MSI Wind U100-016US 10-Inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 3 Cell Battery) Black

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Average Customer Rating:	4.0
Brand:	MSI COMPUTER
Model:	U100-016US
Weight:	7 pounds
Dimensions:	10.23 inches x 7.08 inches x 0.75 inches [Width x Length x Height]

Product Categories

Laptop Computers; New in Electronics; Netbooks; Laptop & Notebooks; Notebooks; Ethernet; Windows XP; 1GB; Cell Phone; 2008

Product description

MSI Wind U100 Black Ultra-Mobile PC with 3-Cell Battery. 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 120GB SATA HDD, 1GB DDR2, 10" LCD @ 1024 x 600, Windows XP Home.

Features

Intel Atom 1.6 GHz Processor

512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz Bus speed

120 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, 2 GB Max

Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Modem Module, Built-in 802.11b/g WLAN Card/Bluetooth Supported

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition

Customer reviews

« exceptional little device »

I bought this based on product reviews. I'd never heard of MSI before. I just knew I needed something light, reliable, and didn't want to learn a new operating system. This little computer does everything I need in a laptop. It's fast, lightweight, and I carry it with me everywhere. The only drawback is the short battery life of the 3 cell. Otherwise, plenty of bang for the buck.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2008-11-20

« Nice little machine terrible touch pad »

Overall this is a nice little machine for the price. Unfortunately I learned after purchasing that MSI discontinued the Synaptic touch pad and is now shipping with the inferior and no doubt cheaper Sentelic touch pad which does not include the finger sliding scroll feature. This is the worst touch pad I have ever used and frankly I would not have purchased the system had I known of the swap beforehand.

Rating: (2 out of 5) @ 2008-11-17

« Maybe not an only computer, but it ROCKS for travel essentials! »

I just wanted a secure client (i.e., my own computer) while on personal travel, and this exceeds my expectations. As a light packer, I was not looking forward to lugging a heavy 14" laptop along.

I am a fast touch-typist with large hands. To me the HP 2133 had the best keyboard with its full-sized keys, but it was nearly twice the price and heavier. I could not type at all on any of the Asus "net books"; it was just impossible. The MSI and Asus keys appear to be about the same size, but the MSI's are ever-so-slightly larger with bevel edges to separate the keys and it makes all the difference.

I bought mine for [..] at a Microcenter where they have a burgeoning assortment of net books. I had never heard of MSI before, but at this price I wasn't concerned about brand.

In the store, some web sites (notably Youtube and CNN.com) would not work and we attributed that to the 600 pixel display height. But now that I've gotten it home and run Windows Update, those sites work fine! (Note: one update was IE 7.) Youtube is a little jittery but still watchable, but probably not good enough for someone who will watch Youtube all the time. Advanced, feature-rich sites such as WSJ.com and Amazon also work fine, as do my banking sites.

I also ran MSI's Live Update Online, which gave me a *scary* warning and required me to OK running it at my own risk outside the warranty (because it could include BIOS updates), and after all that it found no applicable updates to install! Ha!

STRENGTHS:

* Though small, the display is nice and bright. It's kind of exciting.

* Good old 32-bit Windows XP runs great. It came with XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, and set-up was a breeze! Just plugged it in, turned it on, and it did the rest.

* Bootup --from cold to password prompt-- is only 36 seconds! After typing in my password, disk activity settles down after only 20 seconds, but this will vary with what software you have loading at startup.

* There was only one paper document to read, a quick-start guide. The real manual is a PDF, which I put on the computer so I always have it with me; the English version is legible and well-organized.

* The con that's really a pro: it's tiny and won't run my camera software, so I don't spend so much of my vacation on the computer.

* It came without "craplets" (unwanted applications from Yahoo, etc.), so I spent no time cleaning those off. It only came with a trial version of Office, but if I need something like that I'll just get OpenOffice for free.

* There are three (3) USB ports.

* Performance is great for what I run: the IE 7 browser w/Google toolbar, TextPad 5.2, PGP Desktop 9.9, and a good free photo editor called IrfanView 4.2.

* After the initial charge it ran exactly 90 minutes on battery and then KABOOM! It played the two-piano-note Windows "asterisk" sound and shut itself down in the blink of an eye. I plugged in the AC adapter and it was back up in under ten seconds (!) and had not lost my work! Awesome! 8-[] It takes about two hours to charge back up while in use.

WEAKNESSES:

* My only real disappointment: when I try to install the software for my Canon G10 camera, the installer quits, citing insufficient screen resolution. This laptop has only two resolution choices: 1024x600 and 800x600. Windows XP still recognizes the camera and "sees" JPEG photos, but without the camera manufacturer's software, it can't see photos that were shot in raw format. (Same with Nikon.) So I can view raw images only on the camera until I get home. But I can still off-load the raw images by inserting the camera's SD card directly into the receptacle of this laptop! I did it successfully with SD cards used in Canon and Minolta cameras. I've asked Canon to accomodate the smaller display with their software.

* The loudspeaker is a joke, but so is expecting good sound from something this size. It's loud enough on headphones.

* The touch-pad was an aggravation while typing until I learned how to turn it off: Fn+F3.

* You have to hold down the Fn key to use the End or Home keys.

FYI:

* The set-up partitions the disk into a C: "drive" for the Windows operating system with about 30 GB of free space left over (where I installed all my software), and an empty D: drive with 70 GB of free space.

* There's no CD or DVD player, so software must be downloaded from the net or from a USB device (external CD/DVD or memory stick). That's one of the things keeping the weight down to about two pounds.

I consider it a good value and am glad that I chose it over the Asus and HP models. One Acer has a similar price & keyboard, but I did not test it. I chafe at lengthy reviews, but there are too many considerations about a computer to cover in 300 words. I hope I hit some points that you find useful.

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2008-11-16

« Totally Impressed! Super bargain w/ Live Cashback!! »

I first have to say that I love Amazon for its great features, prices, and selection, but there are some huge savings if you buy this little jewel thru E-bay.
You will NOT be disappointed with the WIND! This is a fantastic miniature laptop with all the right features. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Webcam, SD/MS card reader etc.

PROS
-Very quiet (the fan vents out the side and can barely be heard)
-Super compact and light
-High quality construction
-Still comes w/ Win XP !!
-Super bright screen (brightness easily adjusted via function keys)
-3 USB ports

Here are a few CONS that other users have posted:
-Unintended cursor movement when typing. - THIS IS SUPER EASY TO CORRECT BY DISABLING THE TRACKPAD USING FN-F3 (hotkey)
-Poor speaker sound - I agree that they are somewhat lacking but the RealTek audio driver has a million different adjustments that can vary the sound quite a bit.

[...]!

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2008-11-09

« Horrible Sound Quality »

Most everything is good on this netbook except the built in audio speakers. The sound quality is very poor. I went to the MSI Wind forum and dozens of other people mentioned the same problem.