MSI Wind U100-432US Black Intel Atom N270(1.60GHz) 10.0" WSVGA 1GB Memory 160GB HDD Netbook - Retail

MSI Wind U100-432 US

Reviewed By: Kingdavid332 on 12/1/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: - Very versitile keyboard that is very responive.
- Large hard drive and integrated ram which leaves the one memory slot open.
- BIOS can be flashed to version 1.9 to support 2 GB of DDR2 667 and overclocking of up to 1.9Ghz.
- I am a big fan of the touch pad that dispite having only one bar right clicks on the right side, and left clicks on the left.
- 802.11 b/g/n wireless card
- Can use wirelss and bluetooth seperate or together and there are indicator lights for both.
- Bright screen with a good levels of brightness.
- Speakers work great and loud. (quality is about what I expected for a netbook)
- Supports Mac OS 10.5 without any problems due to the Intel 945GSE chipset.
- XP Home comes installed with service pack 3 and minimum blotware. I didnt have to change hardly anything out of the box.
- Not to hard to add RAM or upgrade the hard drive if desired.
- Lightweight for having a large 10" screen and a 6-cell battery. Only 2.6 pounds.
- Free case

Cons: No problems at all!!!
- Touchpad doesn't support multi-touch.
- Upgrading memory required you to contact MSI beforehand to keep from voiding the warranty.
- 6-cell battery does add some bulk to the back side, but I think that it makes a good handle to grab onto when carrying it around.
- The Wind U120 is coming out soon, which has multi-touch and full on N wireless but I thought that this one would be good without those things and it is.

Other Thoughts: I bought this netbook because I wanted something with a lot of space that could be used for surfing the web and also multimedia (movies & music).

I am currently running Windows Vista Ultimate on mine at this time and everything works great. (boots kinda slow) Starts right up out of the box and I downloaded the new BIOS v. 1.9 so that I could install 2gb of RAM. I used a external dvd drive to install the OS and then windows found most of the drivers. I had to download a computer managment software from MSI that makes all the Fn buttons work. It's just as it came, but now with Vista.
Vista rates this computer at 2.7 with the gaming graphics being the lowest score. 3DMark06 scored 116 which was expected from a computer of these specs.
Various power saving modes work great, on "turbo battery" vista says I'll get 5 hours 20 mins (wireless off). I can't complain!!
My free case was black! I love it.

MSI Wind: Intel N270, 2GB DDR2 667, 160GB WD hard drive, Windows Vista Ultimate

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Nice little machine

Reviewed By: Speedy2171 on 11/5/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Solid device, I have large fingers and after a short learning curve, I have no problems typing on keyboard. Nice, bright, clear, crisp display. It represents colors well. I loaded Office 2007 Ultimate on here and everything runs almost as responsive as my desktop. Extremely light. Battery comes fully charged.

Cons: I dislike having to hit the Fn key to use pgup, pgdn, home, and end keys (they're on the arrow keys). Trackpad a little too small for my taste. Needs a way to disable trackpad when typing.

Other Thoughts: Several reviews I looked at complained about the single button instead of separate left and right buttons for the trackpad. This is not an issue and I have not had a problem with this. Also some people complained that it voids your warranty if you upgrade your RAM. This is false, BUT you have to go to the manufacture's website and file a tech support request to authorize it for your netbook. Then its alright.

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MSI Wind U100

Reviewed By: Hobbes on 6/24/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Despite its small stature, the keyboard is mostly full-size, with the exception of a few symbol keys. This takes a bit of getting used to, but nothing to complain about.
The unit is extremely lightweight and portable. It is by no means a desktop replacement ... and it doesn't feel like you're carrying around a desktop.
After setting up hundreds of computers while working at one of the "Big Blue Box" stores, I can honestly say I have never seen a laptop ship with a cleaner install of Windows. There was literally nothing installed that I would classify as "bloat."
The battery life and battery management is fantastic.
The installed hardware was immediately recognized and handled by Ubuntu 8.10 and above.

Cons: I have had no experience which would prevent me from purchasing another.

The touchpad is less than 1/4 inch below the space bar and is quite sensitive. This isn't a problem in and of itself, but I have noticed that when I am doing a significant amount of typing I will occasionally tap the touchpad accidentally, which usually moves the cursor, which is a minor annoyance. Thankfully the touchpad can be turned off and on using Function-F3, so it's really not problematic.

The screen's resolution is 1024x600. Again, not a problem in and of itself, but problems can arise when programmers choose to use rigid window sizes. While working with some financial software I found that the program was using a window larger than 600 pixels high, throwing all of the window control buttons off the screen. An annoyance, but hardly the fault of the computer.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend this netbook to anyone who is looking for an economical computer with portability in mind.

On the off chance that anyone does have interest, I would like to point out that the Intel Atom processor that this model uses does NOT support hardware virtualization.

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Best Note/Netbook purchase ever

Reviewed By: nathan42100 on 6/18/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

Pros: Small, Lightweight, easy to carry. Runs all I can throw at it as well as some mild gaming (Think Counter Strike:Condition Zero, not Half Life 2, though I'm sure it could on all low).
Battery life is great on this, about 5 hours if you don't use wireless and have the screen turned down.
Easy to type on also

Cons: Stutters a little bit on 720p Hi-Def video
Battery sticks out
Case it comes with holds only the netbook and nothing else and comes with no strap whatsoever (aka, its zippable padding)
Click"bar" is one bar over 2 buttons so you can't simulate a middle click by pressing both at once.

Other Thoughts: I originally purchased this to take with me on a trip to Washington DC with me. I chose the MSI wind because it was one of the only netbooks to have an almost full size right shift key and a 92% full size keyboard which made it really easy to adjust to. I found this netbook great to have beside my bed to play internet radio or movies on hulu (not Hi-def :-/) as I dozed off.

If you are going to get a netbook, get this one. Plus it runs OS X REALLY well (okay, kind of well. It cuts off parts of larger windows and some drivers are missing)

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Reviewed By: JiGsy on 6/7/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

Pros: I’m rather impressed with my MSI U100 (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Proc.). It runs XP reasonably well with its standard 1 gig. of RAM. I did add a gig of memory (Mine is PC2-5300/667 MHz; I used Kingston’s KVR667D2S5.), and it’s noticeably quicker. I’m an old-time hardware guy, and the only other netbooks I’ve had a lot of experience with, are the Asus models. Unlike the Asus units, it has an available memory slot, so expansion is a snap (9 underside screws). Unfortunately, the upgrade will void the warranty (There’s an anti-tamper sticker.). My 1.6 GHz model is much faster than my Asus PC901, and it runs much cooler. You’d be crazy not to use an underside, fan-based cooler, with any netbook.

Cons: RAM upgrade voids warranty.

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