Enjoy ultimate computing mobility with the lightweight yet power-packed MSI Wind U100 Mini Laptop, which features a 10-inch LCD screen for excellent web browsing, Intel's newest low-power processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and familiar Windows XP Home operating system. The crisply and colorfully designed Wind U100 also includes an integrated webcam for video chats and an ergonomically designed keyboard that's makes typing easy. Designed especially for mobile devices, the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure new hafnium-infused circuitry--which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors--to conserve energy, giving you more time away from the wall outlet--up to 6 hours with the included 6-cell battery. This model also features an 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB max), internal stereo speakers, multi-format memory card reader, three USB ports, and a VGA monitor port. It comes in black, but is also available in pink and white, and it includes a carry bag that matches its color.
160 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, 2 GB Max
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description
Enjoy ultimate computing mobility with the lightweight yet power-packed MSI Wind U100 Mini Laptop, which features a 10-inch LCD screen for excellent web browsing, Intel's newest low-power processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and familiar Windows XP Home operating system. The crisply and colorfully designed Wind U100 also includes an integrated webcam for video chats and an ergonomically designed keyboard that's makes typing easy.
Designed especially for mobile devices, the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure new hafnium-infused circuitry--which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors--to conserve energy, giving you more time away from the wall outlet--up to 6 hours with the included 6-cell battery. This model also features a 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB max), internal stereo speakers, multi-format memory card reader, three USB ports, and a VGA monitor port. It also includes the next step in Wi-Fi networking with a Draft-N wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n). This model comes in white, but the Wind is also available in pink and black, and it includes a carry bag that matches its color.
Ride With The Wind The Wind--which stands for for "Wi-Fi Network Device"--offers a number of convenient features that make this mini notebook a highly functional and easily portable laptop PC. The 10-inch LCD screen has a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution, which enables you to view full web pages while browsing the Internet. It's also embedded with an LED power-saving backlight technology, which not only helps to lower power usage but also provides richer and brighter colors. The Wind U100 is also equipped with a 1.3-megapixel webcam (placed in the bezel above the LCD) and integrated microphone, allowing you to snap still photos of yourself while on the go for sending via email or join video chats with friends and family.
The keyboard is 20-percent smaller than a standard full-sized keyboard, but offers excellent spacing between keys.
Magnify a portion of the screen for closer viewing of photos or documents.
The ergnomically designed keyboard--just 20 percent smaller than a full-sized keyboard--provides excellent texture and tactile feel when typing, and the keys are spaced at a comfortable 17.5mm width (0.68 inches). Additionally, the ingeniously designed spacebar and 2.1-inch touchpad allow your fingers to move smoothly while avoiding strain.
The Wind U100 also has the ability to magnify text within software--whether it be an Internet browser or office document--with a unique magnifying glass overlay, making it easy to focus in on what you're reading or precisely edit photos.
Finally, your Wind U100 will is constructed using a special Insert Mold Roller (IMR) technology that protects the notebook from fading and also reduces the impact of fingerprints, so the laptop will continue to look brand new.
Processor The Intel Atom processor uses a brand new design structure that packs in 47 million transistors into a single chip sized at just 22mm (0.87 inches), and it uses just 2.5 watts of power--less than 1/10 of the 35 watts used by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor--for excellent battery management. This 1.6 GHz Atom processor also includes a power-optimized front side bus of 533 MHz for faster data transfer on demanding mobile applications and a 512 KB L2 cache (which temporarily stores data).
Hard Drive This version of the Wind U100 comes with a 160 GB hard disk drive (5400 RPM), which offers enough to room to hold a digital audio library of over 26,000 songs and still have room left over for movies, games, and a large collection of software. This Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to Firewire and USB 2.0.
Memory This laptop is installed with 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, which has a top-of-class 667 MHz speed. It can be expanded to a maximum of 2 GB. To receive the faster data transfer benefits of the dual-channel DDR2 RAM, any RAM additions require memory modules of same capacity and clockspeed.
DVD/CD Drive Because of its size, the Wind U100 does not come with an integrated optical drive, but optional CD/DVD read/write drives can be connected to the laptop via one of the three USB ports, enabling you to create your music mixes, burn movies to DVD, and more.
