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First Reviews of the MSI Wind Ultra-Portable Laptop
Ken E. writes "UK tech website Mobile Computer has an early hands-on review of the MSI Wind — a £329 ultraportable notebook that will compete head-on with the Asus Eee PC 900. In its favour are a 10in screen, better keyboard and, perhaps most important of all, an Intel Atom 1.6GHz dual-core processor (though the site shies away from mentioning this open secret due to what sound like NDA constraints). They like it a lot — is this finally a worthy Eee PC alternative?" (£329 is about $650US at the moment.) An anonymous reader points to CNET's hands-on photo gallery of the Wind; CNET's reviewer says the MSI Wind is the first mini notebook with an overclock button. Barence adds another review at PC Pro.
Why?
Yes, because clearly a $700 ultraportable is clearly a direct competitor for a $100 laptop aimed at children in developing nations.
I read the internet for the articles.
Am I the only one who read the title and thought that MSI had made a wind powered laptop?
You're right that £329 is about $650 on xe.com etc today. However it's a bit misleading when it comes to product. In Blighty here we have always suffered in the transatlantic stakes - new kit is always significantly more expensive than the USD/GBP exchange rate would infer. This is frequently illustrated in the UK press as being indicative of 'Rip off Britain'. I very strongly suspect this holds in the reverse here too. Given how weak the dollar is, I seriously don't expect them to be charging $650 for it in the US - it'll be cheaper.
can you elaborate? I've always found their motherboards to be well build and reliable.
Ok, why the hell has every manufacturer in the business decided to eschew the pgup/pgdn buttons for the god-awful two-handed replacement? Does anyone actually like this crap or are the rest of you only reading 1 page things?
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
I don't think we can really call the OLPC a $100 laptop, since it cost double that. But I agree, that doesn't make the Wind a direct competitor to the OLPC.
Any specific reason, or are you just spouting a bunch of crap? I've been using an MSI motherboard in a gaming machine I built for about a year and a half now, it's been one of the best motherboards I've ever used. Looking at reviews, they have a few models that are rated pretty low, some that are rated excellent. Just like every other motherboard manufacturer.
The processor is still unknow ?
Uh it said a worthy alternative to the eee pc, not the OLPC..
It's almost as if they build their motherboards to die after a year (+/- 1 month) of use... I've had four of them die on me so far (I'm a bit of a glutton for punishment), while the Asus and Gigabyte ones continue to hum along just fine.
I'd generally steer clear of anything with a relic of a "Turbo" button..
Even more when the $100 laptop costs $199.00 or more.
This MSI laptop is only slightly smaller and has less use (no dvdrw than their already small subnotebooks.
I'm thinking it's a marketing gimmick only.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
CNET's reviewer says the MSI Wind is the first mini notebook with an overclock button.
This sounds like the old "Turbo" button from the old 386 days!
I find it interesting that this laptop more or less falls right in between your standard fare laptop and an Eee PC in terms of portability and raw power, but is the most expensive of the crop.
Using the base Vostro 1500 for the "average laptop" and the Eee PC 8G we have:
I realize the comparison is odd since they all hit different intended markets, but it seems that something that is between the two in specs would be closer to either of the two in terms of price than it currently is.
Proudly supporting the Libertarian Party.
"Um, aren't Atoms all single core?"
I find it interesting that this laptop more or less falls right in between your standard fare laptop and an Eee PC in terms of portability and raw power, but is the most expensive of the crop.
Using the base Vostro 1500 for the "average laptop" and the Eee PC 8G we have:
I realize the comparison is odd since they all hit different intended markets, but it seems that something that is between the two in specs would be closer to either of the two in terms of price than it currently is.
Compared to the Vostro you're paying for the size reduction. I bet that Vostro is one of those fugly and heavy cheap dells. At 6.33lbs, you can have that Vostro lead brick. UGH! Never again for travel would I use something that heavy. Once you go 3lbs for travel, you NEVER go back.Compared to the EEE, you are paying for the larger 10" screen & faster processor.
All in all, it makes perfect sense to me the price placement from your list.
3-4 hours on a 3 cell battery!? Awesome! With a 6cell battery at ~6 hours, I would gladly take one. Not to mention it's a dual core processor, and the the Asus eeePC only runs for a few (3.5) on a 6 cell battery off a 1ghz processor. That isn't to say I need a dualcore all the time, I am just amazed they could squeeze more juice out of a dual core and still make it competitive.
