MSI joined the netbook market with its release of the U100, the entry-level model of their Wind line. Widely acclaimed, the U100 marked a significant step beyond its competition with a brighter ten-inch screen, a relatively larger keyboard, significantly greater drive space, and a longer battery life. Sharing the podium with the Eee PC, the U100 really marked a standard at the time of its release. Since then, the market has shown some advancement with HP, Acer and Asus releasing competitive products featuring a variety of specialty attributes, and MSI has responded accordingly by expanding the Wind line of products with netbooks that leverage newer or niche features. Despite this, the U100 still represents a benchmark that arguably defines the template for a netbook.
