For now you can work around the issue by simply plugging all hard disks and optical drives into the unaffected SATA 6Gb/s ports on your motherboard. But Asus and Gigabyte are aware not everyone knows how to do that, so both have come up with ways to educate less tech-savvy consumers.

Gigabyte is offering its customers a small utility (left) to detect if a motherboard is faulty: simply download the Gigabyte 6 Series SATA Check tool and you’ll be told if you’re using the affected ports, with guidance as to which ports to use instead.

Asus has come up with a more basic solution, sending us the above close-up photo to illustrate exactly which ports could prove problematic. As you can see, Intel-controlled SATA 6Gb/s sockets are safe to use, as are the SATA 6Gb/s ports controlled by the third-party Marvell chip by which Asus adds more ports to its boards. Only the four SATA 3Gb/s ports are faulty.

Both are clear and simple methods of helping those who may be perplexed by all the talk of SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 6Gb/s. If you’re using a motherboard made by MSI, Intel or anyone else, these precise solutions won’t apply, but if you dig out your motherboard manual and use the photo above for guidance, you should be able to figure it out quite easily.

It certainly represents a further blurring between the lines of ultraportable and netbook, even if its core components are stuck at the feeble end of the scale: the 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 may be all-new and slightly faster than the 1.6GHz N270, but with 1GB of RAM few people will want this as their main laptop.

Despite this, when I played with the MSI Wind U160 at CES Unveiled (shortly after my toying with the MSI X-Slim X420) I found it surprisingly nippy. Indeed, the Windows Experience Index gave it a score of 3.1 for Graphics. That compares to 2.1 for the previous generation of Intel’s Atom processor and graphics chipset.

The golden finish to the keyboard area can’t hide that it still feels plasticky to the touch, though, and things weren’t helped by the fact the pre-production unit on show had been prodded and probed by a number of people: the keyboard was actually coming away at the corner.

As with the MSI X-Slim X420, the trackpad has an unusual finish. But because the nobbles stick out of the trackpad on the Wind U160, as opposed to the dimples of the X420, it’s much more obvious in use. While I’m sure most people will get used to this, others may find the design a little irksome.

Few will complain about battery life. My friendly MSI rep suggested the U160 will last for at least seven hours on a single charge. It adds up to an interesting netbook, although we’ll have to wait until late February before getting the finished article into the PC Pro Labs: this netbook is still so new that it’s not actually entered into production.

I had a brief play with the MSI X420 at CES Unveiled last night, the opening salvo in the five-day technological war that is Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show – the biggest, as they’re rather fond of telling us, in the world.

The X420 is interesting not only of itself, but because its 14in thin-and-light design is a form factor that many people expect to be huge in the coming year or two. Light weight, thin profile, low price and high battery life are the key driving factors, and though we don’t yet know what the X420’s price is going to be in the UK (it’s $799 in the US) it’s set to deliver on the three other factors.

As can be seen here, it uses the familiar tapered approach to design, raising up from just over a centimetre at the front to double that at the back, where the battery sits. MSI quoted a battery life of 7-8 hours and a weight of 1.6kg.

The compromise is inevitably performance, with an Intel dual-core 1.3GHz SU7300 CULV Core 2 Duo processor inside: I found the X420 responsive in use, but if you’re after a powerhouse then you should still be looking for a laptop with a faster, standard-voltage Intel Core 2 Duo.

With a sharp 14in screen at a standard 1,366 x 768 resolution, it’s a cut above its sister laptop, the 13.3in MSI X-Slim X340 which we reviewed in May last year. What also makes it a little more interesting is the dual graphics – the sample at the show featured an ATI Radeon HD 5430, which you can use if you need the grunt, but for standard use you can drop back on the integrated Intel graphics.

There’s also a curious dimpled trackpad. This isn’t as irritating as it might sound, and it’s helped by multitouch support: while this isn’t the revolution of multitouch on the iPhone, it’s handy for zooming in on documents or web pages.

The keyboard is a fine if ordinary affair, with MSI following the current convention of isolated keys, but I was disappointed by the stiff mouse buttons. On a couple of occasions I really had to press down hard to make them obey my commands.

