The netbook may have diminished, but this
one still blows strongly
We may choose to lament how netbooks no
longer hold much significance in the computing world, but why lament when we
can celebrate that good products can still come from it? The MSI Wind U180
might sound irrelevant in the torrent of Ultrabooks these days, but for those
still seeking a small computing companion, the U180 offers -- quite rightly --
some of the best of it.
The U180 sticks to the tried-&-true
design factors of every netbook there is. It's undeniably small, and
welcomingly light at just 1kg. It's not the slimmest netbook we've seen though,
and the battery is designed to bulk a little, acting like a stand for the
netbook. It's not particularly aesthetically impressive either, but it does
look decent at least.
There's nothing that we haven't seen here
on the U180: it sports a 1024 x 600 10-inch screen, two USB 2.0 ports and HDMI
and VGA connectivity. Everything works perfectly fine here; the screen displays
well, and the audio is passably loud. The chiclet keyboard, while unassuming,
actually provides a good typing experience, thanks to its wellspaced key. We'd
like better spacing for the touchpad though; while it's responsive enough, it's
a little too cramped to function smoothly.
The U180 is powered by an Intel Atom N2600
processor, which is part of the new Intel Cedar Trail processors. These Pine
Trail successors offer an upgrade in performance, especially in the graphics
department. You can be glad to know that the U180 can handle Blu-ray 2.0
support, full 1080p playback and the Fast Boot feature. Sure, the benchmark
scores don't match conventional notebooks, but on the netbook perspective, the
U180 offers admirable performance capabilities.
As a little bonus, MSI has also included
their Turbo Drive Engine technology to let you accelerate the CPU frequencies,
which does improve its performance. On the battery life side, the U180 offers a
hearty one. In our video loop test with Wi-Fi on, we managed a good 7 hours.
More conservative use nabbed us 8 hours.
MSI Wind U180
Price $ 325
Info www.msi.com
Specifications
CPU: Intel Atom Processor N2600 RAM:
2GB
OS: Windows 7 Starter
Display: 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) Ultra
Slim
Storage: 320GB
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 2 x
USB 2.0, HDMI, Ethernet, VGA
Extras: Webcam, Card Reader
Dimensions : 263 x 186 x 21.26mm
Weight: 1kg
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