When I first started shopping for a netbook computer i was uber skeptical. Many of them came with some strange OS I’d never heard of, a 2GB hard drive and really were only able to surf the web. I’m guessing that’s why they’re caled netbooks in the first place. I needed something portable but able to leap small buildings in a single bound. OK not really but I did need to be able to edit MS Office files, get my email, listen to my podcasts and all those other things we like to do while we’re working.

I was so excited when I found the MSI u100 netbook over at Amazon. Since I use ZoomText I decided that the 8 inch screen Acer netbooks weren’t going to work. I needed a little bit bigger screen but still wanted that portability I desperately needed. The u100 has all of that and more!

This little baddy has a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP, 1GB ram (which is upgradable to 2GB.) and has a 10 inch screen! I purchaced the one with the 6 cell battery for a longer battery life. I am a lazy butt and procrastinator and hate to carry extra things with me. I didn’t want to have to lug around the cords!

The netbook is a little bulkier than some others. This is due to the 6 cell battery. It’s back heavy so if you’re trying to balance it on the arm of a chair or something you may want to make sure you have a good hold on it. I’ll gladly take the bulkier weight so that i can have better battery life though.

Once i got the u100 I immediately installed ZoomText on it. I had to do so off of a flash drive since the netbooks don’t have a CD drive. Why uses those things anymore anyway?  This went rather smoothy. ZoomText runs wonderfully on the netbook. I’ve not had any slowness while running it.

I’ll be honest, the sound quality isn’t the greatest. The speakers sound a bit tinny but are we really looking for high sound quality in a teeny portable computer? Once you plug your headphones into it the sound is perfect.  I prefer running it with headphones since i doubt the people at my local coffee shop want to hear Nine Inch Nails blasting out of the little speakers. Not all of us like my favorite band!

Of course the u100 also has a WiFi card in it. No matter where you’re at it’ll find you a signal. It was much better at doing so than even my old Toshiba laptop. I was very impressed by this. The speed of connection is great! m able to surf the web, download things, get my email and not have any slowness.  I’ve even beek known to watch streaming video and listen to streaming audio on here while working without a problem!

Needless to say I am super impressed with my netbook. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. As a blogger and a student i have found that it has been the biggest help! At only around $380, it is a worthwile investment and will pay for itself a million times over.