I had one MSI mainboard that was DOA. No problems getting a replacement. Since then it's been used in a small office file server which runs 24/7 in a (sadly) unventilated closet, survived a number of power outages and even a power supply explosion (literally). Running for three years now ann not a single problem... with the mainboard anyway :)
MSI is certainly not a top brand but they're not complete junk either, in my experience.
=Smidge=
Does that include sooped-up Honda Civics?
A wind-up laptop?
Motherboards: Gigabyte (2 boards + 1 RMA [my fault], 5 years)
Hard Drives: IBM/Hitatchi DeskStar (4 drives, increasing size not failures, 6 years)
GPU: nVidia (2 cards, Ti500 and 8600GT, almost 8 years)
Optical Drives: Lite-On (4 drives, 6 years)
Interestingly, the only flip-flop I've had lately is AMD to Intel. AMD rocked Intel in heat/stability/efficiency back around the Barton/P4 era. Since Duo Core, though, there's no turning back.
while the products are produced outside the US, so the exchange rate matters...
While I like new toys why would I pay $600.00 for this when for $499.00 I can just get a Dell Laptop? I was looking at one of these a little while ago as I wanted something I could use for DVDs on trips and when I wasn't in the car and for something I use as a navigator in the car.
Perhaps the problem is the user and not the mobo. Built all of my systems with MSI motherboards for the last ten years, never have had a problem with one yet. One that is over 5 years old is still chugging along with nary a problem.
...the "overclock" button was known as Turbo and the only reason we used it was because our 386's went too damn fast!
If your car has a button for the turbo, you may have installed it incorrectly. ;-)
They always exaggerate, that will be the battery life when inactive, screen with no backlight and WiFi turned off.
PEBKAC would make sense if the 15 other computers with other motherboards hadn't been working flawlessly...
thats some nice FUD you have there.
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
The Linux version of the Wind will be only $400 in the US. Unfortunately, it only includes a three-cell battery, which is a deal breaker for me. I'd pay $50 more for a longer battery life, but apparently that will only be available on the "standard" $550 Windows XP model.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
I like the placement of the buttons on my MacBook Pro.
I don't. And to add insult to injury mine's the 17" so there's plenty of room for a full sized keyboard.
This keyboard has what's close to the layout I'd like on a laptop:
http://www.adesso.com/images/big/bigger/MCK-91.jpg
The older model I have at home, no longer available, has no "Fn" key or fake numeric keypad... which is another think I'd like to see laptop manufacturers give up on. Either way, this keyboard is about the same size as a regular laptop keyboard, yet manages to fit all the critical keys with no two-handed stupidity.
I just bought another IBM Thinkpad/Lenovo X30 on eBay for $199: 1.2 GHz P3, 10" screen, full size keyboard, wireless, and it fits inside a Manila envelope. Comes with MS Win XP, Ubuntu installed in 25 minutes, everything worked perfect first time.
What has changed?
So will hacks/mods/cracks of this thing become known as "breaking Wind"? And if so, will the goatse guy become the new mascot?
laptop
What? No SSD? ultra portable laptops are one of the few uses that a 16gb or so SSD is viable.
Orbis terrarum est non altus satis
Atom is a single core CPU.
It supports two hardware threads on some configurations (not the lowest power versions), in the same way the P4 did.
But, I really want a wind powered laptop.
Whilst it will be a small computer, the 10" screen is making it very close in size to a 12" laptop, which aren't that expensive these days. My old 12" iBook isn't that much larger, and it's probably faster to boot, so there's not much reason to buy this.
The 9" versions are a little more desirable. I wish they'd make them slimmer.
FTA:
How can you claim performance is good without running quantitative benchmarks?
I am interested in the performance of the new Atom processor because it uses a new chip design that prioritizes cost (to manufacture) and power efficiency, but not necessarily performance.
If you drop it and it shatters or otherwise ceases to function, does that mean you just broke wind?
Not so quick. The turbo button in my 80s Civic was mislabeled AC, but I think the only incorrect installation was the light itself. If I turned off the AC light, the car could actually climb a hill with passengers in it.
My first reading of the title:
First reviews of the MSI Wind Powered Laptop
--Phillip
Can you say BIRTH TAX
Is anyone else frustrated to see analog RGB/VGA as the video output method for an external display? Isn't this supposed to be a cutting-edge laptop? It's 2008. It should have DVI (or even the easily converted to/from HDMI). Are there really that many people left who have access only to a dinosaur CRT or an oddball LCD that allows only for an analog signal?
