Follow us on TwitterFalling Netbook Prices – 6/5/09
Posted by Tom Greer on June 5, 2009 in Acer Netbooks, Asus Netbooks, Falling Prices, MSI Netbooks
This morning, we have several netbooks where the lowest price has dropped by $5.00 or more.
The first one on our list is a great bargain. One of the Amazon.com merchants have cut their price on the Pearl White model of the Asus Eee PC 900 16G XP to $249.99.
| Asus Eee PC 900 16G XP | ||
 | 8.9" Display (1024x600), 630 MHz Intel Celeron-M Processor, 1.0 GB DDR2-533/677 RAM, 16 GB Solid-State Storage, 4-Cell Battery, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition | |
If you would prefer a 10″ netbook, instead of the 9″ model above, then take a look at the Acer Aspire One D150 10″ 160GB 3-Cell XP. Mwave has just cut their price on the Ruby Red model to $279.99 with FREE shipping.
| Acer Aspire One D150 10" 160GB 3-Cell XP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | 10.1" Display (1024x600), 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB DDR2-533 RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 3-Cell Battery, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The final entry in today’s falling prices list is the MSI Wind U100 160G 3-Cell XP. Since MSI introduced the new U123, the prices on the older U100 models have been dropping.
A couple of the Amazon merchants are having a price war on the Black model. Yesterday, one of them cut their price to $299.99. Just before midnight, a different Amazon.com merchant responded by slashing their price to $295.99.
| MSI Wind U100 160G 3-Cell XP | ||
 | 10" Display (1024x600), 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 3-Cell Battery, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition | |
As always, remember that our price widgets are dynamic. That means that they are constantly updated with the latest prices and availability.
So if the prices in the widget are higher than I quoted in the article, that means you got here too late. Why not subscribe to our RSS feed and be notified whenever we publish an new article?
MSI Wind U123 With 9-Cell Battery
Posted by Tom Greer on May 22, 2009 in MSI Netbooks
In our most recent poll, we asked you what netbook feature was most important to you. You overwhelmingly voted for “Battery Life”.
Well MSI must have been listening. They are releasing the new U123 version of the Wind Netbook with a 9-cell battery.
Amazon is now accepting pre-orders for the 9-cell model now. At this moment, only in blue.
I’ve added a dynamic widget below. I’m sure that more merchant will begin offering the product and more color options will be added very soon. The widget will automatically be updated to show the lastest information.
MSI U123 Netbooks In Stock Now!
Posted by Tom Greer on May 6, 2009 in MSI Netbooks
BuyDig.com has the new MSI U123 netbooks in stock. They have both the red and blue versions available.
| MSI Wind U123 160GB 6-Cell XP | |||
 | 10.2" Display (1024x600), 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N280 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 6-Cell Battery, Bluetooth, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition | Today's Best Deal Red  $299.99 | |
Comes in:
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As of right now, both Amazon.com and J&R Electronics still are taking pre-orders. We expect that to change any time now. So we are including them in the widgets below.
I Need a New Netbook
Posted by Tom Greer on April 13, 2009 in Acer Netbooks, MSI Netbooks, Samsung Netbooks
I was on the road for the past three weeks or so. During my travels, I dropped my briefcase, which contained two computers, my work laptop and my personal netbook (an Acer Aspire One).
My work laptop was fine.
At first, I thought my netbook was OK, too. But slowly, features began to disappear. First, left mouse button, then clicking on the glide pad, then the right mouse button. I could work around those using a USB mouse.
But the killer was losing the ALT key.
I thought that maybe the problem was software, so I reloaded the operating system. No luck.
So, I guess it’s time to buy a new netbook. (Actually, I’ve been looking for a reason to do so. But I was planning on subsidizing the cost by selling my old netbook. Oh, well…)
With all of the recent introductions (some of which are not available yet), there are a lot of choices. So, I’ll use the opportunity to explore as many as possible.
My requirements are different than most. Here is what is important to me.
- Must have a Linux OS. (It’s a personal preference.)
- Must have a keyboard that I can touch-type on. That especially means a full-size right shift key.
- Must be thin and light (since I carry this and a laptop in the same bag).
- Prefer 6+ hours of battery life (so it lasts a whole plane trip), but I might be willing to accept shorter battery life to keep the netbook thin and light.
- If I can get better resolution than 1024×600, without adding too much to the size/weight, then I would do so.
- I don’t need a hard drive. I don’t store much on the netbook. Just about everything I need is online. A solid-state drive with 8-16 GB is smaller and lighter.
- Of course, it has to be a good value.
One other requirement, between my wife, my son Steve (who works with me to maintain this site) and his wife, we already have three different netbooks:
- Acer Aspire One 9″ with XP
- MSI Wind U100 with XP
- Samsung NC10 with XP
So, I’d like to get something different.
As my evaluation progresses, I’ll keep you posted.
Arrgh! Give Me Full-Size Shift Keys!
Posted by Tom Greer on August 21, 2008 in Acer Netbooks, Asus Netbooks, Dell Netbooks, Lenovo Netbooks, MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
Whenever I try to do any serious touch typing with my Eee PC 4G Surf, I get frustrated. Of course the keyboard is small, I can adjust to that. I just can’t adapt to the half-sized right shift key.
The problem is created when the netbook manufacturers cut the right shift key in half to make room for the up-arrow (as you can see in the picture below).
Everytime that I’m zipping along, thinking that I’m making time, I look up to find that my work of art has become all higgledy-piggledy. Somewhere along the way, I up-arrowed when I thought I was shifting. I have to undo-undo-undo, until I (once again) have a legible document. Then, I have to try to remember all those wonderfully intelligent thoughts that I had captured earlier.
