The MSI Wind U115 Hybrid, on the surface at least, looks very much like any other netbook. It packs in a 10-inch screen, near full-size keyboard and weighs 1.3kg. However, lurking under the hood is something a little special and unique. Find out what in our in-depth MSI Wind U115 Hybrid review…
MSI was the second laptop manufacturer to jump on the netbook bandwagon with the now near-classic Wind U100, which to this day remains one of our favourite machines. This latest update brings with it a rather unique spin on the standard design. By combining a standard 160GB hard drive with an 8GB Solid State Disc (SSD), this hybrid netbook offers more storage and also helps boost performance at the same time.
The idea is you’ll use the 160GB drive purely for storage, for all your movies, music and other media files, leaving the faster and less power hungry SSD drive for running the Windows XP OS and for loading applications. In practise we found this works remarkably well, as Windows loads quicker and apps run smoother.
What’s more, this solution also helps improve battery life, as the U115 can easily last up to eight hours before needing to be charged.
Other than the dual hard drive solution, you won’t find anything too surprising about the U115. In design and overall portability, this 1.3kg netbook is very much in the styling of the earlier model. That’s no bad thing, as you’ll find the build quality reassuringly tough, making this netbook great for carrying around.
Based around the 10.1-inch screen, the U115 offers the now standard 1024 x 600-pixel resolution. We found the screen bright and sharp, but you’ll still find yourself scrolling around web pages optimised for bigger displays than this.
The keyboard is a decent size, as the keys are 93 per cent full size. Sure, it takes a little getting accustomed to, but the keys feel great to the touch and respond surprisingly well.
It comes with wireless LAN and Ethernet for hooking up to networks and there are three USB ports and VGA-out for adding peripherals.
Verdict
The MSI Wind U115 Hybrid is one of the more expensive and experimental netbooks out there today. While we applaud the innovation, the extra price may well deter this netbook from being a success.
Best features
Two hard drives
Great battery life
Comfortable keyboard
Not so good
Pricey
Budget processor
Closest rivals
Samsung N110
This fresh update of the award winning NC10 brings with it a better screen and keyboard but still has the same knockout battery life
Dell Inspiron Mini 10
The stylish design, bright screen and good-sized keyboard make this a great all-rounder at an affordable price
Acer AOD150-1B Blue
This may not be the freshest netbook design around but the keyboard is comfortable, the battery life impressive and the specification great value for the price
100% secured payment
