Wind U135 – The Newest Version from MSI Available For Worldwide

MSI has just announced the worldwide availability of the MSI Wind U135. The Netbook will retail for $309.99 and up (weirdly enough I think that I have seen the base version for $316.99 on Amazon…). We've told you about it before, so the only news is availability and pricing, but if you missed the previous post, the Netbook's N450 processor consumes only 7 Watt and MSI expects the battery life to be 15% better, when compared to previous models. On the performance side, they mention 10%, but it really depends on what you are doing. To help users manage the battery life, MSI has included a utility that lets one choose between several "modes": Gaming, Movie, Presentation, Document and Turbo Battery.

Wind models are based on the Atom N450 processor running at 1.66GHz with HyperThreading enabled. The chip itself can support 64-bit, however as MSI decided to include Windows 7 Starter Edition, you're left with 32-bit. This is coupled to 1GB of DDR2 and a 250GB WD Blue SATA disk with tests showing an average 57MBps read rate. The specification is very similar to Asus' Eee PC 1005PE except for the higher quality webcam. Intel's N450 does have DirectX 9 support but drawing the frames by hand would provide a better gaming experience. The 10-inch 1024x600 screen first championed by MSI is now pretty much the standard across the board but this particular unit is more acceptable than most. Thanks to the LED backlighting, brightness and contrast are above average for netbook screens. There's also good connectivity with three USB 2 sockets, Ethernet, headphone and microphone jacks and VGA output. Removable storage comes in the form of an SD Card slot.

The very Netbook-looking Netbook comes in charcoal, silver, ruby, or sapphire, aka black, silver, red, or blue, with a film-printed shiny coating. New to the Wind U135 is a raised chiclet keyboard, so that the Netbook joins the ranks of nearly every other laptop nowadays. A new, larger touch pad has also been added. Five different power management settings are built in--not that we have ever had to concern ourselves with power efficiency on a Netbook.

MSI Wind U135 Specifications:

Windows 7 Starter Edition (32-bit)
10.1-inch diagonal WSVGA (1024x600)
Intel Atom N450 Processor 1.66GHz (667MHz FSB, 512KB Cache)
1GB DDR2 SDRAM onboard (1 slot available)
Intel GMA 3150 integrated graphics
250GB Seagate 5400.6 Hard Drive
802.11BGN 1T1R Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
4-in-1 media card slot
Dimensions: 10.24"(L) x 7.09"(D) x 0.74"~1.24"(H)
Weight: 2.87lbs(not including weight of AC adapter)
6-cell Lithium-Ion battery (5200mAh, 58Wh)