MSI Wind U160 Review: “Don’t Believe The Hype”

Chance Stevens 22 March 2010 297 views View Comments

[The MSI Wind U160 is available for $389 from Buy.com]

In my heart, I wanted the U160 to be everything it said it was going to be. I was pulling for it desperately so that MSI would be able to have a success to hang their hat on while they try to increase sales. Of course I’m not saying the netbook is a complete and utter failure but it was competing on one feature and one feature alone; battery life.

MSI made sure to say that the U160 netbook would be able to provide a remarkable 15 hours of battery life. The goal was to have a netbook which ran longer than the current champ Asus’ 1005PE. Well when the dust cleared and after the benchmarking was done the U160 only lasted for 9 hours whereas the 1005PE has been clocked at almost 11 hours.

The U160 still gets a lot of points for style, and design. Also 9 hours isn’t something to sneeze at as many other 10″ netbook can’t even muster half of that. In fact, here is what the reviewers found as their final verdict on this netbook:

The MSI Wind U160 ($379) isn’t perfect—its battery juts out of the back and its keys are smallish—but on the whole it’s a strong choice in the 10-inch category. This machine offers especially long battery life, good performance, and one of the lightest designs you’ll find. However, we prefer the $299 ASUS Eee PC 1001P, which offers a more comfortable keyboard, comparable battery life, identical specs, and a sleek—but heavier—design for less money.

There you have it. It’s only 2.6lbs which may win over many people but you have options if battery life is what you’re angling for.

[Via Laptop Mag]

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