I think this is what I have been waiting for. I think the 10" screen and slightly larger keyboard are a sweet spot in the trade off between portability and usability.

Soulcannon

This looks almost identical to my TR2AP1. Pretty crazy how well the TR2 has stood up in the rapidly changing tech-o-sphere. I've had mine 4 years, and people still ask me about it on a daily basis. This is really a great form factor if portability is your thing. I've got to keep this MSI Wind in mind should my TR2 ever bite the dust.

Justin Nolan

$1000 is a bit steep, as there are many options out there as Chiablo mentioned. However I will wait till the final spec line up is declared.

Bachus_snowman

Isn't the main draw of an Eee PC the low cost?

$1000 isn't low cost, you can get a fairly decent full sized laptop for that much.

chiablo

Isn't 10" getting into regular laptop territory? It does look nice (and fairly inexpensive), but there's plenty of 12" laptops out there.

Reiji

Cool, my girlfriend will surely want one.

Palestina

I had an old Vaio SRX77 not too long ago, and I can attest to a 10" screen being a very nice balance between usability and extreme portability.

My younger sister uses it now for school, and she just tosses it in her bag and forgets that it is even there. It weighs < 3lbs (2.8lbs, I think) and is smaller than all her textbooks.

I cannot speak for the quality of MSI products, as I have never used them, but this seems like a notebook that could find a very large market if properly priced/advertised.

regnez

@ NeoPoliticus, if the prices of the new models creep up I will agree with you. But at the current levelsthe EEE PC is great. It is useable and extends my ability to work as I choose, where I chose and is cheap enough to not worry me if/when I drop or lose the thing. I'll just buy another.

It helps that I live in an environment of very extensive WiFi coverage and that I use web based apps for most of my work, including document creation and editing. These things are popular well beyond 'geeks' and for very good reason.

Andrewfi

UMPCs are overpriced, useless devices - too big to actually have with you when you need it, too small to be useful.

All they are is geek chic.

NeoPoliticus

meh, at $1000 you're in base model t61 territory...

SomeAudioGuy

€299 ($458) - €699 ($1072)

Take into account that most of the time 299€ in europe = 299$ in america.
Its like that with all the ipods and other popular products.

desostros

@Reiji: Exactly! I don't get it. How is this a UMPC? It doesn't have a touch screen nor it is 'ultra-mobile'. Heck, it almost as large as my current notebook.

bungee

@strider_mt2k: Pass, break it's all the same....

Mandatory_Field

"Wind"?

I'll pass...

strider_mt2k

@chiablo:

No, if it were "low cost", then any number of Wal-Mart specials would do.

It's all about how it's being the size of a portable DVD player and weighing less than 2 lbs. I highly doubt this model will be able to make such claims!

darex

That's the ugliest shade of pink I've ever seen.

frigg

I think they named it 'Wind' which kind of goes along the same lines as 'Air'. Implying the device is very lightweight. I expect these child like names from Apple but not MSI.

kibets

We need a definitive size filter for the term UMPC. Personally, when I think UMPC *cough* ULTRA MOBILE PC *cough*, I think of a "PC" that is ummm, "ultra mobile"!!! IE: It should fit in my pocket, or at least into a cargo pocket. If not, then it's in a whole 'nother bag, and guess what - it's a laptop.

gizak

wonky comment box FTW

nutbastard

1.6ghz
16 GB SSD
10" @ 1024 x 768 or more
4 hours or more battery life
b/g/(n?)

nutbastard

@strider_mt2k:
classic!

nutbastard

Yeah, simply sticking European prices through the most recent numbers from the money-changers isn't a good idea. There are a lot of fairly economically restrictive trade deals going on, and those tend to result in inflated costs in those countries, even with the weak dollar.

gattsuru

@bungee: Yes, this is not a UMPC. It's just a sensibly sized laptop. Sure it's probably more portable than a giant 'multimedia' laptop with a 17 inch screen, but it's nothing like the stuff envisions with the Origami project. UMPC should not be a relative term.

Brookespeed

I can't really tell, but it looks kinda thick. That being said, I'm also a fan of the 10" form factor. The LG C1/P100 is definitely a winner for those who can get one (Canada, EU, Asia...)

oyumurtaci

All these Eee wannabes are taking the base 4G Eee and saying, "how can we add to this"? It's entirely the wrong approach. Asus did the opposite, stripped out everything costly and unnecessary from the Eee (optical drive, large HDD, Windoze). The WOW factor of the Eee is in its SIZE and PRICE. Neither seems particularly good on the Wind. Pass (giggle).

shoegazer

I believe that color is called "mauve"

brianhatch

@TangoSmoker:
@godwhacker:
c'mon, strider and mandatory already did that one...

nutbastard

It'll be funny if you had to send it in for repairs" I broke Wind". LOL. OK it was funny at the time.

TangoSmoker

oh no!!!! i dropped it and have in effect "broken wind"

someone had to say it

godwhacker

Generally, if it can fit in your pocket, it's recognized as an appliance, phone, organizer, wearable computer, and/or PDA, depending on capabilities. UMPCs generally start out at the level of the Origami project's UMPCs, at ~7 inch screens plus up to an inch and a half on the left and right for controls and circuitry, with some smaller and some bigger.

You could argue that these devices, including the EEE PC and Macbook Air, are instead subnotebooks since the Origami project focused more on shrunken down tablets than notebooks, but for obvious reasons that's not something marketing is going to want to pick up on.

gattsuru

Capulet or Montague?

dragonmojo

Now, will this actually come out in the U.S? I'm guessing no, most of the subnotebooks and UMPCs at CEBIT probably won't come here but instead Europe since CEBIT was a German show?

I'm interested in the ones that will actually come out here. : )

ninjakamster

The interview I watched with an MSI guy said 8.9 inches, the same as the eee.

Maybe there are different sizes available, along with the different specs.

Silent_Shark

Go ahead and purchase the linux version with a hard drive then upgrade the ram if needed and install your extra copy of XP that is laying around. You may be in on the cheap! Looks good!

Tex1961

The line is definitely getting a little fuzzy between notebook & sub-notebook. Even the prices are getting pretty close to each other, heh.

maven2k

I wouldn't pay over $508.84 for any of the mini Laptops.

ThatOneWeirdo

@nutbastard:
my bad, shouldn't have commented before coffee.......

godwhacker

why even bother installing XP? xubuntu would soar on this thing.

Justin Nolan

10 inches sounds about right. That's the size i wanted the MacBook Air to be. Steve-O, are you listening? MacBook Nano baybee.

Dave412

Given my experience with MSI motherboards, the BIOS splash will be adorned with some sort of Engrish*, the manual will be nothing but Engrish, the fan will be noisy as hell, and it will run forever.

  *"CoreCell - Extreme chip you've ever needed!" - huh?!

jamesuschrist

True, Xubuntu would soar on this machine, but in reality Gutsy Gibbon is not quite ready for prime time. It is too difficult for the average user and in a work environment XP is still the way to go for the masses. Buying this machine with anything MS will raise the price by a couple of hundred dollars.
I think it will be a couple more years until we can all tell MS to stuff it!

Tex1961

dammint... was trying to link image to my rendition of Windbutu... but i messed up with the inline graphic, anybody know how to? (i saw it done on another page)

anyway... [shutter15.pictures.aol.com]

faux_codex

;-)

faux_codex