MSI Wind has Overclock Button

[Monkeywoman]

"We've just had an exclusive hands-on with the MSI Wind, which we liked the look of in March, and by golly it's good. So good, in fact, that it could take the throne from the Asus Eee PC as the best mini laptop on the planet.

It's ever so slightly larger than an Eee PC, and slightly heavier at 1.3kg, but don't let that put you off. It's still super-portable and once you see the confirmed specs -- and the extra tricks up its sleeve -- you'll be craving one, too.

We can't talk about the CPU yet -- it's top secret -- but we can tell you it's very quick and very power-efficient. What's more, the CPU can be overclocked by about 20 per cent using a dedicated button and MSI's TurboDrive Engine -- which we saw on the TurboBook GX600. The Wind will also sport 1GB of RAM, an 80GB mechanical hard drive, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, three (count 'em) USB ports, a D-Sub video output, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, and a 3-cell battery with a claimed life of 3-4 hours.

The Wind will initially go on sale with a 10-inch, 1,024x600-pixel screen. This, it has to be said, is very, very good, since it doesn't use that awful reflective coating we saw on the HP 2133 Mini-Note. MSI also plans to ship a version of the Wind that uses an 8.9-inch display. They'll both use the same chassis, so expect the smaller version to have a large, unsightly bezel around the screen.

The Wind will ship in both Windows XP and SUSE Linux guises, with the XP version costing £329. Pricing on the Linux model isn't yet confirmed, but it'll be significantly cheaper, obviously.

We know you have more questions, and we have the answers. Click Next Photo for tonnes more info, and bask in the portable glory that is the MSI Wind. -Rory Reid"

source and pics; http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39...97128-1,00.htm

[Calmatory]

Didn't it have 6 or 7 cell battery? So the claimed(rumoured?) battery lifetime of max. 7 hours has been busted?

Waiting to get mine in July.

[Bobsama]

Fail. Mechanical hard drive in a sub-notebook isn't a great idea. One of the biggest pros of the Eee PC is that the only moving part is a single fan. Other than that, what's so special about 3 USB ports? The only real added feature I see is Bluetooth, and more storage space would not make me buy this. If you need additional storage, that's why it's a second computer--stream it to yourself. The other thing is the price--UK£ 329 = 644.4123 U.S. dollars. To me, that's too expensive, considering it's likely sporting an underclocked Atom and the turbo button is there to return it to stock speed. With as little as the processor draws, it won't make much difference. Maybe a few minutes longer on battery, but it doesn't seem the optimal solution.

The only thing I need to find, now, is a program that lets me share optical drives over my network--the external is dying.

[duploxxx]

not so exclusive and no special deal about the cpu, that's already known...

http://www.slashgear.com/msi-wind-pc...ed-1911695.php
http://translate.google.com/translat.../0519/msi2.htm

[Calmatory]

Fail. Mechanical hard drive in a sub-notebook isn't a great idea. One of the biggest pros of the Eee PC is that the only moving part is a single fan. Other than that, what's so special about 3 USB ports? The only real added feature I see is Bluetooth, and more storage space would not make me buy this. If you need additional storage, that's why it's a second computer--stream it to yourself. The other thing is the price--UK£ 329 = 644.4123 U.S. dollars. To me, that's too expensive, considering it's likely sporting an underclocked Atom and the turbo button is there to return it to stock speed. With as little as the processor draws, it won't make much difference. Maybe a few minutes longer on battery, but it doesn't seem the optimal solution.

The only thing I need to find, now, is a program that lets me share optical drives over my network--the external is dying.

Quite true. Though, the MSRP isn't anywhere near +600 dollars. The price in pounds is including VAT + other expenses. Still too high price. Though, in few months the price should drop.

I was about to get one in July, but I am very unsure. +450 euros of Wind feels a bit too high IMO, when the MSRP is 399 dollars.

Current SSD prices are so damn high that I'd rather take 50 euros cheaper 80 gig HDD than 50 euros more expensive 16 gig SSD. Though, I'd be fine with 8 gig SSD or even 4 gig, as I'd use external USB HDD anyway.

Still IMO Wind beats Eee PC, hopefully!

