MSI Wind U100 Review
User Experience
Microsoft's Windows XP is still a strong operating system having been on the market since 2001. Despite its age Microsoft has worked to keep it as current as possible, introducing a firewall, Bluetooth support and improved WiFi support. In addition with the launch of Vista, the Windows Live suite of applications became available for XP.
Upon first starting the machine new user's are greeted by Microsoft's setup assistant which asks for a username and configures various preferences like time zone, computer name, and Automatic Updates. It's a shame that Windows XP does not offer to import a user's settings from any previous Windows computer they might have, especially since Windows XP already includes a tool to do precisely that buried in the Start menu.
Startup Time (seconds)
Lower is better
- MSI Wind 52 (90%)
- Macbook Pro 39 (67.5%)
- Macbook 38 (65.7692307692%)
The MSI Wind goes from off to a working desktop in just under a minute which is good for a Windows XP system.
Desktop
The Windows desktop is the standard as far as user interfaces go and consists of two main elements, the desktop itself and the start menu and taskbar along the bottom. The desktop is much like any system desktop allowing a user to store their files (and clutter!) as well as links to applications. In addition to the Recycle Bin which contains any files and folders the user has sent for deletion, icons for My Computer and Internet Explorer can be added.
In Windows each application window has its own menu bar along the top allowing access to File commands like Open, Save and Exit as well as various other operations which vary from application to application. The Start menu provides the user access to their frequently used folders like My Music, My Pictures and My Computer, as well as network volumes, and commonly used programs. Nearly every aspect of the system is controlled from within this menu, it's no wonder Microsoft called it Start!
Any opened applications appear in the task bar to the right of the Start menu. Clicking on an application on the taskbar brings it to the foreground, and right clicking brings up a menu to close the application. Closing an application causes it to disappear from the taskbar.
