All of this comes at a premium though. At around £450 the U115 Hybrid is significantly more expensive than its 10-inch peers. Despite the technology involved, this price may have been easier to swallow had the design moved on since the original Wind U100. However, if you have the spare cash and are not dictated by the fashionista, then the U115 Hybrid definitely deserves your consideration. Read on for our thorough review, including some comprehensive performance and battery tests.

Positives:
- Best battery life seen in a netbook so far
- Fully featured specifications (incl. Wi-Fi (Draft-N), Bluetooth 2.1 & 1.3MP webcam)
- Robust build quality
- Solid keyboard with no flex, comfortable to use over long periods
- Bright, matte display
- Runs very cool and quietly
- Loud speakers, although loses clarity at very loud volumes

Negatives:
- Does not offer the best value for money given its price-point
- Limited storage space on primary ‘C’ drive (8GB SSD)
- Some may view design as bland
- Small touchpad compared to peers, mouse buttons not well defined
- SSD is a slow performer
- Touchpad is highly sensitive, commands registered too easily
- No chance of upgrading components without voiding warranty
- No overclocking options (unlike Wind U100)

MSI Wind U115-025UK Hybrid Technical Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz Processor
• Operating System: Windows XP Home
• Chipset: Intel Poulsbo US15W
• System Memory: DDR2 533MHz, 1GB (By Module only) (Chipset supports up to 2GB)
• LCD Display: 10-inch (1024×600) LCD Panel
• Audio: HD Audio, Stereo speakers
• HDD: 160GB 2.5″ SATA HDD / 8GB SSD
• Webcam: 1.3MP
• Card Reader: 4-in-1 Card Reader, SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro
• Communication Port: Built-in 10/100 LAN
  Built-in 802.11b/g/n WLAN Card
  Bluetooth 2/1+EDR
• Ports: Graphics Card Output (15-pin, D-Sub) X 1
  USB2.0 Port X 3
  Mic-in Port X 1/Line-in Port x 1
  Headphone Output X 1
  LAN Port X 1
• AC Adaptor: 20V DC, 40W
• Battery Pack: 6-cell 5200mAh battery (58Wh)
• Dimension: 260(L) X 180(D) X 19-31.5(H) mm
• Weight: 1.0KG with 3-cell battery
• Price (at time of publication): £459.00 (Amazon.co.uk), £439.97 (Laptops Direct), £459.99 (Play.com)

The MSI Wind U115 Hybrid is one of the very few netbooks on the market today that ships with two hard drives, one conventional 160GB hard-disk drive and a smaller 8GB solid-state drive. The idea behind this hybrid storage system is not one of space, but of battery life. By being able to switch off the HDD, you can get longer battery times when just using the SDD (that has no moving parts). This is an ideal scenario, for example, when you are out and about browsing the internet.

Contributing to longer battery times is the inclusion of the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor. The Z series of Atom processors have marginally lower power draw and produces less heat than the N270/N280 Atom CPUs. In fact the combined TDP (thermal design power) of the processor and chipset is under 5W This processor is paired with the newer Intel Poulsbo US15W chipset, rather than the ageing 945GSE that pretty much adorns the majority of netbooks on the market today.

The US15W chipset includes Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500 (GMA 500), memory controller, and I/O controller in a single-chip. The benefits of the chipset (in theory) is that the chipset has hardware video acceleration. This means that the burden of video acceleration is taken off the processor. According to Intel, the chipset accelerates a number of video formats including H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4,VC1, and WMV9. Whilst all this sounds promising, later in this review we discuss that the reality is a bit different.

In terms of the rest of the specifications, you won’t find anything missing. We get a nice 10-inch (1024 x 600) matte display, which we prefer to glossy displays. It comes with Wi-Fi (Draft-N), the latest Bluetooth 2.1 spec, 1.3MP webcam, 4-in-1 card reader and three USB ports.

We previously covered the MSI Wind U115 Hybrid unboxing here. Inside the box you’ll find a soft pouch, power supply, a couple of system CDs along with various pieces of documentation. The pouch deserves particular praise; it was one of the best that we’ve seen bundled with a netbook. You can tell from the quality of materials used that this should last a long time and provide very good protection against knocks and bumps. It comes with a secure Velcro strip along the top that keeps the netbook secure. You also get an additional pocket where you can stick in some (small) accessories.

