MSI Wind U230 first look

 

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Posted on 20 Nov 2009 at 16:41

MSI has announced its latest Wind ultra-portable laptop, the U230. We managed to get a sneak peek at a pre-production unit. Unlike previous Winds the U230 uses one of AMD's latest processors, instead of an Intel chip.

MSI's new Wind U230 ultra portable laptop will come with a 1.6GHz AMD Neo X2 L335 processor. Unlike many of Intel's CULV processors, as well as the Atom processor commonly used in netbooks, the Neo X2 L335 has two cores. It should therefore be faster at running certain applications, such as video encoding, as well as handling multiple background tasks such as anti-virus applications.

The U230 will also come with 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard disk and an integrated Radeon HD 3200 graphics chip. There are three USB ports, a VGA socket and a HDMI port. MSI will be marketing the U230 under AMD's new Vision brand, instead of emphasising which particular processor and graphics chip it has.

We were a little disappointed to find that the keyboard on the pre-production model felt a little springier than the Wind U100's, but it still felt comfortable to type on. Like the popular U100, the cursor keys are a little narrower than the others, but not dramatically so and all the other keys are large and easy to press with none of the annoyingly narrow punctuation keys found on the U100. The touchpad is small but accurate. Although the buttons are quite small, there are at least two separate buttons instead of a single pivoting button.

The pre-production sample we saw flexed under pressure more than the U100 does, so it doesn't feel as sturdy and rigid as we'd like. The bright 11.6in screen has a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels but it has a reflective glossy finish instead of the matte anti-glare finish that the U100 benefited from. Although this can be annoying when working under florescent office lighting, it's noticeably less grainy than the U100's screen.

MSI's Wind U230 looks like a promising ultra-portable laptop. The company will also be selling an Intel CULV-based model, the U200, so it will be intriguing to see which one has the better processing performance and battery life. It should be available from January for £399 and we'll bring you a full review as soon as we can.

Author: Alan Lu