Customer Reviews

MSI Wind U123-001US 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just got the Wind today in the mail. Very nice little computer.

Took about 14 minutes to get all booted up initially but it starts up very quickly after that.

So far I have surfed the internet, played online poker, and messed with the settings. Nothing too amazing. It handles everything well, not discernably different from my 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo macbook. I'm not going to attempt too much with this anyways. Youtube worked fine, but netflix instant movies wasn't working tonight. I don't know what the deal is with that, whether it's the comp or the site. **Update, Netflix was messed up. The Wind plays Netflix instant view movies just fine.**

Graphically it's ok. The 10" screen isn't going to make me faint or anything. Everything looks fine with the brighness at all levels. The application windows get a little choppy when I move them around, but that happens in every Windows machine I've used.

It is quiet, the fans come on every now and then. I don't mind. My girlfriend is watching netflix on her MacBook Pro and it is way louder than the Wind.

The hinges are sturdy, in fact, the whole machine is sturdy. And it's attractive. The blue shell has little sparklies. The mouse buttons are chrome, which I like (in tasteful amounts).

The webcam is ok, and the speakers are ok too. Ok is actually an overstatement. So far they are pretty junky. But I wasn't expecting much.

The internet response is plenty fast. However, it seems like it only has wireless b/g. This version DOES NOT HAVE wireless N. That's disappointing, the specs do note that it has g/n on the Amazon site. Again, no wireless N.

The box says no bluetooth but the hardware info in windows says yes. I haven't tried to verify which one is correct.

Typing is not a problem. I would rather have regular sized comma and period keys than a full sized shift bar, which the Wind has. It's taking a bit of adjustment, but I can type pretty fast on it after just a couple hours.

Brightness at the lowest level is fine on my eyes. It's very bright all the way up, which I appreciate when it's plugged in.

Battery life seems to be about 5 hours with wireless on and brightness all the way down. We'll see if that changes.

It is a little rear end heavy, but so are Porsches. It balances fine so far, I haven't tried it in every situation. I mean, you gotta watch out
if the screen is open and you're setting it on an uneven surface, but it's fine in my lap and on the table. Just be extra careful when you are setting the Wind down.

**In response to comment 4 - 3 USB ports, VGA for monitor, the 4-in-one card reader, ethernet, headphone jack. No firewire/hdmi :( I will try to hook it up to my 22" LCD tonight and see if it can handle it.**

**I read some reviews at another site, apparently the U123 uses 800Mhz RAM, and the upgrade requires a 2GB stick to max it out. I have not confirmed this, but I've got a 2GB in my MacBook. I'll do a switcheroo and see how it works.**

I really like the trackpad, but only after downloading the Synaptics drivers. Make sure to do that right off the bat (http://www.synaptics.com/support/drivers)!! You can get scroll function and corner tap functions, i.e., when I tap the bottom left I have it set to go back in the web browser, and when I tap the upper left it minimizes the window. Awesome! Almost like expose in OSX, but different (We can't have everything). It's definitely the best Windows XP navigating experience I've had so far.

I plan on installing OSX on this, but I need to do more research on how to do it. Apparently I need an external DVD drive, which I'm not prepared to shell out the $$ for. **Update, there seems to be a way to do it via USB stick. So now I gotta get myself a legit copy of OSX and an 8GB stick, and I'm golden.**

As shipped, right out of the box, with the 1.66 Ghz processor and 1GB RAM, I am very impressed.

Remember to press Crtl + F11 to activate the wireless!

Very nice little machine.
I will update as time goes on.
Let me know if you need any answers, i.e., have any questions!

After comparing the various currently available netbooks, I had a toss up between the 6-cell MSI Wind U123, Samsung NC10, and Asus Eee PC 1000HE. Although I liked the longer battery life of the Samsung and Eee PC, I wound up going with the U123 because it's lighter and more compact than the Eee PC (2.6lbs vs 3.2lbs), and has a newer processor than the Samsung (Intel Atom N280 vs N270). It didn't hurt that the U123 is slightly less expensive than the Samsung NC10 and Eee PC 1000HE. I also briefly considered the U123's predecessor, the U120, but decided against the U120 because its 1GB memory isn't upgradeable.

