Over the past few months we have had quite a few looks at the various flavours of the Asus Eee PC. But now, because of the fantastic success of the Eee, copycat netbooks are coming out of the woodwork in an attempt to grab a slice of the action. Action is definitely the the right word as well, you only have to look at the most popular laptops on PriceGrabber  to see that,  the majority are Eee PC’s or other netbooks. Anyway it is definitely time to look at the growing competition. We started by looking at the Acer Aspire One a week ago and today I thought we should have a look at the MSI Wind.

MSI Wind

Due to its 10″ screen this netbook is a direct competitor to the Asus Eee PC 1000 and the price is also in the right ballpark (with the 80GB black version being about ₤30 cheaper).  The screen is the now fairly standard 1024 x 600-pixel resolution found on the more recent netbooks but the bigger size giving a better feel.  The bigger size also allows a near full size keyboard which should please people who feel cramped on the smaller notebooks.

Under the bonnet

In terms of specifications the MSI Wind is pretty similar to all the other netbooks on the market. It sports an Intel Atom processor,  1GB of RAM, WiFi,  a card reader, a 1.3 MP webcam, microphone and 3 USB ports.  However the Wind does come with either a 80GB or 120GB standard hard drive (no SSD here).  The 120 GB option is by far the biggest drive available in a netbook. There is a choice of batteries and a number of reviews have reporting good battery life with the 6 cell version.

Good looks

The MSI Wind is one of, if not the best, looking netbooks out there and that combined with the 10″ form factor, which in my opinion is the better size for a netbook, means that it a very serious contender for anyone wanting to take part in the netbook revolution.

We have talked at length about both the original Asus Eee Pc and its more recent updates and I thought it would be interesting to look at one of the competitors that it has spawned.  Acer have made a nice entry to the netbook market with the release of the Acer Aspire One A110L Notebook.

Specifications

The Aspire one seemingly similar to the latest Asus Eee 901 in a number of ways, not least the operating system and its size.  Specifications include the Intel Atom processor,  512Mb of RAM and an 8 GB SSD. The Aspire has a 9″ screen with a back lit LCD that delivers a nice 1024×600 resolution.  Other features similar to the Eee are the built in webcam, 802.11b/g WiFi capability, USB ports and SD card readers. The Aspire is about 2cm wider than the Eee which is used to provide a slightly bigger keyboard which may well be enough to please those that find the Eee keyboard too small. All in a package that weighs less than a kilo and has pretty smart looks as well.

Linux

Acer like Asus have opted initially for a Linux operating system, although there is a Windows XP version with a 80GB standard hard drive in the works. Acer have included the Linpus Lite version of Linux rather than the customised version of Xandros used on the Eee, but this provides a very similar “simple” interface that makes it easy to find what you need.

Overall the Acer Aspire One A110L Notebook is an excellent addition to the netbook genre and at these prices is excellent value for money.  Have you bought an Acer Aspire One? Are you happy with it?

Asus the manufacturer of the Eee PC are now busily trying to capitalise on the massive  success of the Eee PC Brand and fight off the growing competition. They have introduced a number of new versions under the brand name.  Yesterday I blogged about the Eee PC 901, the most up to date version of the original Eee PC, but in this post I want to look at the Eee PC 1000. This is the newest release from Asus and one which departs from the original vision somewhat.

Asus Eee PC 1000

The Eee PC 1000 departs a little from the original concept of a small and lightweight PC in that it is significantly bigger and also quite a bit heavier.  The main reasons for the size increase is to accommodate a bigger 10″ screen and a bigger keyboard.  The weight increase (1.3 -1.45 kg) comes from both its bigger size and a bigger more powerful battery. The 10″ screen comes with a good 1024 x 600 resolution and the keyboard is now claimed by Asus to be about 95% of the size of a standard laptop keyboard. As the small keyboard on the original Eee PC was considered to small to be truly usable this will make a lot of people happy and from the reviews I have read so far most consider the keyboard a big improvement.

Apart from the storage (more on that in a minute), the other updates are all similar to those on the Eee PC 901 with a Intel Atom CPU, 1 GB RAM, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth wireless.  The battery life is now an impressive 5 - 8 hours depending on usage and what storage options you go for.  The  on board storage has increased  significantly with both 40 GB SSD and 80 GB standard hard drive options available, both of which offer a big increase over the original models.

Options

The Eee PC 1000 is available in both a Linux and Windows XP version (1000H), the only difference apart from the operating system is that only the Linux version comes with the 40 GB SSD. The Windows XP version (1000H) has a 80 GB standard hard drive however if you were so inclined you could install your preferred operating system on either model.

Verdict

Making the perfect netbook is always going to be a balance between size , weight, screen and keyboard size and battery life.  Asus appears to have decided that you can’t please everybody and have produced two versions each with a different emphasis on these criteria, which I think is the right approach.   The Eee PC 1000 is a capable machine that will make the Eee PC brand stronger.

My own choice would be for the Linux version to get the SSD drive and a reduced weight machine which will also run cooler. What would you choose?

Asus the manufacturer of the Eee PC are now busily trying to capitalise on the massive, and I suspect somewhat unexpected, success of the Eee PC Brand. They have introduced a number of new versions under the brand name.  I blogged about my first impressions of the Eee 900 the first update of the original Eee PC a few days ago, but now I want to look at some of the newest releases from Asus starting in this post with the Asus Eee PC 901.

Asus Eee PC 901

The Eee PC 901 is essentially the Eee PC 900 updated to take advantage of the new Intel Atom CPU. This low power processor improves battery life while maintaining or even improving performance and operating at lower temperatures. This coupled with the better battery and low power requirements of the 20Gb SSD (Solid State Drive - like USB flash drives) means that Asus are claiming up to 8 hours battery life for the Eee 901 which is important for the intended go anywhere vision associated with the Eee.  There are other small changes such as  802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth wireless capability all improving the capability of Eee without taking away what makes it special.

The Eee 901 is available in both a Linux and Windows XP version, the only difference apart from the operating system is that the XP version comes with only a 12GB SSD instead of 20GB, which presumably reflects the additional cost of Windows.

So updated with new features and with a new CPU and better battery, the Eee PC 901 still delivers the small, easy to use, go anywhere spirit which the original embodied. In the next post we will look at the slightly bigger Eee PC 1000.

If you have been reading this blog regularly then you will know that I am a big fan of the Asus Eee and that I have invested in an Asus Eee 4G PC  which was supposed to be a first computer for my youngest son. I say supposed because it often gets requisitioned by my wife who seems to prefer it to the other notebooks available in the household.  Early this year Asus launched a updated version of the Eee called the Asus Eee 900 and we have talked about the updated specifications in a previous post. Recently I got the chance to get my hands on one of these and I thought I would share my first impressions.

First of all there appears to be little change in terms of size and general appearance when closed, however as soon as you open up the lid you immediately notice the much bigger screen which fills the entire lid real estate. The screen resolution has increased also to very nice 1,024 x 600 which combined with the larger screen really makes the Eee 900 an even better experience than the original 4G PC.  The touchpad is now bigger and in my opinion nicer and easier to use and the keypad seems a lot more responsive although of course still the same small size which does take a little bit of getting used to.

A lot of the other improvements which don’t have an instant impact are present under the bonnet, such as increased memory, storage and camera  which are obviously important  and will improve overall performance. All in all the new Asus Eee 900 has improved the capability of the Eee brand for a small increase in price.

I still think that price is worth paying although it might be worth looking at the even newer models that Asus have recently released. We will have a look at those in an upcoming post.