This may yet prove to be the Achilles’ heel of the MSI X-Slim X420, but we look forward to getting a finished product into the PC Pro Labs to see exactly how it performs: ergonomically, in 2D applications, and indeed in demanding games like Crysis.

No, the green IT area is spartan, quiet, and there’s really not a lot going on. Fujitsu Siemens has the best-populated stand, showing off its zero-watt PCs and low-energy servers. IBM has an area devoted to energy optimisation (again in servers); Sun has something similar, backed up by a static display of a low-energy vehicle it sponsors but isn’t related to anything very much; and Hitachi has what you’d be hard pushed to describe as a stand since it didn’t seem to be showing anything at all when I was there.

And that’s pretty much it, really. It all seemed uncomfortably as if lip service is being paid to green IT, but very little else.

In other halls – especially the Future Parc dedicated to research – there were plenty of solar cells in evidence but it’s telling that few of these are currently in commercial products. One of the rare commercial uses of solar panels I did see was from a company called Sunload, which was showing off a really rather cool set of bags, luggage and foldaway devices using flexible solar panels. Bags with solar cells in the lid flaps are pretty much the best way I’ve seen so far to make use of solar energy in everyday life. The products aren’t distributed in the UK but I’ll be trying to coax some stuff out of them to look at anyway.

And, of course, there was the biodegradable flash drive, which while not likely to cause the world to stop turning on its axis – and also not really biodegradable – was at least innovative.

But it’s a bit of a poor show, all things considered.

MSI
On the MSI stand, the Wind U100 series has blossomed into the U110, U115 and U123 series. The U110 Eco promises to bring the Wind’s Achilles Heel – its battery life – up to snuff, with a claimed 12 hours on the standard battery. MSI says this is possible with the use of the new Intel Menlow mobile platform, originally intended for Intel’s pet MID (mobile internet device) product category but now half-inched for netbooks.

The U115 is, MSI claims, the first hybrid netbook with both SSD and hard disk storage, but aside from that looks the same as the U110, and both share the same styling as the original Wind U100:

The Wind U123 is slightly higher-end, with a posher, more angular look and aimed at business users, and it brings an integrated 3G broadband adapter to the Wind range:

Gigabyte
Over on the Gigabyte display, the big news is the Thin Note M1024, and it certainly is thin:

A 10in screen and Atom N270 processor put it squarely in the netbook camp, but the MSI reps on the stand are pitching the price around the $600 mark, which may well put it over £400 when it hits the UK in a few months. The M1024 weighs just 890g with a six-cell battery, but the pedestrian black-and-grey design doesn’t do it too many favours in our eyes.

Asus
On the huge Asus stand, Eee PCs are out in force, although there are fewer new netbook models than we’d expected. On its very own stand is the new convertible-tablet model, the Eee PC T91:

Nearby was the svelte range of S models, with the S101 we’ve already seen along with new S101H high-capacity version. There are also some updates to the 1000H in the form of the 1002HA, with 120GB hard-disk storage and 10GB SSD (which somewhat contradicts MSI’s claims to have the world’s first hybrid), as well as the 1008HA, which adds an Atom N280 processor:

The first hint of the abandonment of Windows XP as the default OS for netbooks can also be seen on the stand. One of the S101s I saw is running Windows 7, and there were little cards scattered about the Eee stand proclaiming Windows 7’s brilliance. This no doubt makes Microsoft very happy.

All of these models should be on the streets of the UK in between one and three months’ time, and obviously we’ll be reviewing them in full just as soon as we can get them into our labs.

Right on cue, MSI have just sent us a few shots of their forthcoming Wind U120, which will be officially launching in January. Draft-N and HSDPA 3.5G will be integrated as standard, and we presume the rest of the specification will be the usual netbook fare. So you can expect an Atom N270 processor, 1 or 2 gigabytes  of memory and probably a 120GB hard drive as a bare minimum given MSI’s propensity towards mechanical disk drives in their notebooks. We have a gut feeling that it might even be the first netbook in the range to sport Intel’s forthcoming N330 Dual-Core Atom processor.

