Introduction

The latest netbook from MSI is due for release soon and, like its predecessors, is mainly being targeted at the education sector – although anyone looking for a new netbook will find this an improvement on previous models and powerful and handy machine to use.

The basics

The MSI Wind U135DX - available in more colors than just black!

The MSI Wind U135DX has the now near standard 10 inch screen on mini-laptops, which offers a comfortable LED-backlit 1024×600 pixel view. The processor used in this netbook is the latest upgrade to the low cost Intel Atom range – the highly reliable 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455, which is accompanied by the somewhat older Intel GMA 3150 graphics card, making it suitable for only low demanding 3D games with low details. The 160GB hard-drive should be more than enough for a netbook user, who really should be looking to cloud-computing for there storage if not software too. The netbook can also take up to 2GB of RAM, meaning there’ll be no lengthy waiting times whilst things get loaded or stored. In-built are, of course, 802.11/b/g and n WiFi, a 0.3 megapixel webcam accompanied by a microphone and 2 channel stereo speakers; and a 4-in-1 card reader with Bluetooth as an option. On board is the Windows 7 Starter OS which, with an option of a 3 or 6 cell battery, can give up to 7 hours of performance.

What else will you get?

Undoubtedly appealing to younger users is the fact that the MSI U135DX comes in six colors – black, blue, red, pink, silver and white. Their ‘chiclet’ keyboard has been improved on previous models and gives more space between keys, a bonus for those of us with anything other than children’s fingers. Although not quite silent, the ‘chiclet’ keyboard means you can type away anywhere you want without annoying those sat near to you. Another improvement in size over previous MSI netbooks is a 20% bigger touchpad, allowing you to move the cursor and scroll more easily – before having to lift your finger off the touchpad and start again. The netbook comes with a power supply to charge the battery, but expect loads of other netbook accessories for it from MSI later on.