I’ve been negative about technology for the last couple of days, but that is all set to change with MSI announcing the Wind. It is MSI’s competitor to the EeePC, with a few small differences.
It will feature a 10-inch display, a inch and a bit larger then the upcoming EeePC. It will use Atom architecture, and though the tests have shown it isn’t lightning, I’m confident the battery tests will be impressive. It will feature a 2.5-inch HDD, meaning the user should be able to put any size drive they want in there, as long as it fits. OS wise it features other Windows or Linux.
Some people are saying that “those features are for a notebook not a UMPC”, but the EeePC is a notebook.If the EeePC could do the same thing it would be an even more attractive package. If you consider what you gain, especially with an expected 7 hour battery life, the Wind will be more complete for the mobile user.
The price range is pretty crazy, with it being as low as $US450 and going to around $US1000. It really excites me to imagine a device that I could charge and use for a whole day without needed a second battery. No date as yet, but expect a rant when the product is released and reviewed.
For more info, hit up Gizmodo.
The Atom AKA Silverthorn is set to be in every upcoming MID device, and has already been demoed on a bunch of devices.I want to know how it will perform against other processor’s in its class? The people over at XTReview were lucky enough to sneak some benchmarks of a demo Asus MID device.
The results aren’t fantastic, with the 1.6GHz Atom in review doing very average on 1MB Super Pi benchmarks. It was beaten by the 900MHz Celeron, which could mean the EeePC will be faster then the upcoming MID’s. On the other hand, the Pi tests aren’t the bases of all results, and will have to wait for a complete benchmark to be completed (will it run Crysis?).
The advantages of the 45nm processors are the power savings, but considering that a lot of companies are expecting to be running Vista on these little devices, they may encounter some performance issues. Until I have seen all round benchmarks, including battery life, I will reserve my all mighty judgement.
For the benchmarks, click over to XTReviews.
P.S. A little less advertising and a little more design goes a long way XTReviews.
It has been used for hundreds of years to explain things that are small (as well as collection of neutrons, electrons and protons). The name that the Silverthorn collection of Intel processors will hold is Atom. Menlow will also get a name change following the shrinking of the core down to 45nm (see the Apple Air) to Centrino Atom. Now all we are waiting for is the collection of fast and low powered MID’s and UMPC with Atom’s Inside (TM Intel).
For more info, click over to Engadget.