I’m not sure if MSI is trying to pull a fast one or not with the news of their U100 Plus netbook. They’ve taken the U100, which I own, and added the “Plus” moniker, but there’s not much that’s different. Complicating matters for consumers are the similarities between the the U100 Plus and the U123-series that they announced last week. There’s just very little difference aside from one or two options like integrated 3G or a television tuner.
Let’s see what “Plus” really means over the original U100. MSI swapped out the Intel Atom N270 at 1.6GHz for the N280 at 1.66GHz, which also has a faster bus speed. There’s also two new exciting colors: rose champagne and metallic blue. And unlike the 802.11b/g support I have, the new U100 Plus adds 802.11n. I guess less really is more. ;)
In fairness, there isn’t much that I don’t like about the original U100 hardware so I probably shouldn’t expect major changes. The original trackpad is a bit small and the mouse bar is a single unit even though it supports both left- and right-clicking. MSI says the new models have an “ingeniously designed spacebar and touchpad” so perhaps that’s a “plus.”

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