* The U123's construction is solid. The glossy lid looks nice but attracts fingerprints (no surprise here).

* The battery is fatter than I had expected. With the battery attached, the U123 is around 1 3/4" high in the back. Balance-wise, it makes the U123 somewhat back heavy and easy to tip over if you have the display angled back far enough.

* The 6-cell battery is rated 5200 mAh. In normal mode, I am averaging a little over 5 hrs with wifi on while doing mostly web browsing. The U123 has a battery-saving "Eco" mode (Fn + F10), which I usually forget to use. The U123 doesn't seem to remember that it was in "Eco" mode the next time you start up or come out of standby or hibernation.

* The keyboard is a good size with good feel. The layout is standard except for one quirk: the Fn and left Ctrl keys are reversed from their usual positions in most non-Mac notebooks.

* The U123 runs fairly cool. Even at peak activity with the fan running full, it never gets uncomfortably warm.

* The speaker sound quality is bad, as expected in a netbook.

* The U123 comes with 1GB of memory. To upgrade the memory, you have to remove the entire bottom cover. This involves removing 10 screws, one of which is covered by a scary-looking "Warranty Sticker Void if Tampered" sticker. (I've read posts elsewhere that report that the warranty is *not* void if you're just upgrading the memory.) My U123 came with a Transcend 1GB DDR2 800 SO-DIMM in the single memory slot. I will be replacing it later this week with a 2GB stick that I've ordered. Having to remove the bottom cover to upgrade memory is a hassle because of all the side ports (USB, headphone, mic) that have openings in the cover, but it's something you'll probably only need to do once or twice. Still, it would've been nice if the U123 had an access panel like the Samsung NC10 or Asus Eee PC to get at the memory.

* No Bluetooth (or at least I couldn't figure out how to turn it on). Interestingly, the U123 does have Bluetooth drivers and settings software installed, but I guess this is meant for other U123 models. A little disappointing since I had incorrectly assumed that any netbook these days would automatically have Bluetooth. However, not a deal killer for me since I don't use Bluetooth that much anyway.

* When starting up the first time, the U123 spent quite a bit of time installing Windows. I lost track, but I'd guess it was around 10 min. Later, I had a minor scare when the U123 couldn't find any wireless networks. It turns out the wireless was disabled. I had to actually read the documentation to figure out how to turn on the wireless: Fn + F11.

I give the MSI Wind U123 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5 stars for the ratings system).

This is a nice choice if you are traveling a lot. Battery life is long lasting and the performance under WINDOWS XP SP3 is good enough for web and office use. Entertainment (audio and video) during long flights and in waiting areas of airports is possible but due to the weak audio performance a little bit difficult, even with earphones. It is much faster with UBUNTU 9.04 but not stronger in audio output, so you can only solve the audio problems with an amplified headset. UBUNTU runs without problems and after a short time of learning I switched completely to this LINUX operating system, it comes with all the office and multimedia software you need for the netbook and it's FOR FREE. The MSI Wind U123 is upgradeable in RAM and you can change the hard drive to a bigger one! MSI support told me, that the upgrade doesn't void the warranty, only the use of wrong parts and the causes of that does it. So, if you want to upgrade the netbook with memory or disk space to get better performance, no problem! Please, if you buy this product, don't think that it is a substitute for a high end PC! You will be happy with it, for sure, if you don't like to carry a much heavier notebook with less battery life. The MSI Wind netbook is easy to handle and carry, so it is always there to use it.

I am traveling around the world with this netbook and overall i'd say it's a good product but not great. Love the screen, size, weight, and speed of it, however the keyboard while ok has two faults i have issues with. 1 the period key is to small and scrunched so when typing almost everytime you need it you'll hit another key. 2. while typing the cursor has a tendency to jump around to other sections of a paragraph and if you are not paying attention will delete something you have already typed. if i didn't have these issues i'd rate it an A+

I recieved my U123 on 9/15/09 and so far it has been working great! Obviously I've only had it a few days but it has proven to be very useful and reliable. I actually converted this netbook into a hackintosh and have found it quite refreshing compared to windows xp. The 6-cell battery lasts around 4:30 running OSX which is good enough for me as I am typically not away from a power source longer than 3 hours. I upgraded the ram to 2g just for a nice performance boost since I usually run lots of applications simultaneously. As others have said this model comes with NO BUILT IN BLUE TOOTH or N wireless. While many may not care its good to know since lots of places list all u123's as having these features. The only issue I have had has been that trackpad scrolling doesn't work which has been a problem even when XP was installed. Im guessing faulty trackpad at the moment but I've dealt with it because its not a big deal to me and I didn't feel like rma'ing since I needed a working netbook for the next couple of days. Over-all a good netbook that is hackintoshable.

