wind-u123Taking a page out of the Asus playbook, MSI seems determine to flood the market with netbook models this year. The MSI Wind U100 was a pretty big success for the company last year, and the new MSI Wind U120 basically takes the same components and puts them in a shiny new case with a 3G modem option. 

Now Laptop Magazine reports that MSI will also be putting out a Wind U123 netbook soon. Superficially, it will be a lot like the U120, but it will have a slightly faster processor, and upgradeable RAM. The MSI Wind U123 will use the new Intel Atom N280 CPU, which runs at 1.66GHz. And users will be able to upgrade the RAM to 2GB, although it’s likely MSI will only sell the netbook with up to 1GB preinstalled. 

The MSI Wind U123 is due out in April. The company expects to release the Wind U115 with an intel Atom Z530 CPU and combo hard drive/SSD storage system in late March. 

If you’re wondering what’s up with all the different model numbers, keep in mind the fact that MSI, like Asus, doesn’t have a system in place to let buyers customize their orders at checkout like HP and Dell do. That means you can’t just have a single unit with multiple storage and CPU options. So every incremental change winds up getting  its own model number.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

7 replies on “MSI Wind U123 will be slightly cooler than the U120”

  1. I love this netbook, its portable and so light weight. The new processor is pretty nice. From the reviews and what i’ve seen i think MSI netbooks are getting a lot more solid.

  2. Exactly Chad78. I know that they can and do simply add model extension numbers to indicate different variations of the same model. I’m simply negating the statement, “If you’re wondering what’s up with all the different model numbers, keep in mind the fact that MSI, like Asus, doesn’t have a system in place to let buyers customize their orders at checkout like HP and Dell do.” Fact is they do offer customizations under specific lines, the only difference is that the customization is more up to the retailer rather than the customer. The customer chooses from a variety of preconfigured units by choosing the retailer to buy from. They do not assign new primary numbers based on capacities of a particular feature. In fact HP also changes digits to their Mini 1xxx line for small variations as well from what I understand. So the explaination given for offering new model numbers to small revisions appears to be false.

  3. If it’s true that they need a new model number for every configuration, why are there so many different configuration of the U100. You can get 80, 120 or 160gb drives, 512 or 1mb ram, sentellic or syncatic touch pads. Some have n wifi but others only b/g, some with bluetooth, others without, different colors and themes, different battery sizes. Seems to me there are a lot of configuration variations under the same model.

    1. Because they are the U100-422CA, the U100-279US, U100-432US, U100-030US, U100-035LA, U100-053LA, U100-002LA, U100-286MY – and a ton more.

      It’s *much* easier to know which one you want between a U120 and a U123 than a U100-043US and the U100-053US. So maybe MSI is learning how to better market these things.

      1. But like Asus, they make a rod for their own back by having so many options. Part of the point of netbooks in my mind (acknowledging everyone has different opinions on this) is that they are essentially appliances, and should “just work”. When I buy a particular model of kettle, I choose the colour, and that’s that. I don’t have to choose between element powers, lengths of mains cable etc etc. Why should buying a netbook really be so different, and how many potential customers are they losing through sheer bewilderment?

  4. The 2GB of user-upgraded RAM isn’t a new thing – my U100 has 2GB of RAM. Are you saying the U120 *can’t* be upgraded to 2GB? Why would anyone buy that?

    1. Well, some variations lack dimm slots and can’t be mem upgraded at all. Why would anyone buy that? To have a good netbook. I’m fine with 1GB in a mini machine.

Comments are closed.