14 DAY TRIAL // Still supporting netbook computers, MSI has just made official the Wind U180 10.1-inch entry-level laptop, which is the company’s first such device to be based on Intel’s Cedar Trail platform launched at the end of last year.
MSI markets the Wind U180 an ultrathin and ultralight netbook since it features a less than one inch (21.26mm to be more precise) thick profile. But other than that, the U180 is pretty much your standard Cedar trail laptop.
What this means is that at the heart of MSI’s device stands an Atom N2800 or N2600 dual-core processor, which is paired together with a wimpy 1GB of system memory and a 5,400RPM hard drive delivering 320GB or 250GB of storage space.
Just as the rest of its hardware configuration, the 10.1-inch LED backlit display used by the Wind U180 also fails to impress, since it sports a low-res 1024x600 pixel panel.
Moving to the connectivity front, we get the usual multi-card reader, Wireless N WiFi and USB 2.0 ports, but also an HDMI output.
The rest of the specs list is completed by a 0.3MP webcam and a 6-cell Li-Ion battery, that MSI says is able to provide users with up to 8 hours of autonomy (a 3-cell battery pack is also available).
The Cedar Trail platform that stands at the base of the U180 comprised Intel’s Cedarview processors and the NM10 chipset, basically the same controller used for the previous Pine Trail netbooks.
However, unlike its predecessors, the new Cedarview CPUs are built using the 32nm fabrication process, and feature a unified architecture that pairs the two computing cores present with a GPU based on a PowerVR design.
Thanks to this graphics core, the Cedar Trail platform features hardware decoding capabilities for a wide range of HD formats, including MPEG2, VC1, AVC, H.264 and Blu-ray 2.0. This is the reason why the U180 comes with an HDMI output.
Sadly, MSI hasn’t provided us with any info regarding the price or the availability of the Wind U180, but such netbooks usually retail for less than $300 US (roughly 228 EUR).
