" laptop with a PM 1.2GHz, 512MB of RAM and most importantly a decent resolution (1280x800). Its light, pretty fast installed with Ubuntu or WinXP and generally a wonderful however they retail at £1200+ and now the Wind will do this at £500!. Sure you can see this as an EEE competitor but really its an ultraportable competitor. At the moment an EEE is simply too low powered and low a resolution for many if any people to use it as anything other than a secondary machine though thats not to say its useless.

31st May 2008, 13:48	#12
OleJ Me! Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 1,987	Bindi: Third to last paragraph: Xandos Should be Xandros __________________ Quickr! Clickr to my Flickr! Canon camera stuff. Some aluminium PC, an HTPC and a MBP 17"..

31st May 2008, 16:47	#14
konsta Multimodder Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 92	I'd like to know what this costs, and whether the physical size stacks up against the EEE. I bought an eeepc 701 4G on day of release, and I'm still perfectly happy. I wouldn't even choose the 9" model if i had a choice of both. I'm a student, and the eeepc is most certainly not my main machine. It's for lectures, working in the library and internet access at my grandmother's house.. I only wanted something extremely basic, and for £215 I got my product. The price moves it almost into the disposable territory - less than you pay for some mobile phones and mp3 players.

31st May 2008, 20:12	#15
g3n3tiX Resident frenchie Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: localhost Posts: 591	It does have a lot of status LEDs near the keyboard. How are these Atom processors doing ? with everyone saying this will be a breakthrough and all. __________________ I also have a MTBF.

31st May 2008, 20:49	#16
Mother-Goose Tories ftw! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: England - Surrey Posts: 3,750	I've wanted the Atom based eee for a long time, but tbh, the Dell option, visually at least, looks much more enticing. we'll see though I guess. This is definitely interesting, but you can't help but think that if they'd used SSD the battery life would be so much more impressive. __________________ Goose Q6600, Striker Extreme, 4GB 6400C4 Dominator DHX, Raptor X, 2x400GB spinpoints, BFG 8800GTX OC, Stacker 830 Evo, HX620, Nova T 500, Freezer 7 Pro

31st May 2008, 21:30	#17
fathazza Freed on Probation Join Date: May 2002 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 3,110	dunno where you guys are getting the £500 figure from, last i heard the xp version was £350, and the linux one was £320... Thats what expansys had as their price too for preorder, tho they have since taken it down to some command from intel apparently __________________ I may be fat but at least I am not Ginger "The President is no longer a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate, who epitomises the arrogance of American foreign policy" - Boris Johnson

31st May 2008, 21:37	#18
bumfluff Hypermodder Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Andy Murray Land Posts: 685	Note that he is from Finland and quoted a price in euros. __________________ First Mod: Project Napier 07 The greatest site in the world - not finished yet though

31st May 2008, 21:44	#19
fathazza Freed on Probation Join Date: May 2002 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 3,110	note the two other non finns talking about £500 __________________ I may be fat but at least I am not Ginger "The President is no longer a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate, who epitomises the arrogance of American foreign policy" - Boris Johnson

1st Jun 2008, 16:36	#20
Solinx What's a Dremel? Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2	I'd put more stock in the recently announced prices: http://forums.msiwind.net/stock-wher...arter-t96.html Without taxes the 6 cell version should be £320 @g3n3tiX: visit www.forums.msiwind.net One of our members got to review the Wind for two days and did some tests during that period. These aren't rock solid professional benchmarks (you need more time for that), but it's certainly enough to give you a good idea of what the performance is like. @Richard: Thanks for the review. That the fan doesn't start before the temperature hits 55 degrees is good to know. While running in ECO mode that should pretty much mean it won't spin up at all.