Company gets deeper in the ultraportable market

Aug 21, 2009 12:41 GMT  ·  By

Taiwanese netbook maker, MSI has officially announced today the launch of its anticipated 12-inch Wind ultraportable system. Unlike the company's first generation of Wind PCs, the new ultraportable has been designed to take advantage of Intel's power-efficient CULV platform, which consequently enabled MSI to equip the laptop with a larger 12-inch display. Performance wise, the system should be somewhere between a 10-inch netbook and a fully fledged laptop, providing users with a bit of both segments.

Details of the new ultraportable from MSI have been previously leaked on the Internet, as the computer maker was expected to expand its line of CULV laptops, which also includes the popular X-Slim series, unveiled earlier this year. The new system is part of MSI's Wind series and is designed as an alternative to Atom-powered netbooks, including the company's own 10-inch systems.

Performance wise, the new Wind U200 has been featured with a 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU3500 processor, coupled with the integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics core, available through the GS45 chipset. The 12.1-inch display delivers support for a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and should provide users with a higher-quality visual experience, compared to the more portable Atom-based netbooks. Additional features include support for up to 4GB of DDR2, 320GB hard drive, 802.11n wireless connectivity, 4-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet and Windows Vista Home Premium.

The system is powered by a 3-cell battery, weighs in at 1.4kg and measures 297 x 190 x 24.5-31mm, which makes it pretty similar to a traditional netbook. Price wise, you are looking at an ultraportable that is said to go for around €499 in Europe.

The Taiwanese company is also expected to release an AMD version of said ultraportable, which will be powered by AMD's 1.6GHz Neo MV-40 processor and ATI mobility graphics. This model will be available as the Wind U210.