The MSI Wind (or MSI U100) netbook / mini-laptop is the smallest and lightest 10” notebook and sports 1GB of memory accompanied by an 80GB hard disk. The cutting edge LED display technology combined with the low power Intel® Atom 1.6GHz CPU produces battery life in excess of 3 hours (or 6 hours with an optional 6cell battery). The keyboard is perfectly sized and has been designed to be comfortable even after hours of use. MSI Wind will also be available in 3 colours; White / Black / Pink. The black version of the model listed below will be available towards the end of July. MSI will be launching other specification / colour Wind models in the near future.

MSI have previously been known for motherboards and graphics cards. Now, with the launch of the sexy MSI Wind, they will be known for bringing the netbook to the masses.

Its stylish, well specified, and a great price at around £329. The curved corners and pearlescent white finish give it a very contemporary look, although there will soon be black and pink to pick from.

Netbooks are all about being portable and light and the MSI Wind is so light it could blow away! Ahem… Its just 1kg with the 3-cell battery, or 1.1kg with the optional 6-cell battery. However, it is much larger, physically, than most netbooks such as the Asus EEE 901. The main reason is the 10.1 inch screen, which also houses a 1.3 mega pixel webcam and mic for online video chats. MSI has said it will release an 8.9-inch version of the Wind later this year if you’re after a cute and tiny netbook.

The best feature of the Wind’s size is the large keyboard. This one is much more comfortable than the keyboards on most netbooks we’ve reviewed or played on and large enough to touch type. Not that netbooks are made for working, but it helps.

The MSI Wind will come in a couple of varieties. There’s the low-cost Linux version (around £320), and the slightly more expensive Windows XP model (£363). Both have an identical specification — a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and 1GB of DDR2 667MHz memory — upgradeable to 2GB. That might not sound like much in a world where clock speeds and memory quantities go far higher, but in our experience, this level of performance is fine in a netbook.

Storage in the Wind comes courtesy of an 80GB hard drive. No Solid State Device (SSD) here, but 80gb will obviously allow you to store music and movies a plenty. More storage can be added via the SD card slot on the right side of the device. This will happily accept SDHC cards of up to 32GB, along with SD, MMC, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro.

The wireless connectivity is slightly lacking on the Wind. Wi-Fi is of the 802.11b/g variety and it has Bluetooth although there’s no 802.11n support. Also, there isn’t integrated 3G/HSPDA so you’ll have to stay near a wireless hotspot.

As with all Intel(R) Atom processor based netbooks we’ve reviewed, its a reasonably nippy machine. We’ve starting saying the Atom is like a small 1 litre city car – its fast enough of the lights, fine for nipping to the shops and back, but isn’t really a car for the long haul.

Conclusion
The MSI Wind is a great first attempt at a netbook; its cheap, its speedy, has a great keyboard and large screen. Things can only get better from here.

Buy an MSI Wind Netbook
MSI Wind from Play.com from £339 free delivery
Buy MSI Wind from Laptops Direct £329
MSI Wind from PC World Business