MSI Wind U123 and ASUS 1000HE Show Netbook Evolution

Final Words

When the $200 One Laptop Per Child machines first started shipping about two years ago, few realized that a hot new computer market segment was being defined. ASUS recognized the potential of the small, lower-powered, low-cost computer, and launched the ASUS Eee PC 4G just 6 months later. That first 7" screen netbook selling for around $300 was a huge hit in the US and around the world. From that first netbook the market segment has quickly evolved with added performance and features, and that evolution will definitely continue.

In the year and a half since the ASUS Eee created the netbook market, the netbook has grown from a near toy to a serious computing tool. Those who only need a computer for internet access, writing, and basic computing have embraced the netbook as a tool that does the job they need "well enough" at an extremely low price. So have parents buying computers for their school-age children, where computers have become all but a necessity. So many have embraced the netbook that it is now one of the hottest market segments in the computer industry.

That demand, combined with ever cheaper prices for computer power, stimulated rapid improvements in the netbook. The original Celeron CPU was displaced by the Intel Atom N270, with a 45%+ improvement in the PCMark05 CPU performance score. The Atom also brought improved Intel chipsets that increased the final PCMark05 score some 70%. In a market just 1.5 years old a 70% improvement in PCMark05 performance is remarkable - especially considering the fact that prices have still stayed relatively close to the $300 mark set by the original ASUS PC 4G.

Similarly screen size, which started at a 7" screen at 800x480 resolution, quickly grew to 9" and today's 10" screens with 1024x600 resolution. Some are even looking to move 12" screens into "netbooks", like the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 with its 1280x800 LCD (priced slightly higher than the 10" netbooks) and the Acer Aspire One ZA3 with an 11.6" 1333x768 screen at just $349.

Battery power started with a modest 2 hours on the first Eee, with a modest 38.5Wh power rating. That has grown into almost 6 hours in our battery tests on the latest ASUS Eee netbook and to a whopping 8.5 hours wireless surfing time on the latest MSI Wind U123 which features a 9-cell 87Wh rating. That growth in battery life has had a price, however, since the original 2 pound weight of the PC 4G has grown to around 3.2 pounds in the latest long-battery-life designs. Still, a 50% increase in weight for four times the battery life on a larger higher resolution 10" screen is considered a fair trade-off by most users.

The two netbooks tested in this review - the ASUS 1000HE and the MSI Wind U123 - are very representative of the current state of the netbook market. Both feature a 10" screen in a 3.2 pound body with claims of much extended battery life. The CPU in both units is the latest Intel Atom N280, which measures some 4% to 5% faster than the N270 it replaces. That improvement is very minor compared to the dramatic improvements brought by the earler move to the Atom N270 from Celeron, but netbook performance and capabilities are definitely improving, and we will see even more in the future.

Port complements are all but the same on both machines, with three USB, external video, audio outputs, flash card readers, WiFi and wired Ethernet capabilities, stereo speakers, and a 1.3MP webcam. Both also feature a 160GB internal hard drive. Looking at the surface there is little to distinguish the two netbooks from one another which is often the case in this market.

The primary difference is in battery capacity, with Wind U123 providing a 9-cell 87Wh option that provided the longest battery life we have tested in a netbook. The MSI managed almost 8.5 hours in the demanding AnandTech battery test which should be considered a heavy use testing scenario. This compared to 5:54 with the ASUS 1000HE 6-cell design. Certainly if battery life is your first concern the best netbook choice today is the MSI Wind U123, which provides significantly longer battery life at the same weight as the 6-cell ASUS 1000HE.

If ergonomics is a larger concern then the ASUS 1000HE is an easy recommendation. The ASUS design is more refined, with better attention to details than the Wind U123. While the ASUS and MSI keyboards are the same size and layout, the ASUS has a much better typing feel and was preferred over the MSI keyboard. The touchpad is also much larger with better button feel and operation on the ASUS. MSI really needs to upgrade the touchpad on future models. This will matter if you actually use the touchpad, but for those who quickly plug in a mouse or trackball the touchpad quality is not as important.

Finally there is value. With the street price of the ASUS 1000HE and the MSI Wind U123 all but the same you can choose the unit that best meets your needs. The MSI has by far the longest battery life among this group of 5 netbooks, while the ASUS has decent extended battery life and superior ergonomics. The superb U123 battery life tilts the scale in that direction for our needs, but your needs may favor the ergonomics of the ASUS.

ASUS has also announced the 1005HA as a replacement for the 1000HE model. That could mean some better pricing of the 1000HE as it is replaced with the updated model.  ASUS specifies a very modest improvement in battery life with the 1005HA, and we have just received that model in house for testing. 

While the ASUS 1000HE and MSI Wind U123 represent the current state of the netbook market we cannot help but project a bit on where the netbook market may be going. The definition of the netbook as a cheap computer that is "good enough" for most users' computing needs is compelling. That certainly does not mean the netbook market will be static. As computing power gets cheaper new performance gains will drop down to the netbook market. The huge popularity of netbooks will also be a driving force to provide more capabilities at cheap prices to drive business to new models.

The last two bastions of computer tasks not well-suited to netbooks are Blu-ray/H.264 playback and gaming. Another AnandTech Editor recently emailed me about his daughter and her friends finding ways to game on their school netbooks. The ability to game on netbooks is definitely coming. It is also likely you will see full Blu-ray playback capabilities available in the netbook market in the very near future. As these capabilities emerge AnandTech will add new test procedures to compare these capabilities.

The netbook market will also likely spill over the current "less than $400" market description. There are already netbook sites defining the netbook as "less than $600" and some as "less than $800". We could argue that these more expensive "netbooks" have defiled the netbook definition but the argument, like the argument about performance not mattering on a netbook, is really moot. The market will go where people buy, and whether you like it or not there is definitely a market for small, cheap laptops that bring most of the performance people want for a very low price. Netbooks do too many things too well to be ignored, and they will do even more in the future.