My MSI Wind

Here is a list with the games that can run very well on the MSI Wind with Windows:

• Age Of Empires 2
• America's Army
• Aquaria
• Balls of Steel
• Bejeweled 2
• City of Heroes
• Colin McRae 2
• Command and Conquer:Generals
• Curse of Monkey Island (tested OK in ScummVM)
• Defcon
• Deus Ex
• Diablo II/Diablo II Lord of Destruction (~25 FPS@800x600)
• DOSBox (running very well)
• Doom 3 (low frames)
• Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project (~30 FPS@800x600, High Detail)
• Dungeon Siege II
• Etch A Sketch
• F.E.A.R (v1.08 works better)
• FarCry
• FIFA 08
• Final Fantasy XI Online
• Football Manager 2008 (requires tweak, see link)
• Flatout
• Ford Racing 3

[Read the rest of this entry...]

I was thinking what accessories would I'll be needing along with the MSI Wind that I am expecting. Some of the ones that I could think of are:

1. Wireless Mouse. This for me is a must have. I don't get along well with the touch pads of laptops. I've saw pretty nice and small ones on ebay for good prices.

2. USB Memory Stick. Because the Wind doesn't have an optical device this can help you transfer data between your desktop computer and the netbook if you can't establish a network between the two. A 16 GB USB Memory Stick can work just fine.

3. USB Optical drive . In case you can't leave at home your CD's or DVD's than this accessory is a must have for you. I don't need one.

4. Memory Card . If you don't like how an USB Memory Stick sticks out of your Wind, than a card is more suited. But a memory card can be more expensive than an USB Memory Stick.

This accessories come to me in mind right now. If I remember another thing I could use I will write them in another post.

The people in the USA that have been waiting for the Wind have a reason to be happy. MSI has shipped all pre-ordered units including the much too long waited 6-cell battery ones. Some say that the 6 cell ones have suffered some changes. Hope somebody that bought one will share with us this details.

Something interesting got to me, that LG was planing to attack the netbook market and for that they will solicit MSI. After the success of the Wind this is kind of obvious. Engadget say that the new notebook will have the name "X110" and will have a 8.9-inch panel, 120GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM and as an operating system will use Windows XP like the Wind. The competition in this segment will be raising month by month and we can only hope that the prices will fall.

As I said in this post before I discovered the Wind my first option was an Asus EEE PC. I've had a change to see it live and I was extremely disappointed especially by the keyboard. It just felt wrong. Why? Because it's too damn small for my hands and I think that is too small for every normal guy's hands. After reading about this problem I've seen that I'm not the only one that thinks this.
On the other hand the MSI Wind has a normal keyboard with a big ENTER button that can be a life savior in some situations when you are in a big hurry and you can't afford any typos. But the touch pad could have been a little big bigger in my opinion. Anyhow a wireless small mouse can be connected and you can browse the internet without any problems.

A new version of MSI Wind has appeared on the MSI site, and it's name is U90. I think that the name represents the screen size that is smaller then the one on the U100. U90 has a 8.9" screen. The specs are the same, the only thing that is different is that this one is a little smaller. Here you can see the product's page.

This was my dilemma too like many others that needed a small but efficient notebook ( or netbook ) especially for Internet & stuff. In my country Asus EEEPC was the first to appear. As I saw it I knew that this can be a real help for me when I'm not at home and I need a small "thing" that can connect easily and efficiently to the Internet ( I have a Jornada 720 but connecting to the Internet is very hard ). After looking at it's specs my enthusiasm wasn't as big as it was the first time. The 900 Mhz processor and the small 4 GB Hard Disk wasn't to good for my needs.

The next week I've saw in another store the MSI Wind and I can honestly say that it was love at first sight. It had everything that I've looked for in a netbook. Unfortunately it was only available in pink so now I have to wait until the beginning of September for it to arrive. Beside this small problem I am more than glad that I've made this decision and ordered the MSI. Here are some specs for the 2 netbooks.

Asus EEE PC

• Display: 7"
• Processor: Intel mobile CPU (Intel 910 chipset, 900MHz Dothan Pentium M)
• Memory: 512MB RAM
• OS: Linux (Asus customized flavor)
• Storage: 8GB or 16GB flash hard drive
• Webcam: 300K pixel video camera
• Battery life: 3 hours using 4-cell battery
• Weight: 2lbs
• Dimensions: 8.9 in x 6.5 in x 0.82 in - 1.37 in (width x depth x thickness)
• Ports: 3 USB ports, 1 VGA out, SD card reader, modem, Ethernet, headphone out, microphone in

MSI Wind

• 1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor
• 10" WSVGA (1024 x 600) LCD
• Windows XP Home Operating System
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• 1GB 667MHz DDR2 Memory
• 80GB 2.5" SATA Hard Drive
• Wireless: 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0
• 3-Cell 11.1v 2200mAh Battery
• Size: WxDxH 10.2" x 7" x 1.3"
• Weight: 2lbs 8.6oz

In the other post I've put a video with Ubuntu running on a MSI Wind. Now we can see how this netbook handles with the Mac OS X. Some said that it isn't suitable for the MSI but I think that If you have the White version and if you put a sticker on the back with Apple nobody can tell that under there their is a MSI. Enjoy the video !

If the Windows XP is not good enough for you, you can put Ubuntu on your MSI Wind without any problems. It can handle all the features of it very well especially if you have the maximum RAM ( 2 GB ). Here is a video with a little demonstration:

Here is a video about how you can upgrade your MSI Wind's memory, hard disk or other parts. Enjoy!