The deal: MSI Wind L1350D - Computing's getting real cheap - $249.00
The main thing to note here is that this little 10in MSI Wind L1350D netbook is a bargain at $249 at Officeworks. For all a netbook's limitations, you can't lose sight of the fact that this still is an all-purpose computer which is now selling for the same price as one of the crappier 10in Android tablets.
It's always a struggle differentiating netbooks from one another because they are all built to a formula in which only the processor varies a little bit, and even then, it will most likely be from the same Atom family of CPUs. However, MSI has managed to put some unique features into the L1350D.
Firstly, the netbook comes with larger than normal netbook touchpad, which at 6.8cm is wider than those on most netbooks, and secondly, it's accompanies a very nice chiclet keyboard that is very quiet, missing the annoying clickety-clack of some cheap netbook keyboards.
The netbook also comes with MSI's TDE (Turbo Drive Engine), an MSI-only technology that works like a temporary overclock and is pushed as a major feature on most MSI gaming notebooks. Most testing of it on the netbook so far has not achieved anything higher than a 10% speed boost, so even if TDE does not deliver the 30% to 45% claimed by MSI (check this YouTube video), it's still a handy feature for when the netbook is struggling when faced with an intensive task (which for netbooks is most of the time!).
And then there's the standard stuff. The chip is an Intel atom N455 (1.66GHz). While not one of the latest dual core processors for netbooks, it's one of the better single-core processors, so it will do comfortably handle the simple tasks netbooks are created for, such as emailing, web surfing and some light productivity. The rest is bog standard: 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, 802.11 b/g/n, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Windows 7 Starter, and a 3-cell battery.
As long as you don't expect the MSI to be notebook replacement (these thing are slow and the 10in screen is tiny) it's a nice little netbook for a very very good price.
See the ad below.
Where to buy it
Important Note!
Notebook Hunter is a retail price monitoring service. We do not sell notebooks.Please contact the retailer listed for further information on this offer. Be sure to ask for all offer conditions from the retailer before purchasing- do not rely on our advice alone!