MSI Enters Endurance Run With 9-hr Netbook
Yes, there are still new netbooks coming out, and yes, this latest one also features the Intel Atom at 1.6 GHz.
The MSI Wind set the standard for 10-inch netbooks, and latest in the line is the U110 ECO. We assume the ECO has something to do with economy, perhaps, as the main selling point behind this model is its 9-hour long battery life. Of course, MSI makes clear in its materials that “actual battery life varies according to operating conditions and settings.”
Even if the 9-hour rating is under ideal conditions, the U110 ECO’s battery will be the longest running of the MSI Winds, so we should conservatively expect 7 hours from the U110 ECO.
The rest of the netbook is standard fare with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, though the Z530 variant in place of the N270. Instead of the previous generation’s 945GSE, the U110 ECO uses the more efficient Poulsbo US15W with GMA 500 graphics. While this does translate to a more power-friendly system, it means this MSI Wind model won’t be as OS X-friendly as the older one.
The U110 ECO will be one to watch if battery life is a priority, but it’s not the only option. The Asus Eee PC 1000HE is already available on the market, which advertises a 9.5-hour battery life.
MSI has yet to announce a U.S. release date and pricing. Check out our review of Asus’ battery miser here if you need the extended life today.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
-
Tindytim ReplyWhile this does translate to a more power-friendly system, it means this MSI Wind model won’t be as OS X-friendly as the older one.
What? -
different, more efficient hardware that's not well supported by mac os x. what are you lol'ing at?!?Reply
-
average joe OSX is much better at power management than Vista and XP. There have been many articles about it. The took a dual boot mac Airbook which had OSX and Vista and ran tests. While running OS it got almost 6 hours of battery life. While booted under Vista it was around 2 1/2 hours. I noticed this as well on my Dell which had a XP/Vista dual boot. I lost an hour just by running Vista compared to running XP. I think its the Aero desktop and the aggressive wifi scanning as well as just bad code.Reply -
there's just no driver out there for the poulsbo chipset.Reply
It exists already for many years, but even in Windows it has it's bugs and errors.
Very few devices have the poulsbo chipset with drivers for XP, and even fewer for Linux.
OSX is not supported.
I think that's what he meant. -
Tindytim It's a retarded thing to say, you can't make a laptop hackintosh, and it would be silly to do so. Apple is actually competitively priced in the laptop market.Reply