It’s not just the Eee PC 4G Surf’s that have this style keyboard. Many netbooks do.
For these netbooks, just about every review complains about this arrangement. I thought that the netbook makers would listen. Apparently, not yet.
All of the Asus Eee PCs are this way, even the 10″ Eee PC 1000 series. The new Lenovo IdeaPad S9 and S10 models have half-sized right shift keys, too. And if the leaked Dell mini pictures are accurate, then Dell blew it as well.
At least Acer and MSI did not simply mimic Asus. They apparently were listening. Both the Aspire One and the Wind sport full-sized shift keys.
A full-sized right shift key is an absolute must for my next netbook. I didn’t have many choices when I bought my first one. But I sure do now.
I believe that I’m not alone. Netbook makers, are you listening???
Netbook Operating System Interest
Posted by Tom Greer on August 8, 2008 in Acer Netbooks, Asus Netbooks, MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
In my last article, I reviewed recent activity by product on our Netbook Price Comparison Guide. While I was preparing the article, I noticed another interesting trend. The level of interest in netbooks with Linux was much higher than I expected.
Here is a quick rundown:
- Aspire One: 67% Linux – 33% Windows
- Eee PC 1000: 30% Linux – 70% Windows (1000H)
- Eee PC 2G Surf: 100% Linux (just seeing if you’re paying attention) 8^)
- Eee PC 901: 50% Linux – 50% Windows
- MSI Wind: 29% Linux – 71% Windows
I’m surprised by the level of interest in netbooks configured with Linux.
I’m not sure what to make of this except to keep watching. If you have some insight, please comment below.
Eee PC vs. MSI Wind vs. Aspire One
Posted by Tom Greer on August 8, 2008 in Acer Netbooks, Asus Netbooks, Dell Netbooks, Fujitsu Netbooks, MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
I have no direct line on sales figures for any of the netbook manufacturers or retailers, so I don’t know what is really selling. But I do see the traffic patterns to my site, which gives me a good indication of the level of interest in various products.
I’ve been perplexed by the MSI Wind. There is almost no stock anywhere. Are sales exceeding MSI’s expectations by such a large amount that they simply can’t manufacture enough? Or is MSI simply having supply chain problems in obtaining components?
I called around and found a few places that had MSI Winds in stock and posted the info. I thought that people would read my article and scarf them up. That article received a very light response.
By contrast, since I unveiled our Netbook Price Comparison Guide a few days ago, The biggest item of interest has been the Aspire One. Second place goes to the Eee PC 1000H. In third place is the Eee PC 2G Surf. The Eee PC 1000 and 901 are fourth and fifth. Finally, in sixth place, we get to the MSI Wind.
MSI Wind Availability
Posted by Tom Greer on August 6, 2008 in Netbook Market
I noticed that my website gets lots of hits from people searching for MSI Wind netbooks. I know that they are hard to find in stock anywhere. I thought I’d do my readers a favor and find some.
I could not believe how many retailers are completely sold out. When I found a site that said they had some in stock, I called them just to check.
Here is what I found:
LowPriceJoe has one 3-cell version in stock at $649. For this price they promise to swap it for a 6-cell version in September.
Mwave.com has 30 (that’s right 30!) MSI Winds in stock. The 3-cell units are priced at $559.99. The 6-cell units at $629.99.
Ebay shows a number of MSI Wind units up for auction. I assume these are really available, but I didn’t try to verify these.
I’m sure this information will be outdated as soon as I hit the publish button.
If you know of any other places that have MSI Winds in stock, please add a comment below.
Will MSI Miss the Window of Opportunity?
Posted by Tom Greer on July 31, 2008 in MSI Netbooks
A month ago, the MSI Wind netbook looked like a home run. There was a huge market buzz anticipating the first units that were to ship in early July.
The early reviews looked good. The specifications were impressive for the price The Wind looked poised to steal some of Asus’ EeePC thunder.
However, MSI has been unable to fill the pipline. Perhaps demand is so great that MSI is overwhelmed. But it appears that MSI is unable to obtain enough components to feed production.
Meanwhile, Acer has filled retailer shelves with Aspire Ones and Asus has announced five or six new models of the Eee
Suddenly, the buzz is gone.
Now MSI is raising the price by $50 to cover higher component costs.
That changes the whole value equation. I expect that will kill enough demand for MSI to finally fill some retailer shelves.
ULPCs Long-Term Impact on Microsoft
Posted by Tom Greer on July 22, 2008 in Acer Netbooks, Asus Netbooks, Dell Netbooks, MSI Netbooks, Netbook Market
Last week, I published an article on how ULPCs were going to disrupt the entire PC industry. Since that time, I’ve taken a lot of grief from my friends. While we disagree on a number of points, the strongest disagreement is over the impact on Microsoft.
I have a number of Microsoft-fanboy friends who took special exception to my comment:
Microsoft’s low-cost XP licensing program for ULPCs is not a long-term fix for the company. It was like putting a band-aid on your skin cancer. It keeps the public from viewing the wound, but it doesn’t make the problem go away.
They believe that the XP Home for ULPCs offering will address the problem. They also took delight in the fact that notebookreview.com found that Vista ran faster than XP on an MSI Wind netbook.
They are missing the larger picture.
First off, the Windows XP for ULPC solution will work in the short-term to correct the problem that millions of netbooks were being shipped with Linux. Most will now ship with Windows XP Home edition.
But the limitations of the XP Home edition are the crux of the long-term problem for Microsoft. XP Home is crippled and will not work in enterprise network environments. Of course, you could upgrade to XP Professional, except Microsoft has killed that product. That leaves Vista, which as we have seen, can run (in a stripped-down mode) very well on a netbook. But buying a Vista license kills the low-cost aspect of the netbook.