MSI to waft Wind Westward in June

Another Eee PC rival announced

By Tony Smith, 21st April 2008

MSI has formally unwrapped its attempt to storm into the Small, Cheap Computer™ market: the perhaps unfortunately named Wind.

MSI's Wind: nudging toward notebook size

Due to ship in June, the Wind will blow in with a choice of Windows XP or Linux to run on its selection of 8.9in and 10in LED-backlit display options. MSI mentioned a screen resolution of 1024 x 600, presumably the pixel count of both sizes of display.

Highlighting what it claimed were rival offerings' "compromised memory capacities", MSI said the Wind would ship with a 2.5in 80GB hard drive as standard.

MSI's Wind at Intel Developer Forum

That, along with the screen size, takes the Wind's weight up to 1kg, MSI admitted, but that does include a 1.3-megapixel webcam and Bluetooth 2.0. It has a keyboard that's the same as the one used in the company's larger notebook, MSI said. It's safe to assume it'll have at least 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and 10/100Mb/s Ethernet too.

Asus Eee PC and friend: troubled by the Wind?

"The keyboard not only has great texture," MSI chirped, "it also has increased space between the keys, allowing for a comfortable typing experience."

MSI didn't say anything else about the Wind's specs, but the June release window means it's almost certainly going to be powered by Intel's upcoming 'Diamondville' Atom processor - the member of the new chip family aimed at small laptops and desktops rather than handhelds.

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Posted Tuesday 22nd April 2008 01:20 GMT

Aubry Thonon

Evil name

So if I walk around with one under my arm, I'll have the wind beneath my wing?

Mind you, it gives a new meaning to "putting the wind up" someone.

Argh.. need.. to.. hit.. head.. on.. desk.. repeatedly..

Posted Tuesday 22nd April 2008 00:10 GMT

Richard

Psion 7 / Netbook would have been ideal

I've got a Psion 7 (upgraded with a Netbook ROM) and an eeePC 701 4G and that sized form factor - aka A5 notepad size - is for me, the BIGGEST an ultra small PC can be. BUT it also has got to be cheap with the right wireless technology (BT or HSPDA in addition to wifi) built-in or can be plugged in without any overhang!

80gig hard drive is complete overkill for an ultra and will just break or screw the battery life. SSDs are the future for these devices but only have big capacity when they are cheap!

A cheap iPhone with 3G and 16gb of memory and handwriting recognition is also a reasonable alternative. I think the iPhone / ipod touch / "iTablet" / Nokia N810 is closer to the ideal portable form factor than a traditional shrunked laptop design though and maybe manufacturers should look to that for the next breakthrough product?

Posted Tuesday 22nd April 2008 00:10 GMT

Anonymous Coward

This thing is huge

It seems all these small, cheap PC's are getting bigger and bigger. Even Asus is releasing Eee PCs with larger screens and therefore larger cases.

How about something smaller? Make it a 4 inch touch screen and shrink the keyboard so it fits in my pocket when folded shut. The N810 comes close but isn't a clamshell and doesn't have an x86 processor so I'm restricted in 3rd party application compatibility. Oh, but you need to keep the sub-$400 price point or you can go sit with those godawful expensive Samsung and Sony UMPC's my quick walk through newegg revealed.