MSI's Second Wind Blows Away Predecessor

Here at Gadget Lab we've been blessed with an early test unit of the MSI Wind U120 — the successor to the popular MSI Wind netbook. Our first impressions? We like it plenty. The improvements from the first model are very minor, but they make a significant difference on something as small as a netbook.

Here's a rundown of the MSI Wind U120's features, accompanied by beautiful photography courtesy of Wired.com's Jonathan Snyder.

Bigger, Better Trackpad

First and foremost—the trackpad (above). Almost everybody complained about the crappy trackpad on the first Wind, and MSI listened. The Wind U120's improved trackpad is about two centimeters wider than the previous one, and you'd be amazed at how much easier it is to mouse around with that tiny addition in space. Also, the texture of the trackpad is a bit grainy, which makes navigating less of a slippery experience than it was on the previous model's. Third and most important—the Wind U120 has two silver buttons accompanying the trackpad, which beats the living bejeezus out of the clunky, single mouse button on the original Wind.

Professional Makeover

Other than that, MSI completely reworked the Wind's exterior, ditching the original model's cute, rounded aesthetic for a more professional design with sharper edges and a mixture of black and white (above). More serious this new netbook looks and feels indeed, which business users should appreciate.

Spiffy Vents

The case is composed of a higher quality, sturdier plastic compared with the first Wind. MSI also redesigned the heat vents to, well, look like heat vents (above). The last model's sorry excuse for heat vents were five punched-out square holes, lined with cheap, holey aluminum.

Same Ol' Netbook Performance

As for computing performance, we saw no improvement. And we didn't expect any, since the Wind U120 contains the same guts as its forefather. The test unit shipped with a copy of Windows XP, which operates about as well as you'd expect an 8-year-old operating system to. (Read: Like a piece of sh*t. We look forward to hacking this baby to run Mac OS X.) Anyhow, we streamed some Hulu videos and they played back just fine. Audio from the puny speakers sounds tinny, awful and barely audible, just like on the first Wind. We recommend plugging into the headphone port (above), as we generally do with every netbook.

Spacey Keyboard

The keyboard (above) hasn't changed at all: It's plenty roomy, but some might have a problem with the three keys to the left of the "Shift" key (< > ? ) because they're smaller than the rest, which is a little awkward.

Business or Casual?

With all that said, I personally still prefer the more casual look of the original Wind (above and below)—but I treat my netbook as the computer I use to "unwind" at home (i.e., web surfing, chatting and listening to music).

We'll provide a full review after a bit more tinkering around and running benchmarks. Stay tuned, Gadget Labbers!