And while I'm at it, I'd be interested to hear other people's perception of the oversized backspace key (yeah, I know, this is at the bottom of the list of considerations for purchasing a new laptop, but I've got lots of free time to kill today). I've always preferred keyboards with a large "L-shaped" Enter key, and a standard size backspace key (so that the \| key is right at the top row, between the =+ key and the backspace). I've never really understood why some people like to shrink the size of a heavily used key (Enter) to make room for a key that is rarely used (backspace).
Whoever designed level 61 in Frozen Bubble is a sadistic bastard.
The Silverthorne Atom was single core, the Diamondville comes in single or dual core.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
the intel atom in the msi wind is it the dual core or single core http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom
Here is a link for you. If you hit the "Look Closer" link on that page, you can get a java-based 360 viewer. The Vostro actually has the same style aesthetic as the Wind. Just a bit bigger. Although it is a tad hefty at a starting weight of 6.33 lbs.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Intel is really pushing Atom now; just last week I went to an Atom seminar for embedded computing folks. They claim 1GHz+-class performance at 3W power usage; I was impressed by a motherboard running a GPS/car automation type realtime app, where not only there was no fan or even a heatsink, but you could touch and hold the finger to the CPU.
They didn't want to say what's the unit price, but it probably won't be in low single dollars like with some ARM variants (STM/LPC)
So you get DeathStars for HDD's?
BTW, AMD is probably beating Intel again soon. And then Intel again. It goes like that.
Also, my list:
Motherboards: Asus.
Hard Drives: Seagate
GPU: nVidia (because all competitor product linux drivers are shit)
Also: I've had BAAAD experience with pre-USB2 MSI mobos. And I mean really bad.
I don't mind lower hardware specs or a smooshed keybaord.
However, Before I plunk down my cash I want at least a 1280x768 resolution screen.
1024x600 is smaller than the old beater I'm using now.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I agree the Mark II & Mark VII Vipers are so much better than the originals
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
What if Tetris was invented by Nazis?
jesus - eye test time - I read that as wind up laptop... :S
I hope it's as sturdy as they say, or else people across the nation will be breaking Wind. :-)
Not to mention it's a dual core processor [...]
The Wind has the single-core Atom variant.
I'm expecting to see a dual-core version by Christmas. With that much power, these machines start reaching feasibility as the only machine a typical person needs.
OMG that brings up some memories. That used to be a standard trouble-shooting tip when somebody called and said their computer was running too slow. Today you automatically think "spyware" - back then it was "they probably turned off turbo mode".
Hell I remember on my first computer (a Packard Bell) it took my close to a year to convince my mother that it wasn't hurting the computer to always keep it in Turbo mode. She had wanted me to run it in normal except when I "needed it to go faster".
When I started building my own computers not much later I just started jumpering the turbo mode permanently on and forgetting about the switch.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
The problem making most MSI motherboards die after little more than one year of use is known as "capacitor rot".
The reason is some chinese communist company stole industrial secrets from the japanese about electrolyte making processes. They either stole it incomplete or they were double-fed junk data by japanese counter-intelligence, but the dirt cheap bootleg capacitors they make in PRC have a tendency to decompose when subjected to continous heat and voltage for months.
The top of the capacitor cylinder rips open and rotten stuff, looking much like used coffee grain appears on the top.
You either replace the caps with solder or throw away the board. Other motherboard vendors were also affected, including IBM and ASUS, but they agreed to replace faulty boards, while MSI refused to take any responsibility for using dirt cheap bootleg components in their builds. They were sued in class action in 2005 and had to pay a hefty fine.
Our small company had 75% of its Pentium III and early Pentium 4 computers die due to rotting MSI motherboards.
Oh, may I also mention most PIII motherboards by MSI couldn't accept Adaptec PCI SCSI cards? Apparently MSI decided to save on capacitor costs even beyond dirt cheap bootleg economy, so they simply omitted caps necessary for 5 volt PCI support, which Adaptec 2940 uses. The motherboards either did not work or became unstable with SCSI plugged in.
If you want really poor but reliable performance for dirt cheap, I can recommand ECS (Elitegroups Computer Systems), or any established vendor will do if you can shell out a little more cash. I would avoid MSI like plague, they are run junk in, junk out.
In portable computing design, material and workmanship are everything, because you will hold the whole machine in your hands. Spare the money and buy big name for economy, reliability, usability and support, that IBM-Lenovo, HP or Apple badge is really worth it.
The Turbo button ... still must be OK for building a Beowulf of these.
