Q2 - MSI Wind Netbook with Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 - Black

My Daughter gave me the MSI Wind for Christmas and its a great portable laptop. I needed something portable and the Wind is very nice and light. The screen is very bright and clear do to the LED backlight that it uses for lighting up the screen. It has 3 USB which is nice to have. I have it hooked up to my 22" LCD monitor and runs great with no problem at 1680X1050. The built-in card reader is great to have to load up your camera pictures to edit using PhotoShop Elements; I have been doing this for the last couple days editing pictures. The keyboard is among one of the best. Keys are bigger then other Netbooks and you basically have keys as the standard keyboard. I upgraded the memory to 2GB by putting a 1GB RAM stick. MSI doesn't void the warrenty even though it says on the sticker, they have posted on a release note that they still warrenty the unit; just can't change anything else. I have installed Vista Buisness and Mac OS X Leopard, on my MSI Wind and runs great. Its not much slower at all compare to Windows XP. I use iLife for short editing; haven't tried to burn it to my external DVD yet. Another nice thing about the Wind is it uses a standard SATA 2.5" hard drive which later down the road you can upgrade to a WD 500GB if you really wanted to store movies, pictures, and music. The buit-in camera is nice to have if you use Skype or iChat on the Mac side to do some video chatting. You could use to do a video review of something for YouTube also. If you want around 4.5 - 5.5 hrs of battery life you can get a 6 Cell battery. I seen these online for 59.95 not bad and you will have a 3 Cell and a 6 Cell. This can give you around 6.5 hrs of battery life on the road by carrying both batteries. I use my Blackberry Storm as a modem on the Wind with the Bluetooth (Targus ACB10US) this is very small USB BT that you can leave in the USB port and you'll hardly see it. What's also nice about the Wind is that the LCD screen hinge is at the back of the case which lets you tilt the screen back pretty far, just like the Macbook, and the Macbook Pro's. The top of the case is shiny black, and shows finger prints. The inside part of the keyboard, and bezel has a satin finish, so less finger prints show. Overall I highly recommend this laptop, especailly if you want to install Leopard on it. It's the easiest of all since most parts are what the MacAir has.

I've had this Netbook for a little over a month, and it's quite a little workhorse. This does almost everything my larger laptop does in a much smaller and lighter package. After buying this I took it on a cross-country business trip. The WiFi was great, and I had no problems hooking up in airports or hotel rooms. After getting my applications installed on this NetBook I haven't taken my previous laptop (a 15.4" dual-core system) with me anywhere. The battery life was pretty good for a 3-cell battery, I get 2.5-3 hours from a charge. One feature that is not well documented is the Eco function. Hitting Fn-F10 while running on battery puts the laptop into "green" mode, cutting power consumption and extending battery life. There are also aftermarket 6-cell and 9-cell batteries that can you can get more battery life out of. The 9-cell reportedly gets better than 8 hours! Battery life is good under Windows XP, better under Vista, and even better with Windows 7 (beta). This model DOES have a VGA out, which is great for presentations or watching streaming video on a TV. Not all NetBooks have a VGA out port. When traveling I would stream NetFlix movies to the laptop and output it over the VGA to the TV in the hotel room. One common complaint was that you would void the warranty by installing more memory. Due to the public outcry over this, MSI has agreed to not invalidate warranties for people who have only upgraded the memory. You still should be careful when adding memory as there is no access panel like most laptops have. You will have to carefully remove the entire bottom of the laptop to access the free memory slot, but it can be done relatively easily if you are careful. There are a number of photo tutorials on the Internet that document how to upgrade the memory in this model.

While looking for a small notebook, I came across the MSI Wind netbook. After reading many positive reviews, I decided to pick one up from Best Buy. After opening the box and plugging it in, it took about 20 minutes to boot for the first time. I'm guessing it actually installs the OS the first time it runs. After that, I was able to set it up and use it while using the ethernet connection. I decided to use the Wifi and spent about 30 minutes but couldn't get it to work. After remembering a review I read, I realized the Wifi wasn't enabled, so I pressed Fn-11 and all way good and it connected to my WiFi. I then took it into work the next day and had no problem connecting to the wifi. Since I wanted to let the battery totally drain, I played video and other things with no problems. I ended up getting about 1:45-2:00 hours before it shut down. After this, I started experiencing dropped wifi connections. I didn't have any problems at home, but it was a big problem at work. I disabled power saving for the wifi, but that didn't help. I then turned to MSI's website which notes this is a problem and to upgrade to the latest driver. I intalled the new driver and Realtek utility and haven't had any problems, but plan to test more in the next couple of days. As for the battery life. I've read a lot of people complain about the 3-cell battery. For me it's not a problem since I don't really use a laptop for 2 hours without plugging it in (except on airplanes). Otherwise, I've been very pleased with the computer (as long as the wifi works). One of the biggest reasons for buying this was that people have successfully installed Mac OS/X on the Wind.

