Want a solid, portable laptop for less than $400? Look no further than the MSI Wind Netbook. It is probably a brand you've never heard of, and I was skeptical at first as well, but I purchased one for one of my clients recently and it is a great little laptop.
First of all, get the one with the 6-cell battery (you can usually tell it is the one with the 6-cell battery because it will be black). The original white one comes with a 3-cell battery which is not enough for most people. In any case, the black MSI Wind comes standard with a 10" screen (just big enough), a 1.6GHZ processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard-drive, Windows XP Home, a built-in camera, 3 USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, VGA out, Bluetooth, a carrying case, and of course the AC adapter. Notable exclusions are an optical drive (although you could get a USB external) or a PCMCIA/Expresscard slot.
You can easily upgrade the RAM to 2GB (as I did), there are easy to follow instructions on-line.
Quite honestly, this little guy outperforms the tiny laptops you would have paid $2k+ for a year ago. The only things it won't handle really well are 3D graphics or HD video (480p works well, but anything over that is gonna drop frames). Do you really need HD on a 10" screen though? Besides, did I mention it is less than $400!!??
They are available on amazon.com and at Best Buy, among other places. It is a great starter computer, road computer, or kids computer at the very least - and if you aren't a gamer it would be a great primary computer when coupled with an external monitor. I highly suggest you check one out.
Visit
http://www.smileyfacepc.com if you need help with new computer setup.
