While MSI’s upcoming U120 netbook is packing a 3G network card and a 10″ screen, MSI has even more interesting machines just around the corner, says Gizmodo.
Apparently due sometime in January, the U110 and U115 will run Atom Z530 chips, drawing less power than the “typical” N270 netbook processor. And they’ll pack a hybrid drive system, with the OS on fast SSD, a different graphic chipset and Draft-N Wi-Fi.
UMPC Portal has the specs:
- 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU – more expensive but less power hungry chip (2w) than the Atom N270 (2.5w) which is in almost every netbook you see today
- 10″ screen (1024×600 )
- Poulsbo US15W chipset – Poulsbo in combination with the Z530 CPU will make for a total chipset drain of 4.3w
- Wi-Fi B/G/draft-N
- 6-cell battery
- Up to 250GB HDD for the U110
- Hybrid Storage – The U115 will feature SSD and HDD combinations. The idea is that the OS and programs can go on the smaller capacity SSD (8/16/32GB) for quick booting and program launching, then there will be plenty of room for media and other storage on the HDD (80/120/160GB). Computers such as the VAIO TZ have used a similar storage configuration. It will be important to the success of the U115 that this doesn’t consume too much power running both drives.
Meanwhile, Asus’ latest addition to its ever expanding Netbook line is the Eee PC 1002HA with a 10-inch screen, Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP–but comes wrapped in a gray, brushed aluminum chassis. The $499 1002HA uses a tiny, 2-cell battery.
Atom-based Netbooks may have become too successful for Intel’s own good if it affects sales of their more expensive dual-core processors.
Stu Pann, vice president in the sales and marketing group at Intel, said his company sees the Netbook differently now, reports C/Net.
“We originally thought Netbooks would be for emerging markets and younger kids, and there is some of that. It turns out the bulk of the Netbooks sold today are Western Europe, North America, and for people who just want to grab and go with a notebook,” Pann said. “If you’ve ever used a Netbook and used a 10-inch screen size–it’s fine for an hour. It’s not something you’re going to use day in and day out.”
