Along with the soon-to-be-released X-Slim series of ultra low voltage notebooks, MSI has unveiled the next machine in the “U” line, the Wind U200. Unlike the U100 series, the U200 uses an Intel ULV processor instead of an Atom chipset and the screen is 12 inches at 1366×768 instead of 10 inches at 1024×600.
Tweaktown.com got some good photos of the U200 and had this to say about the computer itself:
“MSI’s U200 features a 12-inch 16:9 widescreen LED display with a 720p HD capable resolution of 1366 x 768. It comes with an Intel Penryn ULV SFF 723 processor which is a single-core Celeron 723 processor clocked at 1.2GHz – no Hyper Threading, so only single core action here. Graphics are provided by the Intel GMA 4500M, yawn…
It also includes 2GB (1 x 2GB – single channel) DDR2-800 memory, 250GBÂ hard disk drive, 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR and after removing the battery, we also noticed a SIM card slot on the back for 3G mobile Internet access. It weighs in at 1.4KG with the 3-cell 2200mAh battery installed – don’t expect huge battery life hours with this.”
The U200 scored a 3.2 on the Vista Experience Index — not terrible for an ultraportable. The keyboard looks a bit cramped for my tastes. That shrunken right shift key always gives me the jibblies. I’d much rather have a full size one with the four arrow keys scaled back instead.
No definitive word on pricing or availability yet. The price will be interesting, as this one would theoretically join the Wind series of netbooks that are priced between $300 and $400 currently, yet with a higher resolution screen and moderately faster processor. If I had to guess, I’d say it might get priced at around $500 to $600. Then MSI would run the gamut from a pricing standpoint: Wind U100, Wind U120, Wind U200, X-320, X-340, X-400, X-600, etc., ranging from $400 up to around $1000. I may have missed a couple in there, but you get the idea.
Hands-on with the MSI CULV U200 netbook in Taipei [TweakTown]