MSI Wind U135

MSI Wind U135 - I've bought this for my technophobe husband for Christmas,hoping the neat design will get him interested. To ensure it was ready to roll out of box I've had a good play.

I like the design, the keyboard (and I use all my fingers) and the screen is absolutely fine for 10ins although it wouldn't run Adobe Elements because of the resolution. The battery is only a 3 cell so it only lasts around 2.5 hours, which isn't a problem really. Not sure about the camera as it seemed a bit dark but that might have been because of where I was using it. This model came with a 160gig hard drive, which is the same as my main laptop has. It has the Intel Atom 450 CPU and 1gig of ram and a space for another 1gb. It comes with Windows 7 Starter which apparently Microsoft only lets the manufacturers ship with the 1gig of ram but to increase doesn't cost much. With Windows 7 Starter you can't personalise anything but I don't think he would be that interested in messing. It is easy to to upgrade if you want to spend another £50.

The sound is tinny but then it always seems to be on laptops, it is better with ear pods etc. It connected up to my network without any problems. I hate the touchpad (I think it needs tweeking) but then I always use a mouse and I've already bought one for this. There is a lot of software that I have taken off, including Office trial, which he would never use. Works is good enough, and the free Microsoft Security Essentials.

For less than £200 it is well worth the money but don't buy if this is going to be your only computer. You can't beat speed and screen size and the novelty is already wearing off.