Product: Asus EeePC 1000 and MSI Wind
Website: Asus / MSI
Price: Around £350

How we laughed when we heard about the 'new' class of computers that have suddenly emerged in recent months.

In case you've been living with the Amish, these so-called netbooks are touted as low-cost, ultra-mobile devices that can provide true always-on computing. What a brilliant idea! Why, we hear you cry, didn't they think of it sooner?

Well they did. Let us declare a historical interest here; we were a huge fan of the Psion Netbook from which it seems that these new sub-notebooks took their name. This device was doing everything that these new kids on the mobile computing block are doing now and, with its touchscreen keyboard and amazing battery life, arguably a whole lot more. This device was so far ahead of its time it still amazes us. (Enough about the good old days – Ed).

But good technology, engineering excellence and innovation are no guarantee of success in today's computing industry and Psion - Potter's Scientific Instruments or Nothing - is no longer making mass-market portable computers. Our Psion was stolen from an airport over nine years ago, but sitting here in a secret pub location just around the corner from INQ Towers, typing this review on an MSI Wind, it is obvious that there is nothing new under the sun.

But while ultra-portable computers are nothing new, the ultraportable for less than £350 is a very welcome innovation. Ultra-portable used to mean ultra-expensive; think Tosh Portege or IBM/Lenovo X Series and expect to get no change out of £2,000.

Then came the revolution. Far be it for us to upset the emperor over the cut of his new clothes, but we were not impressed with the eeePC 700 that started all this fuss. The device has a keyboard that only those users who have cut off all their fingers with a chainsaw and replaced them with knitting needles could use effectively. And the battery life was rubbish. But it was cheap as chips, hit the zeitgeist perfectly and sold like hot cakes.

Since this device smashed into the market there have been a raft of new models that have, without exception, been getting bigger and bigger - both in terms of form factor and price. And they have at the same time being getting more and more useful.

In this review we have looked for the best of the bunch of Intel Atom-based netbooks with usable keyboards - we're looking for a computer that we can really use on a day-to-day basis, rather than a "notebook companion". In our humble opinion the only runners and riders currently in the market - excluding the super-expensive traditional ultraportables from Lenovo, Tosh, Sony et al - are the MSI Wind and the eeePC 1000.

In making this choice we dismissed the eeePC 900 and 901 because of their small keyboards. The same deficiency meant that we could not put the Acer Aspire One through to the next round. We almost decided to put in the HP MiniNote, which has a superb keyboard and a raft of features for around about the same selling prices. But we finally rejected this almost-great machine because of its relatively slow Via processor - and the fact that many users advise wearing a pair of asbestos trousers because of the surprising amount of heat chucked out by its CPU.

So what we have for this subjective head-to-head is a Win XP-based MSI Wind and a Linux-based eeePC 1000, both sporting 1GB of RAM. The different platforms mean that we could not a perform a true 'apples with apples' comparison, though the fact that both machines are essentially the same in terms of memory and CPU means that we expect little difference in real-world performance.

And let us not forget that these devices are not designed to be speed demons... they are designed primarily for email, web browsing and office functionality. Those looking for 3D gaming, fast graphics performance or protein-folding number crunching should look away now... there's nothing to see here.

It is important to keep in mind that these devices are not traditional £2,000 ultraportables. No titanium or magnesium alloy was inconvenienced in their production. But, although they are made of plastic, we were surprised by the quality of their builds. Both machines feel surprisingly well made and solid. There is little flex in the screens and the hinges in both devices are reassuringly solid. The screens themselves in both devices were excellent; bright and clear. In the case of the Asus we were very surprised by the weight (around 1.5kg) which may put off some potential buyers, but part of this can be attributed to its six-cell battery. The Wind tips the scales at just over a kilo.

We are not going to bore readers by going into oodles of detail over the loaded applications or the operating systems. Suffice to say the Linux-based Asus definitely won this round with its comprehensive range of office, web, learning and games applications. In contrast the trial copy of Office on our Wind seemed a little mean, but all of the Open Source applications are easily downloadable.

The familiarity of the Wind’s Windows XP OS, and wide range of applications will appeal to many users. Although the eeePC 1000’s Linux platform was largely intuitive to use and the supplied documentation helpful, it is inevitable that some options will prove annoying for dyed-in-the-wool Windows fans. For example we initially had issues getting a wireless connection running. The device was not being assigned a dynamic IP, and the resultant message: “No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.run-parts --verbose /etc/network/if-up.d” could have been more user friendly as these devices are aimed at mainstream users.

One of the main selling points of these particular netbooks is the usability of their 92 per cent full-sized keyboards, which means they can be viewed as and used as 'proper' laptops. The MSI Wind and the eeePC 1000 have identically-sized keyboards that are far and away the best in their class - far more usable than the smaller, cramped offerings on other devices such as the Acer Aspire One, the 700 or 900 series eeePCs.

However there was an annoying niggle in that the Wind's comma and full stop keys are cut down to allow for a bigger shift key. This will drive many touch typists insane as it means there is a group of very close-knit keys crammed into the bottom right-hand corner which can easily lead to typos - a source of great annoyance to us was the frequency with which we hit the forward slash key instead of a comma or at the same time as the full stop. Perhaps more annoying is the ease with which a user can hit the up arrow key at the same time as the enter key, so taking the cursor up a line and leading to some very interesting and random typing effects.

The eeePC 1000 keyboard has full sized comma and full stop keys - good news for anyone who wants to include punctuation in their copy. However, the trade-off for the keyboard is that the shift key is half the size - bad news if you want capital letters. The Control key is also severely cut down to half the normal key size. These considerations are entirely subjective - some users will find either or both of these designs annoying but equally some will simply not notice at all. The only suggestion we can make is that you try before you buy.

Battery life is a key factor in ultraportable computers and an area where there is clear blue water between our two test machines. The eeePC is designed to give up to seven and a half hours of battery life with its six cell battery. In our real world tests we got around five hours of usage with WiFi switched on. The MSI was due to ship with a similar battery to the Asus but, due to production issues, the UK devices only have a three-cell unit.

While this means that the Wind is much lighter and easier to lug around it also means that in our tests the battery delivers only around two and a half hours of use with WiFi on all the time.

In Short
It is fair to say that both these machines are excellent, particularly at this price point. But the Asus has the edge for most users. It is true that the lower list price of the Wind should mean that a purchaser could invest in a bigger battery when it comes out. However, at the time of going to press the hard drive versions of both the eeePC 1000 and the Wind were selling for round about the same price of about £350.

So in our opinion it really makes more sense to get the Asus, unless the reduced weight of the Wind is a major selling point and the reduced battery life is unimportant. There are also a few other points that add up in favour of the Asus: it has 802.11.n WiFi while the Wind only has 802.11g.

The eeePC also has a better touchpad that recognises multi-touch inputs. Another niggle with the Wind was that the SD card slot only allows the card to go half way in, so you need to remember to pop the card out each time you pack up. On the Asus the card disappears neatly inside the case.

You pays your money and you takes your choice, but we would recommend the Asus by a whisker.

Bartender's Report

Asus

MSI