Man, everybody must be on vacation. Every other netbook has drawn comments along the lines of "Nice, but I'm waiting for the Wind." Now it finally arrives and... nothing.

take your racket out of the packaging fatty!

:D

About the Turbo/Eco button, because everybody seems interested:

On battery power, it works as an Eco button (power LED turns green), slowing down maximum clockspeed to 800MHz and supposedly adjusting other parameters (FSB etc.?) so that the system has even lower power consumption and longer battery life.

On AC power the button WAS to work as a Turbo button, speeding up to 1.92GHz (+20%). Some sites tested preproduction models, and it (sometimes) worked. It was enabled in preproduction BIOSes up to (I think) 1.03. It was disabled after that and no word on if or when it's going to come back.

Ok Sklavos,

Nice review. It did all the things I wanted since your last review:

-Was in a TR-like tone.

-Although you photographed a white device on a white background, you didn't completely wash out the device in the background; in other words, the edges of the device were clearly defined. (this no-brainer is surprisingly rare, even amongst *ahem* certain TR reviewers)

-Incorporated your cat somewhere.

Also, yeah 600 bones does bring it dangerously close to full on notebook territory. And the bundled software? Ridiculous. The precarious lean is also a bit worrisome but at least it's in the name of reducing the mass.

Oh, I want it soooo badddd.
(Dark City Director's Cut)

So I was over at Anandtech looking at this write-up of an IDF presentation on the GS45 integrated chipset, and something rang a bell:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3380&p=2
Note the "HD Turbo" slide about half-way down. It appears this chipset dynamically switches its clock frequency, ramping it up when it has to do heavy lifting like HD processing.

I wonder if the Wind design anticipates these features. The "turbo" mode is supposed to be automatic, but one could imagine offering a manual override to get it when the chipset would otherwise avoid it, such as when it is running on battery power. Interestingly, in this same discussion they also mention "DPST (Display Power Saving Technology) that dynamically controls picture brightness by influencing backpanel lighting." MSI anticipating the use of this tech might explain why the LED backlighting is so powerful -- it's meant to be modulated dynamically by the IGP.

Perhaps the Wind was designed with the GS45 chipset in mind, but they couldn't wait on Intel and decided to ship without it?

I just bought an MSI laptop:
http://global.msi.eu/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1307&maincat_n...

Edit: Core 2 Duo, 3GB ram, 250GB HDD, GeForce 8600GT 512MB, 1.3Mpix camera, mic, 4 USB, fireware, esata, hdmi, bluetooth, etc. Gaming edition.

Edit2: it have the TURBO button ! ;p

I've had mine for a few weeks now. Absolutely awesome. First lappy i've ever owned. Perfect solution for bumming around doing word, excel, email, visio, etc. while at university.

I have my white Wind since July, 10th. It's incredibly good for a netbook, and seeing it in person makes you want it even more, as tested with a whole family, friends, and salespeople in quite a few computer shops.

There are several mistakes in the article:

- the case is included. I've got matching white case with grey trim. I can pack the Wind, AC adapter with cables, a mouse and a few cables.

- webcam really IS 1.3MP, I just retested it. It defaults to 640x480, but any application should let you adjust the resolution. Try VirtualDub, its capture utility works great. To me its quality is good enough, even with mediocre lighting.

- the keyboard is awesome. It's one of the best keyboards in laptops I have ever seen. I gave it to quite a few people to test typing on, and they were amazed at how good it is. The keyboard is just 0.2" or 5mm smaller than the main keyboard part on my gaming 17" laptop.

- no one forces you to use the screen at full brightness... and the same for the included software. Can't see what's wrong with including more features than YOU personally want to use. I got an external DVD-RW and it worked for backup instantly without me installing anything.

- Wind is going to ship with 6-cell batteries in the middle of September, it's just 3 weeks away (an rumours say it will have 160GB HDD then). I'm going to buy separate 6-cell battery, which, BTW, should last for much more than 5 hours (some reviews found 5:30 on light WiFi use), because 3-cell is 2200mAh and last time I checked, 6-cell was shown as 5200mAh. Even with 6-cell battery Wind is still lighter than EEE 1000(H).

- A week ago I changed (migrated) the HDD to 7200 320GB Scorpio Black. No problems at all with taking the battery out or opening and closing the case. I did it with a kind of Swiss-army knife's small screwdriver, it was that easy.

Bottom line, I'm really satisfied. I thought it would be an add-on, but it somehow made me do quite a lot of work and play on it instead on my 17" laptop.

I recommend getting a better camera to take more professional looking pictures. You can try placing the product on a white flat surface in a very well lit room, not a desk.

Other than that, thumbs up. Sorry for nagging.

Looks like a great little laptop. Personally, I'm more interested in Thinkpad x61-style notebooks, but I'm becoming more and more accustomed to subnotebooks after reading some of these reviews.

Some things about the article:

In the intro, second paragraph, last sentence, you're missing a word.

Also on the first page, you mention that the profile of the Wind tapers from back to front, but there's no pic to show that. We need pics...

I love my Wind. My gf bought it for me for my birthday and ultimately spent WAY too much ($620US for the 3-Cell) because she wanted it here asap. This was during the 'shortage' because of the batteries. I actually bricked it in < 24 hours with a bad bios flash, but MSI's customer support was AWESOME. No questions asked, despite me 'breaking' the warranty to put more ram in it, the warranty sticker was missing when I sent it in, and I promptly received it back in < 1 week all good as new. The people I takled to were actual people too. They weren't reading a script and it felt more like I was having a conversation about my issues rather than just telling them its broke.

Two thumbs way up for me for MSI and the Wind.

I'd choose the 6-cell U100 over the 1000H for the same price. The screen on this thing sounds like it is actually usable in the field. The difference in battery life isn't huge, on a 6-cell this netbook will do about 5 hours, based on the 2.5 hour attained with the 3-cell. That's not as long as the EEE's 6 hours, but what does it matter if you can't use it anyway when you're outside? The one place where power is really scarce?

I'd really like to see this Wind and the EEE 1000 that was reviewed, side by side in the grass with the screens at 100%

this thing has several things going for it:

The right shift key
Soldered RAM with an extra SO-DIMM slot
2.5" HDD
It appears like it's not ghastly to take apart

Looks like oldschool compaq laptop from early 90's. If you are into retro, I guess that is coolio.