OK, I originally gave this 4 stars, but no more. Less than 3 months after receiving my netbook, the power supply has failed. I have discovered that MSI's support website seems to be designed to make filing a request difficult. And I have also learned that according to MSI, their warranties run from the date of manufacture, not the date of purchase. Personally, I find that kind of practice offensive and unethical, and I don't recommend you purchase an MSI product!


My original review:
This is a nice little machine.

I didn't give it a 5 because the keyboard is a bit scrunched - better than most netbooks, but still scrunched - particularly the shift keys. But it does what I bought it for: check mail, surf the net, skype to home when traveling, etc. (You have to load the webcam software to get Skype video, but it works OK with both programs running.)

The initial startup/os install was flawless. You pretty much need to download everything you'll want to install, unless you have an external optical disc drive, but that means you get the latest drivers, at least.

FWIW, my "tween"-age kids think it's perfect - except that it isn't powerful enough to run high-end games. My daughter uses it to stream Disney tv programs from Netflix all the time, she likes them better on the computer than on cable because there aren't any commercials.

I consider this a good deal.

Having set up two white u100's, and one of the very first blue u123's, I prefer the white U100's for several reasons: There are more aftermarket battery options for U100's (even a 9 cell battery good for about 11 hours is only $65 on Amazon), the white finish is matte and not the fingerprint attractor that the blue is & the u123 has chrome track-pad buttons which I dislike immensely. RAM installation is about the same, though the u123 only has one slot, so you replace it's 1GB with a 2GB stick. I miss "Turbo" mode that the u100's offer and the ability to over-clock the u100's processor by 24% without knowing any nerdy stuff and they remain completely stable!

My u123 may be slightly faster, and the build quality feels slightly better, but if I had it to do over again, I would buy another white u100 (451: 3 cell, no Bluetooth), an inexpensive external DVD-RW, and at least a 6 cell battery - doing it this way can actually save you money over the models that come with a 6 cell battery (depending on price variances). Plus you end up with a spare battery!

i've had this netbook for just over 1 year and have been quite happy with it. The best thing is that I haven't even had to upgrade to a 2gb memory stick! So if it ever feels sluggish I'll make that move. Definitely would recommend MSI products to everyone-

This is my first netbook. I've gone through a notebook at the clip of one every two and a half years, so I thought I'd give this guy a try. I selected it because of the 10" screen, six cell battery and the N280 chip set. This is the least expensive netbook i've found to meet those criteria. I comes with a little bit of trial software bloat which I promptly removed. It connects easily the net through both the Wireless and the Ethernet connections. I use it with MS Office and the Visual C++ Express Studio, I cannot complain about performance at all.
The webcam gives a clear crisp image. I had to search the web to figure out how to enable it (Function + F6 key). Same for the wireless (Function + F11 key). The documents allude to this but I don't often RTFM.

Great little unit. Should really have built in bluetooth and Mobile Wireless (aka WWAN). I upgraded the memory to 2GB and put Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 operating system. This O/S and this unit together work very well.

I selected this unit due to the fact that it was a 100% compatible on the Ubuntu website. I am NOT a windows fan and avoid it when I can.

The H/W is light, battery life is good, not as good as advertised. About 4hrs 30mins of constant use with Wifi on.

If you go the Ubuntu route you need to be a little technical as for most people it is a different O/S and you may need some tinkering. I did not need to tinker as it worked 100% after install. I created 4 user accounts on the MSI for the family, including one account that has admin privileges.

With 6 mins of instruction my whole family is able to use this to print, surf the web with firefox and use Open Office which is the opensource equivalent to Microsoft Office.

I have been able to successfully tether my Nokia e71 to Ubuntu and can get on ATT 3G

Once the 11" versions of these hit, I will buy again.

Pleasantly surprised and pleased.