Owners of the Wind U115 shouldn’t really try this at home as MSI void your warranty if you attempt to open the case. Despite this risk, Netbook Italia found that it was relatively easy accessing the internal components and upgrades can be completed with reasonable ease.

First of all the keyboard was removed, whilst this normally reveals the motherboard for most netbooks, this wasn’t the case for the U115. To do this you need to remove the entire bottom panel of the netbook. Once removed you get access to the RAM and SSD module, HDD, Mini PCI-E Wi-Fi card, battery BIOS and card reader.

As the MSI Wind U115 uses the more power efficient ‘Z’ series Atom processors, MSI scaled back on the cooling needed. The CPU and chipset is cooled using a heat sink whilst a fan on the right side of the case is used to expel hot air in the case. Overall they felt the components used justified the premium charged for this unique hybrid netbook.

Netbook Italia also has a video overview of the U115 which we’ve included below. Our Wind U115 review sample unfortunately broke down so our review is on hold right now. MSI has thankfully promised us another sample soon, so we should be able to give your own full verdict on the Wind U115 soon.

Given how much tech MSI has managed to squeeze into the case, I’ve very impressed to see that the weight is no heavier than the Samsung N120 at around 1.3kg, including a 6-cell battery. This particular model isn’t really aimed at the fashionista, you won’t find any dynamic angles, striking curves or chrome effects on the U115. However, it does have a printed design on the glossy lid and it comes with a matte display which always earns a tick in our books.

The keyboard looks a little small, but that’s bound to be the impression when you’ve just spent a lot of time with the Samsung N120, which has a 97-percent sized keyboard. The touchpad also looks small and the single rocker bar sits a bit too flush with the palm rest, which means I often have to look to see where the left mouse button is. The Wind U115 is all about battery life though and we’re very much looking forward to seeing how it fares against the competition. We should have a review up in a couple of weeks, in the meantime check out our unboxing pictures below.

Richard Stewart, MSI’s UK Marketing Manager, confirmed to us that it will not be removing the U115 Hybrid netbook from retailer’s shelves. “MSI will continue to sell the U115 until our current stock in the UK (and WW) has been sold,“ Stewart said. He did, however confirm that production of the U115 Hybrid will cease at the end of July at Microsoft’s request. What this means is that if you are considering this product then you better not hang around for too long. Stewart even feels that the U115 Hybrid will become a “special limited edition” product.

MSI kindly sent us a review sample of the U115 Hybrid and we should have some unboxing pictures for you tomorrow.

Whilst the exterior of the 10-inch Samsung N310 is certainly unique, it also comes with a flush glossy display and chiclet keyboard. The innards aren’t anything to get too excited about though, powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU, 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD. It seems as if our US cousins will get a 6-cell battery with a promised 11 hour battery life, compared to the 4-cell battery seen in the European SKUs. The Samsung N310 is already available in the UK, where it costs £376.17.

There is a rumour that Microsoft is looking to ban hybrid storage netbooks that run XP Home, but that doesn’t look like it’s stopping MSI. It has placed its Wind U115 Hybrid netbook on sale on its official website for $499. The high cost is mainly due to dual internal storage of both a SSD and HDD. This combined with a power efficient Z series Atom CPU means some of the best battery times seen in a netbook. The Wind U115 is now available in the UK for £450.

Via Liliputing and Portable Monkey.

However, it appears that we won’t be getting too many more netbooks that employ similar systems if Microsoft gets its way. According to bit-tech, Microsoft is banning netbook manufacturers from producing hybrid storage netbooks, when using Windows XP Home.

If true, this seems to be an extension of Microsoft trying to separate low-end netbooks from more premium models by renaming the ‘netbook’ term. To get around this, I imagine vendors could use Windows 7, but it’s unknown whether Microsoft has placed stipulations on Windows 7 too.

The report says that MSI has until the end of June to remove the U115 Wind netbook from the shelves. I really hope that is not the case, as the U115 is one of the most unique netbooks on the market. It offers the longest battery life and very good performance for a 10-inch netbook. Yes, the styling isn’t inspirational and it comes at a premium, but there is no doubt a market for this type of netbook.

