Eee PC killer?
Micro-Star International (MSI) has announced that its answer to the hugely successful Asus Eee PC – MSI Wind – is due to arrive in the UK by the second week of June.
HEXUS.channel spoke to Richard Stewart, product marketing manager at MSI UK, to find out more. ‘Depending on spec, we are aiming the street price at between two and three hundred pounds,’ he said.
This is a fair bit lower than many had assumed and should give Asus a good run for its money.
Stewart wouldn’t officially confirm the processor it will use, but the fact that Intel’s Atom is also due by June makes it a fair assumption that the Wind will be an Atom system.
‘A realistic figure for battery life is three hours,’ said Stewart, in contrast to some speculation of up to seven hours. ‘There will be a larger battery option, but you have to allow for the fact that the standard battery is a fair bit smaller than you would find in a full-sized notebook.’
Asked how he thinks the Wind will differentiate itself from the competition, Stewart said: ‘It has a bigger screen (up to 10-inch) and a bigger keyboard. It also has an 80 GB hard drive, so there shouldn’t be any storage worries.’
People will be able to choose between Linux and Windows XP operating systems.
The main distributor is expected to be Northamber, which is MSI’s number one notebook distie, but there are no definite deals in place with resellers as yet. The first shipment of Winds is expected have been presold and thus will be distributed immediately.
Here’s a photo of a Wind on top of an MSI GX700 gaming notebook.
