Netbook Madness Game 10: MSI Wind U100 vs. Asus EeePC S101
March 31st, 2009 by Michael A. Prospero, LAPTOP Reviews Editor 
From yesterday: The Samsung NC10 continues its march, beating the Lenovo S10e nearly 2-to-1. Now things are starting to get a bit more heated. Today, the MSI Wind U100 faces off against the Asus EeePC S101. Both of these 10-inch netbooks knocked out the only two 12-inchers in the tournament. The U100 defeated the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, and the S101 unseated the Samsung NC20. While an older system, the Wind U100 is still a netbook to be reckoned with; it was the first of its ilk to feature a 10-inch screen and a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor. While its battery life of 5:13 (with a six-cell battery) is now about half an hour shorter than the average, it’s still very respectable. Not to mention, at 2.6 pounds, it’s one of the lighter netbooks out there. ($379 at J&R with a 160-GB hard drive). And then there’s the EeePC S101, which, at anywhere from $599 to $699, is about twice as expensive as the U100. But for that price, you get an even lighter (2.4 pounds) and thinner (0.7 inches) netbook. The S101 also features a 16GB SSD (and 30GB of free online storage), chrome trim, a beautiful bronze lid, and Swarovski crystals in the hinge. So which netbook do you think should make it to the final four, and face off against the Samsung NC10? The voting is in, and the S101 continues its march forward. Game 11, between the Asus EeePC 1000HE and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 will be coming up shortly! 
Our Related Content
- Netbook Madness Finals: The Asus EeePC 1000HE Routs Samsung
- Netbook Madness Finals Resume: Asus EeePC 1000HE vs. Samsung NC10
- Netbook Madness Game 14: Asus EeePC 1000HE vs. Asus N10J-A2
From Other Sites
- Another Eee PC S101 knockoff from China (Liliputing)
- Asus Eee PC S101 knockoff from China (Liliputing)
- Huawei netbook with UMTS 3G support looks familiar (Liliputing)
Related Deals
- Nero BackItUp & Burn $26.82 (via LogicBUY)
- Symantec Norton 360 Version 6.0 (3 User) [download] $31.49 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
- Spotmau PowerSuite Golden Edition 2012 [download] $48.97 (via LogicBUY)
- Norton Online Backup 25GB $9.99 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
- Lenovo ThinkPad T420 14" Laptop w/ Intel Core i3 $611.15 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
March 31st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Boo hiss! But I’m biased! Wind any day and every day! (Use it hard every day–8 hours of work, and frequently evenings at home. It’s my main/practically only computer now.) Love the Wind! Boo Asus!
(Wife has an eee
-Jon
March 31st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I’ve got 2 winds, S101 may look pretty but I wouldnt swap mine for anything!
March 31st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
OK, Asus reps, this is getting funny. Why are you sending your own people to vote so obviously? I mean, come on, a serious-laptop-money netbook beating a good but cheap one? S101 is better gadget, but come on, we’re not that dumb to believe that so many people can think it twice as good as wind! Get a grip!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Agreed. Laptop Mag should maybe pay a bit of attention to what is going on. I personally watched the Asus jump cover 300 votes in the matter of minutes. Since we’re going with the Basketball theme, I think that warrants a technical foul and perhaps a disqualification.
If this is how it will be handled I won’t bother to vote for any netbook anymore. If this is indeed Asus’s doing (or even one of it’s fans), I’m completetly turned off and will be avoiding one of there netbooks in the future. My visiting. and respect, of this site will also drop dramatically.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:16 pm
The S101 is a very nice, classy netbook, but it completely obliterates the purpose of the thing. While price should vary according to emphasis on different features and quality, the S101 skews the price/quality tradeoff to absurdity.
The MSI Wind (having beat out the Asus EEE 1000 in many comparos) was the first prime-time netbook. Its keyboard and larger screen signaled a point in netbook evolution where a great many people were satisfied with the compromise vs. more traditional notebooks. The Wind is a legend in its own right and doesn’t deserved to be beaten by a fairly irrelevant (how many people seriously own the S101?) “Uptown Girl.”
April 1st, 2009 at 5:46 am
The Wind U100 just Rocks, I love my MSI I use it every day.
I would not traid it for anything.
