MSI Blows or Goes? The Wind Netbook @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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MSI Blows or Goes? The Wind Netbook Video Review - Longtime motherboard builder Microstar is now in the Netbook business and sent an MSI Wind over to get our thoughts and feelings on it. I have been in the ultraportable notebook market for years now and was very anxious to use a Netbook with a keyboard big enough to type on. The MSI Wind has impressed us.

“Netbook” or “notebook?” While it may say “notebook” on the Wind packaging, and undoubtedly it is technically a notebook, I think the end user that is buying one of these appliances needs to be aware of what it is capable of. These Intel Atom based processors, while extremely capable in some application profiles, are just poorly suited for others. In a true “notebook” application, I can see where they would fall flat. But in a “netbook” application the MSI Wind does shine and that is in great part to the Intel Atom processor.
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at 550$ for the 6 cell version just isnt worth it imo.

there is a 6cell/160gb hdd acer aspire one for 400$.. so your paying 150$ extra for what? +1.1" more screen size? just not worth it imo, MSI needs to lower the price of these to atleast 450$ for top model, these are netbooks not dualcore 15" laptops that you can get for mear 600$ that would perform better then these.

Nice review however. very detailed and long, i like video reviews, looking forward to see more in the future.
 
Now this is the kind of review i think thats a big step forward, the video communicates so much more than pics ever could. Nice little machine for the price as well. :)
 
Ryle said:
at 550$ for the 6 cell version just isnt worth it imo.

there is a 6cell/160gb hdd acer aspire one for 400$.. so your paying 150$ extra for what? +1.1" more screen size? just not worth it imo, MSI needs to lower the price of these to atleast 450$ for top model, these are netbooks not dualcore 15" laptops that you can get for mear 600$ that would perform better then these.

Nice review however. very detailed and long, i like video reviews, looking forward to see more in the future.
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Yeah, I'm going to have to agree. The Aspire One is a better deal right now and I have recommended it to a couple of friends. The extra screen size doesn't seem worth it and the aspire's keyboard is also really good. I also think the blue aspire is just plain prettier.

People seem to really like the idea of a netbook after I show them my Eee PC 701. It is great around the house, like Kyle said, for just checking email and remote desktop/VNC.

I really like the video reviews. Much better than most video reviews you see for laptops on the web, mainly because you were willing to take it apart. That was the first thing I did when I got my Eee. :)
 
cool review, love long stuff.. thinking about picking up one of these so i can msn while in games without alt+tab and lagging dota or something :D
 
I really have to recommend my Acer ASpire ONE. It has been absolutely perfect for what I need. It is a little smaller than the Wind, but for $350, I cannot complain AT ALL.
 
Ryle said:
so your paying 150$ extra for what? +1.1" more screen size? just not worth it imo, MSI needs to lower the price of these to atleast 450$ for top model, these are netbooks not dualcore 15" laptops that you can get for mear 600$ that would perform better then these.

Nice review however. very detailed and long, i like video reviews, looking forward to see more in the future.
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Thanks for the kind words, trying some new things around here.

On the 1.1" screen size being worth $150, I would say ABSOLUTELY. Remember that you are getting a BIGGER KEYBOARD with that screen size and that is certainly worth it if you have used the smaller ones. They keyboards on the smaller ones SUCK for me to type on. If you have smaller and more agile hands, it of course may not be such an issue.
 
Modred189 said:
I really have to recommend my Acer ASpire ONE. It has been absolutely perfect for what I need. It is a little smaller than the Wind, but for $350, I cannot complain AT ALL.
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If you were just going to be using it for Web apps and forums and such, I can see where it would be a great investment. I however was using the MSI Wind for editing articles that were 5000 words long and I simply need a keyboard that is easier to use at that level. I have tried the smaller netbooks and they are just not usable outside of surfing and forum hopping for my fingers.
 
Thanks to all of you for the kind words about the video review and taking it easy on our first steps with this. :) My camera work, lighting, placement, sound, and editing will get better.
 
Great review Kyle, nice job with the format. I've been told that getting the sound right is the hardest part of doing video stuff for the internet, but you sounded fine. Not cable-tv major news network great, but certainly more than good enough I think.

The only thing about the review itself that left me scratching my head, was that you seemed a little vague about how much memory was soldered onto the mobo and how big of a sodimm you could put into the memory slot. Doing that simple upgrade (surely you have DDR2 floating around there, or memory companies that would send you some to review?) and booting it up after putting it back together would have shown how easy it is to max out the memory. The text specs on the review page say 2gb upgradeable, but is that 2gb on the mobo and upgradable to... what?

