MSI Wind U120 In Stock Through Amazon, J&R: $469.99
MSI Wind U120
Consumers holding out for a newer version of the MSI Wind netbook need wait no more. Amazon shows that the U120-002US, an evolutionary successor to the U100 I own, is available and in stock. The actual device I see available at this will ship from J&R, not direct from Amazon. In fact, searching J&R directly shows several configurations of both the U100 and U120.
What does $469.99 get you as compared to a U100? With this particular model, not all that much is different to what I have today. It adds support for the faster and larger range 802.11n flavor of wireless networking and offers a two-tone chassis. This model also includes a 6-cell battery and integrated Bluetooth. One unique aspect of the U120 is the inclusion of MSI’s EasyFace Login, which is a facial recognition application. You configure it with a photo of your face and can then log in to the netbook using the software and webcam. Lastly, the mouse buttons are indeed buttons, with an “s”; instead of the single button bar I have on the U100, MSI has turned this into two buttons. Other than that, this is the same Intel Atom-based unit with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive that I’m running Windows 7 on right now.
We’re expecting, but don’t yet see, a version of this device with integrated 3G and SSD options. At this point, there are few compelling reasons to upgrade to this particular U120 model if you already have a solid netbook solution. It’s not offering much of anything new that isn’t already available on the market that I can see. When the SSD and 3G configurations come out, it might be a different story though. Thanks for the tip, Ron!
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Easy Face is available as a download for the U100… http://www.filedropper.com/msieasyfacelogonsetup1002
I loaded it fine, but eventually took it off again.
It worked well in well lit environments, but in lower light conditions it was hit and miss.
Worth a play though.
Will this run OSX like the U100? Anyone? Someone who might know the innards of the two machines inside out? Are they the same for chipsets and whatever else that matters? Any tests maybe?
Levi, I can’t see why this wouldn’t run OS X any differently than the U100. From a chipset perspective, it’s the same. The only issue would be if MSI went with different Ethernet, WiFi, etc… components. Can’t be sure of that without the actual device of course. If you have your heart set on running OS X with the U120, you may want to wait until folks receive these units and report in on the components / OS X installation. My gut says that it will work, but it’s your $469.99, not mine. ;)
I am confused, Amazon has the U100-432US with what appears to be the same configuration for $429. It looks like you are paying $40 more for a two-tone netbook, so I fail to see the buzz if I am right.
According to the information released during CES, the U120 uses a new netbook-targeted chipset that uses less power than the older chipset used thus far in Atom based netbooks.
As a result, I would expect that the U120 would have better battery life than the U100.
Rick, are you possibly confusing the U120 with the U115? I believe the U120 uses the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 + Intel 945GSE+ICH7M platform as the U100. The U115 is hybrid storage (SSD / hard drive) and based on the Intel Atom Z530 + Intel Poulsbo US15W chipset. That device should offer better power life than the U100… and the U120 if my understanding of the specs are right.