MSI's Eee PC beater arrives

 

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Posted on 4 Jun 2008 at 16:53

Asus had had the budget ultra-portable laptop market sewn up with its two Eee PC models, but MSI's new Wind could well have the beating of them. Shopper was able to get a hands-on preview of the top-specification Wind before its official launch.

It's slightly bigger than the Eee PC at 260x180x19mm, and first impressions are excellent. Build quality is superb and the pearlescent white finish looks classy - as does MSI's new logo. Open the lid and there's a 10in screen with a 1,024x600 resolution - bigger than the Eee PC 900's 8.9in screen. The keyboard is better too, thanks to larger keys which have a more positive feel. We still didn't like the cramped touchpad much, but it worked fine.

At just under 1.3kg, the Wind is heavier than the 900, but this was with a six-cell battery. Production models will have a three-cell battery, and weight will be closer to 1kg.

The most impressive aspect of the Wind is performance. It uses Intel's new Atom processor - the N270 which runs at 1.6GHz. Sadly, it isn't dual core but, along with 1GB of RAM, this should blow the Eee PC 900 away in benchmarks - it felt very fast when loading applications under Windows XP.

MSI also manages to shoehorn an 80GB 5,400rpm hard disk, Bluetooth 2, WiFi and a webcam in - and all for only £329 including VAT.

A great feature is the ability to over- and under-clock the processor to get either extra performance or longer battery life. This will be available whether you opt for the Windows XP or Linux version. We couldn't test battery life, but we're expecting the three-cell to last for at least as long as the Eee PC 900's.

We'll bring you an in-depth review next month, but until then, don't be tempted to shell out on an Eee PC until you've read our definitive verdict.

Author: Jim Martin