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The netbook phenomenon has exploded in recent years with almost every major manufacturer entering into this lucrative market. MSI were one of the pioneers with the 2008 Wind U100 selling en masse to a cost conscious audience. I had one of these units for 9 months and I have to say it was a reliable netbook, even if it was slow as molasses.
The Wind U160, their latest netbook was released months ago and has taken the clunky original design and turned it into a svelte unit which exudes class and will appeal to an audience also concerned with appearance.
How so? Well the Wind U160 only measures 19mm at its thickest diameter and is MSI's thinnest ever netbook weighing only 1.2 kg. The asking price is around £330, so clearly the end product is inexpensive, attractive and ultra portable which in theory should open up sales to a massively wide and dynamic market.
MSI sent us both colour schemes of this netbook – with ‘Fancy Gold' for those who want to catch the eye, and ‘Jet Black' offering a more traditional viewpoint.
The MSI Wind U160 is a rather familar internal design by now. It is based around a 1.66ghz Atom N450 processor with onboard GMA 3150 graphics. This is paired up with 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 250GB SATA hard drive and a 10 inch screen offering 1024×600 resolution. Windows 7 Home Basic 32bit is the chosen operating system.
| CPU | Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 cache, single-core) |
| Memory | 1GB DDR2 667MHz |
| Display | 10.0in – 1,024×600 |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 3150 |
| Graphics driver | Intel 8.14.10.2117 |
| Battery | 6 cell, 65Whr |
| Wireless | Ralink 1T1R (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth 2.0 |
| Storage | Seagate Momentus 250GB, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache |
| Weight | 1,237g (including battery) |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic, 32-bit |
