14 DAY TRIAL // Certainly, MSI has become an important player in the portable computer systems market with the launch of its 10-inch netbook, the Wind. Back when it was released, this small-sized, ultra-portable system was thought to become one of the major competitors to ASUS' extensive lineup of Eee PCs. However, due to delays in shipments and the problems with adopting the 6-cell battery option, the MSI Wind needs to take back some of the market share it lost to its competitors, such as ASUS or Acer.
The company's Director of U.S Sales, Andy Tung, has recently been interviewed by the guys over at laptopmag, and he disclosed some of MSI's plans, including an upcoming new Wind netbook. The company's future product will be business-focused and will bring forward a new design, as well as a number of new features, which will set it apart from the company's current Wind U100.
The details are scarce at this time, but it appears that the Wind U120 will provide both SSD and hard drive options for storage, and 3.5G connectivity. Pricewise, you are looking at a 10-inch netbook that will sell under $600, and which should hit the U.S in late November or early December. Other specifications include a bigger or similar keyboard size as the one on the current MSI Wind, 1GB of RAM and a totally new design, somewhere in the lines of a ThinkPad, as Andy Tung suggested.
In addition to the Wind 2, the Taiwanese manufacturer is also planning a couple of new products, as part of its fully-fledged notebook lineup. This month, MSI should be releasing a 12-inch notebook that will be priced at $699. Unfortunately, no technical details are available at this point in time.
Aside from discussing upcoming portable systems, Andy Tung also mentioned the 6-cell option issue that the company is believed to solve completely sometime in the near future. Regarding the 9-cell battery, Andy Tung said that the company expected it to deliver 7+ hours of power.