But that's just a minor quibble. The review was very nice, good job.
 
flenser said:
Great review Kyle, nice job with the format. I've been told that getting the sound right is the hardest part of doing video stuff for the internet, but you sounded fine. Not cable-tv major news network great, but certainly more than good enough I think.

The only thing about the review itself that left me scratching my head, was that you seemed a little vague about how much memory was soldered onto the mobo and how big of a sodimm you could put into the memory slot. Doing that simple upgrade (surely you have DDR2 floating around there, or memory companies that would send you some to review?) and booting it up after putting it back together would have shown how easy it is to max out the memory. The text specs on the review page say 2gb upgradeable, but is that 2gb on the mobo and upgradable to... what?

But that's just a minor quibble. The review was very nice, good job.
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I have a $300 mic but I did not use it this time. I will next time giving how the volume faded in and out as I moved around some.

The U100 series has 1GB down on the mobo itself plus the Open SODIMM. I did not have a SODIMM to use to test, but I am GUESSING you can double up with a 1GB DIMM.
 
Trepidati0n said:
We have a saying at work....1 measurement is worth a 1000 simulations. The same goes for video reviews versus typed articles. While you may spend as much time doing the review as you would a typed version...you bring around so much more valuable content. Thanks a bunch.
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My thoughts on video reviews exactly. I don't have the time any more to grind out 3000 word reviews and can better cover some of this stuff through video.
 
hey kyle when do we get to see the obligatory "i get to smash something with a sledge" excuse video :D You know we are all waitin for it LOL
 
don't work to hard getting the production quality way up ... you'll end up looking like rodney reynolds... "and now let's have a listen to the stock cooling"

don't get me wrong... i LOVE the 3GM reviews... just don't try to make your vids "perfect" ... off the cuff is best ....
 
That was a very nice in-depth video review! Although this is coming from someone who's only seen Cnet's so-called video reviews that last no more than a minute.

My dad is looking for a nice low-cost notebook (or netbook, whatev) that he can bring to work for reading docs, browsing, etc., so this one might fit the bill pretty well. He has a nice $2k Vaio like yours (except its less than a year old), but keeps that one at home in fear of getting jacked.
 
Although the eee 1000H is heavier, it seems to be about the same thing (superior in some cases), and you can get one now for at least $75 less right now.

It also is worth mentioning that many of the 10" netbooks seem to be going to clearance - the eee 1000H is not in stock anywhere, but was going for as low as $400 just a couple of days ago. Lenovo ran through their stock of 10" models in a few days, but won't be back until next month with more stock.

I'm waiting for Poulsbo, or for Isiah based models. There's another hour of battery life to be wrung out of this form-factor.
 
Fantastic review guys, love the video.

Only small gripe, is it possible in future to also include the specs on the review page with the video. 2 things i was reallly looking for before i even clicked the video were the "basic" specs, and the average battery life.

Anyways great work :)
 
One error:
When he takes the PC apart and shows the Intel 945 chipset he is actually pointing to the ICH7 south bridge. The 945 chipset is located under the heatspreader.
 
NIVO said:
hey kyle when do we get to see the obligatory "i get to smash something with a sledge" excuse video :D You know we are all waitin for it LOL
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I have been thinking of something special already that will be near and dear to everyones' hearts. Gotta wait till I am out in the woods though.
 
aop said:
One error:
When he takes the PC apart and shows the Intel 945 chipset he is actually pointing to the ICH7 south bridge. The 945 chipset is located under the heatspreader.
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My bad. It will not be corrected, just FYI. Don't see any reason for changing it, but thanks for pointing it out. I don't think I actually ever looked at the chip markings. WIll next time.
 
Am I the only one that finds it funny that the southbridge is like 5 times larger than the cpu...?
 
Nice review Kyle.

I have worked on an MSI Wind a few times for my boss, installing Office, antivirus, video playback tools and setting up his e-mail app. I had him purchase a low profile portable DVD writer drive for it. Very nice netbook to play with. I had him upgrade the ram to 2GB from the 1GB that it came with (well worth it for the low cost of ram). This made it a bit more responsive when there were a few apps running at the same time. He found a small carrying case that perfectly fits the netbook, power adapter, power cord (told him to purchase the power plug adapter to get rid of this), DVD writer and mouse.

