I’ve got good news and bad news on the MSI Wind front. And if you’ve read the headline, you probably have a good idea which news item falls into which category.
First the good news. As expected, MSI has begun shipping the Wind notebook this week. If you placed a preorder at the MSI Shop, ZipZoomFly, Amazon, Buy.com or most other online stores, there’s a good chance your computer is on its way to your door.
The bad news is that the global battery shortage has hit MSI hard. We already knew that the first units out the door would have a 3 cell battery rather than the 6 cell battery MSI had planned to include. But we didn’t know until today just how long you’d have to wait for a Wind notebook with a higher capacity battery. CrunchGear reports that you won’t be able to pick up a 6 cell version until September.
The 3 cell unit will cost $20 less than the 6 cell version, but I think a lot of folks would rather have twice the battery life for a few bucks more.
Oh wow. So my choices are either go with a cheap Gen-1 EeePC (7″ screen) or an iPhone 3G and wait til September. And you know, by Septmeber something else might be out or announced and cause the Wind to drop from my radar altogether.
I agree Mike. I’ve all but given up on getting an MSI Wind. Does it have a good keyboard? Yes. Does it have some of the features I’m looking for? Yes. Am I willing to wait 2 more months to get it? No… Its almost as if MSI doesn’t want my business…..
Everyone is hurting with this shortage of batteries, not just MSI. Whether you buy now or later there will always be something better. I’m going to wait till September because
1) I’ll get to see some user reviews of the product 2) Any bugs can be fixed 3) I want 5 hours of battery life–(I’m going to keep my dell laptop alive for a little longer). 5) Dell might be a better buy, especially a 12.1 inch atom
Get the iphone, it will keep our gadget geekness in check till you can buy the netbook you want. If you need this for business then there are plenty of competitors to the Wind, I just don’t see them hitting these specs, quality or price like the Wind. We will see….
I understand the battery shortage is affecting everyone, but MSI seems to be using it as a crutch at this point. Everything gets blamed on the battery shortage. I think I’ll end up buying something else (besides the iphone) and use it for a little while until MSI gets their stuff straightened out, or someone else comes out with something just as good.
About the iphone, I was replying to Mikes response about getting it.
MSI should have been more upfront with the problems and rather than delay several times the day of when it was supposed to come out. But the battery shortage is a real thing, its them being upfront with dates and info that is a concern.
They should come out with a date that is much later (realistic) and if they come out earlier then everyone will be happy. The constant delays upsets people. But I expect this for a new product, if it was their 2nd version of the Wind then I would have some serious concerns.
Dynamism says they’ll have the 6-cell on 7/15.
It’s true, they are… but they’re listing it for $599, $100 dollars over what the Wind was supposed to retail for
Dynamism is always expensive on their pricing. Amazon lists the 3-cell model, Buy.Com lists both 3- and 6-cell models, but none of the vendors have stock. Everything is preorder at this stage. Will wait until a human being has actually seen one in a retail channel before deciding.
If it really is true about September for the 6-cell, MSI really screwed the pooch. By then (theoretically) Dell and their 800-pound marketing muscle will be in the market.
So where is all those MSI’s they were shipping. Anyone received one yet? I to am about ready to give up and go with the Asus.
I got the Advent 4211 which is a clone of MSI wind a few weeks back in the U>K its cool, but the battery in less then 2 hours.
Me too. The battery life is awful
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