We’re pleased to see that the slightly boring, curvaceous form of the original Wind has been supplanted by a more angular, stylised two-tone design – perhaps in an attempt to inject a bit of a much-needed style into the netbook blueprint, in a similar vein to the Asus’ S101. 

Ergonomically, the U120 looks like it shares its predecessor’s keyboard, but those aggravated by the U100 single, rockable mouse button will be pleased to see that it seems to have been replaced by two discrete buttons.

Casting an eye around the U120’s chassis reveals 3 USB ports, 2 audio minijacks, VGA and an Ethernet port. Whether MSI’s newest arrival has any more surprises up its sleeve, we’ll just have to wait and see. Rest assured, we’ll be pestering MSI for a first hands-on look on an aggravatingly regular basis.  But, until then, you’ll just have to feast your eyes on the rest of the press shots below. 

So we were even more pleased to discover that the very same laptop was going to be available from PC World for signicantly less cash – £32 to be precise at £238 exc VAT. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, we reckon.

Aside from the slightly different colour scheme – the Advent 4211 Netbook has a black lid where our MSI review sample was all decked out in white – it’s an identical piece of kit. A decent 10in, 1,024 x 600 resolution wide screen is complemented by one of the most usable keyboards we’ve yet seen in a netbook – and the trackpad’s not bad either.

Inside is an 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and this is backed up by 1GB of RAM and an 80GB hard disk and around the edges is a decent array of ports and expansion slots. With this specification, the 4211’s XP installation will run at a fair old lick.

The battery is, unfortunately, also the same – with a minimal capacity of 2,200mAh promising similar, underwhelming battery life.

Still, we gave the MSI Wind U100 five stars in our original review, and the lower price means this version looks even better value for that rating. Look out for a full review very soon…

Since we first caught a glimpse of MSI’s Eee rival, the Wind, we’ve been eagerly waiting to get our hands on one, and just an hour or so ago, one of our lovely contacts at MSI obliged us.

And while the pictures may have looked promising, the Wind is even more alluring in the flesh. The matte white finish looks good, and feels good too. It’s no match for the model looks of HP’s Mini Note 2133, sure, but as our recent review made abundantly clear, looks aren’t everything.

The base feels sturdy enough, and the gentle curves do look rather attractive in a pleasingly plain, understated kind of way. The lid is a little more pliant, and really tugging on it left ripples waving across the display, but it’s clearly strong enough to fend off the odd knock here and there.

But, flip that lid open, and the Wind starts to reveal its star qualities. Its chassis might be a touch larger than any either of its Asus or HP-branded rivals, but MSI has put the extra space to good use. The 10 inch display is bright, crisp and free from any unsightly graininess, and although the resolution is still a mite on the low side, just 1,024 x 600 pixels, it does equal that of the Eee PC 900 and, on the upside, keeps text nice and legible.

And the keyboard? Well, it’s clear that someone at MSI has been listening to the complaints levelled at the Eee and its ilk. The keys stretch right to the edges of the chassis, are well spaced and blessed with a good, impressively positive action. The half-height enter key is a minor annoyance, as is the left Ctrl key being shunted to the right of the FN key, but given the keyboard’s surprisingly spacious layout, we think, given time, that we’ll be able to forgive such minor transgressions.

The Wind’s larger frame also allows for a sensibly sized trackpad. In our brief encounter it proved responsive and true, and the buttons responded with a light click. It’s a far cry from the Mini Note’s curious layout, that’s for sure.

But despite its larger chassis and screen, the MSI doesn’t give anything away to its rivals in the weight department. It tipped the scales at 1.264kg, but as the model we saw had a six-cell battery, and retail units will ship with a three-cell, we’d expect weight to end up much nearer the 1kg mark.



And going by the six-cell battery, stamina looks like it just may be another feather in the Wind’s cap. Windows’ battery meter is far from accurate, but with screen brightness at minimum and wireless on, it projected a battery life of seven hours and 10 minutes. If that’s to be believed then, sitting idle, the Wind’s three-cell will probably last about the same as Asus’ Eee PC 900.

