MSI Wind U110 ECO Combines Intel Atom with ATI Graphics

MSI has just updated its lineup of small-sized, ultraportable computer systems with the introduction of the new Wind U110 ECO netbook, claimed to be the world's number one power-saving netbook. Designed on the same Intel Atom platform that has been featured on almost every other netbook on the market, the new machine promises to provide its users with performance and energy efficiency in a small computer system that is also capable of running Microsoft's Windows Vista. In addition, unlike other netbooks on the market, this one appears to also be featured with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics chip.

We are not yet sure if the specified ATI Radeon HD 3200 is a feature of the new U110 Eco or just an error on the part of the company, but either way it will be interesting to see if this netbook will sport a discrete ATI graphics solution. This could also mean that AMD has a competitor for NVIDIA's Ion platform and that Intel is slowly losing some of the market share it currently holds in the netbook and nettop segment. On the other hand, a non-Intel graphics solution also enables a higher level of performance for those small, low-power computer systems on the market.

Aside from that, the U110 ECO is built on the Poulsbo US15W chipset and sports a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor. The system is equipped with 1GB of DDR2 memory, but the chipset can support a maximum of 2GB, for better performance. There's a 160GB hard drive, a 4-in-1 card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and wireless 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, microphone and headphone, an optional 2MP webcam and two speakers. The netbook is equipped with a 10-inch 1024 by 600 LCD panel and comes with support for Windows Vista Home Basic.

There's not word on price tag just yet, but the company will provide its customers with an optional 6-cell battery, while a standard model ships with a 3-cell battery option.