After a year, I'm replacing my MSI Wind because the screen is going. Usually I can flex the screen to restore it, but that's getting harder, so I decided to replace it.
The X files
After looking, I decided that a Thinkpad X30 or X40 series is a better option than a new netbook. My primary goal is a light machine that I'm happy to carry everywhere. I want to be able to edit, email, web, code, and even run an office suite, but I have a desktop for the real heavy lifting. I do not want a CD or DVD drive, nor a big screen.The Thinkpad X series, and X40 in particular, are about the same weight, same memory, same price, same battery life, faster CPU, and better design. (Compared to the X40, the X41 is slightly faster, slightly heavier, and has a fingerprint reader.) They can be found at Discount PC or eBay or Craig's List for $250-$350 depending on configuration and accessories. They weigh about 2.7 pounds, nearly the same as the Wind with a 6-cell battery. (The default 3-cell Wind is a nice 2.2, which just barely covers my 90-minute public transit commute.) Note: the tablet versions are notably heavier, about 3.5 pounds, as noted in this review.
The build quality of the Thinkpad is much better, and it's a full-sized keyboard. I found a nice deal on Discount PC last week: Thinkpad X40 Pentium Mobile 1.5 GHz - 1.5 GB RAM - 60 GB HD - 12.1" 1024x768 display: $200 + shipping.
The hard drive is smaller and slower than on a new netbook, which is a drawback. The earlier X31 ($150, slightly slower, slightly heavier) uses a standard 2.5" drive so you can just upgrade, but the X41 uses a less standard 1.8". (Fortunately, so does the iPod, but the choices are still limited compared to a 2.5".) The graphics card is older than on new netbooks, but this probably doesn't affect my work.
Other options include the X31: cheaper, slightly heavier, somewhat slower; the X61: faster, more expensive (~$600), slightly heavier; and a new X200: much faster, more expensive (~$900 with discounts), somewhat heavier. A colleague with an X200 says that for day-to-day work, it's almost as good as his old X41.
Screen Size
I have good eyes, and I do not confuse screen size with resolution. This MSI Wind 9" wide screen is not too small. At 1024x600, it's only about 110 dpi, so it could be 1/3 the size in each dimension to match a low-end laser printer. The X41 has 1024x768 adds some rows, which is nice, but I don't need the 10.5" wide screen. However, it does allow for a full-size keyboard, which I will enjoy, and makes it more impressive that the machine is about the same weight as the Wind. But presumably a smaller, sharper screen could have just as many pixels with even less weight.Better than the X41?
Speaking of more pixels with less weight, I wonder if I should have spent $600 on the 0.7-pound UMID Mbook M1 with its 6"-wide 1024x600 touchscreen. It looks great. It's more expensive, but if you count the time I spent researching, it would have more than paid off.However, I touch-type fast, and because of the small keyboards I rejected the 7" and 9" EeePC netbooks in favor of the 10" wide MSI Wind, which is about as small as I can imagine touch-typing.
Still, I think I'd like to try an M1 someday.