MSI will be producing two versions of the Wind, one with Linux – apparently SUSE Linux of some description, but no word on whether it’s been tweaked to accommodate the beginner user – and the other with Windows XP.

The pre-production model we tinkered with had Windows XP on it, and the transition from Power On to Windows desktop was impressively swift. We tried loading up standard Windows items such as the Control Panel, Device Manager and Windows Media Player and each sprung into life with appreciable haste.

MSI also mentioned the nifty ability to over or underclock the processor as required, depending on whether battery life or absolute performance is the priority.

But, even without any recourse to overclocking, it’s clear that the Wind’s specification looks to be an impressively potent one. The initial batch of Winds will all be the top of the line models boasting an as-yet unnamed processor, 1GB of memory, an 80GB hard disk, 802.11bg, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and a three-cell battery. Given that those high-end models will be selling for just £329 including the VAT, the Wind begins to look very reasonable indeed. Cheaper, less well-specified models will start to flesh out the line-up around August time.

Even given our brief encounter, MSI’s Wind could finally be the laptop to claim the Eee’s low cost crown. And, dare we say it, it certainly seems the breath of fresh air that the form factor so desperately needs. With review units promised in a matter of weeks, we can barely wait.

My motivation is that while I’d like to work on the train, getting anything done at the moment requires more effort than I’d like. Which, ideally, is no effort at all. At the moment, hammering out a review on the journey home involves lugging a (relatively) heavy laptop in an extra bag, with the respective power cables in case I decide to use it when I get home, too. I’d like to condense this down somewhat, and some sort of smaller, lighter laptop stands out, as I’d be able to slip it into my backpack with everything else.

Given its runaway success, the Eee PC stands out, but there’s already two models to choose from – the original 701, and the newer, slightly bloated 900. However, both, while being undoubtedly brilliant little machines, come with caveats. The original Eee, for instance, has a screen that could be generously described as cramped and, while I use FireFox and OpenOffice at home, they’re both on Windows XP. The Eee’s custom Linux distribution doesn’t sound like it’ll co-operate with Football Manager, and Windows XP costs a bit more. The keyboard also looks a little cramp for my sausage-sized fingers – my colleague Sasha Muller has warned me away from the 701, as I’ll probably spend most of my time on the train deleting letters that I’ve inadvertently hit.

It’s fair to say that the 901 does address many of these problems. The screen, thankfully, is larger, supporting a resolution of 1,024 x 600. The hard disk can be up to 16GB in size – far better for Football Manager, as well as all that work I’ll be doing – and the Celeron processor now uses all of its 900MHz, as opposed to being clocked down to 630MHz, as it was in the 701. It runs XP comfortably thanks to the doubling of RAM – 512MB to 1GB – and weighs not far over a kilogram. It sounds like the ideal train companion, and one that I can slip into my bag with ease. It’s also a better performer than the original Eee.

However, these improvements come at a price – £280 excluding VAT, to be exact. Which is another sticking point – for not much more than that, I could invest in a genuine laptop with a 13in screen. Back in Issue 161’s Light Laptops Labs, nothing stretched beyond 2kg in weight, with 12 and 13in screens the norm. Almost all of these, though, were far more expensive than the little Eee that could, and benchmark scores indicate that virtually all of them are far more capable performers than the Eee.

And then there’s the raft of pretenders to the Eee’s ultra-cheap, ultraportable crown. MSI’s forthcoming Wind should be arriving in the PC Pro Labs pretty soon, and that is promising to be another contender for my cash. However, the top specifications of that model could cost up to £700 which, again, would buy me a very tasty laptop with a 13in screen and, no doubt, a better specification.

The battlelines have been drawn for my wallet’s affection – the Eee 900 will sate my train-working needs, sure, but the price could be a sticking point when better-specified laptops – I’m thinking larger screens, better processors, hard disks and optical drives – could almost as easily fill a niche in my bag, and be far more versatile and powerful for it.

So, any ideas or clues as to where my cash should go? What’s the best small, light and cheap laptop you’ve seen? I’m open to suggestions.