'Luxury' Wind netbook wafts in

Bigger battery pack too

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

2nd October 2008 09:28 GMT

MSI's Wind Small, Cheap Computer is going up in the world: a "luxury" version appears to be on the cards. In essence, it's a standard Wind with a wireless upgrade.

It has 802.11n Wi-Fi in place of the usual 802.11b/g. It also has 2GB of memory rather than 1GB.

MSI's Wind: you don't have to be posh...

OK, so 'luxury' might be stretching it a little, but that's how the German retailer listing the new model describes it. And it's worth pointing out that since the retailer, Notebook Shop, will customise any of the regular Wind's specs, it's entirely possible this model is simply one it alone is offering.

It's not quite up there with the Asus N10 notebook-not-netbook.

Meanwhile, Wind owners aggrieved by the mini-laptop's lack of battery life, there's a nine-cell battery on its way. It's a third-party product, apparently, but German-language site Eee PC News doesn't say any more about it beyond an anticipated launch date sometime in November.

The luxury Wind, meantime, is available online now for €479 ($671/£379). It comes with a six-cell battery.

Netbooks and Mini-laptops Buyer's Guide

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MSI Wind
Asus Eee PC 904 HD
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Advent 4211
Acer Aspire One A110