The MSI Wind U135 is a 10 inch netbook with an Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor and a chiclet-style keyboard. That sentence could describe virtually every netbook released in the first half of 2010, but the Wind U135 stands out from the crowd just a tiny bit due to decent build quality and an excellent keyboard.
But the computer isn't without its issues. There are no access panels for upgrading the RAM or hard drive, and the touchpad lacks support for multitouch gestures.
MSI sent me a demo unit to review for a month. It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, and 250GB hard drive. The mini-notebook has 802.1b/g/n WiFi and a 58Whr, 5200mAh battery. The netbook runs Windows 7 Starter Edition and sells for about $305 after rebate from B&H.
Design
At first glance, the MSI Wind U135 looks a lot like the company's first netbook – the Wind U100 which was released in 2008. It has rounded edges, a ridiculous number of status LEDs on the lower right side (8 in all), and a 6 cell battery which juts out a little from the bottom of hte laptop.
But MSI has tweaked its design a bit over the years. The computer now comes in four color options: blue, red, black and silver. The touchpad button has a chrome finish, and at leas ton the silver model I'm testing, there's a subtle pattern of gray lines across the lid. The Wind U135 is also the first MSI netbook to feature a chiclet-style keyboard, but more on that in a moment.
While the MSI Wind U100 had a matte display, the Wind U135 has a glossy screen, which makes it a bit harder to use outdoors, where sunlight effectively turns the screen into a mirror.
Along the sides of the netbook you'll find 3 USB ports and colorful VGA, mic, and headphone jacks as well as a flash card reader and Ethernet jack.
The left side of the laptop has a large vent which has become a bit of a signature element on MSI netbooks. There's also plenty of ventilation on the bottom of the computer, which helps it run fairly quiet — although you can occasionally hear the fan spinning.
There are no access panels on the base of the netbook, which means you'll need to remove 9 screws to get at the memory and hard drive.
The battery sits flush with the back of the laptop, but if you get a model with a 6 cell, 58Whr battery, it will stick out a bit from the bottom, raising the rear of the laptop.
The MSI Wind U135 has a glossy finish on the lid and palm rest area as well as the area above the keyboard. And while fingerprints aren't too noticeable from a distance, if you look more closely, you can definitely see smudges from oily fingers.
Keyboard and Touchpad
I really like the chiclet-style keyboard on the MSI Wind U135. It looks much the same as the keyboard on the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, but some of the Fn keys are in different spots. You can hit the Fn key plus a number of other buttons to adjust the volume, screen brightness, toggle the wireless connections, or turn off the touchpad.
Hitting FN+ F10, for example will trigger the MSI ECo software, which adjusts your computer's settings to improve performance or battery life for different situations (such as gaming, or presentation mode).
But back to the keyboard. There is a little flex in the middle of the keyboard if you push down too hard. But honestly, that's the sort of thing I only notice when I take the time to press on the keyboard and look at it. When I'm typing, it's not a problem.
The keys are flat, with a little space between them making them easy to detect without looking down. I took a typing test and notched a score of about 100 words per minute, which is about average for me.
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