Networking, Connectivity & Expansion This notebook can be wirelessly networked with the integrated Draft-N Wi-Fi LAN (802.11b/g/n). Based on the draft 802.11n Wi-Fi specification, it offers up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range as existing 802.11g wireless. It's also backward compatible with 802.11b/g networks, allowing you to link up to home networks as well as Wi-Fi hotspots while on the go. You'll also enjoy wireless connectivity to a wide range of peripherals with the built-in Bluetooth. It comes with the following ports:
3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 headphone/line-in and 1 microphone/line-out
1 VGA video output (15-pin, D-Sub)
4-in-1 memory card reader, compatible with Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro
Fast Ethernet port for a 10/100 connection
Dimensions & Weight The MSI Wind U100 measures measures 10.23 x 7.08 x 1.24 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 2.6 pounds.
Power This model of the Wind U100 comes with a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which provides up to 6 hours of usage. The long battery life is aided by the low power consumption of the Intel Atom processor, as well as MSI's ECO energy-saving technology, which can distribute power intelligently and adjust screen brightness to prolong the operating time of the battery. Using the ECO Engine software, you can choose between five power modes--gaming, movie, presentation, office and turbo battery.
What's in the Box This package includes the MSI Wind U100 laptop in white, AC adapter, carry bag, and printed instructions. It's backed by a one-year manufacturer's warranty.
Customer Reviews
Beats laptops 4 times its size and 5 times its price! UPDATE to firmware 1.09 (ships w/ 1.06 if I recall) - on battery FN+F10 cuts processor speed in half and blue power LED turns green saving battery power for less intense applications. On AC with this firmware FN+F10 overclocks the uP by 8, 16, or 24 % (I would stop at 16% for stability) - the led glows a redish orange to alert you to the overclocked status. U100 will remain the performance leader in the family while the 115 will become the battery longevity leader.
News Flash 01/01/2009 (Taiwan) MSI announces U115 and U120. U115 is a hybrid with 32GB SSD and 160 GB main disk. U120 is a power user system with larger main drive and built in 3G networking. Amazon is expected to carry them early january as they are ready to ship.
Note: amazon suggests you buy a $22 case - this unit comes with a zipper pouch designed for it so you don't need to buy the case shown above separately. If you do buy the memory you will have to break the computer's warantee seal to install it, which I did and have no regrets. All the good details are below if you want to know more about this and what you can do with it.
Comment 12/20/2008 I've been asked about the 9 cell battery - I uploaded a photo tonight of its side view against the 6 cell that comes with this notebook. It took 1 week to arrive by airmail from China. I ordered on a Saturday and it showed up the next Saturday in my mailbox. Click on "other photos" at the top of the page to see more info about the 9 cell 7200 mAh battery. It's a true 8 hour battery system now.
I went into the U100 with pretty low expectations - I wanted a "disposable" laptop to take on a cruise that could handle my digital photos and videos but had to be small and light compared to my dell 17" desktop replacement. I was thinking of a 1.6 ghz cheapo laptop and had not had the best experiences in the past but this blew away my expectations. Update: at first the trackpad seemed to be missing scroll features and have just a single button. I did finally find the trackpad features on its boring white surface (I'm accustomed to drawings showing the scroll zones) - the two right hand corners (upper and lower) are scroll points and I was accustomed to scroll edges instead. The other feature I "found" was the singular button under the pad is really 2 - its a rocker button set, press the left side and its the left button, right side is the right mouse, you can still tap the pad and drag but there is a left OR right button. Can't press both at once as it pivots in the middle. So the boring white square really has 2 scroll areas in the corners and a 2 way switch underneath. Back to the review now.
First off, the display is LED backlit - and its more than bright enough to read outside! My dell 17" 1920x1200 laptop display can't do that. I was so impressed by this point that I said "This one's a keeper" - ripped off the warantee sticker and read other's reviews of mods to get down to work.
Here's your upgrades summary for the wind based on your $ and what's laying around
0 - rating super-easy - the wind's SD cardslot is 8 times faster than other laptops. What took 8 minutes to read on a dell laptop and HP quad core desktop only took one minute to transfer on the Wind, probably because they interfaced the SD ram onto the motherboard differently. It's fast enough to cache windows software on it. Buy an 8-16 GB card, stuff swap space and your frequenly used software on it, and move windows files around to make it faster. Having a fast ramdisk can really speed up the OS with some practice.
Another super easy upgrade is optimizing your battery pack. Most U100's are 6 cell (5200 mAH @ 11.1V or 2 strings of 3 cells) - some are 3 cell units and just have less runtime. You can buy a different battery - I ordered a $78 9-cell 7200 mAH recently for my 2nd battery (Dell wanted $145 - sorry I just can't bring myself to that)
1 - rating EASY - add 1.0 GB by snapping a $10-$15 1GB 667 200 pin module into the convenient ram slot MSI left under the hood. Time: 15 minutes if you've opened a laptop up, 30 minutes if you've changed a watch battery. For 15 minutes and 15 dollars you just doubled your system's main memory.