[Monkeywoman]

so the 1.33ghz atom would be oc'd to 1.6. thats not bad considering that thats on the fly performance boost for watching a movie or encoding some mp3s. the hd i admit is a bit weak but hard drives are durable, i have dropped my ibm many times while its on and had no problems with data loss. i guess if one wanted, you can mod it into a ssd.

[perkam]

Fail. Mechanical hard drive in a sub-notebook isn't a great idea. One of the biggest pros of the Eee PC is that the only moving part is a single fan. Other than that, what's so special about 3 USB ports? The only real added feature I see is Bluetooth, and more storage space would not make me buy this. If you need additional storage, that's why it's a second computer--stream it to yourself. The other thing is the price--UK£ 329 = 644.4123 U.S. dollars. To me, that's too expensive, considering it's likely sporting an underclocked Atom and the turbo button is there to return it to stock speed. With as little as the processor draws, it won't make much difference. Maybe a few minutes longer on battery, but it doesn't seem the optimal solution.

The only thing I need to find, now, is a program that lets me share optical drives over my network--the external is dying.

Even Asus is aware of the potential of the MSI Wind, and the ever-increasing number of mini-notebook competitors. Not to mention that there isn't a single study that shows that the moving parts in a 2.5" hard drive provide any disadvantages over an SSD from a safety and stability POV. It's all about notebook durability. Just take the thinkpads, they've had fall-resistant tech in their notebooks for a long time and 99% of them use mechanical hard drives AND a prospective buyer would easily choose a Thinkpad over an Asus EE PC if hardware stability was on their mind.

Yes there is a price difference, but only by a few hundred dollars. Fact is, no one who is looking for better-than-average system stability will want to $399 for a notebook anyway, so your point is moot. The Asus and the MSI are geared towards those who want a cheap and small mini-notebook for school or work so that they do not have to lug around their bigger notebooks. No notebook in that range is designed to be used for extensive external use.

Perkam

[iddqd]

^^^^^^ You can map an optical drive as a network drive. Although real DVD's seem to complain about wrong region when you try to play them this way, but otherwise, it works fairly well.

[oohms]

The mechanical hdd will provide you with much sought after storage space (coming from an eee pc 4g)

[Bobsama]

^^^^^^ You can map an optical drive as a network drive. Although real DVD's seem to complain about wrong region when you try to play them this way, but otherwise, it works fairly well.

I've had it shared like a folder--I'll see about mapping it as Z: or something on the network--just to make it easier. Other than that, I need to find some no-CD hacks for SimCity 3000, SW: Galactic Battlegrounds, and maybe a few modifications for CnC Generals & Zero Hour. Yeah--I'm putting (older) games on it.

For storage space--it's definite that 4GB isn't enough, and even 12GB (4+8GB) is feeling a little bit cramped. Still, most people will have more than enough space.

By the way--what I meant by durability is that odd shocks are less likely to result in data loss or similar. One of the main reasons I wanted a SSD only was because of what's happened to my uncle as of late. He has a 12" or so Gateway laptop that's about 3-4 years old now. He just uses it inside his house--WinXP and random stuff, but is now on his 3rd 2.5" drive. The system usually sits on a book on the floor, so I don't think falling-shock has anything to do with it really. I've literally seen the laptop 3 places in his house--on the floor, on a table, or on his lap. The original drove failed (Hitachi), the replacement failed (Seagate), so only 1-2 months ago did he replace it again (Western Digital). I'm using this primarily as a on-the-go school computer, so I decided I'd rather have the SSD than the HDD, as the HDD will be more prone to damage and possible failure. It's just a choice I made--I'll go for what doesn't move, even if it's expensive or lower-capacity. Again, I've already streamed files from my desktop to my laptop.


One last thing--I got my EeePC for $561.62 shipped, which equates to 284.25 GBP. I do know one of my other friends in the UK is looking at 350 for the same. The MSI Wind will likely be very competitive if it's priced similar to the Eee PC is in the USA and around the world. Similar idea, different execution. It's clearly a better choice for those needing more space than the Eee PC provides, and the bigger keyboard should be a bit of a plus.

[Shintai]

Ohh the turbo botton is back. I have missed it for so many years. I lost it when I entered the Pentium era