MSI U115 Hybrid netbook on show at CES 2009

Posted by Al Warmington on Wed 7 Jan 2009

SSD for speed, HDD for space

Choosing a netbook can be a tricky business. Apart from the fact there are about a billion nearly identical models available, one of the most difficult decisions SSD or HDD storage.

Solid State is great for the lighting boot times and reliability it provides, while an old school hard discs drive are slow and prone to breakage, but with enough space for a month’s worth of pirated TV shows. Happily, that’s one dilemma you don’t have to worry about any longer because MSI’s new hybrid netbook design is offering the best of both worlds.

The U115 first hinted at over Xmas and was on show at the CES Unveiled event today. We got a chance to check it out and happily, the addition of an extra hard drive hasn’t had any negative effects on the performance or weight, and the U115 still weighs in at a sensible 1kg.

The storage sizes on offer consist of an 8GB or 16GB SSD, matched to a 120GB or 160GB HDD. The operating system is loaded on to the SSD, of course, resulting in quicker loading and start-up, while the HDD acts as a big storage space.

Furthermore, because of SSD’s low energy consumption and MSI’s exclusive ECO energy saving technology, the U115’s 6-cell battery life has been boosted to an impressive 12 hours. For the moment, we’re taking that with a pinch of salt and we’ll have to wait until we get a review unit to put through its paces before we know for sure about MSI lofty claims. We’ve got our fingers crossed though, and if it’s a successful strategy, you can bet that other netbook makers will be quick to follow MSI’s lead.

Link: MSI

T3's CES coverage is powered by Canon

Buy from here: MSI | Amazon | Dixons