I do wonder whether MS has the power to take the U115 Hybrid off shelves. Surely a change of OS to maybe XP Pro would appease MS, but consequently this will raise the price of the U115 Hybrid. More news on this as we have it.

Interestingly, the manual also talks about a SKU with a 1.86GHz processor option, although this hasn’t been announced yet. It also goes through all of the power management features including both ECO and Hybrid storage power saving functions. The English manual can be downloaded here.

In related news, TrustedReviews put the netbook through its paces today and scored it 6/10 overall. They found it didn’t offer enough value for money with an uninspiring design. The 10-inch Wind U115 netbook is available to purchase in the UK for around £450.

The keyboard itself appears to be quite solid and doesn’t have any flex. A touchpad sits underneath, although it really does look quite small. There is a rocker bar underneath this. The U115 comes with a matte display. It’s a shame to see no access panels for either the HDD or SDD on the bottom of the unit. He expects a full review to be up in a fortnight. Check out the video after the jump.

The Wind U115 does come at a premium, but that is down to the Hybrid (HDD/SDD) storage solution and Intel’s latest Poulsbo chipset. To enhance battery times, the HDD can be disabled. The UK SKU comes with a 160GB hard-disk drive plus a 8GB solid-state drive, although 16GB SSD + 120GB HDD options are also on the way. Power efficiency is also helped by using a Z series Atom processor.

The battery tests showed that it offered the longest battery life (whether you disable the HDD or not) and good performance from the 1.6GHz Z530 Atom CPU. However, they felt it didn’t offer good value for money. At £450 it is significantly more expensive than its predecessor and placing it in the same price bracket as the luxurious Asus S101, which comes with a 32GB SSD and is much slimmer than the Wind U115. Click through for the key review points.

Key points from MSI Wind U115 review:

• The hybrid solution is quite unique. You can load the netbook’s OS and applications onto the faster SSD, while keeping files on the HDD.
• When connected to the mains, both are active, however when you switch to battery power you can disable the HDD. This means you wouldn’t have access to any files in this mode. Re-starting the HDD only takes around 10 seconds.
• Despite fitting two storage drives, the dimensions (260 (W) x 180mm (D) x 36mm – 46mm (H)) and weight (1.3kg) match the original Wind. It has the same curvy looks as the original Wind.
• The 10-inch (1024 x 600) matte display is surrounded by a thick bezel. A 1.3MP webcam sits at the top of the bezel, with a mic towards the right. The colours are a little less pronounced, but still reasonable.
• The card reader sticks out slightly from the edge of the machine.
• Keyboard is decent enough. It fills the width of the U115 and has decent-sized keys. However, the Fn key sits where the Ctrl is normally placed. This can cause problems if you tend to use a lot of keyboard shortcuts.
• The touchpad is a little small. This seems a strange decision given how much space there is to accommodate a wider one.
• In terms of benchmarks, it scored well in PCMark05, sitting between the best N270 Atom netbooks and those with N280 Atom CPUs. Memory performance was a little slower.
• As you would expect, the hard drive score was very fast and second only to the Asus Eee S101 which has a 32GB SSD.
• Battery life results were the best seen in a netbook. With both drives working, the Wind U115 lasted for 341 minutes and with the HDD disabled it lasted an astonishing 478 minutes. This was a video playback test, so for normal tasks you can expect significantly longer battery life.

We have been eagerly awaiting the release of the Wind U115 Hybrid, mainly on the reports of its phenomenal battery life. We have seen tests that yield 13 hours on the 6-cell battery and up to 25 hours on the 9-cell battery.

It is expensive for a 10-inch netbook, however this premium is down to the Hybrid (HDD/SDD) storage solution and Intel’s latest Poulsbo chipset. The UK SKU will come with a 160GB hard-disk drive and 8GB solid-state drive. The HDD can be disabled which helps with the long battery times.

The 10-inch (1024 x 600) LED-backlit display is powered by a low-power 1.6GHz Z530 Atom CPU and US15W (Poulsbo) chipset. This chipset provides full hardware acceleration of HD files (including H.264, MPEG2 and VC1) helping to reduce the total power consumption. It will come with 1GB RAM and a 4-in-1 card reader. Other features include WiFi (including draft n), Bluetooth, a 1.3MP webcam and three USB ports.