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MSI Wind12 U230 AMD-based netbooks with 12.1" displays now available; starts at $429.99

By | March 10, 2010, 4:08am PST

Summary: MSi continues to churn out the netbook and laptop releases this week, now shipping a pair of AMD-based Wind12 U230 netbooks.

MSI continues to churn out the netbook and laptop releases this week, now shipping a pair of AMD-based Wind12 U230 netbooks.

The Wind12 U230 computers boast slightly larger screens for the netbook class at 12.1-inches, but still only weigh in at about 3.3 pounds. However, the MSI pair, U230-033 and U230-040, are not completely alike.

First, both of the Wind12 U230 portable computers feature:

  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • 12.1-inch WXGA display (1,366 x 768 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio)
  • ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
  • 1.3-megapixel camera
  • 4-in-1 card reader
  • 6-cell battery
  • Connectivity: Three USB sockets, VGA and HDMI outputs, Ethernet, Audio in/out

The differences really come down to hard drive storage space and processor choices. The U230-033 includes a 250GB SATA drive and an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, whereas the U230-040 packs a 320GB SATA hard drive plus an AMD Athlon X2 L335 CPU.

For these extra spec boosts, there’s a $50 difference. Both are available for purchase and shipping now, starting at $429.99.

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Topics

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Netbook, MSI, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Hardware, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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X2 is dual and the Neo is single
pctech326 10th Mar 2010
The X2 is dual-core, but the Neo is single-core. For the extra $50 the performance and hard drive upgrade are worth it, unless battery run-time is a bigger concern.
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0 Votes
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For that price, it's not really a netbook.
CobraA1 10th Mar 2010
For that price, it's not really a netbook. IMO,
netbooks are strictly $300 or lower machines.

If you're gonna slap in an extra $100, you might
as well go with a notebook.
0 Votes
+ -
Netbook?
Daniel Breslauer 10th Mar 2010
Just what defines this as a netbook? A slightly slower CPU? It doesn't look like a netbook to me.

I have an MSI Wind U100 Plus - pretty high-end netbook, bought in June 2009. Intel Atom N280 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 1.3 MP webcam, b/g/n WiFi, 6-cell battery.

While I'm an Intel addict, these 12" netbooks look great. If the battery life is (really) good I just might consider getting one of these to replace my current netbook, which is really small (10"). The increased screen space and resolution should really make a difference. I'm going crazy from 10" at 1024x600.
0 Votes
+ -
At this point...
Stuka 10th Mar 2010
I think its a combo of lower specs, and no optical drive.
0 Votes
+ -
Many notebooks also come without an optical drive
Daniel Breslauer 10th Mar 2010
HP's new business notebooks come without an optical drive by default, I believe - this was reported yesterday on ZDnet.

As for lower specs - the only thing I could think of is the CPU. Aside from the CPU (which I don't know - I'm not into AMD) I'd call it a laptop. Probably it's a single-core 1.60 / 1.70 Ghz or so, like the Intel Atom.
0 Votes
+ -
X2 is dual and the Neo is single
pctech326 10th Mar 2010
The X2 is dual-core, but the Neo is single-core. For the extra $50 the performance and hard drive upgrade are worth it, unless battery run-time is a bigger concern.

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