I'm Sold on the MSI Wind U100xp Netbook

RT Cunningham — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:51:21 +0000

Over the past few months, I've either examined netbooks firsthand or virtually examined them over the net, including the Asus Eee PC 1005HA. Needless to say, I'm fickle about what I want to invest my money in. I've finally decided what I want and it happens to be an MSI netbook computer.

Making My Decision

I was actually intent on buying a Samsung N120-12GBK due to the simple fact that it has a full-sized keyboard. I was going to go through the process of ordering it online, having it shipped to my wife in the US, and having her bring it back with her when she returns to the Philippines. That process would be required since I can't find the Samsung netbooks here unless I take a trip to the SM Mall (The Mall of Asia) in Quezon City. Even that wouldn't guarantee that particular model would be available when I got there.

Despite what you may have heard, all of the netbooks sold by any one company are different in some way and not of all of them are even worth considering.

With all the features available in different netbook configurations, only a few are hard requirements for me. The color has to be black — other colors look dirty too fast (and I won't be caught dead with anything pink). Come to think of it, my wife would probably want something like a pink MacBook. The "pink" is obvious and the "MacBook" is simply due to the cool factor.

I digress. My netbook has to be a 10-inch version with a 1024×600 resolution (no short-changed pixels as with the HP mini laptops). It has to have a full-sized keyboard. It has to be sturdy, even if it is lightweight. I can't tell you how many netbooks I've examined that seemed like they'd fall apart after a couple of day's usage.

Earlier today, after I bought some parts for my desktop computer (in order to add an internal hard drive) and left the Dataworx store in Olongapo, I went to the store next door to have a power supply cable made for me. While I was waiting, I asked to examine the MSI netbook on the display shelf behind the counter. The store clerk unpackaged it and booted it up for me and allowed me to test it. It had a full-sized keyboard! The keys were a just a tiny bit closer together than what I'm used to, but that's okay because it wouldn't interfere with my touch-typing skills. In fact, closer keys will probably make it easier to hit the keys I usually miss on the first try (like the backspace key).

The MSI Wind U100xp Netbook

I was impressed. This was, by far, one of the best laptops I'd ever examined. It was even better than the HP notebook I had (which is now dead and in the closet). The Sony Vaio mini laptops are actually better, but Sony wants too much money for their branding. In my opinion, the only thing worth the price they ask for are the Sony Vaio laptop batteries. Proprietary, of course, but the best in the business (based on the reviews I've read). Well, at least they don't explode like some of the HP laptop batteries have been known to do!

I digress again. The MSI netbook is sturdy and it's black. It has a 1024×600 resolution. It's 10 inches in size. It comes with Windows XP Home installed and it has a 160 GB SATA hard drive. It has a built-in webcam, built-in speakers and a wireless LAN card. My next related purchase would be a wireless router so I can roam around the house with the netbook instead of being tied to a computer desk. Heck, the right router might let me roam around the entire compound, but that's probably wishful thinking.

The MSI Wind U100xp netbook sells for about $375 at that particular store (after the peso to dollar conversion), which is almost exactly the same price as the Samsung netbook I considered. The best part about it is that I can buy it here! I want to buy it next month, but shiitake happens and I may have to wait longer.

Why do I "need" a netbook?

It's a "need" versus a "want" and goes hand-in-hand with my need for a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), which I plan to get later. There are way too many brownouts in Olongapo city and they happen when least expected. Since I run an online business, it should be obvious the effect that prolonged downtime has on it.

A netbook six-cell battery can last for at least three hours (and I hear that it can last up to eight hours, depending on usage). The only thing I need to plug into the UPS is the DSL modem (or a cable modem when we finally get cable Internet in this neighborhood). A UPS battery charge doesn't last long when attached to a computer operating with a full load, and not much longer at a half-load. I imagine it would last a pretty long time with just a modem attached.

Yes, this is the netbook for me and I plan to buy one as soon as I can squeeze it into my monthly budget.

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RT Cunningham — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:34:20 +0000

In my (seemingly) never-ending search for the best netbook to serve as a backup computer, I've virtually examined more than I can count. I've narrowed down the choices to laptop models made by HP and Samsung and will probably end up with a Samsung N120-12GBK, based on a netbook review. The clincher will be the number of positive reviews I read about it. I still have some time and nothing is yet set in stone.

The HP Netbooks

Sometimes called netbooks and sometimes called mini laptops, they're basically the same thing when advertised by HP. I'm not going to name HP model numbers because there are several that fit the bill.

My dead notebook computer is an HP notebook in the DV-8000 series (I'm not pulling it out to look at the exact number). My older son also has the exact same model and I don't know if his still works or not because he's in Germany and he hasn't mentioned it at all.

The HP netbooks come with a lot preloaded software that I don't want or need, just like the notebook I have. The keyboards appear to be all at 93 percent the size of a standard keyboard, which isn't too bad, but the monitors all seem to be missing 24 pixels from the vertical display. That was the deal-breaker as far as one review I read. Obviously, the reviewer never heard of F11 in Firefox.

The Samsung Netbooks

I don't know about the other models, but the Samsung N120-12GBK seems to be right up my alley. It has the full 1024×600 resolution, which seems to be a netbook standard, and a full-sized keyboard.

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm expert in touch typing and not keyboarding. There really is a difference. I have no problems with the same keys you'd find on a typewriter, but the extra keys on keyboards have always given me problems. The biggest problem is remembering where the extra keys are since they're in different places on just about every keyboard configuration I've ever used.

When it comes to using any keyboard, I can do magic if the standard keys are in the right places. I don't need the 10-key keypad at all. I once took a typing test and scored better using the top-row numbers than most people who use the 10-key keypad.

I don't know why this particular Samsung model ranked at number 4 of a best netbooks list, but the only bad thing mentioned was that it was a little more expensive than the other three. The actual price difference is only about $50 dollars if you shop around. I think $50 is well worth it for the full-sized keyboard alone.

Laptop Price Observations

This is the part of shopping for any laptop that bothers me the most when searching for the best laptop prices. It seems that black and white laptops are cheaper than laptops with other colors. Surprisingly, pink laptops seem to be the most expensive of all the colored laptops.

One also has to be careful about what's included. The sellers seem to charge the same price for 512MB included as they do for 1024MB (1GB) included. I'm sorry, but 512MB isn't enough to run Windows XP regardless of how few applications you have your laptop. It may be enough to run Linux, but then the GUI would still get bogged down once you started using it a lot. You must start with 1GB of RAM and then go from there. If you're running Windows Vista, 2GB would probably be okay and the new Windows 7 would probably eat up 4GB. Every version of Windows seems to require twice as much memory as the predecessor in order to run the right way out of the box.

For the most part, netbooks generally have the same base configurations. It's the details you have to watch out for and you'd be extremely wise to compare the feature sets of any brands or models you're thinking of buying before you commit.

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