NbC: MSI Wind U115 Hybrid Review

Conclusion

The MSI Wind U115 has so many things going for it. The netbook has by far the best battery times seen in a netbook so far, a solid and comfortable keyboard, a great matte display, as well as a fully featured spec-sheet. The U115 wraps all of this up in a chassis no bigger or heavier than other 10-inch netbooks running with 6-cell batteries. In fact, we have to commend the MSI engineers for packing in so much tech and keeping it all running very cool and quiet.

As you can imagine, all of this technology doesn’t come cheap and at around £450, the netbook is one of the most expensive sold on UK shores. The value proposition is one of the main areas which we cannot overlook. Whilst there is no denying that the battery life is the best out there using ECO mode (disabling the HDD), it is compromised by a small amount of storage space on the SDD. This coupled with a dated design and performance that is not up to par with other N270 Atom netbooks makes the U115 difficult to recommend. Especially considering the Asus Eee PC 1000HE and Samsung NC10 can be bought for well under £300.

That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy using the U115. We found it to be a very functional device that just got on with things without fuss. However, as some manufacturers are starting to justify higher price tags through design, we feel that this is something that MSI overlooked. In our view, if you are spending £450 on a netbook then you want it to look like a high-end netbook, much like the Asus Eee PC S101.

The other point of consideration is that Microsoft is reportedly banning netbooks with hybrid storage. This means that the Wind U115 may only remain on retailers shelves for a few months. So despite the cost, if this hybrid storage functionality has you excited, then it may be your only chance to buy such a model. We know that some people have replaced the SSD drives with higher capacity models, which would make a big difference to the overall proposition.

For those who do a lot of travelling and demand very good battery life, then the MSI Wind U115 should definitely be considered. For everyone else, the high premium over other class-leading netbooks is just too high to ignore.