MSI announces Wind U210 dual-core netbook

 

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Posted on 22 Aug 2009 at 22:25

MSI has become the first company to announce a dual-core netbook, the 12.1in Wind U210.

Two models have been announced, both of which will be powered by AMD's 1.6GHz Neo NV-40. The U210-002 will have 1GB RAM and a 160GB hard disk and runs Windows XP; the U210-010 will have 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard disk and runs Windows Vista.

The laptops should weigh around 1.5kg, while the six-cell battery should provide decent battery life.

The good news doesn't stop there. The 12.1in screen has a decent resolution of 1,366x768, there's 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The onboard ATI Radeon X1250 graphics chip is a step up from Intel onboard graphics, too.

We think it's about time that a dual-core netbook was released, and it's thanks to AMD that this is possible. Intel has been reluctant to release a dual-core Atom netbook processor and its current dual-core Atom, the 330, is available for nettop computers only.

The U210 should be available soon, and it looks like it will be reasonably priced too. Current rumours place it at ?399 (around £346) for the U210-002, and ?449 (around £390) for the U210-010. We can't wait to get our hands on one.

Author: David Ludlow