MSI Starts Shipping Its Wind U135 Netbook

As the netbook market continues its rapid growth, personal computer makers are doing their best to offer systems that are as convenient, capable and affordable as possible. While Acer managed to score big on this market during 2009, it has been facing strong competition from other hardware makers, such as MSI, which recently announced the availability of its Wind U135 netbook.

MSI revealed that the low-cost, ultraportable Wind U135 is now available in the United States. While the device does not exactly have any sort of technological breakthroughs to brag about, it has the necessary performance features to become a strong competitor on the Pine Trail-based netbook market. The Wind U135 is, unsurprisingly, powered by the Intel Atom N450 CPU, which runs at 1.66Ghz, and the system configuration includes the now-common 1Gb of RAM and a storage capacity of 160GB (hard drive space).

The laptop's connectivity and I/O options are just as mainstream, with 802.11n Wi-Fi, three USB 2.0 ports and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. The MSI Wind U135 netbook operates on a three-cell battery. In addition, the device comes with five different power-management modes, for a battery life of up to 7.5 hours, and is equipped with a 10-inch screen that has the standard resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

Ergonomic features of the mobile computer include an updated trackpad, a smudge-resistant shell and a chiclet keyboard. The product may come in several colors, with a choice between ruby red, sapphire blue, silver and charcoal black. The device uses a film-printed shiny coating.

The laptop is already being sold through online retailers, where it is listed at prices ranging between $309.99 and $330. All models run the Windows 7 Starter operating system and future versions will be released with up to 250GB of storage space and six-cell batteries for a longer operation.