14 DAY TRIAL // Since this year's Computex show, which was held in Taipei, Taiwan, some of MSI Wind’s fans have been waiting for the release of the 9-inch version of the company's netbook. It took the Taiwanese manufacturer this long to finally release the entire specification list for its Wind U90 netbook, which has surfaced yet again at the IFA event in Berlin, Germany.
Up until now, MSI could only compete with ASUS' 10-inch netbooks, but it looks like the company has finally decided to enter the 9-inch netbook market segment as well with a brand new netbook. Part of MSI's Wind series of portable computer systems, the newcomer is expected to run a Linux operating system that will set its the price tag to a hefty 339 Euros. A Windows XP version is due to arrive in the upcoming weeks.
The tech specs are rather impressive, especially if you take in consideration MSI's decision to keep the full-sized keyboard featured on its 10-inch Wind netbook. Furthermore, according to the guys over at Engadget, who had a chance to test some of this netbook's capabilities, the Linux Suse-powered version is actually astonishing, booting quite rapidly into the full OS. Basically, the Wind U90 is a 9-inch netbook in a 10-inch chassis, and it will have a starting price tag of 399 Euros when it begins shipping in late September or early October.
Aside from that, the tech specs are somehow similar to the company’s 10-inch Wind netbook, presenting the same 1.6GHz Atom processor power. It will be equipped with an 80GB hard drive, and will come with either 512MB or 1GB of system RAM. The first models will sport a 3-cell battery that will provide users with about 2 hours of working time, but MSI is currently hammering away at delivering a 6-cell battery option as well, later this year.