Now he has to try and not misplace it. :)
 
Kyle nice review. But I would recomend checking out the the Asus Eee 1000H. With a 80GB HD, 6 cell, atom, and the same screen as the wind, but at a price of just 440$. ;) Hint Hint, comparison review between the two. ;)
 
Vengance_01 said:
Kyle nice review. But I would recomend checking out the the Asus Eee 1000H. With a 80GB HD, 6 cell, atom, and the same screen as the wind, but at a price of just 440$. ;) Hint Hint, comparison review between the two. ;)
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Need to get Asus to send me one. I will ask.
 
The only issue I have with the MSI Wind is the touchpad and the buttons. Touchpad is too small and the buttons are practically worthless.
 
Kyle: Thanks, great review, it was a pleasure to watch
Just one thing - it'll be great to show how upgreadable that *book is, and what U personally consider "a worthly upgrade" in terms of $$ and usability. We know about battery, second GB of ram was talked here, but what about dvd player?
or bigger/faster hdd? it'll work? or bios don't allow that? maybe wind isn't easily upgredable because of heat (some 12" and smaller notebooks are overheating with 7200rpm drives).
I'm waiting for more of those - good luck! :)
 
Great job Kyle , I've been looking for a good portable notebook with tons of battery life and small form factor for awhile now. Looks like you struck gold with this review, I'll be snaggin one up later this week from Newegg. I'll toss my impressions up on this thread later depending on when I get it.


Thanks.
 
loved the video :D Any chance you could start posting them in downloadable podcast form? I would SO throw them on my zune :cool:
 
Thanks Kyle for the great review, and a Big thanks for voiding your warrenty so I won't have to :D
 
Sweet review, I loved how you took the can of air and sprayed off the screen, that was hilarious.

Your personality/laid-backness was also cool. Actually was the first video review I liked, everyone else comes off as a know it all.
 
Nice review. Seeing everything moving was nice and voice was audible but for future reviews maybe follow a script to smooth everything over. And I noticed the camera shake a couple of times. Keep em coming!

As for the product itself, is there ever going to be a netbook with a DVI/HDMI output?
 
I liked the review alot.

It's nice to see the product actually working.

I've been looking for something short of a big laptop and this just might be it.

Like was already said, a short comparo of other similar products would be great......starts to look something like..........[H] Consumer..........:eek::eek:
 
awesome video Kyle, i watched the whole thing, great job!

PIF me the Wind now that you are done with it? :)
 
Personally I’d never get another MSI laptop. I have an MSI GX600 and the thing sucks. It keeps freezing (requiring removal of the battery to reset), doesn’t want to resume after staying powered on (not all the time though), and the fans kick in full blast even while I’m on the desktop with nothing open. Your money would be better spent on a more reputable brand.
 
The fact that RDC works really well is extremely appealing to me. I figured stuff like that would be a real pain with a small not-so-powerful machine like that.

Are the larger screen versions of these things usable enough to make a good comfortable first web surfing computer for parents and relatives?
 
Thanks, Kyle...
That was a great video review. I especially appreciate it because I was heading out today to get the Acer Aspire One, but your comments about the size of the keyboard, upgradeable RAM, and if needed, upgradeable HDD really swung me towards MSI's product.

I'm using this for pictures. Instead of buying one of those Epson things (that was my first thought) I'm going to get the Wind. It holds more, does more, and it's about the same price...no brainer!

Thanks!
 
paulinus said:
Kyle: Thanks, great review, it was a pleasure to watch
Just one thing - it'll be great to show how upgreadable that *book is, and what U personally consider "a worthly upgrade" in terms of $$ and usability. We know about battery, second GB of ram was talked here, but what about dvd player?
or bigger/faster hdd? it'll work? or bios don't allow that? maybe wind isn't easily upgredable because of heat (some 12" and smaller notebooks are overheating with 7200rpm drives).
I'm waiting for more of those - good luck! :)
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To answer your question, My wind was upgraded to 2gb's of ram via $10 dollar so-dimm no problems there. Also threw in a 7200rpm Western digital scorpio drive, runs no hotter than the stock 5400 scorpio did. Change the wifi out to the intel 3945 one. The thin metal heatsink that covers the northbridge and cpu doesn't use any thermal paste or pads, took it off and put on some AS5 and it dropped temps 10 degrees across the board. This thing is a cake walk to take apart and responds well to mods.
 
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