2 - rating Moderate - you really don't need this as it comes b/g/n but the network can be upgraded to a combo a/b/g/n instead of the b/g/n card. If you have an 802.11a network then this is possible - do it while you're doing the ram upgrade. You don't really need to but the network is adaptable to 802.11a systems.
3 - rating - experienced - You can buy your wind U100 with a 120 or 160 GB drive from the factory - but if you want a 320, 360, or 400 GB drive you can get a 9.5 mm SATA drive and stretch the factory drive image onto the larger one. Use Norton Ghost to transfer the factory image to your new disk and pull the cables then swap out the SATA connector and screws.
When done you will have an optimized windows system for your use, with 2GB of ram, whatever network you need and hopefully 400 GB of disk. I optimized mine and it runs circles arond my old Dell now!
I've committed to the wind machine now as my old dell got about 1 hour on its largest battery. I'm getting 5-6 hours on the Wind. For the dell running it mobile was impossible and carrying the adapter was a necessity. I can walk out of the house with just the Wind U100 and not panick. (my dell power adapter became a deep cycle marine battery Optima Blue Top D34M High-Power Deep-Cycle Battery (870CA) and a 1000 W inverter Xantrex Technologies Prosine 1000 Prosine 1,000 to 1,500-Watt Power Inverter to provide AC power over 100 watts for the 17", 100 watt beast. The 6 cell battery pack on U100 runs it for almost 6 hours while the dell gets about 45 minutes on a heavy duty battery! I continued to be amazed about this little jewel.
Pros:
802.11 b/g/n! - and it's sensitivity is finding networks my intel board can not due to the plastic case instead of metal or metalized plastic cases.
BLUETOOTH - in a small sized unit like this I hardly expected factory bluetooth
FAST - the halfnium processor from intel is really holding up its deal for using no more than 4 watts of power - less than a night light and 25 times less than my dell system needs. This thing has the feel of a big heavy laptop without the twin fans and hotspots on the bottom. One observation - I thought that a dual 1.6 would be "slow" compared to a dual 2.8, but in reality there are other bottlenecks in performance than the processor speed. SELDOM does the processor get maxed out to 100%. By optimizing windows you can speed up the machine to more efficiently utilize the 1.6 ghz it came with, then people will think it's a 2.83 Ghz system!
Wide - the display has a modern widescreen 1024x600 format which I admit is a bit unusual but it is definitely widescreen and the 1024 lets you see a full webpage wide. Nitpick here - expect to scroll up and down a bit more than with a larger display - but side to side is fine at 1024 pixels wide. The scroll corners on the pad make this easy.
USB 2.0 x 3 ports - expansion here is no problem
SD card slot - another great feature, and it's running 8 times faster than the SD card slot on a brand new HP quad-core $2K desktop
Webcam - You can not tell me this tiny unit has a webcam, and a high resolution one at that? It does. It's a little dark until you adjust its settings. It's nice to have at times and built in. It also has an LED next to it to tell you its being used and you're on camera - great feature.
Built in microphone - someone thought about this. Most builtin mics sound awful because of fans and disk noise. The U100 has a tiny mic in the upper corner of the display. With the built in stereo speakers below the keyboard, there is enough separation between the mic and speakers to run skype on this and go out the 802.11 b/g/n link or USB cell modem.
RJ-45 - yep - got one of those in case you have a wired link and no wireless. Use windows to make a local access point out of your U100 for others!
mic/line interface (pink) and line / headphone (green) output plus VGA connector to link to a projector or a bigger display. Thats a pretty full compliment - not everyhing and doesnt have a digital output, but it will run projectors fine. Lots of aftermarket docking stations will help out if you find a need for parallel/serial/digital video, etc.
LED status indicators - A blue star indicates the unit is powered on and integrated into the power button which is fully configurable to be a suspend or hibernate button (or full off). There is a 2-key fn keystroke tied into the power control which is also definable, plus a sensor on the lid closing which at a minimum kills the leds if you don't want to disconnect. Down where the leds can be seen with the cover closed there is a blue led for bluetooth turned on, an LED for 802.11 on/off, snooze light, battery charging led, caps lock, num lock, scroll lock, and hard disk usage. I never expected so much indication in something so small and cheap.
