MSI Wind12 U230 officially launched & reviewed
November 27, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Details of the 12.1-inch MSI Wind12 U230 ultra-thin already popped up on its official website at the end of last month although the product page was pulled shortly after. MSI has now officially unveiled the Wind12 U230. The model is similar to the U200/U210 models, but comes with Windows 7 and is powered by AMD’s new Congo 1.6GHz dual-core processor.
The company claims that AMD’s new platform consumes 60 percent less power than standard notebooks and offers 4-hours of battery life. It also comes with the AMD RS780MN and SB710 chipsets that support HD and DX10 and ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics.
Hexus has already managed to review an early engineering sample of the U230. They felt AMD’s Congo platform performed admirably against Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors. Graphics performance was also good, with basic casual gaming a possibility.
Battery life was a negative point, managing to last for just over three hours. It was also noisy in use, had a highly reflective glossy display and glossy lid prone to fingerprint marks. However, this needs to be measured against a device that has good build quality, a comfortable keyboard and value price point of £399. Retail availability is expected in January.
MSI Wind12 U230 Technical Specifications:
- AMD Congo CPU MV40 / L335
AMD RS780MN + SB710
Graphics: ATi Radeon HD3200 - LCD Display: 12.1″ 1366*768 HD Ready
- DDR2 667/800MHz, 2 SO-DIMM slot, Max: 4GB
- HDD: 160GB/250GB/320GB SATA
- Windows 7 Home Premium
- 1.3MP Webcam
4-in-1 Card Reader, SD/MMC/MS/XD - Built-in 10/100/1000 LAN
Built-in 802.11b/g/n WLAN Card / Bluetooth V2.0 EDR Supported (Bluetooth is optional) - I/O Ports:
VGA (15-pin, D-Sub)
USB 2.0 Port x 3
Mic-in Port
Headphone Output
LAN Port
HDMI - Keyboard: 87 keys
- AC Adaptor: 65W
- Battery Pack: 3-cell / 6-cell (optional)
- Dimensions : 297(L) X 190(D) X 24-31(H)mm
- Weight: 1.3KG with 3 cell battery
December 2nd, 2009 5:05 PM
When you say just over 3 hours of battery time you do not specify which battery you used for the test.
So which is it, 3 or 6 cell? And what was the HDD size? Did it have bluetooth?
When making these types of reviews you need to specify what you used if there are options because your results will vary.
December 2nd, 2009 5:07 PM
The model that Hexus reviewed included Bluetooth, 320GB HDD and a 6-cell (58WHr) lithium-ion battery. Click through on their review for more detail. Remember configurations will differ and the model reviewed is a pre-release version.