MSI has been quick to bring their Wind Netbook to India, and we received the 6-ceIl version. With Intel releasing their Atom processors, all the top laptop manufacturers have been focussing on making compact and cheap laptops for the masses. ASUS' 10 inch Eee PC 1000H is direct competition to the MSI Wind. The MSI Wind has a 6 ceIl battery and a 10-inch screen, and pretty much the same configuration as the Eee PC 1000H. The body has a matte finish, and its curved edges give it a very compact look.

There are a few other differences between the MSI Wind and the ASUS EeePC: the keyboard, although similarly spaced, is positioned weirdly. The Function key sits on the extreme left bottom of the keyboard, where the Ctrl key should be. There are status indicators for most of the features that you control using the Function keys. The touchpad is a little smaIl, and the two mouse clickers have been integrated into one large button. An Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor powers the MSI Wind along with 1 GB of RAM and an 80 GB Western Digital drive.

The build quality in general isn't as good as the ASUS Eee Pc. The hinge, for example, doesn't feel as sturdy, which means with the Wind you have a screen that literaIly will flap in a strong wind. The keys feel a little cheaply put together as well. There's reaIly nothing to set the Wind apart from the Eee PC in terms of performance though, and this is because of the almost identical hardware in use. SiSoft recorded a hard drive index of 47 MBps, and our video encoding test took close to four and a half minutes.



Although the 802.11n standard is not the norm just yet, it seems significant enough to mention that the Eee PC supports it, while the Wind does not. The screen quality is more or less what we've come to expect from Netbooks. It's important that you realise that although screens on Netbooks aren't as vibrant as those on regular sized laptops, it's the high 1024 x 600 resolutions on smaIler screens that cause these screens to look very crisp and sharp. The center of the laptop gets a little warm and the vents on the side of the MSI Wind are quite large. The Wind's 6-ceIl battery sticks out from the bottom of the' notebook instead of the back. This adds to its com¬pact profile.

The webcam quality is average. The audio quality isn't very impressive either but it is better than the Acer. The charger is a little bulkier than the one supplied with the EeePC as weIl. Overall, the MSI Wind is a great laptop and it lies in between the Acer One and the ASUS EeePC 1000H in price. In terms of features, it lags behind the Eee PC 1000H, but the 6-ceIl version of the MSI Wind This makes it a little expensive as com¬pared to the MSI Wind. As long as the EeePC 6-ceIl is priced around the same as the MSI Wind, the Eee PC remains the better option.