MSI announced new gadget, Wind U160 netbook at CES, and we've taken a closer look. Sitting alongside the U135, the new Wind is expected to come in at just under the £300 mark in the UK.
The new model gains a brand new polished case, a bumpy trackpad and a Chicklet keyboard with elevated keys. It includes Windows 7 Starter, a 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, a 250-GB hard drive and a 6-cell battery that lasts 7.5 hours, according to MSI
The 1kg 10.1-inch netbook features a completely new chassis for MSI and has a premium finish with a brown glossy lid and a dimpled trackpad (which we're not a big fan of). The keyboard, on the other hand, seemed perfectly usable.
Its keyboard still suffers from an awkwardly small question-mark key. I disliked the puny trackpad on the first MSI Wind (which I used to own), and I dislike the U160’s bumpy trackpad even more: The purpose of the bumps is to mouse around more accurately, but I was doing the opposite.
Would we buy it? Well yes – at £300 it represents great value for money and if the price comes down even more it'll be into the realms of a steal.
Under the hood, the U160 packs Intel's latest 1.66Ghz PineTrail N450 Atom processor alongside 1GB of memory (upgradeable to 2GB) and a 250GB hard drive. Graphics are provided by Intel's GMA 3150.
Looking for Pine Trail? Now MSI's Wind U160 netbook is on sale for $380 to fulfill
