Follow us on TwitterMSI Wind: Lost Opportunity
Posted by Tom Greer on August 27, 2008 in MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
MSI has not been able to fill the channel with Wind Netbooks. From the much-delayed USA launch date in early July, retailers across the country have constantly been out of stock. While it is possible that this is due to the overwhelming popularity of the Wind, my perception suggests a different cause.
Back in early July, the MSI marketing team did a wonderful job of creating pre-launch excitement for the Wind Netbook. In fact, in my July 3 article titled “The Real Buzz Is All About the MSI Wind” I noted that the hit rate on my MSI Wind articles was running about 10:1 compared to my Eee PC posts.
The Wind won rave reviews from many writers. It looked to be a real Eee PC killer. Read the rest »
Acer’s Bombshell Shakes Up the Netbook Market
Posted by Tom Greer on August 25, 2008 in Acer Netbooks, Asus Netbooks, Dell Netbooks, HP Netbooks, Lenovo Netbooks, MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
Acer recently slashed the prices on their Aspire One netbooks by $50, which is huge. As a result, the entire netbook (and ultimately, the notebook) market will be impacted.
I was wondering when Moore’s Law would finally be applied to netbooks. Asus seemed to defy Moore’s Law by incrementally increasing the price with every new model they introduced.
Suddenly, paying $300 for an Eee PC 2G Surf does not make sense any more. Why would you when you can get the Aspire One for $329? The Aspire One has a bigger screen (8.9″ vs. 7″), bigger keyboard, the new Intel Atom processor, a larger drive (8 GB vs. 2 GB) and a case that is way more professional.
In fact, it no longer makes sense to pay almost $600 for an Eee PC 901. In fact, I prefer the Aspire One over the Eee PC 901, primarily due to its larger keyboard.
The MSI Wind 100 has a similar feature set with a larger screen. But it’s now priced about $200 more.
What this means is that everyone else will now need to respond.
Of course, this may or may not impact Dell. I was expecting that Dell would be the one who would drop this bomb on the rest of the players. I’m sure their new netbook will be priced appropriately.
Lenovo has already been complaining to the media about the low margins in netbooks. It will be ineteresting to see whether these lower price points have an impact on their planned introduction of the IdeaPad S9 and S10 which was forecasted for October.
HP’s Mini-Note was already rather high-priced, especially given the woefully slow VIA processor. They’ve been rumored to have something new in development. I believe we will see that shortly.
Now that Acer has taken the initiative, the reverberations are just beginning. We now get to see how things will shake out.
Time to Downsize Your Laptop?
Posted by Tom Greer on July 7, 2008 in MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
In my last post, I forecasted that the biggest purchasers of Ultra Low-Cost PCs (ULPCs) over the next 12 months will be downsizers, people who are replacing their existing laptop with a ULPC.
Why would anyone want to downsize from their existing laptop to a ULPC? Let’s compare the MSI Wind (which is supposed to start shipping today in the USA) to traditional replacement options to determine why.
Let’s suppose that your trusty laptop is on its last legs. So it’s time to buy a replacement. For the purposes of my example, let’s make a few suppositions:
- You have another computer that you use when you are in your office.
- You use your laptop primarily for travel.
- You are an entrepreneur and you have to pay for your new laptop
OK. You are ready to choose a replacement. CNET groups laptops into several types, for our discussion, we’ll adopt their nomenclature. You can choose a:
- Mainstream laptop
- Thin-and-light laptop
- Ultraportable laptop
- Bargain-priced laptop (my term, not on their list)
- Ultra Low-cost PC (ULPC) laptop (not on their list either)
Let’s take a look at each of these and see what you get for your money. I’m going to cover the ULPC first and then we’ll compare the rest to it.
Top ULPC Choice: MSI Wind U100 – Windows
My personal selection for the best ULPC to possibly replace your existing laptop is the MSI Wind. It’s really the first ULPC available for purchase in the USA that has all of the needed features (meaning the keyboard is really usable for touch-typing, the display is large enough and hard drive space is adequate). The specs for our comparison come from the Wind’s product page on the MSI website.
There will be plenty of competition soon. But for now, it’s the one I would recommend.
Top Mainstream Laptop: Dell XPS M1530
The top mainstream laptop on CNET’s list is the Dell XPS M1530. To get the most current data, I went to the Dell XPS M1530 page on Dell’s website.
Dell lets you customize your laptop. For our comparison, I used the base system, with nothing added.
Top Thin-and Light Laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad X300
CNET Lists the Lenovo Thinkpad X300 first in the thin-and-light laptop list. Again, I went to this product’s page on Lenovo’s website for current data.
On their website, they have three baseline configurations, I chose the most inexpensive one (with additional 3 cell bay battery).
Top Ultraportable Laptop: Toshiba Portege R500-S5003
Since CNET’s top ultraportable laptop was another Lenovo, I decided to use the second best for our comparison, which is the Toshiba Portege R500-S5003.
The S5003 is no longer available for purchase on Toshiba’s website, so for our comparison, we will use the data from the product page for Toshiba’s
Portege R500-S5004
Bargain-priced Laptop: Toshiba Satellite A205-S5831
CNET’s list didn’t contain a top low-cost or bargain laptop, but I wanted to include one in our comparison. So I went to newegg.com and browsed their lowest priced laptops.