This is a great secondary laptop for those on the go. I highly recommend it for those with money to blow who don't want to carry a full size laptop. About the size of an average hardcover novel, I carry the MSI Wind with me all of the time without a case for urgent business uses. I frequently need to prepare or review an emergency document for business purposes, and now I'm no longer chained to my desk or lugging my "heavy" 4.5lb laptop everywhere. I have had no difficulty establishing a wireless connection at home, at coffee shops, or to my smartphone by Wlan. Combine this laptop with a 3G cell phone connection and you have a very portable office solution to go. Please note that the cheapest model sold here has no built in bluetooth and only the 3 cell battery. It also does not come with a carrying case/sleeve. I was convinced to buy this stripped down model for the bargain basement price of $325 here on BestBuy. In retrospect, I might spend the extra bucks and get the 6 cell with internal bluetooth. (If you can find the better model and have cash to spare then I highly recommend spending a little more to buy the more deluxe version.) My biggest complaints about the MSIWind are the small and somewhat unusual keyboard layout of the Wind and the poor battery life of the 3 cell. It is fine to use once in a while when necessary, but not a good primary computer at all. It definitely has a noticeably slower processor than on present full size laptops. The keyboard is a little small for me and I often hit a wrong key. All netbooks, however, seem to have something undesirable about their keyboard layout. A big complaint for me about the Wind is that the function key is at the far left bottom and the Ctrl key is more proximate towards the space bar. (I think the Lenovo has the same issue) It drives me crazy because I frequently hit FN instead of CTRL when cutting and pasting using Ctrl-C or Ctrl-V macro in MSWord. There is a bios hack you can find on the internet to switch the Fn and Ctrl keys, but I have not been brave enough to try it. The three cell battery lasts only 2-2.5 hours max. Big problem. Carrying the charger defeats much of the portability and furthermore electrical outlets are not always available or may in use by others at coffee shops. After market 6 cell batteries are about US $100. Car chargers are cheap and available online and may be a good option for some. Use at your own risk. Lastly, as expected the screen size is small and takes some getting used to. In summary, the MSI Wind is a great ultraportable solution for those willing to trade comfort and convenience for portability.

A very nice computer that has a decent size keyboard and reasonable battery life. For $350 it’s reasonably priced and shouldn’t break the budget. Setup took about 15 minutes and was completely automated. There is not a CD or DVD drive but it has 3 USB port and a decent USB drive can handle all the duties. You can buy one for $99 but I'd not waste the money. For $50 you can get a 32GB USB memory key. Wireless took a few seconds to figure out. A hint to all who purchase the computer, by default the wireless card is turned off. Function F11 will turn it on. I use an Apple AirPort Extreme using WPA2 PSK. No problem, this laptop connected right to it. The first thing I did was increase the memory to 2GB. For an extra $30 it gives a nice bump in performance. It just feels a little faster. You do need to remove the Warranty Void sticker and then 9 screws from the bottom of the case. I can’t believe they wouldn’t support me if there was an issue just for upgrading the RAM. Right now all is good and the sticker cleans up with a little glass cleaner. The Wind NetBook is very light coming in at about 2 pounds. The screen is very bright and clear. Not sure if you can upgrade to XP Professional or Vista but running Windows Home works out fine for now. Maybe one day I’ll experiment. With 2GB of RAM and 120GB of hard drive space this PC has plenty of room for applications and files. I would recommend this as a travel PC or a small backup especially if you’re doing remote presentations. The VGA port allows quick connections to a LCD projector. Normally I use an Apple MacBook Pro so having this as a backup running Windows is an extra level of protection. Go get one and you’ll be happy.

I got this laptop as a travel laptop, but it quickly turned into my daily use pc. It's very small if you are used to normal sized laptops, but compared to other mini notebooks, it's much easier to use. The 10" screen has exceptional brightness and the 1024x600 resolution allows you to see web pages in full width without having to side scroll. The 120gb hd is plenty of space as a second computer. The keyboard is also surprisingly easy to type on. The wind also comes with a second slot for up to 1 GB of extra ram. Unfortunately, installing Ram yourself voids the warranty, but this wasn't a big issue for me. With 2gb of ram, this machine flies. The only bad part about the Wind is the touchpad. The newer models come with a Sentelic touchpad instead of the Synaptics touchpad the earlier models came with. The Sentelic touchpad does not have the ability to slide scroll on to the right and bottom of the pad like the Synaptics does. Also, out of the box I was forced to upgrade the Sentelic drivers because the drivers loaded on the machine did not support turning off tap-to-click and tap-to-scroll. Also, you cannot adjust the sensativity of the Sentelic touchpad. I wish MSI stuck with the Synaptics touchpad instead. Overall, I highly recommend this laptop as a second or 3rd machine.

Well I actually do own a MSI WInd which is what I am using to type this review. I have had I can already write this review because I havent put it down.The main problem is that this is a netbook and not a notebook which means the ram and hard drive are significantly smaller along with the fact that netbooks don't have CD DVD Drives so you have to buy a external drive. Netbooks also come with windows XP or Linux rather than Vista but I prefer Windows XP better.If you are doing small tasks or are a kid in school this is perfect but if you plan on doing all of your business work on this then you shouldn't consider this. Compared to what other netbooks have to offer this is a top contender which I recommend.I plan on expanding my ram later this week but with the installed 1GB of ram the computer still runs smoothly. I am also impressed with the wifi connection to the internet. I get a '"Very Good" connection when I and about 6 or 7 walls away from my reuter and that is abuot 150 ft. it gives about a 36 mbps. from there. To sum up my artical, if you are going to buy a netbook get the MSI Wind U100.

My MSi Wind is a great machine. The netbook is very well built and features one of the best keyboards in this segment. I purchased mine for $50-100 less then comparable netbooks from HP, Dell or Lenovo. The computer runs under Windows XP pretty fast. MSi Offers a Bios upgrade to over clock the CPU to gain performance. Unfortunately their website is a bit lacking and hard to navigate. There is no user manual included with the computer or even on the hard drive. The backup utility to create a restore disk is a bit confusing. I wish they optimized the restore software to work from a thumb drive as they are less expensive than an external DVD player. As an added bonus, MSi included DVD playing software, so once you own an external DVD drive you can watch movies. Fell screen video playback worked well but HD content is probably too much for the processor. The speakers are not that good. I really like my Wind. It is a no-nonsense mini laptop that is well built and easy to use.