April 1st, 2009 at 8:58 am
R you’d kidding? The asus is the superior One
April 1st, 2009 at 10:18 am
Who are you trying to kid???
Look at the specs!!
It’s basicaly a Wind CLONE!!!
Same Processor, memory config, graphics card, card reader, Wireless/Bluetooth, USB slots and screen (dimensions and resolution)..
The only difference is the SSD Vs. SATA HDD. And guess what?? The Wind can use an SSD also.
With everything else the same, I’ll take 10x the storage capacity for $300 off the price of the Asus anyday!!
If I really wanted the “Bling” factor, I can buy a 25pack of swarovski 4mm crystals for under $6 and glue them on!
You can get a 32GB SSD for under $200 easily and still have plenty left over for “Bling.”
No Contect on this one.. The Asus S101 is just a Poser of the Wind..
April 1st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
“R you’d kidding? The asus is the superior One”
Define superior. If we are talking about pure, objective superiority, why not throw a $2000 Lenovo Thinkpad x301 into the fray? That computer will be just as light as any of the netbooks, twice as fast, and also has an optical disc drive. Instant win? The point is that there is a nexus of quality, features, AND price.
The Asus is thin, light, and classy, but it has mediocre battery life and a small hard drive, and it is the most expensive “netbook” around.
Very few of the other match ups have had 700 total votes, much less 3,700. If the Asus S101 wins the entire competition in a “similar manner” despite its obvious flaws, that would be a huge disservice to the premise and goals of the competition.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Your an idiot Bob ASUS started this whole netbook craze and your calling them the copy cat. Where do you think MSI got their netbook idea from?
Go ahead think about it
April 1st, 2009 at 1:10 pm
The Wind rocks, it has my vote any day.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
@Eee User: And where did asus get the idea? Yes, they were the ones who put netbook on the mass market, but the olpc made it first. And msi did raise the bar considerably, in fact since the last year’s computex and wind’s unveiling, the netbooks weren’t updated considerably. In fact, wind still has its sweet spots, although it’s the first ten-incher. The point isn’t in who started first, but whether S101 is good enough for 80% of people who have some knowledge about computers to consider it twice as good. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fanboy (nor do I ever want to be), I just don’t think pretty much anyone can consider a 10% better machine be 100% more expensive.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Actually, Eee User, neither of them are the originator. Look up your netbook history and you will find an Averatec AV1050 that was released in mid 2005. It was a Twinhead F10D/F11Y clone.
Asus released the 701 4G in late 2007.
MSI released the Wind U100 at Cebit on Mar 2, 2008 – Still the same spec today.
Asus released the 1000 (first Asus with a 10″ screen) at Computex in June 3, 2008.
So who was first???
1. Twinhead/Averatec
2. Asus 701 (7″ screen, different specs)
3. MSI Wind U100
4. Asus 1000 (first 10″ for Asus)
Never once did I say the MSI Wind was the originator in the concept, but the specs between a Wind U100
and an S101 are identical; except the SSD Vs. SATA and the “Crystals”.
Are you saying you really would spend $300 for some crystals and an SSD with 1/10th of the storage?
“Go ahead and think about it..”
April 8th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
This couldn’t be anymore obvious the MSI wind is just as capable and a net book is not supposed to cost $500+ if you want to show off what you have go buy an over priced Mac not a netbook. They are made to be simple and to the point.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I own the S101 and coudn’t be happier. On my last business trip I took my S101 as opposed to my heavy Dell company laptop. The S101 fit nicely in the outside pouch of my carry-on. I have never traveled so light! I loaded all of the work files I needed onto the 16GB SD card that came with the S101. With MS Office 2007, the full version of Adobe, antivirus software and a few other programs loaded, I still have over 9 GB free on the SSD. For me the choice was easy; what I wanted in a netbook was the lightest, thinest one I could find within a resonable price range (I considered $650 reasonable). This one has all the features I want and I actually get about 5 hours (using factory settings) of battery life on a charge. An added benefit is this thing looks awesome. If I was willing to go with something a little heavier and thicker, I would go with the Asus HE1000 which I bought for my wife for $375; it has a battery life of over 9 hours, a 160 GB HD and all of the other features of the S101.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
And the Wind is big and heavy?
Come on, maybe the S101 isn’t expensive for you, but for us mere humans it’s just the waste of money.