The one that I perceived to be the best value was a Toshiba Satellite A205-S5831. This model is no longer available at Toshiba’s website, so I used the specs from
newegg’s product page.
Comparing Specifications
Here is a table comparing the specifications and prices for the five laptops.
| Top ULPC | Top Mainstream Laptop | Top Thin-and-Light Laptop | #2 Top Ultraportable | Bargain Laptop | |
| MSI Wind | Dell XPS M1530 | Lenovo Thinkpad X300 | Toshiba Portege R500-S5004S | Toshiba Satellite A205-S5831 | |
| CPU | Atom N270 1.6 GHz | Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0 GHz | Core 2 Duo SL7100 1.2GHz | Core 2 Duo U7600 1.2 GHz | Pentium dual-core T2370 1.7GHz |
| RAM | 1GB DDR2 667MHz | 2 GB DDR2 667 MHz | 1 GB DDR2 667 MHz | 2 GB DDR2 667 MHz | 1GB DDR2 667MHz |
| Hard Drive | 80 GB | 160 GB | 64 GB Solid State | 64 GB Solid State | 160 GB |
| Optical Drive | None | DVD±RW | DVD Burner | DVD Super Multi | DVD Super Multi |
| Display | 10” (1024×600) | 15.4” (1280×800) | 13.3” (1440×900) | 12.1” (1280×800) | 15.4” (1280×800) |
| Graphics Engine | Intel GMA950 | NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT | Intel GMA X3100 | Intel GMA950 | Intel GMA X3100 |
| Data Ports | 3 USB | 3 USB, 1 mini-firewire | 3 USB | 3 USB, mini-firewire | 4 USB, firewire |
| Video Ports | VGA | VGA, S-Video, HDMI | VGA | VGA | VGA, S-Video |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11b/g | 802.11g | 802.11a/g/n | 802.11b/g/n | 802.11b/g |
| Memory Card Reader | 4-in-1 | 8-in-1 | None | SD card reader | 5-in-1 |
| Webcam | 1.3 MP | 2.0 MP | 1.3 MP | None | None |
| Bluetooth | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | Soundblaster compatible | HD Audio 2.0 | Stereo | Mono | Stereo |
| Battery | 3 cell Lithium Ion | 6 cell Lithium Ion | 3 cell LiPolymer | 3 cell Lithium Ion | Lithium Ion |
| Others | Fingerprint Reader, HDMI out | extra battery | |||
| Operating System | Windows XP Home | Windows Vista Home Premium | Windows Vista Business | Windows XP Professional | Windows Vista Home Premium |
| Weight | 2.3 lbs. | 5.9 lbs. | 3.0 lbs. | 1.7 lbs. | 6.1 lbs. |
| Weight with AC Adapter | 3.4 lbs. | 7.0 lbs. | 4.0 lbs. | 2.4 lbs. | 6.9 lbs. |
| MRSP | $499 | $999 | $2,580 | $2,699 | $599 ($499 street) |
OK. Now we’ve gathered the data we need to make our decision. (I know there are a lot more options than these, but let me make my point.)
The Weight Factor
Speaking from personal experience, after the first time that I traveled with an ultra-light laptop, I never wanted to carry my old laptop again. A typical mainstream laptop weighs about 6 to 7 pounds. Cutting the weight by more than half makes a huge difference. At least to me. I’m betting that many others feel the same way, too.
If I am seriously tempted to downsize, then the Dell and the Toshiba Satellite (each weighing in around 6 pounds) are out.
The three that pass the weight test are: the Toshiba Portege (1.7 pounds), the MSI Wind (2.3 pounds) and the Lenovo Thinkpad X300 (3.0 pounds).
The Price Factor
Our sample group has a huge variance in prices. If price were no object, I’d buy the Lenovo Thinkpad or the Toshiba Portege. Personally, I like the looks of the Toshiba Portege much better plus it weighs about half of the Lenovo Thinkpad.
But, in my example, I’m an entrepreneur still working for a living. For most of us, the Toshiba Portege and Lenovo Thinkpad X300 would be out. The price to downsize is too great.
The Real Decision
That leaves us with the MSI Wind.
The real question is whether we would be happy with the smaller size of the Wind’s keyboard and display. That means evaluating how serious our desire to downsize is. It also means spending some hands-on time with the Wind before making the decision.
Not everyone will make the decision to downsize at this point. But some will.
Those who only use their laptop when traveling for email, viewing and editing attachments, and light typing will find the ULPC an interesting option. Those who use their laptops for more serious work will not.
But for those electing not to downsize now, I am sure that in the not-to-distant future, that the next offering from Asus, MSI or Acer will be a little bigger and offer a few more features. That will force another look for those tired of lugging their old notebook around.
Summary
The emerging ULPC products are capable of becoming the primary laptop for those who will rely on a desktop for office use.
Those who choose a ULPC for their next PC will primarily be driven by desire for a smaller and lighter laptop. Some will choose a much more expensive ultraportable or one of the thin-and-light laptops.
Even if only a small percentage of people choose to downsize to a ULPC, this would still be a major increase in the sales in the ULPC market segment.
One last thought, MSI is also preparing a desktop version of the Wind that is rumored to be priced around $300. So, if I use my current laptop in the office as well, for less than the price of the Dell XPS M1530 ($999), I could buy a Wind Mini-Laptop ($499) for the road and a Wind Desktop ($300) for the office.
That should keep all of the mainstream PC manufacturer’s awake at night.