Comment - neither a pro nor a con - there is NO LATCH on the lid. It has a spring to hold it shut and that works well for the purpose. A latch really isn't needed. The light weight is a great feature after carrying around a 10+ lb laptop to get a good display & graphics card.
Con - It's hard to find any cons but the trackpad is a tad small and not well documented nor integrated into the system driver. Some people complain its jumpy but I have not found that to be the case. It works fine with a few days getting used to like anything else. It lacks the scrolling edges of larger systems and larger trackpads but has corner scroll buttons. The only other system design con is they soldered the first GB of ram to the motherboard and put a socket in for the second $10 in memory to get to a full 2 GB. That socket probably cost more than $10. They probably did not know about the price drop in ram costs and left options open thankfully with the socket. I bought the 1GB ram with my unit based on other's reviews (THANKS guys!)
Power - Fortunately the AC adapter is small, but it takes a long time to charge while running (charge is faster with the power off) If you run ALOT of usb stuff on the 3 USB ports and power them from the notebook, consider a 2nd battery. I use a USB cellular internet and GPS combo card most of the day on my unit and have found it takes 2.5 watts to run it thus reducing the runtime using the internal 802.11 b/g/n card. Using the FN key you can disable what you don't need like the 802.11 card, the webcam, bluetooth and help to save battery. The screen is so bright you can dim it on battery without a headache. I've uploaded a photo of the 9 cell vs 6 cell battery (extra $78 to buy an aftermarket 9 cell). Although the 9 cell hangs down further it actually makes it easier to grab the computer one handed and makes the keyboard more comfortable to use with the tilt. On the subject of power, 260 GB 2.5" solid state drives are available now to replace the factory 160 GB drive. They use 1/2 the power of the factory drive. They cost more than the U100 does, but if you want lots of storage and even more runtime, they are an option. I'll wait on that one.
What I like the most about the U100 is that it's STABLE (even with the 2GB addition and disk cache move and drive upgrade) - I've run stress testing for 24 hours since I received it and not a single fault has been found. UPDATE: I ran the stress test for 96 hours straight with no errors. This is good practice when buying any new computer while the warantee is in effect. Modern factories don't do long burn-in periods so its up to the consumer to check out their hardware.
Things to do list with your new U100
1 - go buy one of these - at $400 you're set to start and well equipped with windows XP home included and the Intel Atom (Halfnium) processor which runs 1/4 day on 0.73 - 1.2 volts and 4.3 watts / 1.6 ghz from its 6 cell battery
2 - buy some upgrades with the cash you have leftover to customize it. A 2nd battery is a great investment since a 9 cell will give you 8 hours of computing. (see my photo in the additional photos top of page)
FINALLY a laptop you can use for 8 hours without charging. Its about time. Don't be fooled by its small size and 1GB ram factory load - its really a 2GB 300GB disk system just waiting to come alive in the palm of your hand with every feature you need right now.
Compact netbook and lightweight, a true laptop Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1KAL31UDUVWSC I was fortunate not to miss this deal from amazon. MSI Wind is small and lightweight (2.6 lbs), better that my existing 7-lbs Dell laptop (see my video review). I was amazed to know the boot time is so short. When connected to my Netgear router, its 802.11n (wifi-N) is 135Mbps, surprisingly faster than wired ethernet. My only dissapointment is that this netbook is not design for extensibility. To upgrade the memory requires to unscrew the main body, which voids the warranty. Other than that, I really like it!
Great Laptop! I just got this laptop today. Bought it last week at amazon for $475! The instalation is very easy. No unecessary software included so you don't have to worry deleting uneeded junks.
The boot up time is as fast as regular laptops. The keyboard is excellent. It took me just 10 minutes to get used to it. You have to press FN and F11 to enable the wireless switch.
I used word and excel at the same time, and had 3 windows open at the same time without any problems.
It's a nice little machine. I have the 6 cell battery, and it lasted for about 5 and a half hours (I didn't play any movies though). The matte finish won't leave any smudge on the laptop.
Overall, this machine is excellent. I am really happy with this laptop. The 10 inch screen is about right, not too small and definitely not big. My co workers were oozing when they saw it. Also, the LCD screen is pretty nice, it's clear and crisp. I don't know how it would look like playing movies tho, but I've tried youtube and the video quality is as clear as my HP slimline desktop pc.
The audio is not as good as the high end laptops. Of course, for $479, I don't expect the audio quality remotely comparable to the $1k plus laptops. The audio is just OKAY, not great but, then again, what can you expect from a cheap laptop with above average performance overall?
You won't be sorry to have this little puppy. And oh, the color is really nice.. pearl white!
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