Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great little netbook!, June 14, 2009
My main computer is a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 17" screen, and it is a pain (literally) to carry everywhere. So after much research, I decided to buy the MSI Wind U123 (in red). After a few days of using it, I can say that I am pleased with my decision so far. MSI may be a lesser known brand, but they make great little netbooks.
Immediate improvements: The first thing I did was upgrade the memory to 2gb (Crucial Technology CT25664AC800 2GB 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 PC2-6400 Memory Module). [A word on the memory upgrade... I have heard mixed things as to whether the upgrade voids the warranty. I would suggest contacting MSI if this is a concern for you.] I also upgraded the touchpad drivers to allow for a scroll zone on the right side of the touchpad[...]. That makes it MUCH better.
The Wind did not come with a lot of bloatware, which saved me a lot of time. I have installed a variety of apps on it, including Open Office, iTunes and SPSS. It does not seem to have any trouble streaming video from Hulu or streaming music over the network from my primary computer. But as a grad student, I was most concerned about how well it would handle SPSS, the statistical analysis software I use most often. It is noticeably slower than other computers I've used, but only when running more complicated analyses. That said, it was still much quicker than I had expected.
Downsides: I haven't really noticed anything so far... The previous reviewer commented on the touchpad buttons. I'm not sure that they feel cheap as much as they feel stiff. You have to push pretty hard to get them to click. I'm wondering if that will loosen up with use. Otherwise, I may opt to use a mouse. But all in all, that's not enough to make me take away a star.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible Mouse Buttons! Otherwise OK, August 13, 2009
I can't believe that all the parts (screen, CPU, RAM, hard disk, keyboard, Windows license, etc), plus all the shipping (parts go to China and back, and then from Amazon to me) still only costs me $326. It's a real bargain, AFAIAC.
I ordered another 1 GB SODIMM of RAM to upgrade, but realized that there's only one slot on the inside, which already had 1 GB. You'll have to buy a 2 GB stick and throw away the existing 1 GB stick to get to 2 GB.
The CPU is quite nice -- it's a dual-core, 1.66 GHz CPU. The graphics is GMA 950, although under-clocked to 133 MHz internal frequency. If you want to play games, you probably want to find a program called BK_GMAFIX and run that before you start the game -- it will clock the graphics back up to 400 MHz! (Although this mainly affects texturing in 3D, so it won't make things run 2x faster)
The battery is in the back, and the screen is farily heavy, so the entire thing is quite weighted towards the rear. This means that it will easily tip over when standing with the screen flipped up. On the other hand, if you carry it opened, with the Vee of the hinge in your hand, the weight is in your hand, not out towards the edges, meaning you're less likely to drop it.
However, when it comes to ergonomics, there are two problems:
1) The Fn key (to get home/end etc) and the Ctrl key are swapped compared to most other keyboards. Fn is outer-left, and Ctrl is the second key. Anyone used to a standard keyboard and using key shortcuts will be driven crazy by this!
2) The mouse buttons are abysmal. They seem to require ten pounds of force to register -- the mechanism literally feels and sounds like "crunch" (but I've looked -- it's designed that way). The mouse buttons have angled edges, so your thumb will quickly become quite sore. For regular left-clicks the touchpad can be tapped, which helps, but many kinds of click operations (right-click, longer click-and-drags, etc), you have no choice but to hurt your fingers. This is almost criminally bad!
Another caution: Most specifications online for the U123 say Bluetooth and b/g/n WiFi. This particular model does not have those features -- it has b/g wireless only, and no Bluetooth. The lack of Bluetooth is a little annoying, given that you have to use an external mouse if you don't want to lose your fingers.
All in all, this is a fine choice at the lower end of the netbook scale. And if you're getting a netbook, it really doesn't make sense to get a high-end book (like the Asus N10j, which has great specs -- but costs twice what this one does!). If you want something better, you also want a bigger screen, so you should buy a real 13" or 14" laptop.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great snazzy little netbook, July 1, 2009
After much research, i bit the bullet and went with this very affordable and snazzy little netbook.
THE GOODS: newer N280 chipset (uses less power and goes 4+ hrs on a 6 cell battery), fully upgradable (i replaced the RAM to 2GB), size and weight = very protable, brilliant dark red cover, not much bloatware - and is able to run all of my fav SW (ie. Skype, Office, Hulu, etc.) and older games (ie HALO, Half Life, C&C, etc.)
THE SUCKS: no native bluetooth, the whole bottom cover was a pain to remove to do any upgrades (RAM or HD), not enough USB ports (IMO), and the power adapter is weird (bulky and not travel friendly IMO), i couldn't wait for the built in TV tuner model.
OVERALL: probably the coolest little netbook (w/ RAM upgrade) for less than $400 - light and portable, great battery, powerful enough processor, and easy on the eyes.
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