Prof(Miss) A Mani CU, ASL, AMS, ISRS, CLC, CMS, IEEE HomePage: http://www.logicamani.in Blog: http://logicamani.blogs
That's not quite accurate. The company that bought/took the formula was a company that manufactured electrolyte, not a capacitor company. That flawed electrolyte was sold to about a dozen capacitor manufacturers in Taiwan and Japan, who in turn sold the capacitors to probably thousands of companies. It affected products by almost every major computer vendor, including every manufacturer you mentioned in your post.
IBM
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2003/06/22/ibms-capacitors-are-dodgy-too-but-its-hushed-up
HP
http://news.cnet.com/PCs-plagued-by-bad-capacitors/2100-1041_3-5942647.html
Apple
http://news.cnet.com/Apple-offers-repairs-for-problem-iMacs/2100-1041_3-5841331.html
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2071244
While we're at it, Dell, Asus, MSI, Shuttle, ECS, Giga-Byte, Abit, and Compaq.
I doubt you can find any computer or motherboard vendor that didn't get bitten by those capacitors on at least one of their products.
That said, I do agree that buying from a major manufacturer is probably a good idea. The advantage of the more reputable, bigger name vendors is that when bad things happen that are outside their control (as this clearly was), they are more likely to stand behind their products even for people who didn't buy the extended warranty....
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
OK we saw the Air and now we have the Wind.
Who's up for earth? Dell for some reason comes to mind. Something to do with dirt I think.
And who better for a laptop Fire than Sony?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I, uh, am typing this on a computer based on a 6 year old MSI board. My last PC was built on an MSI board, which I kept around for 2 years before putting it in the closet as a fileserver. I've got an MSI in the livingroom running my media center, it's 5 years old now. System I'm building next week? MSI.
My father-in-law swears by Asus. He also buys a new board every other year, for each of his systems. He gives me the old, dead ones, which I confirm as dead then store away for 6 months, try again and they work. They might not die but they sure do hibernate. That's not good for a daily-use or constant-on system.
MSI has yet to let me down. Period.
Asus scares the fuck out of me. I'd never trust them with my data or my business.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Me? Intel. Plain ole' vanilla intel Mobos. All my friends swear by Asus, have weird glitches, broken motherboards, and will swear up and down it's only happened this one time. I've seen more Asus boards broken out of the box than any other. My old (OLD) Sony Vaio had an intel motherboard, 200mhz and still running strong; current computer has one, and several inbetween have had them as well. Never, ever had one break or heard of anyone having one break. And they're as cheap if not cheaper than comparable Asus boards.
moox. for a new generation.
I think he's right in the sense that the fuss over the OLPC showed laptop manufacturers that there was an enormous demand for small, light, cheap laptops in the developed world. Since then the Asus EEE PC, the Dell D430 and a host of other similar machines have been announced.
In Taiwan computer stores always have them at the front of the laptop section.
In fact I think these machines will become as ubiquitous as cell phones. The magic thing about the form factor is that people will buy one in addition to the full size laptop they have for work.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
No - however, laptops based on the Via Nanobook reference design, such as the Acer Cloudbook, etc, are. Yes, it is $100 USD more than the cheapest Eee - however, unless people are fine with only having 2gigs of flash memory, I'd say 100 bucks more for a 30gig hdd and slightly larger screen is worth it. I know that not everybody (especially mass orders) can't afford that hundred each, but considering that the equivalent priced Eee only has 4gigs of ssd (if that?)...
Motherboards: Gigabyte (2 boards + 1 RMA [my fault], 5 years) Hard Drives: IBM/Hitatchi DeskStar (4 drives, increasing size not failures, 6 years) GPU: nVidia (2 cards, Ti500 and 8600GT, almost 8 years) Optical Drives: Lite-On (4 drives, 6 years)
Interestingly, the only flip-flop I've had lately is AMD to Intel. AMD rocked Intel in heat/stability/efficiency back around the Barton/P4 era. Since Duo Core, though, there's no turning back.
You must be new hereWhat's good for the goose should be good for the gander. Racists would piss off to some place where everything is white: The North Pole or Antarctica would do just fine.
And I'm assuming all connected components were identical? All work fine with at least one of the other mobos? Power supply works fine with other mobos? All components confirmed to have no conflicts with that revision of mobo. Lots of things you have to consider when assembling a system.
Oh lookie... We've finally brought computing all the way back to the Apple IIc !
+++OK ATH
Correct. All parts are seem to work just fine in other systems. Things worked fine for a year or so and then bailed.
"Comes in" suggests "now", when in fact the dual-core version is not yet available. The dual-core version has an 8W TDP as well. Original post said that Atom is a dual core processor, which is currently not the case.